Chapter 8: Meetings of Progressive Action

It's been a few days since Prince Mathias letter arrived to Lady Aurora and she couldn’t put it down since she is still wondering why he would invite her to the palace. Either way, maybe she will find out once she gets to the palace.

She spends the rest of the morning finishing preparing for her trip to the palace, the maids and her ladies in waiting are also making sure everything she needs is packed and sent to the carriage.

Lady Aurora takes one more look around her room and in a way she is going to miss her room where her journey began, but now a new one will be starting soon in the next chapter of her story.

Leaving her room, she walks through the halls of the estate where it seems many of the servants bid her farewell and safe travels, but she did find it odd that her brother or her family came to escort her to the carriage.

Whatever it is, she does hope she does get to say farewell to her family.

A little after she walked out of the halls, she arrived at the courtyard, where it seems her family actually are waiting for her to see her off.

“You actually came,” Lady Aurora said in relief.

“Of course we came, what kind of family, we will be to not see you off,” her eldest brother answers as he hugs her.

“Well, it is a very nice surprise, thank you,” Lady Aurora responded.

“Yes, of course dear, have a safe trip to the palace,” her mother said, hugging her.

“I will, mother, thank you.”

“Stay safe, my dear, especially since Prince Leonidas is there.”

“Do not worry father, I will have Prince Mathias with me and his personal guard, so I doubt he will try something.”

“I hope so dear. I will be coming to the palace in a few days as well, to speak with the king, so I know you will be safe.”

“Thank you father.”

“Right, I should be going, please take care.”

Lady Aurora enters the carriage taking one last look of her family and home and she is now off to the palace.

Prince Mathias’s Study

While waiting for Lady Aurora’s arrival, Prince Mathias, he is looking through his plans in fixing up the town he was assigned and perhaps planning a visit to it one day.

He writes down what could be a plan or solution to fix their troubles. Thinking of the water reservoir idea was the start of his plan, but he thinks if it would work it would really help his people have better lives.

Continuing to think over his plans, he continues to write in his notes thinking about how to begin this project, but he is not sure if he will meet his father’s deadline. It begins to frustrate him as he might have the idea, but building it is a whole different challenge. He did have the thought of asking Lady Aurora to help with this since it is after all after all.

“Rion!” he shouts.

Rion quickly enters the room and bows to the prince.

“You summoned me, your highness?”

“Yes, I did, I wanted to know if Lady Aurora have arrived and our special guest?”

“Yes, Lady Astin has arrived and she is waiting in your mother’s dressing chamber with her staff about an hour ago. I believe she dropped everything from a previous client and came straight here to offer you her services. As for Lady Aurora, I believe her carriage is arriving in the city and should be here soon.”

“Good, we better go and welcome her. We have so much to do in these next several days.”

“Of course, your highness.”

Prince Mathias and Rion both exit his study and head outside to greet his future bride. He arrives outside to see his family ready to greet Lady Aurora and goes to stand with them.

“My son, it is good you have arrived to greet your special guest,” Emperor Axelle

“Yes, father, it would be rude if I did not,” Prince Mathias replies.

“Oh, look, here she comes now,” Prince Mathias' sister said, pointing at the incoming carriage.

A few hours later, Lady Aurora’s carriage finally arrives at the palace and she is surprised to be greeted by the entire royal family. The carriage comes to a stop in front of the royal family and she waits for the footman to open the door. Once open, she steps outside, and walks over to greet the royal family.

“Hello, your majesties. Thank you for allowing me to stay here with you for the next few days. It is a great honor to be invited to the palace in this matter,” Lady Aurora said, as she curtsy to the family.

“The pleasure is all ours. When my son asked us to host a guest, I did not think it would be a beautiful young lady,” Emperor Axelle greeted her.

“Thank you, your majesty.”

“Yes, Lady Aurora, think of the palace as your home as well. My son can be your escort during your stay here,” the queen agreeing

“Thank you, my queen.”

“Yes, well, we better not keep our other guests waiting. Please follow me Lady Aurora,” Prince Mathias said, extending his hand.

“Thank you, your highness,” Lady Aurora accepted.

As she was going to take hold of his hand, it seems she took a wrong step and tripped. Before she fell to the ground, Prince Mathias caught her and could not help himself with what came next. Prince Mathias and Lady Aurora lock eyes with each other for a brief moment which seem to stir up something in their hearts.

“Oh, I am sorry, your highness,” Lady Aurora apologized.

“It is fine, shall we go?” Prince Mathias said as he began to escort her inside.

“Yes.”

“Oh, how romantic, do you think you are going to be together?” the queen asks.

“Perhaps, my dear, perhaps.”

Inside the palace, Prince Mathias and Lady Aurora are walking towards his mother’s dressing chamber to meet their next guest. Before arriving there, Prince Mathias thought he should speak to her first.

“How are you feeling? It was a bit intense seeing my entire family there, especially my brother, Leonidas.”

“Yes, it was.”

“I should warn you, my brother Leonidas might try something on you during your stay here since he is still angry that I stole you from him.”

“I appreciate the warning, but I can take care of myself.”

“Good. Now I have a special gift to present to you.”

“And what is that?”

“Well, you just have to wait and see.”

“I am interested now.”

Prince Mathias resumes escorting his future bride to the room where their guest is waiting for them. “Are you ready for this?” Prince Mathias asks. “Yes, what do I have to lose?” Prince Mathias opens the door to the room.

“My it is about time you two have arrived. I was getting worried,” a woman said as she saw them.

“Lady Aurora, this is Astin, she is the top dress designer in all of the empire.”

“I know that she designed one of my mother’s dresses for a ball last year. I truly loved it.”

“I am honored you know of my designs. I cannot wait to design your dress for the upcoming Imperial Ball.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means, you will get your very own Astin Design Original to wear for the ball.”

“Are you serious, your highness?”

“Yes, I thought it would also be a good idea to coordinate our outfits for the ball.”

“An interesting idea, but wouldn't it draw attention to ourselves.”

“Exactly. I want to announce at the ball that we are officially engaged with the entire kingdom.”

“What?!”

“Yes, I want this event to be our official debut.”

“I am not sure I am comfortable with this, your highness.”

“You will be, since I will be there to protect you,” Prince Mathias said, holding her hand.

She felt honored with the thought and felt a spark in her heart.

“Thank you, I would be honored to wear this dress for you.”

“Ok, enough chit-chat, come here I need to take your measurements,” Astin said, dragging Aurora away.

“Of course, now we should discuss how we are going to present ourselves in front of the kingdom.”

“How would we do that?”

“I will escort you inside the ball room and I will begin speaking. Once I present you as my future bride, then you will come give a speech and then we will have our first dance.”

“That does seem like a plan, but what about your family, what will they think?”

“Well, they will just have to accept the fact that you will be my wife and life time partner and I do not give a damn what the others think,” Prince Mathias admits.

“You sure are a charmer. I never thought you will be so different from your chara-,”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“My lady, I am done taking your measurements. Your highness, please come towards me please.”

“Of course.”

“Your highness, we also must discuss a color for your dress and tuxedo. I was thinking green.”

“No,” they both answered.

“Oh, how cute, you both answered at the same time. My, you are both destined for each other. Alright, what about purple?”

“No!”

“Astin, I was thinking, how about blue?”

“Hum, interesting. I can work with that. Perhaps a navy blue will suit you,” Astin said, thinking of an idea.

“Yes, thank you. If we are done here, can I be excused?” Lady Aurora said, feeling exhausted.

“Of course, this has been too much since you have not had a chance to rest. Please let me escort you,” Prince Mathias offers.

“That will be lovely, thank you,” Lady Aurora said, accepting his offer.

“Asin, we will be taking our leave, please feel free to use this room to your liking, but do not touch anything belonging to my mother,” the prince warns.

“Of course, I will need a few days to work on the designs, thank you for having me here,” Astin replies, getting to work.

Prince Mathias and Lady Aurora leave his mother’s dressing room through the halls and head to the guest room where she will be staying. Since the women of the court stay close to the queens, they prepared a room close to Prince Mathias’s mother, so she can be comfortable during her stay here.

A few minutes later they arrived at her room, but it seems the prince does not want to leave. “Well, I do hope you can get some rest, my lady, I do hope during your stay here, we can spend some time together,” Prince Mathias says. “I would like that, have a good day, your highness,” Lady Aurora said.

Then without warning, Prince Mathias plants a kiss on her cheek that makes her blush.

“That is for you to think of me.”

“Of course, thank you. I will. Now please excuse me.”

Lady Aurora opens the door to her room where she will be staying and she sees the maids unpacking her things. She dismissed all of them to be alone with her thoughts. All she can think about is how the story is unfolding much more differently than she knows and Prince Mathias is different than what she expected.

“Prince Mathias is so different from the novel, I wonder what has changed him,” Lady Aurora said, as she is taking a seat on her bed.

Afterwards. The maids brought her some refreshments and left them on the table. She thanked the maids and came to take a seat to enjoy her tea and sweets. She took a sip of her tea and finally was able to calm her nerves after drinking them.

“Hum, this is the best tea I ever had.”

She continues to enjoy herself as it is the first time in a long time she can finally relax.

Meanwhile, Prince Mathias returns to his study to get to work on his project. Rion joins him in case he needs anything else.

“Your highness, how was your time with Lady Aurora?’

“It went quite well actually. It is nice to keep her on her toes.”

“Hum, it seems you are having growing affection for her than someone would be using her as a pawn in their plan.”

“I do not know what you are talking about. I have to get her on side.”

“Yes, well, I believe she is more to you than you originally thought.”

“Still, not going to listen to you.”

“Yes, your highness.”

“How about we discuss your plans instead?”

“Good, because I just can’t seem to figure out how to resolve this matter. It’s just so difficult to fix this at all,” Prince Mathias said in stress.

“Your highness, may I suggest asking Lady Aurora for help, I mean you are using her idea for the reservoir to gain the upperhand against your brothers.”

“That may be true and she is here until the dress is completed, so yes, I will agree with your plan. Make arrangements for her to come to my study tomorrow and make sure she has her ladies with her since I do not want my brothers to harm her.”

“Yes, Prince Mathias,” Rion said, working on the plan.

“You may leave, I am going to finish up here and go visit my father in just a little bit.”

“Of course, please excuse me.

Prince Mathias is only in his study; he works on his papers for over an hour and he thought he would visit his father to see how he was doing.

When he approached his father’s study room, Prince Mathias knocks on the door and says, “Father, it is me, Mathias, may I come in?” He waits for a minute or two for an answer and he hears, “Yes, come in,” his father says. Prince Mathias enters the room and he stands before him to discuss why Lady Aurora is here.

“Son, what is it?”

“I wanted to explain as to why I invited Lady Aurora here to the estate.”

“Yes. Go on.”

“I invited her here because I have decided to make her my bride.”

“And who is she?”

“Her name is Lady Aurora Diamant, she is the daughter of the Arch-duke Diamant and I wish to marry her.”

“Her father is a good man, and as the leader of Neutral Faction, he has many supporters.”

“Yes, he does.”

“Did you ask her father for permission?”

“Yes, I did. That is why I wish to spend time with her, to honor my word to protect her and by the man she can love.”

“Well, if you feel all of that, then I believe you are ready to take on a bride.”

“Yes, and one last thing, I would like to announce our engagement during the Imperial Ball. I want the kingdom to know I am serious about my position as the next prince who will care more about the people rather than our egos,” Prince Mathias explains.

“Very well, I will make sure I will make arrangements to include it during the announcements in the ball.”

“Thank you, father.”

“I am heading back to studying to finish up a few things.”

“Yes, take care, my son.”

Prince Mathias leaves his father’s study and returns to his study.

Meanwhile, as things are slowly progressing well for Prince Mathias, things are turning quite differently with Prince Leonidas as he is trying to begin his own plans to sabotage his younger brother’s plan.

Prince Leonidas was going to meet with Duke Rubis, but he had to cancel since they did not want to bring up any suspicious looks towards them. Instead, he hears from his valet that Lady Hespera, who is the daughter of Count Zircon, to discuss some political matters.

They decided to have the meeting in his own private study to raise less eyebrows. He waits in his study until she arrives.

“Excuse me, your highness. Lady Hespera is requesting a meeting,” a servant said.

“Come in,” Prince Leonidas announced.

The door opens and her grace enters the room.

“Thank you, your highness for allowing me to see you today,” Lady Hespera said.

“And what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I would like to propose an alliance to work together,” Lady Hespera said.

“I see, but I am sorry to say this, I must reject your proposal,” Prince Leonidas replies.

“Why?!,” Lady Hespera asked.

“I’ve already decided to make an alliance with Duke Rubis and his daughter Lady Sirena,” Prince Leonidas said. “And I plan on marrying his daughter to reinforce the alliance.”

“Fine, your highness, but what if I support you in a different way?” Lady Hespera said.

“What do you have in mind?”

Prince Leonidas and Lady Hespera continue their conversation for several hours until they finally come to an agreement.

With two brothers progressing with their plans, there is one more brother that needs to take care of his own plans.

Prince Adalwolf is in his study speaking to his valet Verdan to check on the progress of discovering more about this guild he has been hearing so much about it.

“Verden, what is the latest news of what you have found out ,” Prince Adalwolf said.

“Yes, your highness,” Verden said. “I do not have much information, but I do know Duke Saphir has more information and he is here.”

“Send him in.”

“Of course, your highness.”

His valet opens the door and lets Duke Saphir in.

“Greetings, your grace, I am sorry you traveled a long way for this information.”

“Yes, please tell me.”

“Well, all I know is that this new guild will be opening soon to serve the people in both trading and exchanging medical tools to help people. I also heard it will also be a hospital for the less fortunate.”

“I see, but who is sponsoring this guild?”

“I heard it is run by a girl named Crystal and a man named Nigel. Their sponsor is the Arch-Duke Diamant domain.”

“Hum, I see, please try to get me a meeting with the leader if you can.”

“Right away, your highness, is there anything else,” Duke Saphir asked.

“No, that is all, please have a safe trip back home.”

“Of course, your highness, please have a lovely day.”

The rest of the day, the castle is busy preparing for the new visitors coming and going from the palace, but they have no idea what these visitors have in store for them.