The Crowned Omega & The Three Alphas

　　The dining hall is silent other than the soft clanking of silverware against the ceramic plates. Father sat at the head of the table, gaze fixed upon his dinner while his second wife, Lady Marie and her three children, Frederick, Elina and Lilian sat by the left side of the table. On his right side was where my mother, Isabelle and my brother, Aiden sat.?　　“Are you not going in, Your Highness?” the guard who stood by the partially opened door questioned.?　　I was once again late for dinner, after losing track of time when I was studying earlier. Usually I would get Anne, my lady-in-waiting to fetch me my dinner to eat in my room but today, I decided that I should at least show my face to my family as a courtesy. But how could I possibly enter the dining hall now when they had already started eating.?　　“Well …” I started.　　“Cordelia.” a voice from the other side of the door called out. The guard gave me an apologetic look before pulling the door wide open. I stood there awkwardly,

　　The bickering between the families started almost instantly. Their voices drowned out as I did not want to listen to anything anymore. I wanted to run away from this room, from this palace, from everything but reality snapped me back when father stood up from his throne.?　　All eyes were now on him, anticipating what he was going to say, what he was going to do and yet for a long second all he did was continue to stare into my eyes. His crystal blue eyes pierced into me as though he knew all my deepest and darkest secrets. As though he knew that I would rather run away from my troubles than face them straight on.?　　He then started to walk, slowly making his way down the short steps until he was approaching where I was standing. Never once did I look away from him even though I could feel my hands trembling, even when I could feel my heart threatening to escape. But the moment he walked past me, I felt my heart sank.?　　“Father…what are we going to do about Cordelia?” Frederick asked

　　The sobs and wails of my mother, Lady Marie and her daughters could be heard echoing through the halls as we got to say our final goodbyes to my father. I walked over the coffin where my father was with heavy footsteps, the fragrant scent of white lilies filled my senses. I looked down at my father, his face peaceful as though he was merely asleep surrounded by beautifully bloomed white lilies, our family’s emblem.　　I stared at his face for a long moment, somewhat trying to make sense of it all. Not only did the rumours from earlier start to get to my head but the handful of good memories I had shared with my father was flooding through my thoughts as my vision of him started to blur. Tears were quick to flow, my throat tightening painfully as though I would feel better if I yelled out, if I just told everything I always wanted too but never got the chance to him.　　A firm hand was wrapped around my shoulder, strong fingers giving me a reassuring squeeze. I glanced over only to see

　　“I-” I started but he stopped me from saying another word by holding out his hand authoritatively.　　“Or perhaps I should ask, do you even know the first thing about being an emperor of a country? You have spent your childhood bedridden. You are only learning the thing my sisters and I had to learn when we were children. You have not even been introduced to high society yet because you only recently found out that you are an omega born in a family of powerful alphas! Not only are you a disgrace to the Renaldi name but you are miles behind us hence you are unfit to rule.”　　The silence in the room was so jarring that I was able to hear my own rapid heartbeat echoing in my ear. I blinked once, unable to disagree with him because everything he said was the truth. And yet, I could feel a strange anger building up in the pits of my stomach, churning painfully and threatening to escape.　　It was as though something had snapped inside me, something that took years to build up was now crumbl

　　?　　I felt faint, unable to figure out whether it was due to the corset I was wearing tightening around my waist as I inhaled sharply or the fact that the adrenaline rush from earlier was finally catching up to me. I plopped down on my bed in a rather unladylike manner, face buried into the soft pillow. I opened my mouth and screamed out my frustration, grateful that my voice was muffled by the pillow.　　“P-Princess…” Anne called out hesitatingly. For a moment, I had forgotten that she rushed to my room behind me when I had left the council room in a hurry.　　I pushed myself up into a seated position and turned to Anne. She stood a good distance from my bed, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. Her eyes kept flickering to mine and away, unsure if she should even look at me when I was throwing away every etiquette lesson down the gutter.　　“I apologise that you had to see me in such an unbecoming manner, Anne.” I said in a soft voice, pretending that I was better now when my head was