Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 292: Violet: Now You Know

"Don’t!" Violet hissed. "Don’t you dare say that cursed man’s name around me! Everything that’s happened is his goddamn fault!"

"What?" Ilse rolled her eyes impatiently as she pressed a silver circlet to her brow. "Stop being so dramatic! Yes, you’re in a mess and you’re upset, I understand that. I’ll help you as best as I can. But there’s no need to start dragging people who have nothing to do with it into this conversation-"

"Who do you think did this?" Violet interrupted as staggered to her feet, clapping her hand over her belly. "Whose child do you think this is?"

"I have no idea." Ilse’s eyes were round as she stared back in confusion. "I hope it’s not one of Leo’s hard drinking friends, is it? I’ve told him more than once that group of rowdy men is a bad influence on him-"

"Ilse! Shut up for one moment and just listen to me! This is Prince Leo’s child!" Violet slapped her belly again to emphasise the point. "Do you understand that? Do you? The man who’s been romancing you, has also been seeing me behind your back and he’s put a baby in my belly!"

There was a deathly silence after the words rang out, words never able to be retracted.

Ilse’s face turned a sickly shade of yellow. She stared vacantly at her twin for so long that Violet thought perhaps she didn’t actually hear the accusations against Leo.

"Sister? Did you hear what I just said?" Violet asked hesitantly. "I said this child was fathered by the prince-"

"You lie." was all that Ilse whispered, then pressed her heart shaped lips into a tight line.

"It’s not a lie. I swear-"

"You lie!" Ilse cried, her face now flooding with colour. "You’ve never supported my connection with Leo. You’ve tried to turn me away from him since practically the first day. And since you didn’t succeed, you’re now using this disgusting lie to try and drive a wedge between us!"

"It’s not a lie! I swear it, this is his child!" Violet felt her desperation rising. She needed so badly for Ilse to believe her! "He lay with me during the progress and-"

"Liar!" Ilse screamed, really screamed at her, then stepped forward until the sisters were face to face and only a hair’s breath away.

Violet saw the wild rage that smouldered in her eyes and instinctively stepped back. She’d never thought her mild tempered twin was capable of such emotion.

"Why would you try to wound me with such horrible words, Violet? Why? Is it simple jealousy or is it because you can’t stand seeing anyone doing better than you?" Ilse never looked away from her as the hurtful words continued gushing out. "I don’t know why I expected better from you. You’ve always been this way! If you can’t win a game, then you must destroy it for everyone else playing too! You just can’t help yourself, can you?"

Violet straightened her shoulders and tried not to show fear, even though Ilse had managed to back her against the wall. "I’ll swear on my own life that I’m not lying. But if you doubt me, go ask him instead. Ask your precious prince if he ever lay with me at Bentworth Manor! Ask him if he ever invited me into his apartments back at Magdaline Castle. Let’s see if he can spin a convincing lie to your face!"

"I will ask him." Ilse whispered. "I trust Leo to tell me the truth because he loves me. I know you won’t believe that, but it’s true."

Violet swallowed hard and smiled bitterly. She’d once had hopes of holding that bastard’s undivided attention. Why had she ever thought it possible? "Perhaps he does love you. As much as someone like him is capable of love, I mean. But he’s not faithful to you, Ilse, and probably never will be. Lord knows who else he was romping with while he was splitting his time between us both."

Ilse just stood before her, frame shaking and face stricken. She looked at her as if Violet had just sprouted horns and a forked tail.

It hurt. Violet found it hurt for her own sister to look upon her that way, as an object of utter loathing.

And ironically, there has probably been no other time when I’ve needed her help more, she said to herself. But how can I beg her to help now, when I’ve been lying and trying to undermine her success all this time?

Out loud, she said more gently to Ilse, "Ask yourself, is this the kind of man you want to build a future with? If he truly, honestly loved you, he wouldn’t have gone and disrespected you this way."

Something about those words made Ilse smile slightly. "That’s exactly what I could say about you. If you truly loved me, you wouldn’t deliberately chased the man you knew I cared for, let alone spent time sneaking around with him. Isn’t that right?"

Violet could only nod her head dumbly, unable to escape the raw honesty of Ilse’s words. Maybe she was no better than Leo.

No, you’re even worse than him, she told herself. The prince is too callous or stupid to know the devastation he’d cause by getting in between twins. Hell, he probably treated like some kind of selfish challenge.

But you knew, Violet. You knew and you did it anyway, thinking the gains were worth the risk.

Thinking that your tender hearted sister would forgive you afterwards because once you were reaping the benefits of being the centre of Leo’s attention, you’d be able to soothe her. You’d be able to convince Ilse that being the sister of the prince’s favourite, would be good for her and their entire family.

As if Ilse was the kind to be swayed by wealth or prestige, when all she wanted from court life was to find love.

"Why him?" Ilse finally asked slowly. "Of all the men here, why did it have to be him? Did you choose him only because you knew I loved him?"

Because he was the greatest prize here, Violet wanted to reply. And I wanted to make sure my prize was greater than yours.

But she didn’t want to wound Ilse any more, when she already looked so heartbroken. "Because I cared for him too." she said as convincingly as possible.

At that, Ilse shook her head and gave a harsh, humourless laugh. "What kind of simpleton do you think I am? You care nothing for him. You can barely stand having a conversation with him! Which means you only ever did all this to wound me."

"No...Ilse, that’s not true-"

"Of course it is! Tell me, dearest sister. Have you always been this hateful, even back home?"

"No! I just...It’s just this godforsaken court...I felt so out of place..." Violet cringed at how lame her explanation sounded. "I just wanted to be important, to matter...for once. Because you’ve always mattered more."

"You wanted to be important, to matter more than me." Ilse repeated the words in a daze. "Well, I guess you’re definitely going to get everyone’s attention now. You must be pleased with yourself."

"No, I’m not. I promise..."

Ilse wasn’t listening any longer. She finally turned on her heel and headed for the door.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Violet asked.

"To find Leo right now and hear the truth from him." Ilse looked back over her shoulder, eyes steely and hand on the door handle. "Either he confirms you’re lying and then I’ll know you’ve tried to hurt me with the most terrible of lies. Or he confirms you’re telling the truth and I’ll know you’ve utterly betrayed me. But either way, I’m never going to forgive you for this."

"Ilse! Please let me explain more-!"

With a slam of the door, she was gone.

In a daze, Violet stood up and stumbled over to the bed. She sat down, dropping her aching head into her hands.

Little more than a fortnight ago, everything had seemed to be within her grasp.

How had her life unraveled so quickly, and so terribly?

And if her own twin wouldn’t help her, what hope did she have?

The temptation was great to just lie back and bury herself under the blanket, hiding from everyone and everything. She knew she couldn’t, however.

If Ilse was going to confront Leo, then Violet had to make sure the truth reached her sister’s ears, loud and clear. She couldn’t risk that snake trying to lie his way out of his share of the blame.

"Lord knows I’m not the only one who created this disaster." she mumbled. "If I have to pay for my sins, so does he."

So with great effort, she heaved herself back off the bed and opened her clothes chest. Pulling on the first front lacing gown she saw, Violet crammed a veil onto her messy braids and shoved her feet into slippers.

Then she started to run.

Her mind quickly ran through the possibilities of where Leo might be so early in the morning. If he wasn’t in his apartments trying to sleep off a night of drinking and carousing, Violet’s best guess was he’d be at the training grounds.

She ran down the western corridors and down the grand staircase. As she pushed through double doors that led to one of the many courtyards, Violet noticed the sun was rising in spectacular fashion.

Such a beautiful morning, while my life falls apart around me.