Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 179: Fight for Dominance III

Chapter 179: Fight for Dominance III

As quickly as she had received that shot of joy from Atticus’s support, Daphne felt her heart slam back to her feet, right into the depths of the lake she once nearly drowned in by Francessa’s suggestion.

"I... I..." Daphne spluttered, trying to find a polite way to let Francessa know that her idea was utter dogshit. Her mind helpfully conjured up the image of her shooting a harpoon at Francessa’s face and she nearly choked.

"That’s highly improper!" Daphne finally managed to say, "I cannot in good conscience agree to spending King Atticus’s time like this. He’s not cattle up for trade!"

’He’s my husband,’ Daphne thought petulantly to herself. King Atticus was a married man; and his wife was right here standing in front of them, yet these women are thinking of stealing him right under her nose! How dare they!

Francessa had a look of abject patience on her face, her green eyes filled with exasperated understanding, as though Daphne was a spoiled child in need of more guidance.

"I didn’t say he was. But you cannot deny the allure King Atticus has on his citizens. With him being part of the festivities, it will encourage every citizen to put their best foot forward in ensuring this event succeeds. Queen Daphne, you were the one that proposed the idea of the beauty contest. I’m sure you wish for it to be a rousing success, yes?"

"Of course I do!" Daphne replied, twitching at the Francessa’s tone. Just because she was years older than her didn’t mean she could talk to her like Daphne was an incompetent child!

"In that case, what’s the issue?" Fracessa asked, holding up her hands to gesture her disbelief. "If you’re unwilling to use time with King Atticus as a prize, then do you have something that is of an equal, or more impressive value to motivate everyone? What will you give as a prize instead?"

"I..." Daphne’s mind was blank. She had come with the idea of a contest on a whim, so of course she had no idea what to give for a prize that would be equivalent to Atticus’s time. And Francessa knew that too. She pressed her point further.

"The prestige of a competition can only be measured by the quality of its prizes. If we fail to provide adequate motivation and compensation, this event will fail." Francessa’s tone of voice brooked no argument. "Queen Daphne, if you have no alternatives, I urge you to accept my suggestion."

"But surely we should also ask King Atticus if he is agreeable to participate in something like this?" Daphne asked, turning to Atticus. She expected him to reject this ridiculous proposal outright, but to her surprise, Atticus cheerfully nodded instead.

"This is interesting. Alright, I’ll accept this suggestion. Ladies, do your best to surpass my lovely wife... if you can," Atticus said, with heavy emphasis on the last few words. He could sense their fluctuating emotions as he pressed one final kiss to Daphne’s cheek, while his wife stared at him with eyes widened in shock.

Atticus bit his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud at the barely concealed dismay on Daphne’s face. He didn’t want these ladies to think he was mocking Daphne, but it was simply too adorable for words.

He had sensed his wife’s jealousy the moment Francessa Seibert brought him up as the prize. The very fact that she was jealous over him made his heart sing with joy.

So, of course he had to encourage this nonsensical idea. Daphne needed to prove herself to these women, and Atticus could see her jealousy more often.

Besides, he had no doubt that Daphne would triumph over everyone, so he’ll be rewarded with a lovely date with her in the end. There was no way things would go wrong.

"Sunshine, I’ll see you later," he promised. "No matter what, you’re still the most beautiful woman in the land."

With those parting words, Atticus strolled out of the room, leaving a trail of devastated women and broken hearts in his wake. Daphne could only shake her head incredulously at his antics, her lips inadvertently curling into a smile... until she realized that Atticus had indeed agreed to be used as a prize.

Her smile froze. She was going to have to share her husband!

"The king has given us his permission, surely you do not have any objections now?" Francessa said peacefully, even as her gut was churning in anger at the easy display of affection between the king and queen.

That should have been her. What did this girl have that she did not?

Before Daphne could reply, Francessa continued, "Besides, the king is married to a highly accomplished woman such as yourself. Do you believe that you will lose?"

"No, I do not," Daphne said evenly, her fingers curling into fists.

But that was a lie. She wasn’t even planning on participating in the darned contest in the first place. Why should she — the queen — be spending her time on this competition when she had the entire event to run?

"Then what’s the issue? Even if you did lose, do you trust the king so little that you believe that a few hours with another woman would cause him to stray? Do you think that would be enough to sway his love for you?"

"That’s very heartbreaking, Queen Daphne," Lady Penelope added from behind, nodding as she pouted. "If I were King Atticus, I’d be heartbroken at the lack of trust."

Daphne gritted her teeth. Francessa Seibert was truly a master wordsmith. Now that she had worded matters this way, there’s no way Daphne could reject her suggestion without sounding like a bitter woman, insecure wife, and incompetent queen.

So Daphne took a deep breath and pasted a gentle smile on her face. "The last thing I wish to do would be to break his heart."

Her words were sincere even if the smile on her face wasn’t.

Francessa smiled too, but her smile radiated smug satisfaction.

"In that case, we shall hold the contest in two weeks time. The floats will make the journey from the town square and circle around the capital once, so that more people can take a look," Francessa proposed. "Do you have any objections to that, Queen Daphne?"

"None." Daphne smiled so hard her cheek muscles were starting to hurt. Her hands, however, itched to feel the burn of her flames. She had been training recently and she might just have to commission the smithy to prepare a training dummy modeled after Francessa. "I trust that the other ladies have no objections?"

A chorus of no’s greeted Daphne’s ears, and finally the meeting was over. Everyone vacated the room, chattering about their ideas for the floats, and what they were going to wear on their date with Atticus.

Daphne slumped into her chair and slammed her head on the table, trying not to scream.

She knew nothing about building and designing parade floats!

What had she gotten herself into?

And her husband, that idiotic, brainless, vain little buffoon! She was definitely going to rescind the reward she had previously planned for him. If he was lucky, he could still sleep on the couch of their bedchambers. One more wrong word past his lips and Daphne swore to boot him over to one of the guestrooms for the rest of the month!