Royal S.O.B. (A Bad Boy Romance) by Kaitlyn Kevette Page A

preceded
him, and was likely to be the inspiration behind such poesy.

 
    And
yet, he secretly applauded her courage. This girl, who was but a middle class
woman months before, had entered the ranks of royalty. She'd wrote a poem about
the vast divide between the royals and common gentry. And now she had the guts
to read it out in front of the prince himself, no less – in full view of the
public and for the consumption of the whole world, thanks to the media and the
Internet. That took true bravery.

 
    Kenrick,
the wounded party in this contest in more ways than one, sat there wondering
what in the world was happening to him. He was secure in his world, so far,
with not a finger raised against his superiority or his brand of living. Now, a
rank commoner from somewhere was showing him the red flag of challenge.

 
    A bittersweet challenge , thought Kenrick.

Chapter Twenty-Three

 
 
    "And
the Queen's Special Shield for the most outstanding talent of the Annual Day
goes to… Princess Adelaide Royce!"

 
    The
Queen's Special Shield, or QSS as it was called, was the most prestigious prize
of the Annual Day. The contribution of the royal family that honored the star
of the day, it was given away at the sole discretion of the chief guest, who
happened to be the prince himself.

 
    But
there were no murmurs of dissent, no voices blaming nepotism – simply because
the audience there had witnessed the tumult that accompanied Addie's
performance. And no other event of the day matched up to her act in terms of
sheer talent, merit and presentation. Here was the brightest star of the
university, one who would well bring laurels for the country in the future.
Such a talent needed to be rewarded and encouraged, and what better way than
honoring her with the QSS?

 
    To
give credit where credit was due, the prince recommended her name for the award
– despite the fact that the poem in question was actually anti-royalty. If
anything, it just showed the large heartedness of the prince; it was a definite
endorsement for free speech from the future king, no less. This important point
was also not lost on the audience.

 
    So
when the big winner was announced, it was generally accepted as a fair choice.
For the media, of course, this was an unbridled feast; after all, one royal was
presenting a coveted honor to the other. And that was, of course, the prince to
the princess, the latter being a recent addition to the royal rolls. This could
be a record of sorts, truly history in the making, and not a moment to be
missed in the unfolding parade.

 
    There
was Prince Kenrick holding the trophy, standing in the middle of the stage with
the dean next to him, awaiting the arrival of the winner.  

 
    Addie
could not believe what was happening. Was
all of this true? Was her little poem worthy of all this hullabaloo? She
pinched herself to ensure that it was all indeed real.

 
    And
Cate, sitting next to her, was beaming. She had imagined that the poem would
create an impact, deliver a punch even, but this kind of rousing reception for
it and the eventual winning of the grand prize – this was totally out of her
imagination. She had guessed that it would win the special jury prize, but
bagging the QSS was straight out of a fantasy.

 
    "Get
up, Addie, go!" Cate pushed her into action.

 
    "This
is your big moment. And, dare we say, your fitting answer to that stepbrother
of yours."

 
    That
was the kicker. Indeed, as Cate had suggested, this was her sweet revenge to
the prince, for all he had done and said, for all the insults that he had
heaped on her.

 
    He must think the poem
was a result of that incident , the thought ran through her head in a flash.

 
    Well,
too late now, the deed was done and the shield won. Now all that was left was
to collect it.

 
    She
got up and began her walk to the podium. A hundred cameras were trained on her
and thousands of eyes were riveted on her, with millions more glued to