#Chapter 24: Meeting the Head of the Royal Guards

As Nicholas asked out Lilliana, I stood in the back of the crowd of watching girls, my heart down on the floor. I had no right to be upset. I knew that. I had given up the right to be upset a long time ago. Yet I couldn’t deny the feeling. First, Nicholas had returned the handmade gift I made him, and now he was asking another girl on a solo date. According to the rules of the competition, solo dates were only supposed to be awarded after a girl performed well in one of the events. Of course, from what I’d heard, the rules also stated that a prince could ask any girl out at any time, so I supposed such a thing wasn’t unheard of. But for it to be Nicholas who asked for the first solo date felt like the hardest pill to swallow. I understood that the candidates were invited here to the palace to date the princes. Soon, Nicholas would pick someone to marry. He’d already made it abundantly clear that he would never be interested in me. Not that I wanted him to be. We’d bot