"I am afraid that won't be possible." Elaria said with a strained smile.
Sensing that the situation was about to be awkward, the Queen immediately began talking.
"I heard through a grape vine that Maldareth has high marks in his weapon training." The Queen said and pride shone in the eyes of every Morando present.
"No weapons training is as good as the one provided by the Academy but having a headstart is never a bad idea." The Earl said with pride.
"I also heard that Princess Marina is also undergoing the same weapons training." Elaria said with a smile.
"If it would be possible I would like to have the two of them train some time." Elaria said with a sickeningly sweet smile that caused Princess Marina to roll her eyes.
"We will try to set a date." The Queen said with a polite smile.
Satisfied by her reply, the Morando's exited the temple.
"I didn't know that my youngest had such pointy teeth." The Sun of of the empire said with a slight smirk that made Princess Marina bashful.
"Well she felt the need to use the word borrowed." The first star of the empire said with a smirk of her own.
"You did splendidly." The moon of the empire said with pride.
"But be careful not to aggravate them too much. Mentioning an illegitimate child before the legal wife is like a blow to the head." The moon of the empire said with a wink before abruptly smiling and greeting the next person that walked up to the Imperial family.
After the numerous greetings and well wishes, the imperial family loaded themselves into their carriages and headed back to the imperial castle.
In the carriage with just her sisters, Princess Marina tried to think of her next move when the second star of the empire, Princess Zarya suddenly burst into a fit of rage.
"Who gave you the right to humiliate our family by talking rudely to the Earl and his family?!" Princess Zarya yelled.
"Calm down!" Princess Esmeralda said calmly.
"You have grown far too arrogant because there has been no one around to caution you." Princess Zarya said, raising her hands to slap Princess Marina.
"Enough!" Princess Esmeralda boomed and the carriage shook from the flunctiation of Princess Esmeralda's power.
"Enough I say!" Princess Esmeralda said, with a glare in Princess Zarya's direction.
"What gives you, the right to act like this before me?!" Princess Esmeralda yelled and Princess Zarya froze in shock.
"I have let this go on thinking you would come back to your senses and realize that she is your younger sister, our baby sister!" Princess Esmeralda yelled at Princess Zarya.
"You are three years older than her Zarya!" Princess Esmeralda said as she tried to calm herself.
"It's not mom's, dad's or Marina's fault that you feel replaced and you know it." Princess Esmeralda said in a sad tone.
Clenching her jaw with tears welled up in her eyes, Princess Zarya looked out of the carriage window and the carriage ride continued in silence.
Immediately the carriage ride stopped, Princess Zarya didn't wait for the coach to open the carriage door and marched straight to her room with her confused maids running after her. Coming down from the carriage herself, Princess Esmeralda looked at Princess Zarya's retreating back with a sad look upon her face before heading off to her own room with her maids in tow. As Princess Marina watched the two siblings disperse, Princess Marina could only clench her gown to stop herself from crying.
"What is the matter my lovely Princess?" The Sun of the empire asked as he came closer to Princess Marina.
"It's nothing." Princess Marina said quickly before briskly walking away with her maids in tow.
Heading to her room with brisk steps, Princess Marina opened the door to see, Lorraine fluffing her pillows.
"Everybody out!" Princess Marina ordered and the maids immediately bowed and removed themselves from the room.
Lorraine hearing the command, decided to leave after giving Princess Marina her greetings but the moment she saw her face she knew something had happened.
Approaching her cautiously, Lorraine tentatively asked "Are you alright Princess Marina?"
"I met the moon Goddess today." Princess Marina said and Lorraine half transformed in anger.
"What did she want?" Lorraine asked through gritted teeth.
"Nothing." Princess Marina said with a shake of her head.
"She just wanted to remind me my place that's all." Princess Marina said with a broken smile and Lorraine's heart clenched.
"She has no jurisdiction here, the Goddess will take care of it." Lorraine said with certainty.
"She did." Princess Marina said with a broken smile.
"Then why are you?" Lorraine asked in confusion at Princess Marina's heartbreaking expression.
"Because I was thinking." Princess Marina said with a hum as she began to sway.
"That maybe what happened to me might not have been as a result of the curse." Princess Marina said with a pained smile.
"Maybe what happened to me might be as a result of me just existing." Princess Marina said with a self depreciating smile.