Chapter 181 - Short stories 9.1: Family plan> (2/2)

It was an ear cuff that was the shape of a wing.

“…”

“…”

Both Bina and Lucretius became speechless.

After a few seconds, Lucretius smiled widely and kissed Beatrice’s cheek.

“My princess indeed has a very good taste.”

Beatrice smiled proudly. Lucretius handed his daughter to Yulia and gestured for the maid. She then brought him the ear cuff. He put it on Bina himself.

It was a gift Lucretius gave before their first ball. It shined beautifully on her ear.

The emperor smiled in satisfaction and helped Bina to stand up.

The empress mentioned with a small laugh, “It’s amazing that Beatrice chose this particular piece.”

“I was surprised too. It just proves that this piece suits you very well.”

Lucretius carried Beatrice again. The child looked at her mother and exclaimed, “You are so beautiful!”

Lucretius added, “Beatrice has such good eyes!”

Like father like daughter.

Finally, the family arrived in the garden. It was much later than expected so Bina became worried.

“Oh no, we made our guests wait too long.”

***

It was a nice warm spring morning, so the royal family decided to greet the guests in the garden. The bright red-haired woman first noticed their arrival and stood up to bow.

“Greetings to your highnesses the emperor, the empress, and the princess.”

Bina smiled brightly. “Please stand up, Liliana. You need to rest…”

Liliana smiled prettily and stood up with help from her husband. As Bina suspected, Liliana’s belly had become large. Bina took Liliana’s hand and escorted her to the table.

“So your due date is in about two months? How’s your appetite?”

Instead of Liliana, another girl answered from behind. It was Roselia, now a fourteen-year-old girl.

“Hello, your highness. Her nausea has been worse than when she was pregnant with Cullen. Thankfully, she could eat a little better since about a month ago.”

Bina nodded. “I’m glad to hear, Roselia. I can see that Liliana gained a bit of weight since I last saw her two months ago. I was so worried at the time since she was getting thinner while her belly was getting so big.”

The three women continued to chat cheerfully while they sat down on the chair. Bina looked down at the small child, now four years old, who was grabbing onto Liliana’s dress. Cullen bowed awkwardly.

“Your highness, hello.”

He was an adorable boy with his mother’s red hair. Also, like Liliana, he was very shy.

“Hello, Cullen. You have grown so much since I’ve last seen you.”

Another youthful voice greeted from nearby.

“Long time no see, your highness!”

Bina’s smile got even wider as she saw another red-haired young girl.

“Hello there, Margaret.”

Bina reached out to pat her head gently. Kids grew up so fast. Bina remembered Katleyanira being pregnant with Margaret. It seemed like it was only yesterday, but Margaret was already so big.

The third princess of the former emperor.

Margaret was the youngest of all the former emperor’s children. The three daughters of Katleyanira had higher ranks than any of their stepsisters because when Katleyanira was executed, Lucretius adopted them to keep them safe.

Another reason he did this was that they were useful spares for him. If he and Bina couldn’t have a child of their own, they had to think of who their next heir could be.

Lucretius felt that Liliana could be a safe choice. She was emotionally weak and very soft-hearted, and she always felt like she owed the emperor and the empress for what her mother had done. On top of that, her husband’s family, Toruka, was significantly weakened after Katleyanira’s execution.

If Lucretius didn’t adopt Liliana, then any of his other stepsisters would have had a claim to the throne if and while he was childless. For this reason, he felt that it was best to have Liliana as the first princess in line to the throne after him.

Not to mention, Roselia was engaged to the prince of Genoa, Izid, and it was important for her to keep her royal status.

Bina knew this; Liliana and Clodys understood this situation very well. This was why they maintained a very low profile.

The public often referred to Marquis Toruka as the ‘royal dog,’ but Clodys didn’t mind it at all. In fact, when he heard some people whispering about him, Clodys approached them so he could announce loudly.

“A royal dog? What an amazing compliment! I am flattered that you think my loyalty to the royal family runs deep.”

Those people would become pale and run away. Clodys, of course, didn’t tell the emperor or the empress about this, but it was only a matter of time before the royal spies let the emperor knew.

When Lucretius heard about this, he laughed. “Hahaha. I guess I got a pretty good dog, then.”

If Clodys heard this, he would have laughed too.

Bina couldn’t help but found this dynamic between them as bizarre sight.