Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 255: Violet: Love Has a Colour
6 May, 1348. Magdaline Castle, Islia
The Banquet of Love was one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the season, perhaps of even the entire year. Violet had heard from other ladies that the history of the banquet was as old as the king and queen’s marriage itself. Their Majesties had apparently started the tradition in their very first year of marriage.
The thought made Violet giggle a bit. Who could imagine that drab looking couple once being young and in love? Then again, she was happy enough to support any tradition that lead to the hosting of such a supposedly grand event.
Everyone was required to dress in green for the occasion, the colour that symbolised true love back in the days of the ancient bards and legends. The dress code was a challenge for Violet and Ilse as they only owned a single green gown each. The green silk was itself so dark, it almost looked black. Still, it would have to do.
It was a great help that a fortnight ago, Ilse had been gifted a length of pale green brocade by Queen Celia. She’d had the fabric cut into two long sashes that each girl could tie under their bust. Violet though the pretty sash made her gown look better.
She focused on that thought instead of feeling peevish that her sister had received a gift, when she’d received nothing.
The queen was of course expected to have her favourites among the many ladies that surrounded her. It didn’t even trouble Violet that she wasn’t one of them. Queen Celia wasn’t exactly sparkling company. In fact, Violet found her to be a colourless woman, conservative and deeply religious. She was the kind of woman that Violet wouldn’t bother giving the time of day, were she not an actual queen.
What irritated her now was that Ilse had managed to make herself one of the queen’s favourites, after only a few weeks.
The other ladies had also noticed the rise in Ilse’s fortunes and adjusted their own behaviour. Many of them who’d originally treated the Thierre sisters with aloofness were now trying to ingratiate themselves with Ilse. Even Maisie Setterten was treating her with surprising courtesy, though both sisters still mistrusted her.
After much thought, Violet realised what it was that bothered her so much about Ilse’s popularity. She didn’t like that the roles the two had played all their lives, had now followed them to the royal court.
Ilse had always been known for being open and warm and sweet, making friends without effort. Violet had always been the warier, more cautious sister.
It that what had made the queen like Ilse so much more? Or was it her sister’s laughter when that annoying youth Rufus played one of his silly pranks? Was it the patience Ilse showed to the two youngest princes, who seemed to be around and loudly underfoot all the time? Was it Ilse’s willingness to sing the warbling ancient ballads that the queen loved, for literally hours on end?
Violet knew she wasn’t going to sing dull songs until her throat felt ready to bleed. She wasn’t going to pretend to find annoying, sticky handed children amusing. She didn’t even like children!
And if all that is what it took to get on Queen Celia’s good side, then she’d never become a favourite lady-in-waiting. She could try as hard as she wanted, and even pretend for a while that she was different. But she couldn’t fundamentally change who she was. Nobody could.
- - -
Violet and Ilse joined the other ladies as they entered the banquet hall, trailing behind the queen. She couldn’t help but gape like the coarsest of peasants, when she saw the extravagance around her. Was all the splendour really to commemorate the marriage of a middle aged couple?
The enormous hall had been decorated like a charming woodland paradise, with billowing silk curtains and panels covering the walls in shades of green, glowing under candlelight. There were vines draped around columns and beams and the room was scented with flowers. A thick carpet of fresh rushes mixed with lavender obscured the stone floor. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Queen Celia looked around and smiled at her surroundings as if she expected nothing less. Violet wondered cynically who King Edward was really trying to impress with such a banquet. Surely a man didn’t go to such effort for a woman he’d already been wed to for over two decades? Especially one who had become dumpy and sedate after half a dozen children.
The eyes of every unmarried - and quite a few married - woman in the hall were on the princes, of course. Specifically, the two eldest ones, both dressed top to toe in emerald green silk. Most ladies seemed to have a definite fondness for one young man over the other, given they were almost opposite in nature.
Leo was wild and brash, fond of wenches, gambling and riotous evenings. In contrast, James was considered a true gentleman, if rather unadventurous.
Then again, even the ladies who preferred James, would cast him aside in a heartbeat for a chance with his older brother. Such was the appeal of being heir to the throne.
Violet could understand that, though she didn’t think much of Prince Leo. The cruel comment he’d made about her family on the first day they met, was hard to forget. She also found him insufferably arrogant. Yes, he was tall and handsome, but for him to act as if he were the only handsome man under the sun, was hard to take. He also drank heavily and tended to act like a boor when drunk.
She understood, however, how his ability to turn a mere mortal into a future queen, allowed him to get away with things an ordinary man couldn’t.
Violet listened to the musicians play as platters of delectable springtime food were served to all the tables. She was careful to only eat dainty portions, almost feeling her mother’s eyes boring into the back of her head and whispering that a lady never gorged herself.
And the funny thing was that no matter what she ate, no matter how rare or exotic, it never tasted quite as delicious as the fruit she’d scavenged at Orravalo. Perhaps it was because the wild riverside fruit had been so scarce, whereas everything at court was bountiful to the point of wastefulness.
Next to her, Ilse was smiling as she munched on asparagus, a delicacy they could never afford at home. "I can’t wait until the plates are cleared and the dancing can begin." she hummed happily.
Violet nodded absently but was less enthused. She hated to admit it but after only a few weeks of court life, the shine was already fading from attending grand formal events. It was always the same routine. Sitting tall in an uncomfortable chair while eating daintily, listening to her fellow ladies verbally assasinate whoever was asked to dance by the most eligible men, occasionally being asked to dance herself.
She was self aware enough to know she wasn’t a stunning beauty and that her reserved manner didn’t make her a magnet for men. But yet again, Ilse had a way of reminding Violet of everything she wasn’t and couldn’t ever hope to be.
It had been hard enough to take back home, when it had only been their family and servants who had watched her being outshined, day after day, by her twin.
It was becoming quite unbearable when it was now happening before all of Islia’s most noble and influential people. Violet could feel her resentment slowly, slowly growing, like a tiny grain of sand that tumbles down a hill and picks up more and more sand as it goes.
By the time it reaches the bottom of the slope, that tiny grain has become a full avalanche. And Violet didn’t want her sister to be buried in an avalanche of her own ugly fears and insecurities. She truly didn’t. Ilse was the other half of her soul.
She just didn’t know how to stop the bitterness that was growing in her heart as each day passed, like a poisonous little plant spreading its gossamer roots.
The worst part of all was that none of it was intentional from Ilse. She couldn’t help who she was or tamp down her nature any more than Violet could. Ilse would be the first to comfort and encourage her sister if Violet were to voice her fears. She would offer her reassurance in her sweet voice, beam her lovely smile and genuinely mean every kind thing she said.
I am you and you are me. We’re in each other’s blood for always.
And those words and gestures would all make the flames in Violet’s heart burn even hotter. Because, she was beginning to realise with dismay, she didn’t simply want Ilse to help her be better.
Violet wanted to be better than her. And she wanted everyone to acknowledge it.
