The Hidden Princess

Chapter 11 - Sunday, 30th March - Inside the Train to Belforte

However, nothing, absolutely nothing, was better than my dress. The fact that Joan had ordered it before me, had saved me from having to beg the tailors since it is not very traditional. By the way, it is not really a dress. Actually, it is split into two pieces. Firstly, the chest area is in a gradient colour from a light purple to a dark one, and it also shows my abdomen. Only three fingers, nothing that could make guests faint (at least, not this time). And there's also a skirt, which is my favourite part, even though the competition is quite fierce. It's made out of tulle. Layers and layers of tulle that give it the perfect volume for a princess's dress.

Not that a princess could wear something that showed her abdomen for everyone to see, but still. I still have this right, it's one of the perks of keeping it a secret.

I'm taking advantage of it while I still can.

I still didn't know how it had ended up looking like. Since my drawing, I had at least seen the bag where it was hung. And, at the same time Michelle took it out, the three of us turned around to look at it. The final product looked a thousand times better than I had drawn! The chest area was made out of little sequins that shone depending on the angle in which you looked at them, I could only imagine the look on peoples' faces when I stepped into the ballroom! And the skirt, oh the skirt!, the only thing I wanted to do when I first wore it was to keep spinning around my room.

Well, my fake room.

And that was what I was doing when, at ten past five, a guard knocked on my door to deliver a note from my parents. They asked for me to meet them, and, as I hadn't seen them the whole weekend, I rushed to take off my skirt, put on a robe and go through the secret passage.

As soon as I opened the door to my room, I saw my mum sitting on my bed. My dad was already standing, waiting for a hug. I had no idea of how much I missed them until my arms were around his neck and I didn't want to let go.

"I am astonished, Eliese," my mother said, standing up and covering the few steps that were left between us. "I did not expect you to be ready."

I had made sure to wear a robe that wouldn't show the upper half of my outfit, but my hands still made their way to my collar just to be sure.

"You know how it is. I go in before you do," I said, meeting her halfway to give her a kiss.

They were far from being ready. My father must've just left a random meeting, his suit seemed like it had already gotten through a whole day. Although, if I had to guess, I'd bet they were obliged to entertain more important guests the whole afternoon. That is because my mother was wearing her teal skirt and blazer set. I was sure that at night she would wear a burgundy dress, and, if she had spent one whole day with people who'd see her outfit, she wouldn't let them see her wearing the same colour on two different occasions.

Pity that our flag only had four colours and that one of them was white. There are very few options for patriotic events.

"Did something else happen?", I asked quickly, glancing from my mother to my father.

It wasn't exactly usual for them to have me fetched just before the events started. And, even if I wasn't keen on admitting, I had a feeling that they were about to ask me to stay hidden inside my bedroom for the whole night.

I didn't know if that would be a blessing or just a curse.

But that wasn't the matter.

"No." My father's tired and hard eyes offset his warm smile and the arm, which he put around my waist. "We just wanted to be able to see you before you left."

"Have you memorised your timetable?", my mother asked as if I was really part of the commemoration. "Or would you rather I fetch Elena to go through it with you one more time?" She brought her hands to my hair and started to fix each curl.