"I cannot take any more of this. I cannot take part in another dance," Lily said, holding onto Penelope for support. "Rue, did you not bring along any guards from the border? What happened to your guards?"
"They are at home. My father didn’t think we would need them tonight," Rue replied. "Why?"
"There is someone amongst your guards who catches Lily’s fancy," Penelope revealed.
Lily pinched Penelope. "You are wrong."
"Then, who is it that you have been waiting for to arrive in town? You have been looking for someone. Do not lie to me," said Penelope.
Lily didn’t want to share who she was waiting for since her feelings were slipping away as the days passed. She could not wait much longer for the man who once had her affection to arrive in Lockwood.
"I am not lying. Prepare yourself for trouble," Lily said, being the first one to notice a group of their peers approaching.
"Lady Penelope," Octavia curtsied. "Let me be the first of my friends here to congratulate you on your wedding. You were more determined than I thought to steal away the prince."
"I was hardly determined to steal him from anyone," Penelope replied, bored with the talk already.
Octavia smiled. "In our eyes, you were. Your marriage was a bit surprising to us since you so loudly claimed that you did not want to be with the prince."
"I also said that I didn’t want to be queen, and here I stand, not the future queen. Nothing about what I said in the past was ever a lie. I simply was so lucky to have a man willing to do anything to marry me," Penelope replied.
"I hope you will be so fortunate as to experience such love. All of you," Penelope said to the small group.
"It does look like a wonderful love story at first glance, but now many say you have cursed the prince. He has lost the crown and a-"
"Octavia," Penelope said, stopping Octavia before she could ramble off. "We are both women. You should not follow chatter that places blame for what a man does on a woman. The days change so fast, and it might not be long before you find yourself blamed for your husband’s actions should you marry."
When men placed their misfortunes on women who did nothing but stand at their side, Penelope thought they were senseless. It was also an ignorant sight to see women indulge in it.
Octavia huffed, annoyed that Penelope made it sound like she might not marry. "I will pick a wise husband who will not make any mistakes."
Penelope raised her brow. "The prince is not wise?"
"I," Octavia was stumped.
"And based on what you said, you also acknowledged that the prince decided to leave. Some men tend to place women as the root of all that goes wrong. They are wildly foolish, but I think lowly of the women who join them," said Penelope.
"It is only surprising for us that you married the prince after what you said," Harper spoke up in defence of Octavia.
Harper hoped that her speaking now, when the others were silent, would win her favour with Octavia since she had lost Selina.
"I changed my mind," Penelope admitted. "It is obvious that I did. I welcomed his advances when the situation became better for me. Isn’t that what everyone does? Why is it so bad when I do it?"
Harper remained quiet.
"It is not wrong, it is only surprising," Amelia spoke up. "One day, we didn’t have to worry about you, and then you married the prince in secret. I assure you that most of us are no longer angry and have moved on to other gentlemen, but we are worried."
"I am quite certain you are worried so much that you are wasting your time," said Penelope. "The wrinkles you bear are also evident of you worrying so much about someone else."
Octavia gasped, touching her face.
Penelope continued to say, "I remember a few of you going on and on about marriage. If you would put less time being so concerned about a curse that doesn’t exist and put more time on the men admiring you, you would be on the path to a wedding."
Octavia scoffed. "Now that you have a ring, are you looking down on us? We all want to marry and will do so in due time with proper preparations. There is no need to shame us."
Penelope chuckled. "I would never shame anyone for not being married, but for those of you who have made your existence about marriage, you must focus on yourself now. There is a room full of eligible men, yet here you stand before me, a woman. I cannot wed you."
Rue laughed at Penelope’s remark, unintentionally bringing attention to herself.
"I will not stand for a savage laughing at me," Octavia said.
"Savage?" Penelope repeated, holding out her right hand to stop Rue. "I understand why lies about a curse are believed so easily. When there are people like you who are so ignorant, of course, this town will believe lies. You can be punished for what you called her.’
"I will make sure to bring it to the king’s attention," said Lily.
"The lies about the people residing by the border have long been cleared up, and now even townspeople from Lockword reside there. It is concerning that you will pass on such ignorance to children," Penelope said.
Penelope wouldn’t be surprised if these ladies learned what they spoke of from their parents, who didn’t bother to educate them. If not careful, the cycle would continue for many generations.
"I am starting to get a headache speaking to all of you. Please return to wherever you came from and leave me alone. Since you all believe that I am cursed, why do you come near me? Does the curse cease to exist when you want to question or try to humiliate me?" Penelope asked.
Penelope wanted to laugh at how they ignored how the curse supposedly worked. They were not to look at her face, yet here they stood glaring at her.
"Humiliate you? We have not come to do such a thing? You are a little too guarded, Penelope. You must relax for your sake and the baby," Harper said.
"Baby? What baby?" Penelope asked, surprised it was Harper who mentioned
"Are you saying that I am carrying a child now when I recently got married a few days ago? Do you realise what you are suggesting?’
Harper’s lips were slightly ajar. "I," she started to say, realising her grave mistake.
It was gossip meant to be kept between the ladies, but she was foolish to speak of it to Penelope’s face.
"It is what I heard," Harper said, turning to her peers for help. "Are you not carrying the prince’s child?"
"No, I am not. What I do know is that you might lose your tongue for what you say," said Penelope. "Since you have never said anything worth hearing, losing your tongue might be a blessing for you and those around you."