The Lost Princess - A 'Selection' spinoff

CHAPTER 55

"Yes!" Adelaide said, ready to hug her.

"Alright, shush!" Elora said. "We'll be going in any moment now!".

***

"Wishing you were dancing too?" an unfamiliar voice asked her, as she gazed at the dance floor at the twirling couples.

Practically every Queen, except for Elora, were whizzing on the dance floor.

Ella snorted.

"Hardly," she said. "Every time I dance, I get so nervous whether I would trip or not. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of surprised I haven't had a heart attack yet".

She looked at the man sitting next to her - dirty blonde long hair, sky blue eyes, a silver mask that covered most of his face, and a dark blue formal suit.

"The Illean waltz is worse than everything," he said.

"Agreed," Ella said. "My entire family, except my mother seems to like it".

"I honestly don't understand the point of such balls," he said.

"It's a celebration," Ella said. "A celebration of the love between two people. An event to make relatives and friends know about it".

"And the media," he added.

"And the media," she said, laughing. "'Perks' of being royalty, I guess".

"I'm surprised the Crown Princess of Illea isn't fond of the press," the man said.

"Have you seen the articles written on me?" she asked, before questioning him curiously, "How did you know I was the Crown Princess?".

"Well," he said. "Looking at the signet ring on your finger, people would think you're part of the German royal family, especially with your gold mask. But you're in green - and I know that the Illean royal family is wearing green in honor of Lady Adelaide Summers".

"True. You're quite observative," she said. "And who may you be?".

"You don't know?" he asked in disbelief.

"I know you're a Prince," she said, jerking her head towards his silver mask. "But I don't know of which Kingdom - I'm kind of new to this whole princess thing".

"That's why you seem like a breath of fresh air," he said, laughing bitterly.

Ella stared at him.

"You seem like a very sad person," she said at last.

"You go through all the things I've gone through, and you'll be sad too," he said.

"I'm an abuse victim," she said, and he stared at her. "My adoptive father beat me up everyday, and I barely got any food or water".

He continued staring at her.

"But I know for a fact, that, our sorrows don't determine our happiness. We do. We can choose to be stuck on the past forever, or we can move on to live our life," she said.

"That's interesting," was all he said, and they stared at the dance floor for a while.

Ella swore that she saw Kate knit her way through the crowd, but knew she was probably imagining it.

"Why do women wear so much jewelry?" the man asked wonderingly, almost to himself.

"Because it's a physical reminder of a particular memory," Ella said.

"You shouldn't need a piece of gold to remember someone or something," he said.

"You're right. You shouldn't. But wearing the jewelry with those memories associated with it calms you down. It makes you feel grounded whenever you're angry or sad and feel like you're losing your way," she said. "Every piece of jewelry on me is a reminder of the love my family has for me. It's a reminder that even when I'm alone, I never need to feel lonely because they're with me".

The man nodded.

A count down had started - there were five more minutes for midnight, for the new year to begin.

"I honestly don't understand this tradition," the man grumbled.

"Me too!" she said, and noticed the man stare at her skeptically.

"You? Not believe in this culture which people think is super romantic?" he asked.

"Okay, so I may be a hopeless romantic, but that does not mean I encourage such disgusting stuff," Ella said, raising her non injured hand. "They're practically swapping saliva!".

"And diseases," he said.

"And diseases," she agreed.

"Yet there's something sweet about it, isn't it?" he asked.

"Awww! I knew you were a big softie!" Ella said, jokingly.

Behind the man, she could see Kate with Ella's younger sisters.

Yeah she was definitely not imagining her.

There were ten more seconds left for the clock to chime midnight - and somehow, Ella wasn't able to tear her gaze from the stranger.

The two of them stared into each other's eyes, and when the crowd cried out 'One', the two of them moved forward in unison, and pressed their lips against each other.

They broke apart as swiftly as they surged together.

It was chaste - a simple peck on the lips.

Yet Ella couldn't help but flush.

"You just stole my first kiss," she said.

"And you just stole mine," he countered back.

And then Ella was in shock.

She had just given her first kiss to a person she didn't even know.

Before she could say anything more, she heard a small 'beep' and a holographic screen opened up in front of her - it was a message from Luke, saying that the Illuminati assassin had been caught.

He had also sent a picture of the man's tattoo on his ankle.

"Oh my god," she said.

"Is anything wrong?" he asked.

Ella knew where she'd seen the tattoo.

"I need to go," she said, hurrying away.

She bumped into Kate and looked around for the twins.

"Where are Elanor and Elodie?" she asked.

"What?".

"My sisters. The twins," she said, losing patience as fear overtook her.

"A maid took them, something about the Queen asking her too," Kate replied.

"Which maid, Kate?" she asked.

"What?".

"The name, Katherine. Who took them?" Ella asked.

"Her name... her name?" Kate asked, slowly.

"Yes, her name. What did her nametag say?" she asked.

"Millie".