Chapter 98 - The Vote (1/2)

When I found Marcy, she seemed even more high-strung than I was. She was whipping cream so forcefully that it was a miracle it didn't all splatter on the person rolling out dough next to her.

I felt an instant sense of camaraderie and walked over since she was focusing too intently to see me wave. ”Hey Marcy, are you too busy to make some jam-filled powdered donuts for a hungry pregnant lady?”

She gave me a strained smile, not bothering to stop her whipping frenzy. ”I'm never too busy to help a pregnant woman in distress. I can get started on them as soon as this cream is done. Someone else can fill the cream puffs for Princess Rosenia.”

Apparently Marcy was already in the middle of making doughnuts for someone else because she began cutting circles out of the dough the kitchen girl next to her had been rolling out. She heated a pan with a shallow layer of oil and began dropping the dough circles in it.

She anxiously called for someone to go find her the raspberry jam before sighing and leaning against the counter. Poor thing. She really was more stressed than me.

I supposed it made sense because this proposition had originally been her idea. Of course Marcy would be heavily invested in the outcome. The lives of her friends, family, and neighbors might be about to improve drastically.

”Breathe, Marcy,” I reminded her.

She fiddled with a strand of hair that had come loose from her braid. ”Sorry. I just—”

”I know. No need to apologize. Mariela was getting annoyed with how anxious I was too. It's why I offered to come get these myself.”

Marcy bit her lip and nodded, unwilling to speak more in case any more of Sigmund's agents were in the kitchen. He was in court right now but there was no telling who might report back to him later. We could still get in trouble as long as he was the crown prince.

I didn't like this either. The waiting. The suspense. We wouldn't know what had actually gone down until the end of the day.

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Al got a lot of strange looks as he sat down in court that morning. He had never been present to a single court session before even though everyone there recognized him on sight. The useless third prince.

He didn't care what people thought of him anymore because he had a purpose. He would not spend the rest of his life wasting away in this castle like he had always assumed would be the case. He had a civilization to rebuild.

Ignoring the stares and whispers was easy when he thought about how Katie was anxiously waiting for news. He would not disappoint her.