Jesting appeared to ponder on it for a few seconds and then he made up his mind because the answer to that question was rather simple.
"I think she will choose the enemy crown prince, your highness."
One of Roland’s brows moved up curiously. "Oh really! why do you think so?"
"Because there is nothing the masses love like a love story which is also a sob story. They root for enemies becoming lovers, I believe that it is what I have heard from chef Lenore. She said it is more exciting than an ordinary love story between two people that have long been expected to love each other."
Roland scoffed a little.
"Indeed."
Jesting smiled, which was a rare thing to see, even for Roland. "I can accurately recall the number of times you run away from the capital and expressed your great dislike of the current crown princess. I believe that you used the words, irritating, infuriating and manner less.
I can also recall how many times you vowed to off her head if she followed you around secretly or paid soldiers money to share your whereabouts and...."
Roland covered his eyes, it was slightly shameful that he had surrendered to the very woman he once thought he hated.
"She is not the same person she used to be." he said, raising his hands to the heavens. He couldn’t count how many times he had repeated these very words to his friends and family members that were curious about the state of their relationship.
Before leaving the capital this time, he had run into his mother and she had encouraged him to spend more time with his cousins, the three beauties. She reminded him of his previous grudges against his wife.
"Well, I am rooting for you." Jesting laughed a little and then as quickly as the sound came, it was gone. "Your highness, I think we should go down and welcome your in-laws to your home."
Roland moved away from the window, vacating the office slowly and Jesting followed behind him, matching his footsteps in sync. It was easy to keep up, he had been walking behind the crown prince for years.
**
In the immediate living room of the castle where guests were welcomed, the Thorin’s were already making themselves comfortable. They looked around, foraging every corner and observing every portrait on the wall which were mostly horses.
John was dissatisfied, there was no single portrait of his sister, the lady of the house but dozens of horses and a few of Roland. There was only one of the royal family and none of the people in the portrait had a smile on their faces.
"Does he have a horse fetish?" he blurted out.
Someone choked on laughter, the idea was comical at best.
"If you were not my brother I would hit you." Sigrid told him. She went ahead and slapped him on his back. It was a minor slap that caused him just a little pain and itch. "What are you all doing here anyway? I do not recall sending an invitation."
"You don’t live here Siggy, so technically we did not need an invitation from you to come." Elowin answered. He applied logic and made his voice sweet.
"I don’t live here but my husband owns the castle and I am his wife so technically I own the castle. It is called joint property ownership." she replied cleverly, applying the law in retort.
Nathaniel, her eldest brother cackled loudly. "Siggy, that only works if the property was acquired during the marriage, not before. Everyone here has read those new marriage laws which you contributed to." He turned his head to a maid and ordered her to bring him a glass of wine and his wife Deanna some milk.
"He only read them because he does not want to be hoodwinked in case I ask for a divorce." Deanna smiled dryly. "I never considered divorce before but as soon as I found out that he was thinking of protecting himself in case of a divorce, I started to consider protecting myself too."
Sigrid’s head moved from Nathaniel to Deanna. From them, she looked at her parents and grandparents that were unbothered as if the matter was of no concern to them.
"Are you all deaf? Do you hear them?"
"Yes dear, we hear them loud and clear." Iryne replied. "It is not illegal or scandalous. Even if we say something, what are we expected to say?"
"The new marriage laws have everyone believing that they are a solicitor of some sort." Duke Thorin’s response was clipped. It seemed he was less than happy about this new development in Eldoria. "Why, just the other day Lord Caramol pulled me aside to ask for my thoughts on fault-based divorce. His first wife is looking to divorce and she has put the blame on him. He gave me a some advise on how to protect myself and my wrongdoings so that my wife will never have an upper hand in case of divorce."
Iryne gasped loudly, "Lady Victoria Caramol is divorcing her husband!!"
The duke nodded, his eyes expressed surprise that his daughter-in-law was not aware of this. "Are you not aware of this? I thought for sure Miss Louisa Caramol had mentioned this to you. She is your third cousin after all."
Iryne shook her head.
"They hate each other now." General Paxton filled in the gaps for those that were not aware of the recent change in status in the relationship between his wife and her cousin. "Miss Louisa was caught by Lady Helen talking ill about about our Siggy after her ball.
Apparently, Miss Louisa was not happy because of what happened with Jonathan Durin. They had been courting for a while and now he has to marry Miss Florence Windrider.
Miss Louisa said the incident would not have happened if Sigrid had kept her immorality to herself and she hoped Sigrid and Roland would divorce soon and our Siggy would be take a walk down humiliation lane. " He further explained.
"Why do you know all this?" The duke quizzed.
’My wife and I talk about everything." General Paxton shrugged.
Lady Iryne nodded. "We do." she confirmed. "When I heard from Helen what Louise had said, I waited when she was out shopping and gave her a tongue lashing she will never forget."
General Paxton looked at Sigrid with a smile of pride on his face. "Your mother embarrassed Louise in public by pulling out the receipts of all the money she had spent on the woman. She called her a brainless freeloader and slapped her. She did great, right?"
Sigrid was a bit more mortified than proud. No wonder the Thorin’s had been wiped out, they just loved making new enemies.
She gave her mother who was waiting to be praised a thumbs up, assuring her that she had done good.
"Who else is divorcing?" she asked. Someone was bound to need a lawyer, maybe it was time for her to go back to her old profession.