Chapter 24 [past Pt. 2]

The royal family of the Cloud kingdom treated her well, even after the fall of her kingdom. The king arranged for her to marry his son when she became of age, and the queen personally taught her how to behave like a lady, and the responsibility of a queen and how to manage the Palace, as well as politics and state affairs to help share her husband's burdens in the future.

She learned etiquette, embroidery, culinary arts, dancing, the violin, mathematics, history, and literature, just like any other proper lady should. At the age of sixteen, she had a polished set of skills most people would only dream of witnessing. She was a genius among her peers.

With the queen's strict supervision, she quickly transformed from a spoiled brat to a graceful lady in the span of four years.

Her betrothed was a powerful and handsome man, and treated her well, buying her gifts every now and then. A decent young lad, with a bright future as a king. She finally thought the world was smiling at her.

So far, it seemed as if the worst that could happen to her in her life was over, but boy how wrong she was.

A pretty girl suddenly came out of nowhere. It was rumored, that she had stopped the war, by negotiating the terms of the peace contract. It if wasn't for her, the war would have escalated to engulf a huge part of the continent.

Everyone loved her, and the people worshipped her, giving her the title of 'the heavenly sent guardian fairy'. With a breathtaking appearance, intelligent mind, and kind personality, she won the hearts of the people, and the heart of the cold emperor of the great Qi empire.

It was that same girl that ruined her life.

Amourora admired her as well, and was just as excited as everyone when she received the invitation to the 'peace banquet'. The biggest and most lavish banquet to ever be held, would be in the moonlight island, and all royal children are invited to join the banquet, with opportunities to strengthen relationships between countries of the continent.

What's more important is, the emperor of Qi state will be hosting the banquet himself. It caused a great sensation, because it had been rumored that the cold and ruthless emperor hated attending social gatherings as much as he hated women. People even gossiped about his preferences.

Amourora looked forward to meeting lady Victoria Veritas. They were from the same Kingdom anyway. Perhaps she would be able to befriend such an outstanding lady with an independent thinking.

Most of the noble ladies she met were shaped to the society's views and sculptured to be the perfect wives for men, a strong lady like Victoria was quite rare. But lady Victoria didn't seem to feel the same way about her, she disliked her, and kept subtlety provoking her.

Shocking news came in the banquet, when emperor Qi announced lady Victoria as his consort. It was great news, they were a perfect match, 'the golden couple'.

But there were a lot of people who secretly wished for them to break up.

After all, Victoria was the illegitimate daughter of the fallen kingdom's Duke. She was unfit to even be a maid working in the Palace, let alone a consort. No matter how much she contributed to the kingdom, Royals and nobles won't accept her into their cliques easily.

But since the emperor was powerful, nobody dared to oppose openly. However, Many noble ladies and princesses wished to be his Empress to enjoy wealth and power, and she was an obstacle in their way.

Amourora wasn't one of them. It was true she admired his talents, but she had pure intentions when she approached him to inquire about the possibility of forming an alliance, because her efforts in asking lady Veritas deemed to be futile.

But the so-called fairy accused her of secretly plotting over her fiance. And the more she tried to defend herself, the less people believed her.

Her betrothed even left her and sided with Lady Victoria, and asked her to apologize, when she refused to admit her wrongdoings, and insisted on proving her innocence, he apologized in her stead and publicly broke off their engagement and all ties with her, in order not to implicate the Cloud empire.