Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Chapter 103: Turned On Its Head

Franz was crowned king three days later right after his son's official naming ceremony. Roland Augustine McLeod became the crown prince of Annalaias as his father held him up in front of all of the nobility.

Sigmund was so furious that he didn't even bother showing up to the ceremony, which was a source of great gossip right up until the nobility trickled back to their country estates. They wouldn't return until the fall but I had a feeling they would still be talking about it then too.

Aside from that brief, necessary appearance in public, Mariela stayed in her quarters with her child, not even entrusting him to a wet nurse. She liked the ideas about parenting that Katie had mentioned during her pregnancy and wanted to spend as much time raising her son as she could.

They were different than the ones she and Franz stayed in before. Now that he was king, he had taken over the most exquisite suite in the palace and the queen had been delegated elsewhere.

The royal family had been completely turned on its head. With a new king and queen on the throne, Franz's mother was now the dowager queen. Sigmund and Al were still princes but their position had changed slightly since their places in the line of succession had been shuffled around.

Security around the queen and baby crown prince tightened considerably so there was no real opportunity to strike. Sigmund would not be getting his former title back so easily.

I was most uneasy about what he might be up to. He hadn't so much as shown his face at meals since Roland was born. He might be sulking but he also might be planning something big. I worried about that adorable baby.

I loved cooing over Roland while visiting Mariela but it filled me with homesickness. This was the closest I would ever get to being an aunt. Abby's future children wouldn't know me at all outside of any stories she might tell them about our childhood.

"What are we supposed to do now?" I asked one day as we sat around eating crme puffs.

"I am not sure what you mean," Mariela replied, looking up from the nursing baby in her arms.

"Well, Sigmund is obviously planning something but probably won't get a chance to strike until court reconvenes in the fall. Shouldn't we prepare some sort of counterattack?"

She frowned. "We cannot prepare a counterattack for something we are not aware of. I do not believe he can do much now that most of his power has been stripped away. All he really has left is a vote in court and access to the castle."

It was the second part that I was worried about. He was still here like a sleeping snake that could wake up and strike any second. He could potentially attack someone before the royal guards were able to do a thing.

As concerned as I was for sweet baby Roland, I was also growing progressively more concerned for Al and me as well. Sigmund had assumed we were working with Franz before. He was probably positive of it now and might be out for revenge.

I knew Duke Orla was out for blood. He had been radiating a murderous aura at the coronation about twenty feet away from me and I could still feel it. I had absolutely no idea what had been going through his head.

Was he angry about losing his position as the crown prince's aide? That his friend hadn't become king and had ended up demoted? Or was this somehow about me?

"I suppose you're right," I said even though I didn't believe it.

Mariela wanted to believe that this was all over and everything was okay even though she was still very conscientious of her son's safety. I was the paranoid one because I had read the novel and knew the lengths Sigmund would go to in order to get what he wanted.

One good thing came from Franz being in charge right away though. We were allowed to leave the palace again. Once the nobles returned to their country estates and everything settled down nobody cared what we got up to.

Sigmund could no longer have us executed for treason so we decided to visit Al's family for the first time in a couple of months. They were ecstatic to see us.

Ayana threw her arms around Al when she spotted him. "Where have you been all this time? I thought something horrible must have happened to you!"

She still didn't know that we were technically considered royalty because Al hadn't wanted her to think badly of him for being raised by the people who killed her family and destroyed her way of life.

She was under the impression we were nobles with high ranking connections. We would have to be in order to get support for reclaiming their homeland. Now might be a good time to come clean.