The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story novel Chapter 289

Chapter 0289
“Don’t worry,” Mark told me. “I will not leave this room. Elva will not leave my sight.”
I nodded. That did make me feel marginally better.
We’d received word earlier in the day that Terry himself was coming to the palace to personally deliver the results of his event. Since then, we’d mostly barricaded ourselves inside of the bedroom.
However, I was required to attend this meeting, which was to be treated as an official event, broadcasted live across the kingdom.
I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Terry again, by any stretch. But at least, with Mark’s promise to protect Elva, I didn’t have to worry about her.
I hugged Elva goodbye.
“Good luck, Mommy!” she said brightly. Thank G od I had protected her from the worst of the trauma I had experienced from Terry’s hands. I would rip the whole world apart before I ever let Terry enter within a hundred feet of my daughter.
“Be good, Elva. Listen to Mark and the nanny.”
“I will.”
After one last squeeze, I released Elva and stood. Then I walked to the door, where Nicholas was waiting for me.
“Ready?” he asked, as I stepped into the hallway.
“Not really.” I didn’t think I’d ever be ready to see Terry again.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Nicholas said, determination making his voice strong. “I will be your shadow tonight.”
“I’m sure you have other duties./”
“They can wait. Your safety takes precedence.”
With relief, I laced my arm with his and together, we walked down to the ballroom.
In the ballroom, the other candidates were already waiting around, while Nathan spoke with
a camera crew on a makeshift stage. Terry wasn’t there yet. Neither was the rest of the royal family.
Susie approached Nicholas and me when we entered. “Have you seen him yet?” she asked.
I shook my head.
+15 BONUS
It was strange. Maybe it was the anticipation of seeing Terry, or the knowledge that he was in the same building, but my nerves pri ckled since coming here. Even with Nichola s’s closeness, I could not release the tension of my shoulders.
All too soon, Nathan cleared his throat and the event began. It felt more informal, compared to the rest. The candidates were in our nice gowns, with our hair and makeup done in the modern fashion. But there were no other guests, and no fanfare.
The royal family came in them, Terry among them, with Julian sauntering along behind.
When I saw Terry, my stomach clenched uncomfortably.
The royal family all moved onto the stage, sans Nicholas who stayed beside me as promised.
On the stage, the Queen was standing between the King and Terry, though she was physically much closer to her brother than her husband, almost as if an invisible barrier has separated her and the King.
The King did not look at her once while he stood there, nor did he so much as glance at Terry, even, after his introduction, Terry began speaking.
“I will now reveal the distribution of points for the evening event at my mansion. The points were accrued through the candidate’s decency as a dinner guest, including politeness, demeanor, and general likeability.”
A skewed scoring criteria for sure. Terry would just arbitrarily assign points to whoever he felt like, to hell with the rest. I could only imagine the type of mind games he wanted to play with me. Would he assign me many points or only a few?
The points would go toward our standing. Those with more points would do better in the overall competition.
I wasn’t ready for this. I wished I could escape back to my room.
Terry cleared his throat. “Only one candidate received full points. This woman is not only a delight to converse with, but a beauty to watch. Congratulations, Olivia.”
The candidates and royal family politely clapped.
Olivia smiled graciously, though she didn’t seem all that surprised.