Stolen by the Rebel King-Chapter 495: A Crazy Idea II

"Cordelia, please think twice," Daphne said immediately. "I wasn’t thinking when I said this― You can’t be serious... This will completely ruin your reputation!" Daphne said, all her words stumbling together in her haste to stop Cordelia from making a terrible decision. Her own mind was in a jumbled whirl.

But Cordelia held up a finger to her lips, causing her to stop talking.

"Exactly, Daphne; you’ve listed out all the reasons why I must proceed with this idea," Cordelia said fervently. "I will be so unmarriable, all the nuns and the orphans will weep for me. Mothers will caution their daughters to not be like me. I will be a pariah in polite society."

"And you want this? Are you insane?" Daphne nearly tugged her own hair out in frustration.

Was Cordelia possessed? Every consequence she had listed out was something Drusilla actively plotted for Daphne in the past. Never would Daphne think Cordelia, out of all people, would chase such a dastardly outcome of her own free will.

"You can’t be Nedour’s Queen if you do this!" Daphne said with a pleading voice. "Everything you have worked so hard for... You can’t give up your goal now!"

Cordelia might not have told Daphne with her own mouth how hard she worked to be a queen worthy of Nedour, but Daphne could see it loud and clear― Cordelia had a deep wealth of knowledge regarding the situation in her kingdom, and she even remembered trivial information about royalty in other kingdoms despite her young age.

To put things in perspective, not even Alistair was so knowledgeable, and he had been raised to rule from a young age. Cordelia, being a princess, must have worked twice as hard to get as far as she did.

Cordelia must have wanted the throne very badly to be willing to put in this much effort, so much so that she decried Daphne for her ignorance during their first eventful meeting, and several meetings after. Daphne respected that about her best friend.

"I am the only child of my mother, who was Nedour’s Crown Princess," Cordelia explained. "My father is merely a duke, and he remarried another member of the nobility a mere year after. My step-siblings do not have the blood of Nedour’s ancestral royalty flowing through them. Nesrin is more royal than any of them put together."

Daphne pulled a face at that comparison. She did not like being reminded that her best friend had an immature menace of a younger cousin.

"No matter what happens, I have a stronger claim to the throne than my father or any of my half-siblings," Cordelia declared. "That old man can yell at me until his throat goes hoarse, but I will still be a more fitting ruler than any of my siblings, even if I had a harem of twenty men at my beck and call."

Daphne coughed as her mind conjured up the image of a whole crowd of men clad in skimpy clothing, lined up in front of Cordelia for her to pick and choose as though she was picking a slab of meat at the butcher.

"Once the wedding ends in a disaster and I end up jilted at the altar, my father would be hard-pressed to find me a suitor again," Cordelia continued. "No man would be willing to take another man’s leftovers, regardless of how undefeatable the man is."

"So you do admit that I am powerful," Atticus cut in, his tone including just the slightest tinge of smugness. He didn’t like Cordelia and vice versa, but it did bolster his ego to know that even someone in his wife’s inner circle — someone who hated him so — had no choice but to admit he was powerful.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Should have said insufferable instead..." She glanced at Daphne. "Anytime you need a break from him, just let me know."

Atticus gritted his teeth and reminded himself that using magic on Cordelia would undo whatever progress he made with Daphne and cause him to end up in the metaphorical doghouse.

"As I was saying," Cordelia said as though Atticus had not interrupted her, "I doubt I would have any new suitors afterward, which would leave my father so desperate, he would have to accept whatever man I choose to marry if I even choose to marry at all. And then I can rule with a husband of my choice or not, while your kelpie hopefully regrows his eye."

Cordelia seemed to be in raptures of excitement at the thought of her impending, eventual, singlehood. Meanwhile, Daphne was a lot less delighted, and a lot more despairing of her friend. If Cordelia set herself on this path, she would be met with nothing but hardship from every corner.

"Cordelia, you’re courting trouble," Daphne cajoled.

Cordelia paused and then shrugged. "Daphne, do you remember Queen Yvaine of Golcrest?"

"Yes, I do. Why?" Daphne asked.

"She married a random scholar and still kept her title as queen," Cordelia said, a fervent glint in her eye. "I’ve been thinking of ways and means to emulate her example from the moment we spoke during the Crown Conquest. She has proven that it is not impossible for any queen to rule with a spouse of their choice, no matter how lowborn."

"Queen Yvaine’s current husband was also her childhood friend turned long-term lover," Daphne recalled. "The masses found it easier to accept a wedding between star-crossed lovers. Cordelia, you have no one like this to use as a stand-in!"

"Wait, do you?" Daphne had to ask; Cordelia had made no mention of any men she was interested in.

Cordelia merely waved a hand nonchalantly. "I’ll find someone to fake it with me, it can’t possibly be that hard," Cordelia thought carefully, a hand on her chin before she clapped her hands triumphantly.

"Do you think Sir Jonah might be interested?"

Twin voices yelled at the same time, one more shocked than the other.

"Jonah?" Daphne gasped before she considered it. It was... not the worst option she could think of.

Meanwhile, Atticus looked like his entire world was crashing down on him.

"Jonah!" Atticus screamed in disbelief, sensing the glint in Cordelia’s eyes. Oh, this woman had it out for him― not only did she worm her way into Daphne’s good graces, but now she wanted to steal Jonah from him too?

"You’ll marry Jonah over my dead body!" Atticus declared. "I will never support your marriage!"