Betrayed By The Hero, Loved By The Lord-Chapter 173: Dangerous game (1)

"Will you go to your husband now? You cannot stay by my side at every hour," said Victor.

Vivienne wished her father wouldn’t bore her with talk about Darius. "My husband must be off busying himself with some woman or spending too much time thinking about Xavier and his wife."

"Do you not sit and think about Lord Blackthorn as well?" Victor asked, earning a glare from Vivienne. "I would like for you to not give that boy so much of your time. Why focus on someone who couldn’t see your worth to marry you?"

"You do not understand and I can’t go to see Darius now since Juliana is on her way to the palace. I must present her to him and have her stay in the palace before one of his relatives can present another woman. I will have a headache when she is here. Why can’t I pick Natalie? She is quiet," said Vivienne.

"That’s why you can’t pick her. You never know what is on her mind but with the mouthy one, you can guess her next move. Besides, it won’t upset you to get rid of the mouthy one if needed. Just get along with her and have her tell you what the other women are up to," Victor said, uninterested in Vivienne having a headache.

Victor paid close attention to the servants walking by. "Why is it that I am not seeing the princess? She should have made a big mess by now over losing her potential husband."

Vivienne rolled her eyes. "She has been hiding away in her wing of the palace but I recently heard she called for the dressmaker so she must be making an appearance soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if she went right up to Xavier’s gates and demanded an explanation."

Vivienne wanted the princess to be so childish to go to Xavier so she could be entertained.

"It would be best for the king to order her to stay in the palace. We cannot have another royal acting a fool. It is time they come together to decide who she will marry. If only the king had a brother then your sister would have been a wonderful choice," Victor said, wishing he would have been so lucky. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Vivienne was glad Darius didn’t have a brother. She didn’t need any more of her family in the palace.

Vivienne slowed down when she noticed Juliana being escorted by a maid. "I will come to you when I am done, father. I must speak to Juliana."

"Do not come to me. You must go to your husband. Do not disappoint me," Victor said and then went his separate ways. He needed to urgently find out who else Darius would be bringing to the palace.

"Vivienne," Juliana greeted Vivienne with a curtsy. "To what do I owe the pleasure of you asking that I stay in the palace?"

"Walk with me," Vivienne held out her hand to Juliana. "There is much to speak about."

Juliana was a little worried Natalie wasn’t around and Vivienne sent a carriage for her to come to the palace to stay. She wasn’t told how long she needed to be here and it was unusual for Vivienne to ask anyone to stay in the palace.

Vivienne sent the maids away and took Juliana back down the same path she walked with her father. "You are a very dear friend to me. I trust you more than many of the women I grew up with. I have been thinking of you settling down."

"I know. The men you wanted to introduce me to at the ball were all good. I have decided on one to enjoy my time with but not marry. I have come to realise I have too many years ahead of me to think of marriage now," said Juliana.

Juliana wanted to try Natalie’s way of having fun.

"How unfortunate it is to hear you say that. I proposed to my husband to take you as one of his mistresses. It would have been an official title and you would get to live here, perhaps birthing a few royals. I will have to tell him the plan has changed," Vivienne said, letting go of Juliana’s hand to walk ahead.

Juliana stopped walking and stared at Vivienne. Had she heard right?

The woman who was killing any woman who got close to her husband was offering her friend as a mistress.

It was a wonderful opportunity to be so well-connected to one of the five families and join being a royal but it didn’t make sense that Vivienne was so welcoming.

Something was wrong here but Juliana wasn’t against the offer.

"I am honoured you selected me but I do not love the king," Juliana said, hoping Vivienne had not thought that. Vivienne had pointed to the wrong friend.

"Love?" Vivienne laughed, tickled by the fact Juliana thought unions in the palace had anything to do with love. "This is a chance for you to rise to the top. Well, almost to the top."

No matter what Juliana did she could never outshine the queen.

Vivienne turned around to face Juliana. "If you are not interested in it then I will send you home and turn to Natalie-"

"No!" Juliana yelled. She refused to lose this chance to Natalie.

Juliana wanted to see how Natalie would react to this after the speech about them not being friends. Her family were going to be ecstatic once they heard the news and the other women jealous.

Juliana suspected Vivienne was up to something but that could be dealt with later. What she needed to focus on was cementing her place in the palace. "I will do it since you thought of me. I wouldn’t want it to be someone you are not close to. Will it be alright for you to share your husband with me?"

Vivienne smiled. "It will be fine. I know you care for me so I don’t need to worry about your intentions. I know this is a lot placed on you so I will give you time to think about it more. You can send for your father if you need or leave at any point before it is announced to the court."

Juliana already had her mind made up but she wanted to be alone so she could let out her excitement. "Thank you."

"No, it is thanks to you being good to me over the years that got you this position. The maids will escort you to the room you will use and I will come to you later with my husband to hear your decision," said Vivienne.

Vivienne smiled, purposely leaving out that upon their visit Darius might want to test if Juliana was a woman he was attracted to. Whatever way he decided it did not matter to Vivienne since she intended to leave the two alone, leaving Juliana to keep Darius away from her for a while.

Vivienne knew after a few days Juliana would regret her decision and want to leave the palace but she couldn’t after laying with the king.

’I might not need to have her killed,’ Vivienne thought, imagining that Juliana would have enough and do it herself.

Despite being a pureblood, Juliana would never last in the palace which made Vivienne better understand why her father picked Juliana.