Chapter 908: Julian Is Jealous

Julian snuck back into the Verona's Royal Palace with a pouch filled with a lot of gold.

He was excited and eager to invite Rowena to have dinner with him and then tell her the truth that while he was curious about his background and family, he preferred the current life he had with her now.

"So... if you don't mind, would you like to run away with me again?" Julian rehearsed the lines he would say to Rowena.

It was why Julian was incredibly surprised that when he returned to his room and tried to visit Rowena, he didn't see her around.

Instead, there was actually a letter stuck in the door that was addressed to him.

[I went out to the library with Liam. Will see you later.]

Julian lowered the letter from his hand with a sigh of defeat.

He knew for a fact that Prince Liam also liked Rowena, not as much as Julian loved her—but with enough infatuation and passion that the young crown prince was certainly up to no good.

Julian didn't think he'd consider the advice of the strange man that told him to leave Verona, but the more he stayed here... the further Rowena seemed to drift apart from him.

"Julian!" Rowena called out from down the corridor.

Julian immediately looked up to see Rowena coming with a bright smile on her face. She looked incredibly happy as she ran down towards him and then threw herself into his arms.

"Whoa, whoaa—what are you so happy about?" Julian laughed, pleased at the hug, and looked down at Rowena with a hint of reserve. "You're not going to be the next queen of Verona, are you?"

"What kind of nonsense are you saying?" Rowena hit Julian's arm and looked at him seriously. "I'm not interested in royal life anymore. Besides, I'm a little annoyed with the prince right now."

Those words took the worry out of Julian's mind and he looked at her with a smile. "Then what has made you so happy?"

"Prince Liam and I went to the library and we found the king there."

"Oh, the king. He seemed like a nice and cool guy," Julian said.

"I know." Rowena nodded. "So even though Liam and his mother accidentally revealed my identity—"

"Wait, what?! We need to get out of here then—"

Rowena held a hand up. 

"You didn't let me finish. So despite the revelations, and my identity revealed... the king of Verona chose to respect my wishes of not wanting to be returned to Ashland. However, the most important thing is that he's concerned about you."

"Concerned about me?"

"The king is truly working on finding any relatives he had that might actually have had a child out of wedlock, or a secret love child that they may have sent away who matches up with you." Rowena smiled. 

She was thrilled with the turn of events.  "You'll finally be able to find your family.

Isn't that great, Julian? Everything's working in our favor so far."

"...I see," Julian said.

"Are you not happy?" Rowena looked at him in concern. "Is this not what you wanted, Julian?"

Julian sighed inwardly as he looked at Rowena. "So, the king respects your wishes that you do not wish to return to Ashland, but now he knows that you're a princess."

"Yeah... even the queen is now acting more warmly towards me." Rowena frowned a little. "But as long as it means that she doesn't think of us as imposters anymore that wish to trick the king, then I think that it's a good thing. It's worth the cost."

"What about Prince Liam then?" Julian rubbed the back of his neck.

"Rowena!" a voice called out from the hallway. 

Prince Liam appeared and rushed down towards them with an apologetic expression. He bowed to her. 

"I'm so sorry, I did not expect that my mother would reveal it—I only wanted to remove the lingering suspicion that she had of you and Julian. I did not expect that she'd reveal it even after I asked her to not mention it to anyone else."

Julian thought that Prince Liam was quite naive, far more so than Rowena when she was younger. If anything, he almost seemed like a mother's favorite son and who also enjoyed it as well.

He hoped that Rowena wouldn't forgive Prince Liam for what he did.

"I understand your intentions were done out of good." Rowena sighed. "I do wish that you had discussed it with me first prior to telling it to anybody else, but it's already been done and things are going well."

"I'll make sure that you get far better accommodation and such," Prince Liam said. "The room we gave you is in by no way fit for a princess—"

"You don't need to go through such lengths, Prince Liam."

"But you're incredibly upset with me," Prince Liam looked at Rowena sadly. "I only wish to make it up to you."

"I forgive you," Rowena said.

"You do?"

"Yes, I can't bear much of a grudge towards you." Rowena sighed and managed a smile. "As long as we discuss whatever it is that you wish to involve me with at a later time, alright?"

"Of course, I'll tell you everything." Prince Liam smiled back. "I would have apologized sooner, but my mother held me up and told me that she'd be holding the banquet tonight. One of her people came and said that they've acquired the delicacy that she wished to procure."

"Delicacy?"

"Seafood. The rare and good kind. She told me that we had oysters last night and Julian seemed to love them as well as me." Prince Liam grinned and looked over at Julian. "My mother is quite apologetic about the outburst earlier, I hope that we could all be together for dinner later."

"I see." Julian nodded.

"Julian?" Rowena looked worriedly over at hi

m.

Julian faked a smile. "I'm good with seafood, but I suddenly remembered that I need to check on Hades and Cinna if they're here at the stables now."

"Oh, that's a good idea! Can I come with you—" Rowena smiled.

"By the way, Rowena would you mind if you became my dance partner tonight?" Prince Liam asked.

"Dance partner?" Rowena raised a brow.

"It's a small banquet, there will be some nearby guests coming around. It's really quite a rush event, but my mother is a bit over the top with gestures." Prince Liam explained.

Julian didn't stick around to hear the rest.