Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 106: War Between Factions

Chapter 106: War Between Factions

Talia closed the book in her hands. There are a lot to learn about the Royalty of Rosandale and their traditions. Talia could only hope she could remember it all and not make a fool out of herself in the public during her visit there in the near future.

Rebecca was in her bedroom and Talia checked her and was relieved to see her sleeping deeply. She would be in good spirits one moment and then gets all moody the next. It should be the pregnancy.

But the good thing is pregnancy made her tired and she slept a lot more. Talia gently closed the door behind her.

After tending to the peace lilly plant by her window, Talia glanced through the big window in her living room. The tiny specks of snow were whirling outside. Even though it was evening, the sky was dark like it was night already while the colourful lamps from the other buildings illuminated the roads. They had issued a warning for blizzard in the city that night.

Watching the thick white gleaming blanket of snow on the roads, Talia got reminded of her home country. Heavy snowing is pretty common in Esteria especially in the Highlands where they lived and the temperature will be constantly below the freezing point.

Around this time, the creek would have started to freeze.

Ah, Freddy bear! I miss you...

Talia knew the Year Ending Party must have started by now and she wondered how everything was going.

It is a black tie event where men dressed in their best suits and women in their best evening dresses. Talia imagined Fred in a black suit with a black bow tie with a champagne glass in his hand and his other hand extended towards her.

A gentle smile softened his sharp emerald eyes, his red hair dazzled in the warm light from the chandelier as he bowed in front of her and whispered,

"Care for a dance, Miss?"

Ah!

Talia sighed. She needs to put a leash on her imaginations. It’s going out of control these days.

Even so, It would have been the best if she could attend the party with him, hooking her arm around his, showing everyone that he is her man. Her heart beat erratically imaging herself standing beside him and dancing with him as many jealous eyes watched them.

And soon there was a clenching feeling in her heart and the smile in her lips disappeared.

I’m not there. Will he dance with other women?

She used to not worry about these things before. But now she cares so much she felt her bones melt out of jealousy.

The sound of her phone beeping, made Talia get out of her reverie and she walked to the coffee table to check the notifications.

There were a bunch of them and reading them, her brows furrowed. She had an app that would inform her whenever her name comes up in the Internet. And now her notifications are blowing up.

She read one of those articles and gritted her teeth. The Prince "invited" her and she got so angry over his kind invite and poured the wine? How could they blatantly lie? That hypocrite wanted her to denounce her other family and annul her marriage for her entry in the country. Not to mention the names he called her!

The comments to that article were all negative and everyone was so angry at her for not respecting their monarchy.

Talia wanted to retaliate but then she noted the strange thing that those articles are only released in their country along with Rosandale and was suppressed in other countries.

The hashtags associated with these articles were trending in Esteria and Rosandale but not in other countries.

#prodigalprincess and #winegate trended in all social media platforms in Esteria.

That made her think why negative articles about her are published in Esteria and Rosandale.

Maybe it has Fred’s hand in it?

She went to the article she read and got to the comment section. The newest comments were all in support of her and in the replies to the negative comments of her, there seemed to be a war going on.

Reading the positive comments, Talia could infer that they are from Rosandale people. They seemed to be pretty happy she poured wine over Edward and refused to go back to Esteria. They wanted her for themselves.

#RoyalPrincess and #leaveourprincessalone started trending in a short period of time as there were two factions who fought with each other. One supported Talia and the others hated her.

Talia was overwhelmed by the love the people of Rosandale showed for her in those comment section. It is weird that they show this much love for someone they barely know and barely saw.

Soon the positive comments overwhelmed the negative comments since some people from Esteria who kept their silence in this issue stepped up.

They argued that just a picture and some snippets of a video cannot prove what exactly happened between Prince Edward and Talia that day. Both of them might be at fault.

Some also mentioned the cake incident from the past when Prince Edward deliberately blamed Talia when he was the perpetrator of the crime. Some argued this information must be fake. But people who believed her, believed her.

Talia didn’t know #cakegate was a thing till then. She thought it was hidden by the Palace. Little did she know that Cyril was behind this reveal just at the right time.

Till the Cyrus incident, Talia had an impeccable reputation in her country. Even in school, she acted haughty but never hurt anyone deliberately and stayed in her lane. So she didn’t have much people who can prove beyond doubt that she was a bad person. Some of her school alumni said some words about her. Most of them agreed she acted polite in any situation.

But soon Cyrus incident resurfaced and the negative comments started to dominate. They argued it can’t be a surprise a murderer lost their bearing for a moment and did that to Prince Edward.

#monster and #purpleeyedmonster started trending. The opposing #purpleeyedsaviour and #angelprincess got drowned by the negative comments.

Some even thanked the Heavens that the angels protected Prince Edward from getting killed by the monster.

And there were some comments about the possibility of the boy brought to the Lockhart Manor to be Cyrus’ son even though they try to hide it.

As soon as someone commented that, the others seemed to be out for Talia’s blood in the comments cursing her for talking a father from a child.

Talia didn’t bother to read the comments anymore and knew how everything will go from there.

Some things will never be forgotten.

There is no soap that would wash away the blood of Cyrus from her hands. And she has to live with the blood of Cyrus on her head the rest of her life!

Talia threw her phone on the coffee table and went to the kitchen to drink some water.

She just wanted to read news about her grandfather’s announcement and maybe take a peek at Fred in tux. But who knew this to be the news she came across?

She felt stupid for reading that article and the comments.

Her heart felt heavy and restless. She wanted to give up everything.

Maybe she should quit her plans to return to Esteria. The Queen Dowager is welcoming her grandfather to Rosandale and maybe her grandfather can move there and shift the headquarters of Northern Star to Rosandale so that Fred can be with her too.

Why must she fight with the officials to even get a visa to enter Esteria? Those people are refusing to give her permit for a tourist visa.

Why? How did she betray her country? Why can’t she go back there even as a tourist?

That day when she left Esteria, she didn’t take her passport with her. And since both Princes of Rosandale has the diplomacy to travel without passport and they were in a helicopter with the Rosandale flag, she was sneaked out of Esteria.

Even though she doesn’t need it, she still has a passport issued under His Majesty the King of Rosandale’s name.

She could use her status of diplomacy and enter Esteria without a visa but her safety wouldn’t be guaranteed as King Louis warned. The Esterian government isn’t giving her permission to step inside their lands and if she forces her way in, with the already fragile relationship between both countries, the results will be terrible.

And now it seems like a mob is out to get her!

The fact that she couldn’t return to the place where she was born and raised, made Talia feel lethargic.

It can’t be because of her recent fight with Edward. It should be something more for people to hate her that much.

Maybe she deserves this treatment?