A Blue Dress

A few days had passed since Liam woke up, yet the only thing he’d gotten to experience so far were the luxuries of his room. He was on “room arrest” by Prince Colinus’ order. There was even a guard outside of his room, so when he’d tried to sneak out in the middle of the night for a look around he was caught immediately.

Liam lay on his bed. There was a tray of food on the table. He stared at the ceiling, bored out of his mind. Suddenly there was a commotion outside. He could hear a female voice by the door, but it was difficult to make out what she was saying.

He sat up and looked at the door. Then it opened.

“Miss, please, you can’t enter!” said the guard.

“Nonsense, he’s been here for days now,” she countered. “I was also worried! It’s not fair for Colinus to keep him for himself,”

The woman entered. She had red curly hair, put in a low ponytail to reveal a bright, radiant face. Fair skin to complement the fiery curls and freckles spread across her cheeks and forehead. She walked closer to Liam with determined steps. She was Lady Guinevere, the female lead.

“Liam! Why are you cooped up here?!” she asked, but it wasn’t really a question. If anything, it was more of a way of saying ‘time to get out and stretch your legs’.

She grabbed his arm and led him outside. The guard was watching them, his arm reaching out but uncertain of what to do. In the end he watched them leave, unsure of what he should say to the Prince when he returned.

“Where are we going?” asked Liam. He was grateful to be outside of the room; the air smelled fresher and the light was brighter than ever before.

He was led through the courtyard and into her bedchambers. There was a distinct nature pattern in her room; if you had to guess her favourite colour, you’d probably guess green.

They passed two maids while entering through the doors, they followed, saying things like, “Miss, I don’t think it’s appropriate to bring him into your chambers,” to which she responded with:

“Who’s going to stop me?”

The maids looked at each other. Through their looks they were speaking, but it was only them who could understand. This is how their conversation went:

“She’s like this again,”

“Should we stop her?”

“I mean, can we? We’ve never managed before, she’s quite stubborn, our Lady.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself. I suppose we just go along with her wishes like usual, let’s just avoid the Prince then.”

They nodded at each other and put on a worker's smile as they simultaneously said, “My Lady, do you wish to see the selection of dresses?”

Liam was still in Guinevere's hold, but was he supposed to be here when she was about to look at dress selections? This wasn’t his scene! He tried to sprint out the door before the maids closed it but he ran in place because Lady Guinevere is a lot stronger than you’d think.

She had practised plenty of swordsmanship during her younger days - her father had been a simple minded man, if his daughter wanted to learn how to wield a sword, then he saw nothing wrong with it - and all that time spent on finding the right technique led to her surprising strength.

She smiled brightly, “They’re here already?”

“Yes, My Lady,”

“Well then, bring them here! Liam, help me choose one,” she said, dragging him to sit on a chair by a light pink dressing screen. One of the maids left and then came back with so many dresses she could barely see where she was walking. Had Liam not directed her by pushing the clothes slightly to the right, she would have walked straight into him.

The maids helped Guinevere into the first dress. Liam sat quietly on the chair.

“What are you going to wear?” She inquired from behind the screen. Her head popped up for a quick peek at him before she was dragged down again by a maid.

Liam asked, confused, “Who? Me?”

He heard a light chuckle, “Of course you, who else?”

“Um,” he said. He didn’t know what she was talking about.

Guinevere picked up on his hesitation. “For the Ball, if you haven’t gotten anything yet, I know a suit you’d look extremely handsome in! I’ll get someone to bring it in time for it,”

“The Ball..?” questioned Liam.

“Yeah, I’m in charge of preparations,”

The ball in question was the Flower Banquet Ball, it was a once-a-year open invitation formal dance party. An event such as this was one of the biggest tradition in all the lands; therefore the location is moved every year, usually they hold a meeting between powerful landowners (or those who have the money and the place) to then raffle the event, as many wanted to be the host of such a well-known event.

This year, the Kingdom of Luria “won”, and the planning was originally going to be by the kingdom’s most famous party planner, Laurent. But due to his son running away with his lover, the man was quite busy cleaning up the misunderstanding that had led to this chase. And thus, Lady Guinevere volunteered.

“What is going on here?”

Liam turned to the door. There stood Prince Colinus. He had dark bags under his eyes, and his hair seemed a bit out of place.

“Is that you, Colin?” Guinevere yelled.

“Yes, it’s me, Gwen.” he said with a sigh, “I told you Liam had to rest,”

“He’s done nothing but rest for the last few days, give him some freedom,” she snorted. Then she ran out, revealing herself in a beautiful blue dress. “What do you say?” she asked in a sing-song voice.

Colinus looked uninterested, “It’s beautiful, as have all the dresses you’ve shown been,”

“I knew you’d say that, that’s why Liam is here. What do you think?” Liam felt her eyes grow bigger as she waited for an answer. He also noticed a frown growing on Colinus’ face. It reminded him of Karth.

“Well… it really fits you, have you tried earrings in the same colour?”

“That’s what I’m talking about, some proper feedback!” she exclaimed, tsk-ing at Colinus.

Liam could tell Colinus was unhappy. Something seemed to be bugging him. He thought of trying to make him feel better - it would be an attempt to save his own neck for the future - but then realised what was going on.

Colinus was jealous! He had to be, after all, Liam was hogging Gwen’s time while Colinus had been about his business. To fix this, he decided to leave, or, he tried to leave but Gwen had caught his arm.

“Where are you going? What about these earrings?” she smiled, pushing one side of her hair back for a better view.

Liam glanced at Colinus. The prince was glaring in their direction. Now I’ve done it! He thought.

Colinus turned his heel, “I’m leaving,”

“Wait-” Liam called, but the man was already gone. He sighed. Well, he wasn’t closer to befriending the prince, that much was clear. Liam's attention landed on Gwen again, there was no reason to dwell on Colinus right now, he might as well make a friend. However, he knew now that Colinus seemed the jealous type so he would avoid being with Gwen in his presence.

“The earrings match really well,” he said, “You sort of remind me of sleeping beauty, you know,”

“Hm? Who? Is that a friend of yours? I’m surprised you can make friends,” Gwen laughed, then she raised her eyebrow, “actually, now that I think about it, aren’t you a bit different? You haven’t yelled once since I grabbed you,”

“Guess I became a new man,” Liam awkwardly coughed.

“Right,” Gwen sniffed in response, “Anyways, tell me about your friend,”

Liam giggled, “It’s not a friend, just a story. You’re a princess aren’t you? Well, it’s about a princess who falls into an eternal sleep and can only wake up when the prince, her one true love, kisses her.”

“Sounds ridiculous,”

“Guess so, but it’s a classic-” explained Liam, “and she wore a blue dress like yours so it just popped into my head.”

“I’d say I’m a better princess, I won’t fall asleep, I can tell you that much,” she joked. “Perhaps I should wear this one then,”

“You do look beautiful in it,”

“How can I resist wearing it when you compliment me like that,” she blushed, and told the maids about her choice.

After a moment, something made Liam curious. He caught the glimpse of a pair of wings passing the window. When he went to inspect it, a few more butterflies followed the wind and passed him. One went to rest on his nose before continuing on its way after the rest.

Liam’s gaze fell onto the town which could be seen from Gwen’s window. His own had featured mountains, and as majestic as they were, they didn’t provide much entertainment during his imprisonment.

“Hey, Gwen,” he asked, but quickly caught himself being a bit too casual, “Um, Lady Gwen, do you mind showing me around? My head hasn’t cleared yet, maybe a walk would help,”

“Huh?” She was surprised. After all, her childhood friend had grown up here, just like her, but now he wanted to be shown around. It was like he was another person.

“Sure, let me just change and we’ll leave,”