Chapter 913: The Commotion At The Banquet

The music meant to be played for two people suddenly changed, the musicians seemed to have adapted to the strange and peculiar style of dance that the three were doing.

It was something that almost seemed advanced for its time. While there were dances meant for two and sometimes four people or more, it was usually reliant on having partners.

On the contrary, it was simply a kind of festival dance that Rowena and Julian experienced during their trips. 

It allowed even solo dancers to have fun while they enjoyed music and it was something that Rowena may have incidentally mentioned to the musicians before the start of the ballroom. 

It seemed like a bad idea to order someone to play certain music, especially when she was not in charge of hosting the party—but the musicians were more than happy to allow for a chance to change the music.

It didn't take too long for the others in the ballroom to join them.

The music was irresistible and even though Prince Liam was surprised and upset at first, the way that Rowena smiled, laughed, and enjoyed herself was enough to make Prince Liam smile too.

They didn't exactly need to dance together as partners for them to enjoy their time together during the banquet party.

Once they had their share of fun, Julian called out to them. "This is great, but when are we also going to head to the buffet table?"

Prince Liam was surprised at how easily this commoner talked to a princess, but then it was true that they were close and knew each other for a long time. "If you'd like, we can take a break now," he said.

"Oh, that's great. I remembered something about the drinks, right?" Julian grinned.

"Let's all sit down first then," Rowena hugged the arms of the two and led them away towards one of the tables. "I hope that didn't surprise you too much."

"Well it actually did, but it wasn't so bad. Now I understand why you wanted to meet with the others earlier..." Prince Liam admitted awkwardly before he looked around the room. He saw his mother's gaze on him and knew the pressure on his shoulders. "But how about the two of you sit down and I'll bring the food?"

"Nonsense. We'll help you." Rowena smiled.

"Yeah, it's strange if it's the crown prince of Verona that's serving the food," Julian added as he stood up.

"Well, then, maybe you can stay here, 'Harlow', while Julian and I get our meals?" Prince Liam said.

"That's quite generous. Thank you," Rowena smiled.

Prince Liam took a deep breath. He was going to go through with it. If Julian got sick, at least, on the last night Rowena in Verona, Liam could spend more time together with her. He would love to have her to himself again, even only for a few hours, without Julian.

He would let her know his true feelings and tell her that

if things didn't work out with Julian and their adventures, Rowena would always have a home in Verona.

***

Rowena didn't know what happened until it was already far too late.

One moment it had been everyone with smiles on their faces as they enjoyed dinner with some drinks, but then before she knew it, Julian and a lot of other individuals started to faint all of a sudden.

At first, it had only been one person, an old lord that Queen Serena thought was a pig—he suddenly collapsed and people thought he had too much to drink.

The next one was a lady around Queen Serena's age, someone who once taunted her about being second-best to Gabrielle. She suddenly fainted against her husband's side and was rushed out as if she had eaten something that didn't sit well with her.

However, when it was Julian's turn when he and Prince Liam shared a drink and then the man passed out all of a sudden and spilled the goblet of wine all over the table—Rowena knew that something was wrong.

She ran over to Julian's side and tried to help him up.  Rowena checked his pulse and her blood ran cold. He was heavier than expected and the others were also starting to realize that someone had tampered with the food and drinks.

"No, Julian. Please wake up."

Rowena tried to shake him to no avail.

"Is he not a good drinker?" Prince Liam raised a brow and tried to look unfazed. "He passed out really fast."

"Liam." Rowena looked over to the crown prince with a look of concern. "Are you feeling alright? The two of you drank the same thing... I'm afraid something has happened."

"O-oh, I am. I am all right..." Prince Liam nodded quickly and looked around the room nervously.

He knew that his mother wanted him to slip something into Julian's drink but he didn't expect that the tummy ache would turn out to be like this. This wasn't what they had agreed upon and that made him sick to the stomach.

"Oh, no... Julian!!" Rowena looked like she was about to cry because Julian was not moving, and that made Liam's heart churn.

No... no... no... Julian should be okay, right? This would only give him a stomachache so he would quit the banquet and gave Liam more time with Rowena... Right?

However, from the corner of his eyes, he could see his mother stand with a very faint smile on her face and suddenly Liam didn't know anymore.

"D-do you want me to call for a doctor?" he asked Rowena with a hoarse voice.

"Y-yes please." Rowena nodded and looked around the room to search for more people who also looked unwell. 

Two. 

Three. 

Six.

There were far too many to consider it an isolated incident.

Her g

aze landed over to the king's table and she saw that King Xander looked worriedly over their direction, but he was also dealing with Queen Serena who leaned against his chest pitifully.

Rowena bit back down the sour feeling in her throat because she knew that she couldn't just accuse someone out of nowhere, much less the queen of Verona herself.

Surely there was no way for someone to be as terrible as her father, couldn't there? 

No. 

At least King Draco was upfront about the punishments he inflicted on Rowena, he threatened her with judgment over her shoulder... but this sudden poisoning on Julian, she couldn't accept it.