ᵗʰᵉ ᵖʳⁱⁿᶜᵉ
˚ ༘ .˚🌱୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ
Tedros laid on his bed staring up the ceiling. His mind was racing with thoughts of the beautiful girl he met at the market. He doesn't get it. He's only seen her once but he couldn't help but want to talk to her again.
His eyes wandered to the small plant that rested on his bedside table. Then a thought suddenly hit him, 'I never got her name!'
Within a moment of decision he took the arrows from his bow and leapt out the window. Catching himself with one of the arrows. 'This is absolutely stupid..! Why am I even doing this? I've only met her once,' these were the thoughts running through his head while he climbed down the side of the castle.
Without even realizing it, he was already at the bottom of the tower. He took off towards the busy market to find the small stand. The market was brightly lit by the lamps on the stalls. The crowd was still bustling in the market.
'She's probably still there!' Tedros thought hopefully. That hope quickly diminished when he arrived at the small stall seeing it dim, completely without a person in sight. He looked around hoping to see her but to no avail.
Tedros looked at the stalls nearby and started his small investigation. He approached a stall that sold dry fruits. "Excuse me, Miss?" He called out to the elderly woman.
"Yes–", the woman gasped at the sight of the blond prince. "Prince Tedros..! Good evening your Majesty!" the old woman greeted with a bow.
"Huh?" Tedros was confused until he found the problem. Earlier when he went with the knights he wore a disguise so people wouldn't recognize him but now he was in his normal clothing and without a cloak. 'Great...' he grumbled to himself.
"I would like to ask a question," Tedros dismissed his current predicament. "Ask anything, your Majesty!"
"Do you know the girl that sells plants here?" Tedros asked.
"That girl? Oh of course! She's quite famous around here but no one knows her name. All we know is that she only comes to the town two separate days a week. Why? Is there something that she did?" The old woman worried.
"Oh not any of the sorts. I only wanted to know her name," he reassured.
"I'm terribly sorry but you're going to have to ask that to her. I'm afraid no one in this town knows her name."
Tedros sighed at the information. "Thank you very much, ma'am!" He thanked her anyway before making his way back to the palace. Using the same way he got down.
When he climbed back up, the door to his room suddenly opened. "Tedros–" the voice of his father startled him. He ended up knocking back on his bedside table which resulted in the potted snake plant to wobble.
Time seemed to slow down as he watched the plant fall to the ground. But before it could hit the ground, Tedros caught it just in time.
"Father!" He replied shocked.
"Tedros, I wanted to talk with you. Ever since coming back from the market you've been acting strange." King Arthur approached his son with concern.
"Strange? What do you mean? I am perfectly fine, father!" Tedros tried to shrug off his father's allegations.
"Tedros. You're holding that plant like your life depended on it." His father gave him a blank stare. As if stating the obvious.
"Huh? Oh..! This thing? It's nothing!" Tedros tried to deny it but his hands only held the plant tighter.
"This is not helping your case at all, son." Arthur stared at the plant while talking. He knows why his son's been acting weird. The sweaty palms, the acting suspiciously, holding on to the plant as if he let go it'd be gone in seconds.
"Now tell me, who's the girl?" Arthur asked his son.
"Girl? What girl? I don't know any girl..." Tedros tried to deny.
"Son, I know your mother left me but I'm not dumb."
Tedros sighed and approached his bed. "Fine. I met this girl at the market when I was with the knights and she sold me this plant. For the first time in my life I knew the difference between pretty and beautiful and she's both."
"What's her name?" Arthur asked his son. His love may not have ended well but he doesn't want that to stop his son from finding someone.
"That's the thing, I didn't get to ask her. And I went back earlier but she wasn't there. I asked the stall that was near hers but they said no one knew her name." Tedros uttered.
"Well that's a predicament. How about I help you search for her? I'm pretty sure we'd be able to find her," Arthur suggested.
Tedros just sighed for probably the hundredth time that day. "It's fine, father. I'm going to be leaving for The School for Good tomorrow anyway, I'll probably forget about her when I finally find my true love there."
Arthur dropped the topic. "Well if you say so. I also wanted to remind you that dinner will be served in a bit. I came here to spend as much time as possible before you go."
And with that the two headed to the royal dining room and never spoke about the mysterious plant girl again.
𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘
Back in the woods, Ophelia was cooking dinner for herself. It was quiet besides the sounds of the fire crackle from her stove. Heinz stayed for the night which was a rare event.
When her food was ready, Ophelia transferred it to a plate. Eating quietly she began to ponder if she'll always live alone in the woods for the rest of her life. Thoughts swirled through her mind of all the things she could do in her future.
'I could set up a flower shop in town when I'm finally old enough. The knights will probably stop going after me when I'm finally eighteen–'
Her thoughts were interrupted by something slipping under her door. She approached it to see a letter. Ophelia was confused. No one knew she lived here, so how could they send a letter?
She turned over the letter to see her name written in fancy cursive with the insignia of two swans under it. One swan was black while the other was white, under the swans were initials.
"S.G.E? But how?" Ophelia asked herself. "I'm not a princess nor do I come from an influential family," she was tempted to open it. She put it down on the kitchen counter before she went back to eat.
𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘
When Ophelia finished putting away her dishes, her eyes drifted to the letter. Her curiosity got the best of her so she opened it. There was no note inside, only a piece of paper. It was a Flowerground Pass.
"Flowerground? Guess now I know what to do tomorrow. It could be a good change of pace, right Heinz?" she looked towards the sleeping cat in his small bed. "Plus if I ever become a sidekick to someone, the knights will probably get off my back."
With that thought, her decision was final. She found an old crate in the cottage and began packing her necessities. At some point during her packing, Heinz woke up and approached her. Heinz rubbed his fluffy head against her leg.
"You wanna come with me, Heinz?" Ophelia asked the cat who meowed back as if to say 'yes'. She smiled at him and scooped him up in her arms. It was already late and she was done with packing anyway.
She turned off the lights and retired to her room. Tomorrow would be fun.
That night, Ophelia slept with a smile on her face awaiting what was to come the next day.
˚ ༘ .˚🌱୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ
Word Count: 1.3k
A/N: This is just a filler chapter but this will be the last prologue chapter. I know Arthur died but let's pretend that he's alive. Hope you liked this chapter :) !! Not proofread !!