Chapter 910: Queen Serena"s Plan
After Rowena left the crown prince to chase after Julian, it upset Liam quite much. He watched her leave, hopeful that she would return but it didn"t happen.
Crown Prince Liam wasn"t used to things not going his way. Even though he often snuck out of the palace, he never got in trouble for it because both of his parents loved him so much.
That was how he was confident that Julian and Rowena wouldn"t get in trouble despite the former pretending to be him for a day.
However, what did that get Liam? Nothing.
He thundered down the hallway to retreat into his mother"s room, but she was nowhere to be found again.
It seemed like the person who informed her mother about the special delicacies had still preoccupied her.
Prince Liam waited for her return.
"My son?" Queen Serena was in shock when she entered her room and found her son seated in her bed looking frustrated. "What are you doing here?"
"Are you not pleased that I visited you?"
"It"s not that," Queen Serena smiled gently at him as she sat down beside him. "I thought you were supposed to practice for the ballroom dance with the princess before lunch. You made plans, didn"t you?"
Prince Liam sighed in defeat. "Well, it didn"t work out as I thought."
"Is that so? That"s a shame." Queen Serena looked at her son and sighed softly. "I do not simply understand why she would not want to spend time with such a charming and handsome young man like you."
"I don"t get it, Mother. What does she like about him?" Prince Liam was frustrated as he laid down his head on his mother"s lap. "I mean he looks similar to me—but I"m the crown prince of Verona and he"s not."
"A young woman like her must have been influenced greatly by that person when she was still young." Queen Serena soothed her boy and gently ma.s.saged his scalp.
She was pleased by the good news that the royal doctor was able to acquire the ingredients for the poison, so she was in preparation for the next steps.
Luckily for her, her son was in a foul mood and seemed irritable about this Julian.
He was exactly like her and that made her proud.
"Are you saying that he must have taught her to rely solely on him?" Prince Liam frowned. "That"s insane... that"s wrong. Rowena doesn"t seem to notice it because she cares for him, but that"s not acceptable."
"What can you do?" Queen Serena sighed. "People will overlook the flaws of someone they care about. I mean can you believe what this young woman must have done to survive?"
"...I did hear something about magical bracelets." Prince Liam sighed and folded his hands as he stared up at t
he ceiling. "It seems like they were swindlers who tricked people out of their money."
"Now you see what I mean, Liam?" Queen Serena clicked her tongue. "That princess is now acting like a brute—"
"Mother, they didn"t have a choice," Prince Liam said. "Besides, it"s kind of impressive that they could do something like that. You can"t put Rowena and the word brute in the same sentence."
"Impressive or not, the situation remains the same. This Julian is not a good influence on that princess from Ashland, I wouldn"t be surprised if he convinced her to leave the palace and run away with him."
"...yes, he doesn"t seem like the most proper person to be around with." Prince Liam admitted. "I just wished that she saw that, but she really trusts him. I just want her to stay, Mother, you know?"
"I know my child." Queen Serena smiled patiently. "And I promise to help you with that."
"You can"t force them to stay, I don"t want her to hate me." Prince Liam glanced at his mother seriously.
"Oh, we don"t have to use force. I"m not like that, Liam." Queen Serena flicked her son"s forehead. "I know of a less obvious way to make them stay. We can make her see that it"s far better to be here in Verona with you than to go around with that Julian."
"What do you mean?" Prince Liam asked.
"All I need for my precious son to do is mix something into Julian"s drink during the banquet. I presume you"ll be sitting right next to them, right?"
"That— that sounds dangerous, mother. What am I mixing?" Prince Liam frowned. "I haven"t forgotten that you revealed that Rowena is a princess to my father. She was upset with me because of it."
"She was upset with it? Please, she seems to have been relieved that she didn"t have to pretend to be a commoner." Queen Serena rolled her eyes. "As to what you"ll be mixing, it"s something that might upset Julian"s stomach and he"ll end up needing to stay here in the Verona palace for some time."
"Some time?"
"I believe it"s just enough time for you to convince our little princess to stay with you, yes?"
"Oh, so it"ll upset his stomach but nothing else." Prince Liam frowned.
"Imagine it"s like one of your little pranks or something that they do." Queen Serena smiled. "You"ll simply be giving him a taste of his own medicine, right, Liam? And what"s so wrong with that?"
Prince Liam slowly nodded. "You"re right. After everything he"s done, there"s nothing wrong with some retribution."
"See? You agree with me." Queen Serena patted her son"s cheek. "Don"t say a word to your father, alright? I"m quite sure that he wouldn"t agree with either of us, so it"s best to not let him know. Unders
tand?"
"Yes, mother. I won"t say a word." Prince Liam nodded.
"Good."
"But what if Julian gets sick and she wants to take care of him?" Prince Liam remembered how close the two were. He wasn"t quite sure if his mother"s plan would work out.
"She"s not a doctor, Liam. She can"t spend all of her time focused on him."
"But what if she realizes that I did something to Julian? Won"t it be strange if only Julian gets sick during the banquet?"
Queen Serena smiled. "Who"s to say he"ll be the only one? There are some other people that I wish to inflict a little prank on."