The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0399

I stayed in my room from then out as much as I was able. Staying near Elva helped me keep in mind my promise to her. I would not abandon her again. And so long as I was in my room, I was safe from running into Nicholas and Bridget and seeing whatever was going on between the two of them unfold.

Elva seemed happy to have me near, and we played a lot, including the game I had promised where we sat in the window and counted the different kinds of birds we could see down in the gardens.

While Elva was awake and active, we had a great time. Even when her tutors arrived and she learned, I sat quietly and listened, proud of how smart my little girl was.

But times where Elva was entertaining herself, or like now, was lying down to rest, my thoughts began to fester and my jealousy burned so brightly it was difficult to control.

Charlotte noticed my unhappiness. She was always around, and as one of the servants, there was no hiding any gossip from her.

She tried to stay tight–l*pped around me for a time, and I appreciated her for it. But eventually, I cracked.

“What is everyone saying?” I asked.

She knew right away what I meant. “About Bridget and Nicholas?”

I nodded.

“The people think they would be a good match. They’ve totally enthralled the nation. There isn’t so much news about… that unpleasantness as before,” Charlotte said.

“The protests?”

“Still ongoing, but not quite as boisterous as before. If this was the royal family’s plan, it seems to be working.”

I could be grateful for that.

“What about the staff?” I asked. “What do they think about Bridget?”

used to seeing celebrities working here. But a movie

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that too. Someone who acted rude to the staff was

I began. This question was the hardest to ask. “Do you know anything about their past?”

wasn’t here then,” she

if you’ve heard

the older staff do like to gossip,” Charlotte admitted, after a moment. She worried her bottom l*p like she was afraid to talk.

me, but… I have to hear it Charlotte. I’d rather hear it from you than learn it

“Very well.”

and I took seats facing each other near the sewing machines still arranged in the center

gave Charlotte my

apparently Bridget and Prince Nicholas

throat. She was holding something back.

“Charlotte?”

hands. One day, when she caught Bridget alone, Bridget told the cook that she was going to marry Prince Nicholas someday. It charmed the whole staff then. Everyone wanted to pair them

she went with them. From what I hear, Prince Nicholas was totally heartbroken. He wouldn’t leave his

continued to stretch things out between them. Visits grew farther apart. Phone calls were fewer. Eventually they grew apart. The cook says Nicholas

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that’s about when Nicholas left home to go to the Academy.”

was when he met

I just sat there quietly, letting Charlotte’s words sink down into my brain. I let myself process them, turning them over and over again.

after processing them, even after examining them from every which way, trying to find the ways that would

angle, it seemed as if Bridget had been Nicholas’s true love. His

a rebound? All those months we were together. All those whispered

couldn’t believe that. That hurt far too much. He

was just that his love for