The Legend of the Great Empress

Chapter 17: Princess Annabelle Part 4

Meanwhile, in the morning back at Terresaine, Princess Annabelle was in a noticeably bad mood as she was waiting for her breakfast to be served. Her most trusted maids did their very best to try to cheer her up, but to no avail. Even Alexiel, who was standing off to her right, wanted to cheer her up, but he had concerns. Because of the princess's already apparent bad mood, he was unsure of whether or not to tell her about what he saw back in Friedens. And he most definitely did not intend to keep such news from her. His loyalty to her was too strong for that. Eventually, Alexiel decided to just wait until Princess Annabelle was in a better mood for him to tell her what happened.

"Your Highness," said one of Princess Annabelle's favorite maids, "In order to brighten up your day, we've decided to make you one of your favorite foods for breakfast. We hope you'll love it."

A cart was then rolled out from the kitchen to where Princess Annabelle was seated, a large, covered plate gracing the top of it. And when one of the maids removed the cover, large stacks of cinnamon toast were revealed.

"Yay! Cinnamon toast!" said Princess Annabelle, cheerfully, much to the delight and relief of everyone present. And everyone watched as she immediately yet happily dug into her meal.

"And not only that," said another maid a few seconds later, "You have a very special letter from His Highness, Prince Aurelio of Casadell'arte."

Alexiel's heart sunk at this news, but Princess Annabelle, on the other hand, was overjoyed.

"Today must be my lucky day!" exclaimed Princess Annabelle, "First I get served my most favorite meal in the world. Then I get a letter from the person I love the most. How grand!"

Putting her eating utensils down on the table, Princess Annabelle immediately ripped open the letter to read what was inside. But what she read was definitely not something she expected to see.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Annabelle screamed, throwing the letter down onto the floor, to the shock, surprise, and confusion of everyone present.

"Your Highness. What's wrong?" asked one of the maids. But Princess Annabelle continued to scream at the top of her lungs like a madwoman, concerning and frightening those around her, leaving them frozen with fear and unsure of what to do.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of nonstop screaming, Princess Annabelle got up from her seat and fled to her room. As soon as she left, the maids and other servants went into a frenzy of what could have possibly caused her to react the way that she did. Amidst the confusion, Alexiel picked up Prince Aurelio's letter from the floor and read it. And there is where he found the source of Princess Annabelle's despair.

Princess Annabelle sat on the floor in her room, still in shock and disbelief at what she just read.

"How dare he reject me?...How dare he...?" mumbled Princess Annabelle to herself. Because this is something she never ever expected to happen to her, the princess was at a complete loss of what to do and how to handle the situation and couldn't help but to rest her head on her knees with intense heartbreak, until she remembered something.

"Wait..." said Princess Annabelle, "That's it. What did the princess of Morado do about this situation? I'll go take a look."

Princess Annabelle got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the secret hiding place she had in the floor where her special book on the princess of Morado was. And after grabbing the book from its place, she immediately started rushing through the pages, looking for any similar scenarios to her own. Although she did find a story on the princess of Morado's broken engagement, unfortunately for Princess Annabelle, it didn't happen the same way her own broken engagement just had, for it was the princess of Morado who broke things off herself, not the prince she was engaged to.

In a fit of rage, Princess Annabelle stood up from the floor and threw her book towards the wall and began to sob, falling back down on her knees. A few seconds later, she stopped crying when she heard a knock at the door to her room.

"Who's there?" she asked.

"It's me, Alexiel, Your Highness," the voice said.

Standing up from the floor and taking a moment to regain some of her composure, Princess Annabelle allowed Alexiel to enter her room.

"What is it, Alexiel?" asked Princess Annabelle with barely a trace of her tantrum moments before.

"I...I have something to tell you, Your Highness," said Alexiel, "I think it's better that I tell you now."

"Really? What is it?"

"It's...it's about His Highness, Prince Aurelio. When I was in Friedens, I saw him walking with a young girl. They looked very...close."

"He what?! Are you sure?!"

"...Yes, Your Highness."

Princess Annabelle turned her back to Alexiel, processing what she was just told.

"And what did this girl look like?" Princess Annabelle asked.

"I...don't remember precisely," answered Alexiel, "I mostly remember that she was very young and had long hair that was a similar shade of brown to His Highness, Prince Aurelio's."

"...I see. Thank you for telling me, Alexiel. You can leave now."

"...Are you sure, Your Highness?"

"Yes! Please leave me be!"

"...Of course, Your Highness."

When Alexiel turned to leave, he noticed that there was a glowing, purple book lying on the floor near the door. He made sure that Princess Annabelle wasn't looking when he picked it up and promptly left her room.

Sometime later, Princess Annabelle arranged a private meeting with her minister and ordered him to destroy the land of Friedens and murder its women until Prince Aurelio's lover has been identified and confirmed dead.

"B-but Your Highness," said the minister, "That's outrageous! The land of Friedens has always been a place of peace, with little to no history of conflict with any of its neighbors. If you attack Friedens, what will public opinion be?"

"...Once everything is finished," said Princess Annabelle, "everyone will know that I, Annabelle, princess of Terresaine, am not to be belittled."

Alexiel gazed down at the glowing, purple book he had lying on his desk, unsure of what to do with it. Moreover, Alexiel was afraid that the book was possibly enchanted, given its peculiar glow.

"I really hope that isn't the case," thought Alexiel, "Magic has been outlawed here for years."

Taking a moment to compose himself, Alexiel finally mustered up the courage to further examine the book and began browsing through its contents. As he turned the pages, Alexiel realized that the book contained past and present information about the princess of Morado. Although he could understand the older information being present, the most recent information being present confused him.

"The princess of Morado breaking off her engagement is a fairly recent event," Alexiel said to himself, "So how is it already recorded here? And most importantly, why does Princess Annabelle have this book?"

After shutting the book closed, Alexiel sat back in his chair in thought.

"I'm going to need to do a bit of research on this situation," thought Alexiel, "*sigh* I really hope this isn't what I think it is..."