Lady-in-Waitings

“Are you okay?” Raquel suddenly asked with a look of worry on her face.

“I’m fine…Is something wrong?” Ryker asked, giving Raquel a weird look.

Suddenly Raquel felt embarrassed. Ryker had probably just been talking to those noble ladies when she had interrupted. She acted like a jealous wife, not wanting her husband to talk to other women.

And even those previous comments to Princess Fiana. What was she thinking?!

Everyone was going to misunderstand her and think she was in love with the duke. Meanwhile she was worried about her half-sister harassing Ryker.

But clearly he was fine before she ruined everything.

“Sorry, I thought it was best that I scared those noble ladies away before they started asking too many questions.” Raquel lied.

“I see…” Ryker murmured, a tense silence falling between the two.

“So…what did they say?” Raquel asked, not able to take the tension any longer.

“I think they were trying to feel me out and see what I think about this whole marriage.” Ryker said. “I’m not sure exactly what their goal is, but I think they want to stop this marriage.”

“Why through?” Raquel asked. “They don’t have a motive.”

“Lady Diana has.” Ryker said. “While I was talking to the ladies, they seemed to have a fakeness to them. I’m not sure how to explain it but I feel Lady Diana put them to the task.”

Raquel’s eyes widened as she understood where Ryker was going. “She must have heard the emperor approve the visit. And if I go and bump into your mother or another witch….”

“It’ll be over for her.” Ryker finished. “What she hasn’t realized yet is that we already know who she is. Intel wise we’re a few steps ahead. But still…It’s best we keep our guard up.”

Raquel nodded. “Alright…Let’s split up for now and continue this tomorrow.”

“Okay. I’ll leave now and me Lord Myster.” Ryker said before heading off.

Raquel then left, heading for the buffet table. She picked up a flute of sparkling wine from one of the passing waiters and grabbed a round pastry. As she nibbled on the pastry, she heard some nobles muttering to themselves.

“Did you see?” One whispered. “It seems the princess has fallen for the duke.”

“Poor man. To be wanted by that hag.” Another chuckled. “I hope he doesn’t die like the last one.”

Raquel cringed at their words, seeing that news about the incident had spread. The bright side however was everyone thought she was in love with the duke.

It could perhaps hide their true intentions from others and keep them ahead of Lady Diana until they dethroned her so to speak.

But first she needed to deal with the nobles talking about her. It was clear they were testing her and seeing how far she would go.

“It seems you two don’t know how to use those tongues properly.” Raquel growled, turning to glare at the nobles.

***

The next day, Raquel made her way to her office having finished her morning training. When she opened the door, she found herself looking at a now familiar sight.

Furniture was pushed to the sides of the room while Ryker sat in the middle of the room with piles of documents and books around him. Nicole meanwhile was in a corner of the room, picking out books Ryker must have asked her for.

“I see you two are busy.” Raquel said in greeting.

“Yes, there’s a lot of work to do.” Ryker murmured, not looking up.

“You do know chairs are more comfortable to sit in than the hard floor.” Raquel said, taking a seat next to him.

Ryker turned to look at her. “I suppose you’re right but the floor has more space for me to organize everything. Anyway, you should look at this.”

He picked up a stack of documents and handed them to her. Raquel took them and quickly skimmed through them, seeing that were profiles of noble ladies from various noble houses.

“Are these the lady-in-waiting documents?” Raquel asked.

“Yes.” Nicole answered, placing a stack of books next to Ryker. “At least those are the ones, his grace, rejected.”

“Well, I haven’t rejected them. Rather I think they would be of no use to your highness.” Ryker quickly added. “Final decisions are yours of course.”

“Care to explain the reasons.” Raquel asked.

Ryker nodded and spread out five documents in front of the two. “These are the ladies I think you should choose. I’ve based it on a number of factors including loyalty, noble house, social standing and family ties.”

Raquel looked at the five documents, her eyes stopping on the second one. “I understand your first choice because she’s from the northern territory but why Lady Ria? You know she’s loyal to Princess Fiana.”

“That’s exactly why I chose her.” Ryker said, looking smug. “Everyone will be so focused on you making Lady Ria your lady-in-waiting, thinking you’re trying to have one up on Princess Fiana, they won’t look much into the others. And when they do, it’ll be too late.”

Raquel looked over at the other three candidates and smiled in realization. All three girls were from neutral noble houses who were key players in different areas of the empire. Having their support would be enough to overthrow the emperor.

The only flaw to this plan was Lady Ria. Even if she became Raquel’s lady-in-waiting, she would spill everything to Princess Fiana.

“I like this plan but Lady Ria is still a wildcard.” Raquel said, voicing her concerns.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Ryker answered. “She’ll be great for two reasons. One, she is the weak link among Princess Fiana’s group as the newest member as with her family having money problems…Well loyalty can be bought.”

“I suppose you’re right. So what’s the other?” Raquel asked.

Ryker smirked. “Bad intel. Princess Fiana will have her become a spy to gather information on you. However, we’ll give Lady Riar false information to feed to Princess Fiana. It’ll keep her out of our business.``

Raquel smiled, about to respond when there was a sudden knock on the door. Nicole quickly moved to get the door, soon coming back with something in her hand.

“It looks like you have a letter.”