Chapter 6: Plans Starting to Form in Secret

The next few days were a little stressful for Prince Mathias because he will be visiting Lady Aurora soon, but the only problem is he does not know what ladies like. To help with this crisis he gets Rion to help out.

“Rion, I need your help.”

“Of course, what do you need help with, your highness?”

“I am going to visit Lady Aurora again in a few days, but I was wondering if you know anything about what ladies might like.”

“I am sorry, your highness. Are you asking me for advice on what women like?”

“Yes, I am. I want to make a good impression with her. We are going to be engaged soon.”

“I know your highness, but may I speak freely.”

“Yes, of course, go ahead.”

“Thank you, your highness. I believe you should give her flowers. It shows you are caring and emotionally aware about their feelings.”

“Is that so? Well, go through the gardens and create a bouquet of flowers for Lady Aurora at once.”

“Yes, I will have the gardener take care of it. Anything else?”

“What kind of topics should I speak with her about?”

“I believe in this case, you should listen to her interests first and maybe slowly introduce topics that interest you.”

“Hum, this does seem easier when you explain it, Rion, but I do hope I do not mess this up. I want to make a good impression. She is someone I might be able to see a future with, if my plan works.”

“Of course, your highness. Please excuse me, I will work on the preparations you have requested.”

“Thank you Rion.”

“I am in your command, your highness.”

Rion bows to the prince before leaving his chambers and ready to start the request the prince asked him to do. Rion, though, couldn't help himself from smiling as he thought the prince is slowly changing into the person he thought he would be. In the meantime, Prince Mathias tries to think how this meeting will turn out to be since this will be the first time since discussing the marriage contract with her that he will be freely spending time with her in her family’s estate. He has to win her to his side or this part of the plan will fail.

He is not the only one thinking about how this meeting will turn out, it seems Lady Aurora is also having doubts about what will happen in this meeting. “Oh, I am not sure what to do. The prince is coming for a visit and I don't know what to do.” “It will be alright, my lady, just be your charming self and everything will be fine,” her maid reassured her. “In fact, let us find an outfit you can wear for the prince’s visit.” “That is a good idea, let’s go to my closet.”

Lady Aurora and her maid went through over a dozen outfits she can wear to greet the prince and the time they will be spending together. She sets aside a few of the outfits she is considering to wear and will wait for the time comes to make the final decision.

When she was finished, she decided to spend the rest of the day resting and writing notes on what kind of projects she needed to get done before the prince’s arrival.

Hopefully, having some alone time with the prince, she will maybe have someone to understand what she is going through coming to this new life and hoping to help to adjust better in this new world.

Imperial Palace

The day for the prince’s visit to the Diamante Estate finally arrived. Prince Mathias is preparing himself for his departure by thinking about ways to make this a successful meeting with Lady Aurora. He does hope to make a good impression with her since royals are not always favored by many, but he wishes to change that opinion.

As he continues to be lost in his thoughts, Rion appears in his room informing him it is time to leave.

“Your highness, it is time to leave,” Rion points out.

“Thank you Rion for informing me.”

“Of course, your highness and may I say, your clothing is very suitable for your visit.”

“Thank you Rion. I thought it would be best not to go so formal.”

“A wise choice, your highness.”

Prince Mathias is wearing a simple white t-shirt, with a leather over coat, leather pants, and simple boots.

“Thank you, Rion, are the flowers ready for departure?”

“Yes, they are waiting for you in the carriage.”

“Very well, then let us take our leave.”

“Of course, your highness.”

Prince Mathias and Rion soon leave his room and walk down the halls to the carriage only to be stopped by his father and mother.

“Mathias, where do you think you are going?” Queen Anastasia asks.

“I am going to visit Lady Aurora at the Diamant Estate today. Do not worry I will be back before nightfall.”

“Mathias, please stay safe and do not defer off the King’s Road,” Queen Anastasia said worried about her son.

“Take your leave my son and stay safe.”

“Thank you, mother and father.”

Prince Mathias soon leaves with Rion to the carriage and off to the Arch-Duke’s Estate. During this ride, he wonders if there is anything he needs to do in order to continue to gain their trust to achieve his plan. At the same time, he is a bit excited to see the lady he will soon be engaged to at the imperial ball. He hopes with this announcement, he can prevent one event he remembers from his future is the death of his mother and he hopes to change it, as his mother means so much to him.

With one son away, the second son is away dealing with his own business privately. Prince Leonidas being so pestered by his youngest brother out smarting him in every move, he thought he would take matters into his own hands by taking a bride for himself. Since Duke Rubis's daughter was passed over by his brother, he thought his family would make a good alliance for his support.

At the Rubis Duchy Manor Estate, Prince Leonidas arrives at Duke Rubis’s estate and charges into his home unannounced like a bull charging at his master.

“Duke Rubis, where are you?!” he shouts. “Where are you?”

He continues to charge around the estate until finally a servant goes and brings the duke and his daughter.

“What is the meaning of this?” the duke asks.

“There you are, we need to talk.”

“Very well, let’s go to the sitting room,” the duke says, escorting him to the room.

Arriving at the sitting room, they take a seat in the chairs and begin their meeting.

“Care to explain to me why you barge into my home like some animal?”

“It is because of my brother, Prince Mathias.”

“What does this have to do with your brother?”

“Well, it seems from the rumors I have been hearing around that he has the favor of my father, your emperor and several nobles from the Neutral Faction are supporting his bid for the throne and I have nothing!”

“That is not possible, how did he win support this quickly,” Duke Rubis wonders.”

“How the hell should I know? All I know is I have to defeat him in his own game.”

“Then what do you suggest?” the duke asks.

“I am thinking to really wound his pride, I believe I shall take your daughter as my fiance.”

“You wish me to sell my daughter to you in order to outsmart your brother.”

“Not sold, but use her as a weapon against my brother. I want to marry her to gain more supporters. Let’s show my father and the rest of the nobles that my brothers are not the only ones who can rule an empire.”

“Yes, your highness, but I do not agree with you using my daughter in this matter.”

“Father, it is fine. If this is a possibility to put Prince Mathias in his place, then I do not mind, so long as I can get my own revenge against the prince, then I am all in,” Lady Sirena agrees.

“If this is what you both want, then I cannot disobey an order from my prince. Very well, I will support you, your highness in anything you need. I will draw up the contracts for the engagement which should be done before the imperial ball.”

“It will be great to have both of you on my side,” Prince Leonidas said, happy with this progress.

“Good that is settled then, but I have my conditions,” Lady Sirena mentions.

“Go on,” the prince says.

“We might be almost engaged, but you do not even lay a finger on me unless we are invited to events. Also, you stay out of whatever plan I have to defeat your brother and the little wench that took the actual prince I wish to marry,” Lady Sirena said, explaining her conditions.

“Fine by me, my lady, just play the role of fiancee and we should be fine,” Prince Leonidas mentions out of annoyance.

“Fine,” Lady Sirena said walking away.

With their conversation continuing on through the day, it seems they are making progress with their plans, hoping they can all get revenge in their own way.

Meanwhile, Prince Mathias has arrived at the Arch-Duke Domain almost reaching his estate, hoping this visit will turn out a bit better than the last one.

Lady Aurora might be expecting to see the prince this afternoon, but in the meantime she decides to work on her experiments and projects to pass the time before the prince’s arrival.

“Hum, this experiment seems to be ready to go, but now I am not sure what to use for the power source,” Lady Aurora said, speaking to herself. “I guess I will have to work on that later. Let’s see, I guess I'll work on something else for now.”

She continues on working on her experiments and writing the outcome, but she shortly pauses as she hears a knock on the door. “Come in.”

“My lady, what in the world are you doing? You must get ready before the prince’s arrival. I hear he is almost arriving,” her maid said, trying to hurry her up.

“Very well, fine, I will finish this when the prince leaves.”

Lady Aurora quickly leaves her study with her maid and straight into her bedroom since she does not have much time to get ready before the prince’s arrival. Since she planned ahead in what outfit she will be wearing for the prince’s arrival, it will make it a bit easier for her to get dressed. Lady Aurora decided to wear a casual dress with floral patterns with boots so she can simply walk rather than be in pain.

“Right now that this is taken care of, please inform the guards to let me know when the prince arrives, so I can greet him properly,” Lady Aurora ordered.

“Yes, my lady, please excuse me,” the maid excuses herself.

Lady Aurora being left alone once again decides to read for a bit before suddenly dozing off. She has fallen asleep thinking of the idea, how she is soon to be married to a prince she remembers in the novel as a prince of nothing and now it seems the prince surely has changed. Maybe perhaps this change will create some sort of rift in the story that might change the real outcome of the story.

A little while later, it seems her maid returns to her bedchambers to alert her that her guests have arrived.

“My lady, please wake up. His highness’s carriage is soon to arrive at the gate,” the maid whispers to her as she tries to wake her up.

Lady Aurora begins opening her eyes with a little bit of a struggle and sees her maid in front of her. “Huh, what is going on?”

“My lady, the prince, is arriving shortly. We must be going. Your family is outside waiting for his arrival.”

“Oh, yes, let’s be on our way.”

Then Lady Aurora and her maid quickly left her room at a lady-like pace and headed outside. It seems even the maids and servants were still busy at work getting the estate ready for his visit. In that moment, Lady Aurora realized he is not the type of person where he will care about what the estate looks like or even if it is dusty. From their first meeting, she did notice he is not like the other princes, but a more caring prince than she has ever seen in a long time.

Coming to meet her family, they all see Prince Mathias’s carriage coming through the main gate and wishes he makes a good impression with her. “Right, Rion, this is it, I just hope this goes well.” “It will, your highness, you just have to trust yourself.” “Thank you, Rion.” “Of course, your highness.”

The carriage soon came to a stop in front of the Arch-Duke’s family. He is the first to step out to greet his future family.

“Welcome, your highness, it sure has been far too long since your last visit,” the arch-duke said, greeting the prince.

“Yes, it has been far too long. Thank you for allowing me to come to visit on such short notice,” Prince Mathias replies kindly.

“You are always welcome here, your highness, please come in,” the Arch-duke said, as he gestured to him to enter his home.

“Actually, since it seems to be a lovely day, perhaps we can spend this visit outside.”

“That is a marvelous idea. I will have the servants bring our lunch to the gardens.”

“Speaking of gardens, I have a special gift for both of the ladies in the house. Rion, please bring out the bouquets.”

“Of course your highness.”

Rion returns to the carriage and brings out the beautifully arranged to express the prince’s true feelings.

“May those are lovely. I do not believe I have seen many of those flowers before,” the Arch-Duchess kindly mentions.

“Yes, well, the palace is home to many of the exotic flowers the empire has to offer, so I believe it would be nice to share them with the people I most care about. And for you Lady Aurora I picked these flowers especially for you,” Prince Mathias said kindly, handing over the bouquet to her.

“Oh, thank you, your highness, they are very lovely,” Lady Aurora said, accepting her gift.

“I am glad you enjoy them.”

“How about we get the gardener to plant these flowers in the garden, so we will always be remembered for the prince's visit.”

“That is a lovely idea, my dear. Now shall we leave the prince and our daughter alone,” the arch-duke said as he escorts his wife away from them.

The Arch-Duke, along with the rest of his family, departs and leaves the prince with Lady Aurora. There is an awkward silence between them, so the prince thought he should break the ice.

“My lady, I know this is quite a sudden visit, but I was hoping we get to know each other a little bit better,” the prince mentions.

“I would like that very much, your highness.”

“Please when we are alone, please call me Mathias.”

“Very well.”

“Now shall we begin our walk. In fact, how about you guide me since this is your home after all.”

“It will be my pleasure.”

And so Lady Aurora and Prince Mathias begin their walk through the estate hoping this will give them a chance to get to know one another. They begin walking through the first part of the gardens and there is silence. It shouldn't be that hard to start a conversation when you have something in common, but it wouldn’t be hard to listen.

“I am sorry if I made this visit a little bit uncomfortable for you, my lady.”

“You are not making me uncomfortable, your highness.”

“Mathias, please.”

“Right, Mathias. I am just not much of an outdoor person and I do believe my family might be spying on us through the window.”

“Is that so, shall we find some place to hide from them?”

“Sure, there is a tree grove close by from here, we can go.”

“I will follow you.”

The two potential love birds walk away from anyone’s view to the tree grove where they can officially talk in private.

“Well, you got me here alone my lady, so what do you want to talk about?”

“Well, have you ever felt like you don’t belong where you came from?”

“I believe I do feel like that sometimes. I mean sure I was born a prince, but I never thought this role was for me. I always imagined being part of something bigger when there is not a crown involved.”

“Are you saying you never wanted to be a prince?”

“Yes, but as a prince, you get to do everything you can to make the kingdom a better place.”

“It is not what it all appears to be. Like what if you had the ability to see your future and it creates more pain rather than solutions.”

“I couldn't agree more.”

Prince Mathias looks up to see her face and it seems to be different, more understanding. It is like he might be able to find someone to get along with after all.

“Are you alright Mathias?”

“Yes, sorry, yes, I am fine.”

“Then why do you have that face?”

“What face?”

“A kind of shocking face. Something you don't see on a royal’s face.”

“Maybe so, but we do have emotions, we just learn to not show them in public unless in a duel.

“How interesting.”

“Then how about you show me what ladies like you do in their spare time.”

“Fine, if you want to get to know me or even learn something I enjoy, then follow me. I know a back entrance to head inside straight to my study,” Lady Aurora suggests.

“Ok, I will follow this plan of yours.”

“Good now follow me.”

Lady Aurora takes the lead and walks away from the garden to a secret entrance located in the further end of the garden. Prince Mathias seems to be getting more impressed with the lady he will soon spend the rest of his life with. “My, I am impressed, who would have thought a daughter from a high ranking family could possibly behave in such a matter.”

“It is something I learned in order to survive here and besides, girls should have a little fun once in a while.”

“Clearly,” he simply says as he smirks a smile.

In a few minutes, Lady Aurora finds the faux door on the wall and enters the dark room walking inside. She takes the lead up the stairs awaiting for the prince to join her. She also had to make sure the door is closed behind them, so no one discovers it. She continues to walk up the stairs which seems to be a long walk up by climbing so many, but it is a direct beeline to where they need to go.

At the end of the tunnel, they arrived at a dark wall. It seems it has an elaborate key pad which Lady Aurora is the only one who knows the combination. Quickly, she cracks the code in rapid speed making sure the prince did not notice. The door opens and she pushes it open to let them both in.

“Wow, I should have one of these installed back at the palace.”

“Ha-ha, right. Well, welcome to my study.”

“Wow.”

Prince Mathias is impressed to see her study filled with so many books and experiments ready to be tested or used for the greater good.

“Wow, I've never seen a study like this before, does it belong to your brothers?”

“No, this is my study. Father allowed me to have this study, after I told him about my interest in studying medicine and inventing certain tools to help others get better treatments for their illnesses.”

“Wow, you sure are something, Lady Aurora.”

“Yes, well, I do enjoy not hiding my intelligence like other ladies and helping others.”

“That is amazing. Care to give me a tour?”

“Yes, of course. We should start with the notes I came up with.”

“I would be honored.”

Lady Aurora smiles at him and walks him over to the table where her notes were laying around trying to get him to understand her hobby.

“Wow, these notes and designs are impressive, have you gotten a chance to show them to our scholars in the institute yet?”

“No, I have not. I am planning on completing a few more projects before I actually show them to the community.”

“Well, you should.”

“Thank you for the encouragement, but I don’t think I am ready.”

“What are you talking about? Your projects are great, look at this one here.”

“Oh, that is to help the flow of water from the rivers to the nearby towns.”

“Fascinating, please tell me more about it.”

“Sure.”

Lady Aurora begins explaining about her project for the water and continues on with the next. It seems Mathias really is interested in what her projects can do to help the people.

As they were continuing to chat, two maids from the kitchen brought them some sweets and tea to enjoy while they were reviewing her notes. “You sure have been doing a lot of work into this in such a short amount of time. These are amazing.”

“Yes, well, it is something I began to pick up after I was awakened.”

“Awaken, how?”

“Awaken, seeing how this kingdom is severely lacking in technological improvement in both the citizens' lives and the medical studies is lacking, so I thought working on these projects during my spare time would at least help one way or another.”

“Who would have thought the daughter of the arch-duke will be so devoted in other lives rather than preparing yourself to take on a husband or even show yourself in society.”

“Yes, well, there is no point to that since I am technically engaged to a prince already, so trying to get other men’s attention will completely be wasting my time.”

“Well, my brother Leonidas, has been showing interest in you.”

“Yes, it was his loss. I would rather be engaged to a prince who I might have things in common with and perhaps a soulmate.”

“Then in that case, why don’t we make a public announcement about our engagement at the Imperial Ball.”

“The Imperial Ball? Isn’t the ball usually for the Imperial Noble Faction and the Noble Faction to attend. I don’t believe many of the Neutral Faction leaders get to attend.”

“This year will be different. We are inviting nobles from all the factions to attend and that will include your family.”

“You mean my family gets to attend a ball in the palace. I don’t believe it.”

“Beleive it my lady. In fact, take this as a personal invitation,” Prince Mathias said, as he kissed her hand.

Lady Aurora’s face flushed red on her cheeks at his gesture. She does not believe a prince was so well-mannered.

“My prince, I will accept on behalf of my family.”

“Good, expect an official invitation to the ball in the next few weeks.”

“I am looking forward to it.”

“Good. Also, I was thinking, maybe you can debut these projects at the ball as well.”

“Maybe, if I can finish them on time.”

“I don’t doubt you will complete them on time and I can help, if I am not busy.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Now, shall we get back to your notes.”

Lady Aurora looks at the prince with a smile and begins to return to her notes. The more the prince reads her notes, he begins to feel more impressed by her by the minute. Her notes to improve certain types of medicine to cure some illnesses even he has not heard of. To pull this off in such a short time it is really amazing.

As it was getting close to sunset, it was time for the prince to return to the palace as royalty should not be travelling after dark.

“Whoa, look at the time. I must return to the palace before my mother, the queen begins to worry about me.”

“Of course, let me walk you out.”

Since the study is closer to the main entrance to the estate, they simply decide to use the main entrance to the study to make the exit a little bit quicker. It seems their walk through the halls is quite nice, as they were finally able to have a conversation with each other finally breaking some barriers.

It seems they were not the only ones who were walking around as they saw her brothers walking past them giving the prince their farewells and leaving.

Not long after that, they arrived back to the front of the estate where Rion was already waiting for the prince in the carriage. Prince Mathias walks over to the carriage, but before entering he says his good-byes to Lady Aurora.

“Thank you very much for spending time with me. I am glad I got to know you a bit better.”

“It was my pleasure, your highness. It was nice to know you a bit better as well.”

“I do hope you can attend the Imperial Ball. Remember to expect the invitation to come in the upcoming weeks.”

“I will look for it.”

“Good, now I must leave.”

“Yes, have a safe journey back to the palace.”

Prince Mathias enters the carriage and departs to the palace. Lady Aurora is standing there alone thinking back to the events of the day and thought it was nice spending time with an actual prince/ It made her think not all princes are jerks.

“You can come out now, mother, father.”

“Oh, you knew we were there?” her mother asked as they came out of their hiding spot.

“Yes, mother. It is not difficult to know my parents are spying on me to see how things are going with the prince.”

“It went quite lovely. He even invited me to the Imperial Ball.”

“That is wonderful dear,” her mother said.

“Yes, please excuse me. I am rather tired.”

“Of course.”

Lady Aurora walks away from her parents and heads back to her room to get some rest.

As for Prince Mathias, his carriage is almost back to the palace, but it did not matter to him. All he can think about is how Lady Aurora truly is remarkable and he wants to know more about her.

“Your highness, are you alright?”

“Yes, I was just thinking there is something odd about Lady Aurora.”

“What do you mean?”

“She is not like any ladies I know. She is smart and from what I saw in her study, she is far more intelligent than the average court lady.”

“That may be so, but I thought you enjoyed your time with her.”

“I did, but I think it is time to get to know her more, so she can help me with my cause.”

“Work, then romance that is all it is to you.”

“No, but I believe you can help each other with both of our causes.”

“Very well, your highness.”

At the end of their conversation, the carriage arrived back at the palace. Prince Mathias did not wait for the footmen or Rion to exit the carriage, he pushed the door and walked out. He quickly heads inside the palace ignoring everyone passing him by trying to get to his bedchamber to rest.

“Oh, Mathias, welcome home.”

He turns around to see his father there greeting him.

“Oh, I am sorry father, I did not see you there.”

“Are you alright my son? Did you have a good visit with Lady Aurora? Did she like the flowers?"

“Everything went fine father, she loved the flowers I gave to her and spending time with her was enjoyable and I have invited her to the ball.”

“That is great my son.”

“Yes father, please excuse me.”

“Wait, Mathias, I wanted to tell you that I would like to set up a meeting with you and your brothers to discuss the state of affairs of the empire some time next week.”

“I will be there, father, please excuse me.”

“Of course, sleep well, my son.”

Prince Mathias continues to his bed chamber where a guard is there waiting for him to open his door. He bypasses the guard and opens the door himself. He quickly lays down on his bed thinking about the events of the day. It seems he cannot get Lady Aurora out of his head.

“Rion!”

Rion quickly enters the bedchamber ready to serve.

“Yes, your highness?”

“I want to write a personal letter to Lady Aurora inviting her to the palace after the meeting with my father. I will need paper and ink, as much as you can.”

“Yes, your highness. I will work on it right away.”

“Good, you are dismissed.”

“Of, course, please excuse me.”

Rion leaves the room with his orders while Prince Mathias dozes off to sleep.