My Life As The Dauphin

Arriveé D'Olivia

I DO NOT OWN REIGN.

French Court. Kingdom of France. A week later.

Once the festival atmosphere of the Michaelmas banquet had subsided, I had to start making plans for when Olivia D'Amencourt arrived on the scene. She was going to throw herself at Francis and I knew it was going to be harder to resist her than I hoped. By now, I had come to love Mary, but if I was being completely honest. a part of me had always been sympathetic to Olivia. She had clearly loved Francis and he had surely felt something for her. Plus, I was a fan of the actress who played her after seeing her in one of those Hallmark rom-coms. Besides, if I could manage to establish a platonic relationship with Olivia, she could be a valuable ally against Catherine. Bash and I had agreed to form our own Varden, but we needed to recruit. Lord Aloysius Castleroy would be arriving soon and begin courting Greer. A part of me wanted to save him from her gold digging ways; but if his marriage to Greer remained set, it would be a good reason to keep his ass around & bring him into the Varden. In the meantime, I enjoyed a walk with Mary as the Harvest festival began that day.

"I'm glad you came to see me." Mary said as we walked through the corridor.

"Yes, well, I thought we should discuss where we are with one another." I replied with a smile.

"All right." Mary conceded, motioning me to begin.

"With the borders quiet in Scotland, my father and his advisors seem pleased that our alliance remained intact our our engagement, and seeing as there's no political decisions" I rattled off.

"Please just stop, I was hoping we wouldn't talk anymore of politics." Mary pleaded as I couldn't help but chuckle. It was always good advice to leave politics out of any meaningful conversation.

"OK, then you talk." i insisted.

"Since the borders are secure, as you said, I was hoping we could be just..." Mary began as i took her hand.

"Just a girl, as you called yourself once?" I inquired with a smirk.

"And just a boy." She countered. "Well, a man, nearly."

"Go on woman." I teased as she struggled to respond. I shook my head before quoting more script. "All right, then, I will. If I were just me, Francis, not the future king of anything, and you were just you, Mary. Well...this would be the moment that I declared myself yours; only yours."

"And I'm yours, truly." Mary replied as we both squeezed each other's hands. I led her off to one of the windows as I admired her features in the light

"And once I did that, I'd probably invite you to the Harvest Festival." I pointed out.

"And I would probably say yes." Mary replied with a grin.

"And...I would probably try to kiss you." I admitted with as much suaveness as i could muster.

"And I probably wouldn't let you...at first." Mary whispered as I leaned in and kissed her deeply. I enjoyed the feeling of her in my arms, her lips on mine. I'd had a few "girlfriends", and I use the term loosely before; but i was never serious about any of them. What I had with Mary was a relationship that I actually wanted to see through.

After the make out session with Mary, we went to the Harvest festival. There was way more to do than what was seen in the show. There was freshly made cider and apple bobbing, as well as a shit ton of delicious pastries and desserts that I lost track of eventually after partaking of so many. I eventually stopped by the boat stand that I had seen in the show. In canon, Francis had made a boat from scratch. I however, had no such talent, so I had to shell out 11 livres to buy a well made boat.

"You are greatly skilled, monsieur." I said as i forked over the cash. I then took out the dagger that I had gotten used to keeping on my person and gently carved JUST MARY on the starboard side.

"Merci, my Dauphin." the boat maker replied graciously as I made my way over to Queen Mary and revealed my purchase.

"I see you've bought a boat." She said with a smile.

I have indeed, and I've christened it, too." I added as she looked over the boat.

"The Just Mary." She said sweetly as she grinned at me.

"May she sail as strong and true as her namesake." I said in an admittedly cheesy fashion. I was rewarded with a kiss on the lips as it was to be our last happy moment before the next plot line kicked in.

"Pardon me, but we found a woman running at the perimeter of the woods, My Lord." A guard declared as he came up to us. "She's had quite a fright. Her carriage was overrun by bandits and she's asking for you." Sure enough, a disheveled, but still pretty Olivia D'Amencourt stumbled in and caught my eye.

"Francis." she gasped as I knew that I had to act surprised and shocked.

"Olivia...Excuse me." I say as i touched Mary's arm before racing over and embracing Olivia tightly as she collapsed in my arms.

"We were attacked." She gasped as she looked in my eyes. "They killed my servant...right in front of me, dead."

"Shh, shh...it's all right." I said as i rubbed circles on her back, trying to calm her down.

"Francis...it was horrible...they cut her throat..." Olivia stuttered as i cupped her face.

"Olivia...you are safe here, I swear to you. I will not let anyone or anything harm you; please believe me." I pleaded as she nodded eagerly.

"I do believe you...I always have..." she stuttered as she wrapped her arms around me.

"We need to get you to the castle, clear a path!" I commanded as everyone obeyed me as i led a visibly upset Olivia to the castle. Once we were inside, I ordered the servants to take her to the infirmary; to see her fed and bathed. As the servants led her away, I cussed silently as I knew that there was no going back. I was going to have to walk the tightrope that Mary and Olivia had created.

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