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Yumi finishes up with my hair in a low bun and a small golden tiara as I stare into the full-body mirror at my ball gown. It is varying shades of blue with puffs of purple on my shoulders.
The party downstairs in the main ballroom has already started and almost all the guests have arrived.
I walk downstairs and slip into the loud, busy room without being noticed. Princes from all over are talking to various girls and don't cast a glance around them. I walk to a big table decorated with small finger food and wonderful sweets. My mouth waters at the delicate chocolate truffles next to a chocolate fountain because I wasn't allowed to eat before the ball. My mother told me that I need to fit into my corset so I can't eat until after the ball.
Promoting healthy habits I see, mother.
Speaking of my mother, as I reach my hand out to grab a tiny snack, she smacks it out of my hand and scolds me for trying to eat and potentially getting my dress soiled. I apologize to her and follow her instructions to talk to the princes in the room. The first guy I make eye contact with is with the prince of Yolonda and he politely tells the girl next to him that he was leaving and walks toward me. Well I guess this is the beginning of my future, Y/N...
??? POV
I walk into the large, clean castle dressed in a light blue shirt and a grey tailcoat with black slacks. I present myself to the guard as Prince Zenon from Joemalia and he doesn't question me on that. As I walk into the ballroom, my eyes scan the spacious area for a certain H/C girl. I find her talking to a blonde guy who is dressed in purple garb, obviously trying to appear more important than he is. Rolling my eyes, I walk over to the two talking and plan to take her aside to talk.
Before I can walk three steps forward, I am grabbed from behind and yanked out of the room.
"You are not Prince Zenon! The real prince has arrived with his invitation in hand! I demand to know who you are!" The guard asks me with a very stern tone.
"I am Prince Calum from Karow. If I am not mistaken, you have declared a royal ball for all of the surrounding kingdoms, but I do believe that my kingdom had not received an invitation." I say sternly to get my point across that they had not been fair with the invitations. Instead of having an adult conversation, the idiot guard of Theruma yells.
"You do not belong here! You will be imprisoned immediately!"
Y/N's POV
I have finished talking to the last prince in this room and already feel drained from all these sociable people. I would rather curl up in my blankets with a nice glass of hot chocolate and read than be around a room full of people. My mother turns me around so that I am facing her and give her my full attention.
"Now that you have spoken with all of the princes, you must choose which one you want to marry." She says with a smile.
I deadpan at her and repeat her words in my head so I could react. She wants me to choose so soon? I wish she had told me this earlier so that I would have asked more serious questions other than trying to be nice and quickly leaving the conversation. I try to think back to my trip to each kingdom to figure out which one I liked best before remembering a crucial fact that I can use right now. This may be idiotic, but hey. I'll give it a shot.
"But mother, I have not spoken to all of the surrounding kingdoms yet." I say as a matter of fact.
"Sure you have, dear. Look around, there is no other prince here. Why don't you just pick your favor-" my mother was cut off from a servant who looks distressed.
"My lady, sorry to interrupt but there is an infiltrator in the kingdom! Worse, he is outside this very room!" He says, frantically pointing to the doors near us.
"Who dares to interrupt this sanctity of which is my daughter's betrothal picking!" My mom questions him.
"Our enemy, Karow." He says.
Instantly my mind sparked up a plan so that I may gain more time before I have to give my life away to some man I don't know. If I can tell my mother that I want to talk to the prince of Karow to make it fair on all of the lands, then I will choose a husband.
"Is it an assassin? A double agent?" She asks.
"The prince himself, my queen." He tells her with a solemn face.
Perfect.
She dashes out of the double doors and looks at the prince with disgust and hatred. I, on the other hand, look at him with interest.
How can somebody so evil be so attractive? It's just not fair to the rest of us. He has long silver hair that perfectly fits with his fair skin. He has peculiar blue eyes that are cat-like and curious as they glare at my mother. His clothes match mine in a weird way and I feel a strange aura coming from him; but, I set my worries and doubts aside because of my selfish attitude.
"Throw him in the dungeon and contact his family. We now have the upper hand in the war." My mother says to the two guards holding the prince down.
"No! Mother he is a prince, right? You said that you had set this ball up so that I could meet princes tonight. It would be unfair to take away my chance to meet a potential candidate." I say as innocently as I can. I was raised sheltered so that I may be able to not judge others and keep a pure heart. I have turned her plan to keep me ignorant of the war against her.
"He is the enemy of our kingdom. You must not consider him." She says with a nervous hint in her voice.
"But mother, I cannot do that. I have been raised to be just to everyone. Him included." I speak back to her. With the last words, I glance over at the restrained prince. His attention is solely on me. Before I get nervous, I decided it was best to keep my eyes on my mother for now. She looks hurt from the twisted situation and I can tell that she wishes to turn back time and tell me all about the war. Looking at the guards, I command then to let the prisoner prince go and motion for him to follow me into the ballroom. Now that I have a new prince to talk to and buy time before I have to choose a husband, I decide to think of another plan so that I can buy more time. I look over my shoulder to see the prince of Karow following me and choose to pass by a group of gossiping girls. They look at me and then ogle at the man behind me. Soon enough each girl surrounds the prince to where he cannot move to follow me anymore. I take my chance and make a beeline to the balcony door and step out into the cool air. A pillar stands on both the left and right side of me as I look down upon the fountain below me. The starry night sky seems so calming that it could almost wipe my brain clean and relax me. Why would my mother drop such a bomb on me like this? To choose to marry someone I don't know the night I meet them? This is insane! Surely my mother has also caught the sickness plaguing my father had messed with her mind.
"May I join you?" An unfamiliar masculine voice resonates from behind me. Footsteps reach five feet next to me on my left and I look to see who it could be. The silver haired prince had managed to escape from the crowd of girls and find me in no time. He stares out to the kingdom and doesn't say a word until I say 'I don't mind' back to him. I reach my hand to touch the pillar on my right and face the kingdom in front of me.
"I had heard that you are being forced to wed a prince this generation. Please, do not let our kingdoms' war get in the way of the party." He says politely to me. I look to my left at him and see that he is expressing no emotion as he talks to me.
What is he doing here? What is the end goal? He's talking about peace but I don't understand why. Is he implying that he wants to end the war between our two kingdoms? Questions buzz through my mind as I look over to the side to this silver haired guy.
"It is true, but it is the burden a princess must bare. Tell me, why have you come?" I ask him, trying to sound as disinterested in our conversation as possible.
"I have come to give you an offer you cannot refuse." He says, his face still absent of emotion.
I look to him with both curiosity and fear. What is this offer? Moreover, why can't I refuse it?
He faces me and takes a step forward. "I have seen you exit my kingdom. Not a lot of people can say they've done that. Humor me as to why you, princess, would enter in enemy territory? This is a strict violation of the war."
I've been caught. Has the prince really saw me, or is he bluffing and wants me to confess?
"You may not have known this, since you have been sheltered your whole life, but the treaty says that if a trespasser comes in, they are subjected to imprisonment, torture, and death, all at the mercy of their royalty. You, princess, would have gotten all three." He says with a stern face. "Plus, since you're the princess here, if your kingdom finds out what you've done by sneaking out to different kingdoms without notice, you would be shunned forever. Disgrace to your kingdom would result in loss of allies, thus making you weaker and letting me win the war."
I stare dumbfounded at him. What has come upon him to reveal such dark things? What I did wasn't that bad, was it? I can't let my secret out to anyone or else I would be extreme embarrassed and have everyone disappointed in me. I've messed up big time with my curiosity.
He diverts his attention back to the view of my kingdom off the balcony. His long silver hair flows off his shoulders gracefully in his ponytail as his blue eyes seem to darken a shade. "It would be a shame if I announced this information to everyone here. So many princes, royalty, important councilman..."
"What is it that you want? Surely you could have just told everyone this and win the war without having to come here. Isn't that what your father would have wanted? What are you hinting at for me to do?" I blurt out, cutting him off. He has clearly cornered me so I can do something for him.
"You need to choose a husband tonight. Simple," he says, his eyes looking at me from the side, "choose me."
I can not marry him, he is my enemy! He is the last person I would be allowed to pick simply because of that. "My mother will not allow it."
"She must if she knows what's good for her and her kingdom. " He says in a low voice, dark eyes attacking mine.
"I'm sorry, but was that a threat?" I ask with widened eyes.
"Of course not, princess. If you explain to everyone why it would be beneficial and of most importance to wed with an enemy kingdom, they would gladly open their hearts for you." He says with no expression on his features. Such icy eyes staring at me now should have frozen me to the spot if I already wasn't.
I roll over the proposal idea around in my head, debating on what I should do. He has pinned me in a tight corner here. What's the worst that can happen here? He is a prince after all, no matter where he comes from, he will be just like any other guy I'd pick.
"If I agree to marry you, you promise you wont divulge any information about my travels?" I ask him.
"You have my word." He says with his hand placed over his chest, bowing before me like a gentleman.
"Fine. I will marry you." I reluctantly say after a moment of silence. My mother is going to hate me.
I take one last glance out into the night sky and sigh before I head into the ballroom. My mother finds me and immediately flags me down.
"I see that you have had a chance to talk to that disease ridden prince already, so tell me now who you chose so I can throw him out as soon as possible!" My mother says with a mood change.
"It's a secret. I want to be the one to announce it tonight. Please gather everyone together here so I can address them." I tell her.
As she prepares the guests, I run through what I want to say to them. What if this is all a big mistake and everyone tries to rebel? The amount of panic and stress is so strong that my chest starts to tighten. If I have a panic attack or get sick right now, would they make me pick someone still? Before I could plan to injure myself, my mother calls me up to the stairs to talk to the crowd. I walk up the steps slowly and turn to face the crowd. The whole room is dead silent. No one dares to speak and disturb me.
"Thank you all for joining me tonight in a very... different occasion. I would like to formally thank the princes to agreeing to be here and their families for support. Upon meeting each of you, I must say that each kingdom is a wonderful place and you princes uphold all positions with grace." I say to the crowd. My palms are sweaty from what I am about to say, but I hold them so it doesn't shake.
"Unfortunately, I can only pick one prince-" I say, my voice starting to shake, "and the one I have chosen has been with great consideration for not only my kingdom, but for everyone."
"As you may know, my kingdom has been under plagues of war, dragging our allies down into the war with us. Men have died. Money thrown away. Happiness lost. I want to do my part to mend all of this. I chose tonight to marry Prince Calum from Karow."
Audible gasps from every single person in the massive ballroom reverberates off the walls. Anger, betrayal, sadness, confusion- just about every bad emotion is forming on my guest's faces.
"I know how you all must feel, but please let me explain." I try to regain control of the mass amount of angry people.
"You've gone insane! You cannot do that!" One male yells out.
"The choice was left to me to decide and that's final. Listen, if I marry him, our lives will dramatically get better!" I rebuttal.
"How in the world will that work!?" A woman from the other side of the room speaks.
"For one, my kingdom will have a close tie with Karow, forcing the war to come to a halt. With the war over, we can bring our military back into their normal lives! Families will be reunited and a boost in children will occur, along with a worker increase. We can open up more jobs to reconstruct what we have lost during the war and trade among each other. As a whole, we will fall into an era of continuous peace and prosperity for our children and our children's children. If I had picked any other prince tonight, we will still be handling the same problems. This way, we can connect the dark and light kingdom through marriage, thus being the most beneficial and important marriage in our history." I can't believe I just came up with that on the spot.
Everyone thinks about what I have spoken tonight and seem to agree with why I say. This has gone way better than I had previously imagined. They all clap slowly, then roar with cheer. The room that was sullen is now overwhelmed with joy. People are hugging and crying, others are high fiving and yelling about how the war will be over.
My mother, who was trying to convince me to marry an allied kingdom prince, is now smiling with the most pride out of everyone in this room. Everything now almost seems... Perfect.
"Celebrate with them. This is a new beginning for everyone." Callum whispers from behind me. What should have been a comforting message sent chills up my spine in a dreadful-like touch. Why does this decision feel so right, yet feel so wrong at the same time?
I nod my head at his, or at least what seems to be his, suggestion to mingle more with the happy party guests. Heading to my kingdom's royalty who is surrounding my mom, I hear hundreds of questions being thrown at me.
"How did you think of all of this in just one night?"
"Were you so sheltered to the point where you didn't care he was evil?"
"How effective is this plan going to even be?"
"When does the peace hour start? Someone notify the enemy kingdom of Karow now!"
"You two are going to have wonderful babies."
"I need help wi--"
Woah woah woah back it up- babies? Oh no no no I don't even want to get married to this guy! He tricked and blackmailed me into this! But I have to stay quiet and pretend that this was all my idea.
"Y/N! This is why you are my child! I need to apologize to this prince and allow him to forgive my past actions. Maids, please make preparations for his stay here."
Everyone is now buzzing around and making plans for their new future I have promised them. Even the princes here that I did not choose are excited and don't feel rejected that I didn't want to marry them. I talk with many people that night except for Callum, who is nowhere to be seen. Soon enough, everyone is gone and it is just me and my mother bidding the guests a farewell.
"Prince Callum didn't stay?" My mother asks me once she knows everyone has officially gone.
"No." I tell her. I have no idea where he went after telling me to enjoy myself. It's very odd considering that he had planned for all this to happen. But, he is not from any normal kingdom so it may be usual for him to leave and not stay until after the guests leave.
"That's too bad. I wished he could have stayed the night here as I wanted him to. No matter, everything is ready for his stay and we will contact his kingdom immediately." My mother beams.
She walks off and beckons her maids to prepare her bath as I stand alone in the ballroom. The silence in this room is peaceful, giving me time to finally go over what just happened in my brain. How could all of this happen? My curiosity had landed me in a marriage with the enemy. What if he doesn't keep up his end of the deal and tells my secret? What if this is all a ploy to take over my kingdom and ruin it!?
"They've all left. Why are you still standing here?" A recognizable voice sounds from behind me. I slightly jump at the touch from my shoulder and spin to face the person talking to me.
Yumi stares at me with wonder in her eyes, but I do not understand her bewilderment. "Just thinking." I say back to her.
"Then how about you think as you walk to your room? Oh, and please do tell me how you thought of such an elaborate idea to marry Prince Callum?" She questions me.
We walk back to my room and I just tell her that I was only thinking for the prosperity of my kingdom. She accepts my answer, yet scolds me for not thinking about myself.
Tonight ends with me having trouble sleeping. I cannot make sense of anything that had occurred today and feel like my life is slowing ending. It's an odd way of putting it, but I feel eerie about what is to come.
Something about Prince Callum happening to be at the right place in the right moment creeps me out. He blackmailed me into marrying him so that he would keep my secret, but is it worth it? If he can do this before our marriage... what will he make me do after?