CHAPTER 13: Second Birthday Pt. 2

The queen picked me up and placed me in a seat at the adults' table. I was sitting between Duchess Blue and the Queen. Oh no.

"Greetings, Your Majesties." My parents, the Blues, and the Pinks greeted them. The King nodded but the Queen ignored them all. This woman sure has angry issues with us. I bet she's just nice to me right now because she thinks I'm a useful pawn to her. She was hostile to me before the High Priest announced that I'm going to be a High Priestess soon. Tch. Fake b*tch.

"How are you, little Avy? I have some presents that I brought today. Make sure to open those first, okay?" she said with a fake sweet smile.

"Okay, aunty," I said with a more fake sweet smile than the Queen. I saw her slightly smirked at my mom. Does she think that she has the upper right hand here? She thinks that I will like her now. *grins* Not a chance. I saw my mom's left eyebrow raise and smirked back at the queen. I know she knows that I'm going to open my parents' presents first. *chuckle* Glad to know you didn't have low self-esteem, Mom.

"My little Astro wants to play with you, little Avy. Can you play with him?" I rolled my eyes internally. Tch. I know what you're planning, woman. She's being a matchmaker right now. Well, she's going to rival the Duchess Blue with that.

Just as I was about to agree with her, Duchess Blue stepped into the scene.

"Pardon me, Your majesty. But, can I have a moment with little Avy here? I really miss her." Here comes the rival who arranged a marriage between me and her son. *burdened sigh*

The queen nodded like she was being forced to do it. Well, I guess she couldn't say no to her sister-in-law who's the sister of the King. I know this because I asked my mom about Duchess Blue. It's about the same physical traits she shared with the king.

"Come here to your beautiful aunt, sweet little Avy," said Duchess Blue who indirectly told the queen that she's more beautiful than her. If I say it without sugarcoated words, Duchess Blue indirectly said that the queen is ugly.

*laughs hard* Duchess Blue is so cool! She just indirectly declared war between rivals with the queen. Whoah. Interesting! I really want to see a fight between nobles using their words only. *chuckles*

"Are you saying I'm not beautiful?" the Queen retorted irritated. Oh, it's starting already, alright!

"I didn't recall that I said you're not beautiful, your majesty. You're the queen of this kingdom after all." the Duchess Blue said with a very sweet smile. She just indirectly said that the queen is stupid for picking a nonsense fight with a lady ranked lower than her. She should already know that fact.

The queen smirked and said. "Yes, I'm the Queen of this kingdom. I'm the most beautiful woman in here."

Duchess Blue just smiled at her. I guess she chose not to anger the queen more. She grabbed my hand and we walked towards the kids' table.

I heard her mumble the words, "Stupid" and smirked. Duchess Blue is so cool!

"Ignore those dumb women in the future, little Avy. They will just waste your time." Duchess Blue said and smiled at me. She's so amazing.

"Now, future daughter-in-law, play with your future husband," she said enthusiastically. *sigh* I'm taking back what I said.

When we reached the kids' table, she made me sit between Jack and Maverick. Astro's sit is far from me. She's making the Queen angry about this. *laughs*

"Happy birthday, Lady Avyana." I looked at Maverick who's on my left side, smiling. This idiot really is so handsome.

I smiled back at him. "Thank you, Maverick." I looked away quickly before I get blinded by that brightness coming from him. Why am I being surrounded by beautiful boys? *faints*

If I gave it a thought, the fact that the queen wants to pair me up with Astro and not Maverick explains that Maverick is not the real son of the queen. The question is, what would she get if I really chose Astro? Sure, she can get more influence and fame because I'm going to become a High Priestess. But, I think she wants more than that. I just feel it.

"Happy birthday, Avy." I looked at Dove who's sitting beside Maverick. People like it when he smiles because it's comforting. Was this because he's next to become the High Priest soon? But, why is it so creepy to me? It's like he's hiding something. But, oh well, he's still handsome as ever.

Just before I could say my thanks to Dove, Jack cut in on our conversation. "When did you call her that?" Maverick, Dove, and I looked at Jack who just interrupted us.

"What do you mean?" asked Dove. He had that creepy smile again.

"Why were you calling her 'Avy'?" Jack said with an irritated tone of his voice. These idiots! They're having a nonsense fight again. Tch. But, it's the first time that Dove and Jack quarreled first because mostly, Jack and Maverick quarreled first.

"Yeah, why did you call her 'Avy'?" Oh no. I forgot that my brothers are here at our table too. The worst part is, they're just on the other side of the table. *burdened sigh* I want them to grow up quickly.

"So? She's my friend. And she said to call her 'Avy'." Dove said with a smirk. This is the first time that he's the first one to tease them. You surprised me, Dove.

"YOU DID?!" Their widened eyes turned to me. Tch. Was it a big deal? Dove asked me if he could just call me 'Avy' and I said yes. It's not a big deal at all.

"Yes. What's wrong with that? You can also call me 'Avy'. It's not a big deal." I said and shrugged my shoulders.

"IT IS!"

What the-! It startled me! These idiot brothers!

"We're the only one who can call you 'Avy'!" Those idiots said in unison.

I unconsciously massaged my forehead. Calm yourself down, Avyana. You're the only one who's an adult here. Why am I even stuck with these brats who got nothing else to do but give me headaches anyway?!

"Hey! We're also friends of Avyana, you know! We have the right to call her 'Avy' too!" I heard Jack retorted.

"No, you don't! We're the brothers of our little Avy! We decide who can call her casually like that!" I heard Adonis said irritated.

I unconsciously slammed my fist on the table. I didn't even realize that my hand already formed into a fist. I guess that turned their attention to me. I'm really annoyed right now!

"You'll stop this stupid bickering right now or you'll go home without your heads?" Did they think that I'm a pushover? They need to think again. There's no way a person wouldn't snap when they ran out of patience.

They were shocked by my sudden attitude, but they silenced and slowly sit in their sits. I guessed that worked. I guess this was the first time they saw me snapped.

"You're being scary right now, Avyana. Please calm down first." Maverick said with a comforting smile. I inhaled and exhaled twice to release the annoyance I felt. *sigh* Glad to see Maverick's comforting smile again. *fawns*

"Astro, come here!" We immediately looked at the owner's voice and then found out that it's the Queen's. "Is it okay if I talk to Astro for a while, little Avy?" I just nodded to her. He's her son anyway.

I observed as Astro pulled back from his chair and walked towards the queen. The emotions in his face were gone and replaced by a straight face. He's like a robot who was being manipulated.

The queen and Astro went outside of the function hall. There's something fishy about the situation right now.

It feels like my feet have their mind and started to follow the two. "Where are you going, Avyana?" I know from the seriousness of the voice that it's Alexander who's talking even without me looking.

"I'm going to poo, brother." I looked at him and gave him my sweetest smile. I know you'll fall for that. Hoho!

He nodded and looked away. *grinned* I know you're just too embarrassed to show your reddened face, brother. *laughs*

Now, I need to follow those two.

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"*slap* Didn't I say to befriend and fool that little wench, did I?!" What the-! She slapped her three-year-old son! This b*tch! So, this is really your true color, huh!

"Please don't call her like that, mother. She's my only friend." Astro said it with tears forming in his eyes.

It pained me to see Astro's tears falling from his eyes. This poor kid. So, this was why he had that sad face when I asked about his early training to be a knight. I was right. Her mother forced him to get close to me. This b*tch! How could she do this with her son? For what reason?

"You're talking back now, you ungrateful brat! I'm doing all this for you to become the crown prince! You need that little brat to become the crown prince!" This woman! She called me a little wench earlier, now she called me a little brat! The nerve of that woman! *sigh* You need to calm down, Avyana.

*inhale* *exhale* Now, we need to think clearly. The queen said that she's making Astro, who is currently three years old, the crown prince. But, why? There's the first prince who could be the next ruler, or the second prince and the third prince. The chances of her making Astro the crown prince are thin. If I picked their side, there's maybe a possibility, but I won't pick their side and I know my family won't too. It seems like mom and the queen have a cold war going on between them.

"I don't want to become the crown prince, mother. I just want to study and read books. Just let brother Maverick be the crown prince." Astro cried like he's pleading to her. Maverick? Is Maverick the most possible candidate to be the next ruler? What about the other two? Ugh. I'm confused. I really need to study. I'm always the clueless one here.

"*slap* You insolent brat! I don't want to hear any word from you anymore. If you couldn't make that little brat to like you, I guess I will use my power to tie that brat to us." Sh*t. She'll use her power to make me marry Astro. What do I do? Since she's more powerful than our family, I need to find a person who is more powerful than her to break the engagement if that's what she'll do. The candidates are the King and the High Priest. The King will be on the queen's side in this matter for sure since it can benefit them. So, I can't go to him.

Oh, wait. That's it! Becoming a High Priestess is the best option since we will have the same power and authority as the Queen and King. I'll be 18 years old when I finished my training and it will be my coming of age. I think she can't make me marry before my coming of age. Hmm. *thinks* I need to find that out if it's in the laws here. For now, I need to find a way to help Astro with his situation right now.