The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story

Chapter 0167

I followed Lilliana further into the gardens to a small rod–iron table with two chairs. Lilliana motioned for

me to sit and then sat in the opposite chair.

“I’m glad we could finally have a chance to talk like this,” Lilliana said. She rested both hands on top of

the table.

I’mirrored her for a moment, but it felt unnatural having my hands lifted so high. I lowered them into my

lap instead.

“What was it you wanted to

talk to

me about?” Nervousness prickled at my skin. While it wasn’t unusual for the candidates to talk to each

other, this still felt like a special event. Lilliana had called me out in front of Nicholas himself. She very

nearly broke character to do it.

She gave me a sour kind of look. The way a disappointed principal would make to a rowdy student in.

their charge. “Prince Nicholas. I want to ask you to please leave him alone. You are a distraction to

him.”

we are friends.”

“I’m not doing anything to bother him, or at least, not trying to. But we

Nicholas had come to my rescue more than once now. And somehow when I needed things or support,

Nicholas was always around to help. But that’s what friends did.

Lilliana narrowed her eyes. It was unusual for her to show any emotion. Tiny alarm bells started

sounding in my head.

“What is your problem, Piper?” she snapped, voice suddenly much sharper than it had been before.

Her narrowed gaze had become a fully blown glare.

I was shocked silent for a moment. I opened and closed my mouth like a fish.

Lilliana did not wait for my reply. “You can’t have both brothers! If you are after Julian, you should stick

with him and leave Nicholas alone. It doesn’t even make sense to chase both!”

“I’m not chasing anyone.” I lifted my hands now, palms forward in defense. “I’m not after any of the

brothers.”

“Oh, sure, like anyone is supposed to believe that.” She crossed her arms.

“It’s true!”

She rolled her eyes. “You are constantly all over both of them. They won’t both pick you in the next

elimination, Piper. Focus your efforts on Julian, who I shouldn’t need to remind you that you have been

dating, and leave Nicholas to me.”

She saw me as a threat. That much was clear. What she failed to understand was that I wasn’t a threat

to her so much as she was a threat to herself. Nicholas might say now that he will marry whoever the

King wants, but I refused he would be able to follow through.

Nicholas deserved a partner. Not a pawn.

I lowered my hands and lifted my chin. “I am friends with Nicholas. That is all. But because I am friends

with him, I want him to be with someone he actually likes and not someone who just agrees with him all

the time.”

Lilliana looked at me for a moment, then threw her head back and laughed. “Piper, you are so naïve!

That

is not how royalty works. What did you think he was going to marry for love? Cute.”

I knew she was making fun of me but she didn’t have to be so blasé about it.

“No one marries for love.” She didn’t even look sad about it. She had simply just accepted it as fact.

“Well, I think that should change, and not just for the sake of the princes, but for the girls too.”

Lilliana laughed again, harder than before. “You want to save us all, huh? Oh, Piper. You need to just

accept this is how things are. This is how they’ve always been, and it’s how they always will be.”

“I refuse to accept that, and you should too.”

“You are a riot,” Lilliana said, chuckling again.

But then suddenly, she totally stifled herself. In the blink of an eye, she shifted from the haughty

laughing princess to a wilting flower.

I didn’t even need to look to know that Nicholas had approached us from behind me.

“Piper must have told quite the joke,” Nicholas said. “I’ve never heard you laugh so… boisterously

before, Liliana

Lilliana placed her hand over her mouth and cleared her throat. “She can be quite funny when she

wants

to be.”

I frowned. Nothing I had said was a joke.

I’m pleased to hear it.” He walked to our table, a small smile on his lips. Yet one look at me, and that

smile dimmed into an expression of confusion. “I know it was probably a fool’s hope, but I always

wanted more of the nobility to get along.”

Nicholas was kind, to include me in that statement, when everyone in the whole kingdom knew that!

was common.

Lilliana’s smile pulled tight. Her desire to put me down seemed at war with her will to want to agree with

everything Nicholas said. I wondered which would win.

“You are so kind, Nicholas,” she said after a beat. “To want us all to get along. Humans really should

get along with one another better, shouldn’t they?”

‘Nicholas’s face fell. “Yes. Thank you, Lillians

I felt bed for Lilliana in that moment, for the show she felt she had to perform. I knew she hated me

enough to mock me, but my feelings for her were merely that of pity. She couldn’t truly be happy with

the

way things were.

Maybe she wanted to be Luna. But I wondered if she even liked Nicholas at all.

Did she find him attractive? Did she marvel at the green flecks in his eyes? The strong width of his

shoulders?

Or did she look at him and see nothing but a crown?

Lilliana smiled dully at me, then turned that same smile on Nicholas. “Prince Nicholas, with the

elimination coming up, you will save me, won’t you? I know the princes will get to decide. I just can’t

help but worry, even though I am your favorite.”

Nicholas looked down at the ground. “Of course, Lilliana. You can rest assured. Your spot is safe in the

next elimination.”

“Thank you, Prince Nicholas.”

When Lilliana shifted her gaze back to me, it added a subtle edge. She was daring me to ask him for

my own sake, but I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. Even though I hated it, Nicholas had an obligation to his

kingdom. He had to choose each of his selections carefully.

I wanted him to promise to save me, but that was entirely selfish. We all knew I wouldn’t be Luna. To

select me was to through away a crucial vote.

Besides, as I was acting as Julian’s favorite, it would be improper to seek solace with a different prince.

If I was going to be saved, it was up to Julian to save me..

But deep in my heart, I did wish it could be Nicholas who saved me.

The way he had pressed his lips to mine during the ball had sent tingles down my spine. I could still

feel the gentle press of his lips to mine if I closed my eyes and imagined.

I didn’t want him to have to pick other girls. I wanted him to pick only me.