The Hero's Forsaken Princess
Chapter 73: Slay Them All!

Chapter 73: Slay Them All!

"By whom?" Eve asked Alaric, looking at him curiously.

However, before Alaric could respond to her, a royal servant approached them.

"My Lord, I’ve been searching for you all over the palace. His Majesty summons you to the banquet hall. Everyone is waiting for your appearance," the royal servant politely informed Alaric.

Alaric took one last glance at Eve. "Good luck with your performance later."

Eve glanced at him for a long moment. Earlier, she wanted Alaric to leave her alone. But now, for some unknown reason, she wanted him to stay longer. Because she knew that once Alaric joined the royal family in the banquet hall, their marriage would certainly end.

He would choose Princess Thalia over her. Their affair had been circulating in the palace. To protect Alaric and Thalia’s reputation, King Solomon had no choice but to release a royal decree, commanding Alaric to divorce Princess Evelina.

Eve remained silent, her heart constricting inside her chest. She was reluctant to let him go. But Alaric had to leave.

Not hearing any response from the masked lady, Alaric turned around to follow the royal servant.

Eve watched his retreating back while clenching her fists. The stored tears finally fell from the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision. Alaric’s figure was slowly drifting further away from her sight.

’Why am I crying again because of this man? I thought he was not worth my tears. Why am I so weak, crying over the man who doesn’t love me? Stop it, Eve!’ She scolded herself inwardly, taking her mask off to wipe her tears.

She returned inside the chamber, closing the door. To ease her pain, Eve just focused on practicing the zither. This time she started singing the new song she composed herself.

Meanwhile, Alaric entered the banquet hall, joining the royal family. Princess Thalia was quick enough to call for him as she invited him to sit next to her. He was about to find another seat but King Solomon motioned for him to take his seat already.

"Great! Everyone is here. Maybe we can start discussing our kingdom’s affair!" Thalia said, eyeing her brother meaningfully.

King Solomon and Queen Amara agreed with Thalia’s proposition. The king and queen were also planning to bring up the marriage between Princess Alessandra and Crown Prince Cassian.

"Yes, It’s true. The true essence of this grand banquet is to strengthen the camaraderie among the people of the two kingdoms. We are so happy to see that nobles from Kingdom Eldara are getting along well with our subjects," Queen Amara said, complimenting the bonds among the people who attended the grand banquet.

"Aside from that, we also wished to strengthen our alliance with you," King Solomon also spoke up, looking at Crown Prince Cassian.

Crown Prince Cassian smirked as he knew where this discussion was headed.

"Hmm. Do you propose a marriage alliance between the two kingdoms?" Prince Cassian said without beating around the bush.

Everyone fell silent when Crown Prince Cassian spoke without constraints. He was frank and direct. Furthermore, his expression was unreadable. King Solomon and Queen Amara couldn’t figure out if he was in favor of the marriage alliance.

On the other hand, Alaric furrowed his eyebrows upon seeing the wide smile on Thalia’s face. He could see even the glow of excitement in her eyes.

’Don’t tell me she hasn’t given up yet on the idea of marrying me?’ Alaric’s face contorted at that thought. He shifted his gaze to Crown Prince Cassian, hoping that he wouldn’t bring up Thalia’s marriage with him.

King Solomon cleared his throat and smiled at Crown Prince Cassian before he spoke up. "I heard that King Constantine is looking for a suitable wife for you, Crown Prince Cassian."

Crown Prince Cassian instinctively arched his eyebrow upon hearing that. He couldn’t hide the displeasure he felt at the mention of the word ’wife’.

"My marriage is not my father’s concern. I will decide on my own," he sternly said.

Princess Alessandra glanced at her mother worriedly. She could feel that Prince Cassian’s mood turned sour when they mentioned marriage.

’I’m anxious. I feel like Prince Cassian doesn’t want anyone to meddle with his personal life, most importantly with his marriage.’ Alessandra thought to herself, darting her gaze back and forth between Prince Cassian and Queen Amara.

Despite Prince Cassian’s outright refusal of marriage, Queen Amara still insisted on bringing up the marriage between Princess Alessandra and him.

"Crown Prince Cassian, our first daughter, Princess Alessandra can be a perfect match for you. So here we are proposing a marriage alliance between the two of you. What is your stand regarding this?"

Prince Cassian erupted into a peal of humorless laughter. He found the marriage idea so ridiculous.

"Forgive me, Your Highness but my answer to that is a firm NO!"

The table was engulfed with a deafening silence. Prince Cassian’s direct refusal was like a slap on Princess Alessandra’s face. For some unknown reason, she felt humiliated in front of everyone.

"I didn’t come here to look for a wife," he added.

"Crown Prince Cassian, don’t you want to reconsider it? Think about the benefit you will get out of this marriage." King Solomon urged him to reconsider his decision to save his daughter’s face.

"I said NO. I won’t marry the princess," Crown Prince Cassian firmly said with finality in his voice.

Another awkward silence hung in the air.

After a while, Prince Cassian shifted his gaze to Alaric. "But if you really insist on strengthening our alliance through marriage, why don’t you let the Kingdom’s hero marry my sister, Princess Thalia?"

Alaric reflexively clenched his fists the moment he heard that. He knew it. He couldn’t avoid this topic as long as Princess Thalia wouldn’t give up on him.

"With all due respect, Crown Prince... I’m already married. I can’t marry your sister," Alaric promptly responded. He didn’t wait for King Solomon to speak for himself. He wanted everyone at that table to know that he was against this marriage.

"You can marry my sister, General Stormholt. Divorce your wife," Prince Cassian said in his commanding tone.

Alaric narrowed his eyes at Crown Prince Cassian. He was so fed up with hearing those words numerous times today.

"Please be mindful of your words, Crown Prince. My wife is still a member of the royal family. She is not a trash that should be discarded easily." Alaric retorted, increasing the heavy tension at the table.

Princess Aliyah and Princess Alessandra didn’t expect Alaric to refuse the marriage with Thalia. They thought he was having an affair with Thalia. But why was it the young general was determined not to divorce his wife, Eve?

"She is just a fake princess!" Princess Thalia blurted out, unable to control her emotions. She was upset because Alaric kept rejecting her, even in front of her brother.

King Solomon reflexively glanced at Queen Amara while Eve’s royal siblings were dumbfounded in their respective chairs.

Did the royal secret have been revealed to Princess Thalia?

On the other hand, Alaric and Prince Cassian were both puzzled by Thalia’s words.

’What does she mean by saying Eve is just a fake princess?’

Meeting Queen Amara’s warning glare, Thalia immediately shut her mouth, realizing her mistake. She wasn’t supposed to bring that up tonight.

"Cough! Cough!" King Solomon cleared his throat. "I think it is improper to talk about the third princess in her absence."

"Crown Prince Cassian, General Alaric is our kingdom’s hero. Are you trying to steal our greatest warrior by proposing a marriage between Princess Thalia and our general?" Princess Alessandra finally joined the conversation.

Her pride had been hurt by Prince Cassian’s refusal to their marriage so she needed to redeem herself from this embarrassment.

"I’m not stealing your greatest warrior," Prince Cassian nonchalantly responded. "My sister is a princess of high status in our kingdom. She deserves to marry a man with the greatest achievement, even if he is not from the royal family."

"But he is still our greatest warrior. Once he marries Princess Thalia, he will move to your kingdom and he will eventually lead your army to battles. Unless you are also willing to give up your kingdom’s greatest asset, we can agree to this marriage. In exchange, give us your Kingdom’s Seer." Princess Alessandra challenged him indirectly.

Alaric could no longer stand this. Why were they the ones deciding for him and his marriage? The royal family didn’t own his life! He was a human being, not an object!

Alaric was about to slam the table with his fists when suddenly the Royal Chamberlain made an announcement, catching everyone’s attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Let’s witness the last performance of the Siren Ensemble."

The lights in the banquet hall dimmed to focus more on the center stage where the last member of the Siren Ensemble would perform.

It did not take long before a masked lady in her red chiton dress took the center stage, holding the zither. Though half of her face was covered by her ball mask, she couldn’t hide those beautiful emerald eyes and her long silver-gray hair that cascaded down her shoulders.

For some unknown reason, both Alaric and Crown Prince Cassian fixed their gazes on the masked lady at the center stage. It wasn’t just them, but also the Black Hunter, Gideon, who had also been waiting for her appearance.

’Oh god! She is finally here. I can’t wait to see the big ruckus Eve is going to create at this very moment,’ Gideon thought to himself, smirking. "Good luck, Princess. Slay them all!"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.