today.”
“Tomorrow is another day, and we will live to fight for it,” Horvath replied.
“And always the monarchy will stand behind whoever the people have chosen to stand behind.” I nodded at them. “You must excuse me.”
“Your Highness, one moment.”
For the love of God. “Yes.” I turned again.
He pointed to one of the rooms beside him. “We were all about to watch Royal University’s graduation ceremony. My nephew is a part of this year’s class.”
“Is that so?” I said, glancing toward Balduin, who still hadn’t gotten the video up on his tablet.
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well, but I must remind you all that I shall not speak on anything else. The politics of the day have been decided and will not be changed.”
“Of course, sir.” He nodded.
Following them, we entered the private study of parliament. From the floor to the ceiling were books of law, both past, and present. The only space made was for the portrait of the sovereign, my father, and a large flat-screen television. Clerks, custodians, and even other parliament members were already waiting inside. You would think there was a national crisis or the Olympics taking place. They were so focused that they did not even notice me. I understood why I wanted to watch, but I did not know why they were all so captivated.
“It is the first time any of us will hear her speak,” Horvath whispered beside me, and I looked at him, not understanding. “You have heard and spoken to Miss Wyntor a thousand or more times. But we have not, and she is to be the next queen. How is she? What does she sound like? What does she believe? What will she say? Will she mess up and disgrace us all?”
I frowned at that.
“I do hope everyone realizes it is a prepared statement. You will hardly know her from this.”
He nodded. “But we will know more than yesterday. You and the palace have guarded her like a precious jewel. Of course, we are a bit curious to see her on her own now.”
“We?” My eyebrow raised.
He didn’t answer because we all watched as Odette, dressed in the red and black robes of the university, walked up to the podium, and at that moment, I felt as if I were going to be sick. I remembered how she panicked when singing in front of crowds of adoring fans. God, how did she feel at this moment?
Please let her be all right.
Please let her be all right.
Maybe I shouldn’t watch this.
I’m really going to be sick.
I swallowed as she now stood in front of the microphone, and a camera closed in on her face. Just like before, she froze, but this time, I wasn’t there to scream out to her.
“You can do it, Cinderella,” I whispered to myself.
You can do it.
There had to be more than 2,200 people because I felt more like all of the world was on my chest, making it harder to breathe. As I got up to the podium and looked out, it only made my fear worse.
I glanced down at my speech, and I remembered my mother calling it boring. And I remembered the king saying to lean on my strengths or others, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to process all of that. So, I took a deep breath, tried to ignore everything, and just spoke as best as I could.
“I stand before you all now more nervous than I was at my graduation,” I said with a slight smile. “Admitting that is not easy, as I know that currently, members of the palace staff and speechwriters who worked tirelessly to help me prepare are now keeling over with heart attacks as this is not the speech I am supposed to give.”
The few chuckles from the crowd gave me the confidence I needed to keep speaking.
“I am nervous because I am not perfect. As you can clearly see and hear, I am still perfecting my Ersovian. Forgive me for any mishaps. I shall do better in the future. You see, I am still learning, growing, and in the process, I am succeeding and failing at times. At my own graduation, I had hopes and dreams, and I was very confident I would succeed in everything I put my mind to. I only had to work hard. But then, I failed and failed again and failed once more. I failed to the point where I started to wonder what success looked like. We tend to see people only when we