Her days repeated like that, some changes such as skipping different meals or none at all, her bedroom was different or she did different things. That was until four days later, when she was sitting in her room dragging her time along before her father yelled her name from probably the throne room. He was loud-spoken but even the distance was a stretch. She heard her maid, Omolara, rush up the stairs and into the room, a young girl, with near-ebony skin from slightly further north. She was timid and had dark blue eyes, with what looked to be a speck of yellow in each eye. What made her unique was the fact she had wings, white wings with a blue shine to them. Nothing like any bird Cecilla had seen but it wasn't her top priority to know about her maid all too well.
Cecilla took the cue and made her way down the stairs with her maid behind her, both rushing to the throne room and seeing Damien there with his head in one hand and a letter in the other. Beatrice was there and for the first time in months, the two stood beside each other, sharing the same, dreaded expression. The princess went over and asked the issue, to which her father responded, "we've a letter for you..." he slowly offered the paper. It had been a while since Cecilla got an actual letter directed to herself, it felt like the first time, in all honesty. She hadn't seen her name written on blank parchment by someone else in so long. Slowly, she opened the folded piece of paper and spoke.
"Dear Princess,
I've never truly attempted to court anyone in my life, I don't know how these letters start. Yet here I am, writing to you, Cecilla Erotes of Olympa, requesting your hand in marriage.
We've met before, but never truly spoken; yet you've enchanted me! A woman of such effortless grace and determination - it endears me.
Of course, it is up to you to say yes or no. If you do say yes, I would request we meet at my kingdom. You don't need a route. There will be an interceder to meet with you.
Though it should be warned, if you do say no, I cannot guarantee the safety of your kingdom- what!?" Cecilla broke out of her reading to read over that again. It started off sweet and became a threat. She wasn't sure how she felt, a part of her was appealed by the courage. "Yours in the future, Dream." She finished off, her maid behind her flinching at the name. Cecilla turned and looked at her maid with a judging stare, the maid apologised.
"Sorry... I haven't heard that name in... a while..." she apologised again and looked away carefully. Cecilla paused as Damien took it to himself to ask about Dream some more. "Well, from where I am originally from: Saint Manberg-Palesa, Dream was a monster, never seen or heard of outside of the legends and horror stories told to keep children from... not being religious. He was imageless and was associated with the God of the main religion in the kingdom, Prima. Many people, as I grew up, said he was related to the monarch line - he chose the next monarch and acted like God's messenger. So only the prince would know of him..." she explained before pausing to remember more of what she was saying, "ah... he... he was a monster even his creator feared. Never spoken about nor challenged..." she finished and bowed before being dismissed.
Damien looked devastated, so did Beatrice. Cecilla however, was excited to meet the man. Such a powerful, reputable man. Maybe not royalty but if he truly had close connections to the royal family then she was ready to pack her bags and leave. No one would try to kill someone they loved - especially added to the fact they were as pretty as Cecilla!
"Wonderful! I'll pack my bags! What? It's only fair, he may actually attack the kingdom! Plus, I need to get married off. If he's powerful, I'm safe! I'll be fine!" Cecilla quickly rushed to her room to pack her bags and pretty-up for her future monster husband. A part of her dreaded that the monster may actually be a monster, someone ugly or rancid to the eyes. But she moved past that, she would have spotted a monster if they had apparently met before. And the writer, "Dream", knew her full name and kingdom. So they had met before. Or were on some common ground. She wasn't sure when the interceder would arrive, after all, it never specified, but she sorted an outfit. A black dress with a royal blue over-dress, a corset above that and a short cloak edged with golden thread, connected with a thick, golden, twisted rope with tassels. A heavy dress, she wasn't sure where she was going but the amount of layers made it easy to make do. She looked it up and down as the night set and she smiled.
Her dreams, soon after being crumbled, began rebuilding. A feared man from the legends was asking for her hand in marriage, what a bragging statement! Sure he wasn't an emperor, but he wasn't even supposed to be real! Finally something she could outdo Venus in, if they ever met again. They could compare husbands.
Were Venus and Technoblade married? It didn't seem like it yet she wouldn't be surprised if they were. It looked more like they were well acquainted - but Venus was never clear with her emotions, the girl was very much a stoic.
"Princess... your escort has arrived..." Omolara knocked on the door and mentioned before bowing and leaving before the surprised princess could start talking to her. Cecilla was shocked at least - already? The letter had just arrived!
She hurriedly changed and did some level of makeup, she carried some with her but kept to: shaping her eyes; quickly ripening the colour of her rotund lips and highlighting her nose slightly. That before brushing her hair out - it was growing to be quite the annoyance with how long it was, and letting it out behind her as she rushed with one of her bags. She wasn't sure how many she should bring so despite having another entire chests worth of things, she knew that a bag of the bare essentials would suffice. Upon reaching the throne room, slightly tired because of the journey, she saw a man.
Shorter than she was, she was 5'10, the boy looked around 5'9 at most, but seemed more like 5'8 - only taller than the knight beside him by an increment. He had dark brown hair, and his eyes were masked with tinted glasses. Blue seemed to be the colour of his choice, wearing navy pants and a lighter blue for his tunic, which also had a white rectangle bordered red. It was basic, he looked basic, but not bad looking - sharp and defined jawline with slightly curly hair and some stubble, he was inexpressive as well, with a resting face and lips more on the horizontal side. Sapnap (the knight present in the hall) bowed to the boy, Cecilla only realised he had status when she saw his cloak, a traditional royal cloak - coloured a royal blue like her dress.
"King George." Sapnap joked to the man, who punched his arm and laughed as Sapnap winced.
"Oh woah! Are you Cecilla?" He asked with a quick bow. She nodded, almost disappointed with what she was seeing. If that was Dream, she would have felt slightly betrayed. But his name was George, thankfully.
"Yes! A pleasure meeting you." She almost purred with excitement and smiled as he nodded and pulled a face.
"I see what he means now... is that all? We have a carriage." He pointed to behind him where a horse could be seen.
"Oh! Yes! Omolara! Could you get the chest?" Cecilla called, thanking the girl who arrived minutes later with the chest in her arms. George shrugged and pushed it into the carriage before allowing Cecilla to step in. Her parents stood by the door as she sat down, both quiet and tearful.
"Darling, are you sure of this? I mean your mother and I waited a month!" Damien tried to reason.
"Father, you only waited a month because that was when mother turned 18. I'm far overdue! Allegra beat me to marriage. She's 15! Plus, with the way the kingdom is going, I think it's better I leave. Renée can take the throne, we've other things to issue ourselves with. Raise him correctly. I'm not gone forever!" She giggled and let her hand out for her mother to touch, "this will be good for us. I promise." She smiled and looked forward. The carriage began moving forward and she waved goodbye to the parents and wondered where her little sister was, probably with her partner.
For the first portion of the ride, it was silent, without anything said. It wasn't tense but it was awkward at least. So Cecilla tried making conversation with the man on the horse, "George, right? You're quite good looking." She complimented him. He just nodded.
"Mutual... yes... Cecilla... Dream's been talking about you non-stop so hopefully now he'll shut up." George complained. Cecilla wasn't sure how she felt with that response - if it made her seem like a burden or not.
"Who is Dream? And who... are you?" She asked slowly while looking outside. She had never really left the kingdom. The large expanses of fields and sparse trees appealed to her as something new. She had been stuck within the castle, mostly alone her whole life. She was moving away quickly which added to the wonder. There was a certain rush that arrived along with the travelling - Cecilla could understand why Venus did it so much. Her love for adventure was probably the only reason why she survived that long out in the wild.
"Dream's my friend... he's my good friend, and he protects me as a knight. I'm the ruler of the kingdom though. The king, but I like using "prince". It makes me feel younger." He explained without much to go off of, she took that in.
"Why is the king of a nation picking up a princess for their friend?" She suddenly asked, there was a mix of disappointment and satisfaction knowing her future husband had that sort of power over his friend, who ruled the kingdom.
"I don't know! He told me and I was like fine, whatever! That idiot sent me. I'm worth more than that!" He complained much to Cecilla's disinterest. He was borderline boring and did not enjoy doing things for himself. Some king. It took away from the pride that came with Dream having power over him. But George didn't have much power to begin with, apparently.
The rest of the ride was silent. Cecilla grew tired of talking to the awkward man and looked outside at the expanses of dark fields and sometimes trees. It was a charming view; she could understand Venus enjoying it. It was weird since Venus didn't like forests all too much, but she didn't judge - she was marrying a monster apparently.
The night was charming, a dark sky with a few more stars than usual. She was able to appreciate the little things. The sky truly was more alive outside the brighter constraints of her kingdom - beautiful. She watched them for a portion of the journey. After a while, she fell asleep and slept the rest of the night.