Obstacles
By Misha
Disclaimer- None of the characters belong to me, I’m just borrowing them for a while.
A.N- More Royal Romance background fic. I find Madeleine fascinating (and way more sinister than Olivia) and I feel like she’s going something major up her sleeve and I wanted to explore her psyche for a little while. As always, I use the default names for the princes, but call my MC Eleanor (I don’t actually use the ROE MC’s first name here instead I just have Madeleine think of her as the “American nobody”).
Pairing- Mild Liam/MC, Leo/MC
Summary- Madeleine reflects on her desire to be Queen and the woman standing in her way.
Words- 889
“Lady Eleanor has turned out to be quite a surprise. There’s more to her than meet the eye.”
With those words, Madeline knows she can kiss her chance of becoming Queen of Cordonia goodbye. Even Queen Regina is turning from her side.
Of course, Madeleine always knew the Queen’s loyalty only went so far and that, in the end, she would back whoever appeared to be in the lead, but… Madeleine had assumed that it would be her or at least it would be between her and Olivia and she could use the Queen’s feelings to her advantage.
It should have been easy. Most of the women had never really had a chance. It should have been between her and Olivia. Then the Beaumonts had to sponsor that damned American girl.
It was obvious that Liam was in love with her. Not that Madeleine cared about that. Love had never entered into the equation for her. Not with Leo and not now with Liam. To her, love was nothing but an inconvenience that had a way of screwing up her plans.
Mainly the fact that she was born to be queen. She knew should be good at it. She had spent her whole life preparing for the role. She loved her country, her people, and she wanted to serve them. She had so many ideas for Cordonia’s future, but to do anything about them she had to be queen.
She had come so close. She had emerged from the social season victorious, Prince Leo’s chosen bride and then it had all fallen apart. First Leo had refused to set a wedding date and he had kept running off on his responsibilities and then he had met her. That American nobody.
What was it with Cordonian Princes and American women? What made them so fascinating? Liam spent all his time staring at Lady Eleanor while Leo had given up everything for his American. Madeleine made a sour face as she remembered that fateful morning in his suite when the American girl had had the gall to get mad at her for being there and the way Leo had dismissed her.
That was the moment she had realized that everything was slipping away. Then, a few weeks later, Leo had abdicated and by the end of the summer, he had married his American. The tabloids had fallen for the “love story” and Madeline had ended up looking like a fool. But she’s shaken it off and kept her composure.
She told herself it was just a setback. She forced herself to keep calm and ignore the whispers and focus on the prize. After all, it had never been about Leo. So, she waited for this social season, for the announcement that Prince Liam was ready to choose a bride and focused her efforts on once again being the successful candidate.
She knew that it would be different this time. Liam wasn’t his brother. He would follow through with his betrothal and do what was best for the country. As long as she managed to be the successful candidate, and she would, then she would be queen. For a moment it had seemed so easy.
Then Lady Eleanor had come and threatened to ruin everything. It was obvious that she was Liam’s choice. He paid the most attention to her, taking every opportunity to brush her hand or kiss her cheek and watching her when he thought no one was looking. However, Madeleine didn’t care about that. Liam wasn’t Leo. He wouldn’t insist on “following his heart”, he’d do what was best for his people.
Lady Eleanor might have his heart, but she wouldn’t his bride unless the council allowed it. That should have eased Madeleine’s mind, except for how well the American girl was doing in the competition. Who could have expected her to adapt so quickly to life in Cordonia?
She was charming and beautiful and surprisingly adept at courtly politics. The press loved her, she was winning allies from the other noble houses and now she had the Queen’s approval. If Madeleine didn’t do something quickly, then Eleanor Sloane was going to be Queen of Cordonia.
She had to choose her next step wisely. She knew that Olivia would go underhanded, try to make Eleanor look bad, but… That was risky, especially given how many allies Eleanor had made amongst the other competitors. Going underhanded could backfire and if it did, Madeline would lose her one advantage: Queen Regina’s favor.
No, she had to find another way and she had an idea of where to start. It was obvious that Liam was in love with Eleanor, but the American girl wasn’t as obvious with her feelings. She seemed to care about Liam, but sometimes she also seemed uneasy and that was the weakness Madeline would try to exploit.
Eleanor might want Liam, but did she really want to be queen? Or was she in-over-her-head now that that the romance of it all was starting to wear off? Madeleine aimed to find out. She was willing to bet that her desire for the crown was stronger than Eleanor’s love for Liam and that was why she was going to emerge the victor.
She just had to make Miss Sloane see how out of her depth she really was.
– The End
