Rhiannon staggered when she heard that. She would have fallen if Anabelle hadn’t quickly held her.
Everyone was shocked, The Sanders looked at the prince, the bracelets at Octavius’ hands then at Rhiannon and felt pain.
They remembered that there was a man whom Celestine was dating and they objected to it highly as the man never said whose family he came from. Celestine was told that they could disapprove of the man no matter what they wanted as the man’s family also rejected her claiming that her identity and background weren’t worth getting married to the man. They thought that she was just bluffing and didn’t take her words to heart.
After two years, Celestine started getting depressed and when they asked her, she said that the man’s family had forced him to marry another woman. She blamed them for not supporting their relationship as she felt that if they supported them, they would have heard the chance.
They decided to get her help and contacted a special therapist she had heard of and Celestine started busying herself. After some years, the guy came back and then went away leaving some jewels behind. They knew about this as she had told them about it. Saying that they had a closure so that the man could be happy with his family.
Some months later, Celestine started getting assassinated and they were worried about her. Celestine told them that everything happening was their fault before running away.
Now looking at Rhiannon, they were sure that the man was the king and regretted everything miserably. They also could tell that she was the result of the day the man came back for closure before disappearing. They cussed in their minds as they never thought that their precious granddaughter was now an illegitimate child because of their opposition.
When they looked at her, they were filled with guilt as they were also the fault when Celestine got in contact with the organization. It wasn’t that they didn’t know what was happening as they were close to their daughter. She would tell them everything that was happening in her life till everything suddenly took another turn. She gradually started getting silent, stopped talking to them, and eventually ran away.
Although they were guilty when they looked at Rhiannon, they also sighed in relief as they knew that with the king’s protection, the organization wouldn’t dare do anything extreme or even try kidnapping her and then kill her.
Rhiannon looked at the adults who were in front of them and shook her head.
“You knew who my father was and didn’t want to tell me,” she said as she looked at both Antonio and Amanda who had already turned around to look at her.
“When I talked about wanting to find my biological father 'cause he was the only family I got, you didn’t say anything. You pretended not to know anything. At least the nanny who told me why it wasn’t good for me to look for him but at the same time told me that if I was to wear the bracelets or the necklace left behind by him, I might find someone who recognized them and tell me who my father was,” Rhiannon said tears in her eyes.
“She also didn’t want me to find him but at least she did something to benefit me and make me happy instead of lying to me,” Rhiannon said making Amanda feel hurt.
“Rhiannon,” she said as she went to hold her but Rhiannon took a step back making Amanda’s extended hands remain in the air.
“No. Don’t touch me,” Rhiannon said as she cried.
Crying not for happiness finding her father but crying that her mother wasn’t present. Crying that she had people who could sacrifice their lives for her if anything were to happen, now a family, her grandparents, she knew her father and even had brothers but her mother didn’t have anyone to protect.
She had established an organization but they were too fragile to protect her. She felt like hating the organization too as she hated everyone who could have helped her mother but didn’t.
What she didn’t know was that Celestine was poisoned the moment she entered that organization. She was supposed to hand over all her research and everything she learned and knew before they gave her the antidote. She was also supposed to hand over her family’s richness. How could Celestine do that? Take her family’s empire just to live?
She worked hard on her research, learned a lot of things and at the same time, she took in apprentices teaching them. At first, she wanted to form people who could protect her family when she was gone, leave the world as she had lost all hope t live when the king left her.
But then, the man came back and after some months discovered she was pregnant. The pregnancy gave her a reason to live. She could have stayed longer in the organization using their finances and research machines to find an antidote to cure her but she was afraid that if she stayed longer in the organization or the capital, they might find out she was pregnant and take her child away from her, how was she willing to do that?
No one understood why she was getting assassinated. They just knew that there was an organization she accidentally got in and they were after her. Didn’t tell them she wanted help or not.
At that time, if both Amanda and Antonio knew how powerful the organization was and she couldn’t get rid of it by herself, they would have tried their best to help her take care of it and if they were unable, they didn’t mind reaching her ex, the king to save her as they knew the guy loved her and not his wife.
“Calm down,” Octavius said as he hurriedly went to her side when he saw that she was unstable.
“Calm down?” Rhiannon asked Octavius disbelief written everywhere on her face as she looked at the man’s face.
“Didn’t you always want to find your father? Now that you have shouldn’t you be happy about it? Look, you even have a handsome and tall brother just as you always wished for,” Octavius said making Rhiannon chuckle as she remained she once told him that she wished she had a big brother who protected her from all the harm that came her way.
She raised her head to look at the prince wondering whether he and his siblings would feel disgusted by her since she was a result of their father’s infidelity.
Seeing her gaze on him after hearing Octavius’ words, the prince smiled at her making Rhiannon feel embarrassed that she had been caught staring at him.
Her eyes involuntary fell on the servants who were still kneeling and remembered the agreements he had made.
“You may rise,” she said as she stammered since she wasn’t used to it making the prince chuckle.
“Don’t worry. You will get used to it when we get back home,” he said surprising everyone.
“I am sorry,” Rhiannon said as she looked at him.
“You are a royal and you should live in the palace with your family. Didn’t you always want to have a big brother? Then you not only got one but five. Five big brothers,” the prince said shocking Rhiannon.
After hearing his words, she felt that she was the king’s last born and felt the irony in it.
He and her mother met first but instead of her mother giving the king the first child, she gave him the last child. She felt that the king came back with a purpose after being away from her those years.
“I am sorry but I can’t go,” Rhiannon said. Not because she didn’t want to go and see her father but because she thought that the royal family wouldn’t approve of her as she was born out of the marriage.
She didn’t believe that her paternal grandparents who rejected her mother would accept her in open hands, She didn’t want them to get hateful gazes thus she preferred to remain in the capital with those who loved her and cared about her deeply.
The prince stared at her and understood why she had refused.
“Don’t worry about that. Mom was unable to get a girl and she has always hoped that she got one, Our grandparents are worse than her. We, your brothers always hoped that we had a little sister to pamper and who disturbed us. We will treasure you,” the prince said.
“She isn’t going anywhere. She is my wife!” Octavius said as he felt threatened and was afraid that Rhiannon might agree and leave him.
“You don’t have a say in this,” the prince said coldly to Octavius as he didn’t like the fact that his little sister was already married even before she spent time with them.
“I have. I am her legal husband!"