𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑜𝑛. ʙʀɪᴛɪsʜ ʀᴏʏᴀʟ ғᴀᴍɪʟʏ

23 ♔♕ 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲

"Oh...okay." The man paused, appearing to try to recover himself from hearing the dreaded words, "...an apprenticeship then? I don't see any records of you applying." He finished, frantically searching on through his files as he spoke.

"That's because I haven't applied."

"Oh, right." He paused once more, now thoroughly confused, "do you have employment plans then?"

"I suppose you could say that." Bella replied dryly, watching with a rather bemused expression as the man desperately tried to dictate what she was saying.

"What are your plans for after the school year ends?" He asked, clearly much happier now he was back to asking questions he knew.

"Well I think the first event is Chatsworth...or maybe Bicton..."

"E- ...Excuse me?"

"The event." Bella replied, trying earnestly to be patient with the man, "you know, eventing...dressage, cross country, showjumping." He just continued to stare blankly at her before she finished with an sigh of, "horse riding!"

"Ohh." A lightbulb seemed to switch on and they were finally back on the same page, "oh, yes, yes, yes of course...and that is what you plan to do, horse riding?" He asked, pronouncing the last two words as though they were a foreign concept.

"Yes."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"What?"

The man looked up from his notepad, oblivious to the sharp response Bella had given him, "If that doesn't work, then what will you do?"

"Well...I haven't thought about that."

"Hmm," he pursed his lips, tapping his pen on the paper as he thought, "do you not think maybe applying to university could be a good idea? The applications are still open until the fifteenth...I'm sure with your grades you could get in anywhere you wanted."

"I don't need to go to university." Bella began, preparing herself to recite the speech that at this point she had already memorised, "what's the point of going and taking up someone else's space, someone else who might actually need to go?"

"Look," she continued, leaning forward onto the desk as she spoke, "I'm not naive, I know that I could fail everything and there would still be uni's happy to have me, look at Harry for gods sake, but I don't want that. So, my plan is to ride, competitively is my aim, for as long as possible, and, if for some reason it doesn't work as you say, then it's not as though I'm going to face unemployment is it?"

The man blinked at her, mouth hanging open slightly as he processed her words.

"Any more questions?" Bella asked, becoming tired of just being stared at.

"Uh, no, no, I think we'll leave it there." He began, practically jumping from his seat at her words. As though he had temporarily forgotten who she was, he quickly walked over to the door, doing that same strange nod / bow / curtesy thing as he walked past her and then as she walked out of the door, thankful to finally be returning to a place where people behaved normally towards her.

♔♕

"The crowd better bloody cheer for them."

Her brothers just chuckled at her as they sat in the car on the way to the Guildhall for the civil ceremony for their father and Camilla.

"I'm sure they will." William finally replied, waving to the crowd as he spoke.

Bella just hummed in response, rearranging her dress to stop it from creasing, "ooh! Keep an eye out for Harriet and Millie in the crowd."