The First Queen (Currently Being Updated)

Chapter 14

Ball gowns. Champagne. Dashing men and beautiful women dressed to impress one another. Gossip and scandal. Put all these things together and you get a typical ball at any royal palace.

        And I hate balls. Absolutely positively hate them. Why? Well probably because up until I was Queen, I had to sit beside my father and Katarina, forcing a smile as each eligible bachelor in Alendar who wanted a spot close to the throne asked to dance with me. What also made me sick to the stomach was watching girls of noble birth flaunt themselves all over Darien. The ball tonight was meant to be in honor of the new portrait of myself, but now, it is both for the portrait and the alliance. By the way –

        Di patted some more powder onto my face, making me sneeze as the white dust filled my nostrils. Yes, I’m actually allergic to beauty powder, so I take extra care to keep my face clear without the use of cover-up. I glared at Di from the mirror as she adjusted the crown upon my head.

        “Done,” she said, smiling triumphantly at the masterpiece she had made. And she had done a fine job indeed. I rose gracefully from the vanity, turning around to find a person so familiar but yet unrecognizable staring back at me.

        I stood tall, my heavily embroidered gown with train at the back fitting me perfectly. My hair was as up in a crown braid, and the crown rested fittingly upon my dark brown locks. Black thinly lined my eyes and dark rouge adorned my lips. I loved dark rouge, it made me feel different and it drove my father and Di crazy in the beginning when I would wear it all the time.

        “Princess, you can choose what rouge you want,” said Di as she began to prep me for the day. It was a normal day, I was sixteen, and I – wait no, I take it back, it wasn’t a normal day. It was Darien’s twentieth birthday, and all the eligible ladies of noble birth were getting ready like I was, only they were stuffing their corsets and adding too much liner for my taste. More like they were getting ready for a normal day at a brothel then for a royal ball if you ask me.

        Carefully gazing over the colors of rouge lined up orderly in front of me, my eyes stuck to the wine red rouge near the end of the line. I picked it up, carefully rolling it over with my fingers. Turning away from my reflection, I looked up to Di with a smile, “This one.”

        Di’s eyes flashed with concern. “Eleanor, that color is too old for you, why don’t you choose another? The light pink would look great –“

        “Di,” I said, looking at up at her with a straight look. “I want to look like the daughter of King Richard of Alendar, not like a doll.” My argument was valid; I wasn’t the typical princess who blushed at the sweet words of courtiers and danced the night away at balls. I fought men twice my size both in training and in the battlefield and had the blood of the fallen on my hands. And being this type of princess was completely fine with my father. It was his wish after all.

        “If you’re not going to apply it, then I will,” I said defiantly as I opened the rouge and determinedly applied it along my lips. Di was right about it making me look old, but it made me look mature. It literally screamed “don’t come near” and I loved it.

        Later that evening, when I strolled into the waiting room where my family waited to descend from the grand staircase of the ball room, I got mixed reactions. My father was at first in shock and tried to reason with me, but he too found that it fit me and my personality. Katarina argued with my father that it made me look “inappropriate” but he won the verdict and Katarina left me alone. Darien, however, actually liked it. He came over to me as I walked in, placing two gentle kisses on either cheek.