CROWN PRINCE | LES MISÉRABLES

23.

Days have passed and I was allowed to meet the young man. I was dressed up, who knew, maybe he would marry me. I was waiting in the garden, playing with The 7-year-old Yvonne and the now 13-year-old Carrie.

"Are you feeling better now Lisl?"
"Yes Carrie, I am."
"Wait, let me help you.", the 12-year-old Albert yelled and helped me up.

"Thank you, Albert. But it wasn't necessary."
"Annelise, there is someone you should meet.", my father said.

I turned around and looked into the face of a young man. Not Bastien, but the man that had taken me home. I walked up to him and bowed.

"I must thank you for taking me home."
"Of course. I couldn't just let you stay on the cold ground. Are you feeling better?"
"Much, thank you. My family gives me strength.", I said.

"That is nice. Oh, how forgetful of me, my name is Alexandre Tebun.", he introduced.
"Annelise."
"You will marry him."

My eyes widened. And those of my siblings as well.

"What?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"No, of course not."
"You'll be married in the biggest church of Paris by the end of March.", he said.

March 1831. My worst nightmare has become reality. I will marry and never see Bastien again. I couldn't tell him. He would ask me to stop the wedding. But I couldn't. You didn't disobey your father's decision. He wouldn't know, of course, he wasn't a woman.

"Yes. That sounds lovely."
"Perfect. Once you have recovered, you two will spend some time to get to know each other.", my father said.

"Of course. If you'll excuse me.", I said, rushing to my room.

I sat down at my table and began to write. I had a hard time since I saw black dots appearing but it was important.
I wrote that I was now engaged and I was scared. I loved him and wanted to be with him and no other man. I wanted him to come quickly and to meet with me at his small house.

My father wouldn't let me go, but if I sneaked out, I could go. But I couldn't send it to him. He wouldn't get it before tomorrow and I needed to see him tonight.

I walked to Martin's room and knocked.

"Could you do me a favor?"
"Depends on what it is."
"Get this letter to grandmother. Please, it is urgent."
"What will I get?"
"God, Martin, this is important. Fine, you'll get money if that's what you want."

"I just want your slice of pie at dinner tonight."
"Fine, you can have it. Can you go now? Hurry, please."
"Of course. I will be back in no time.", he said, taking the letter out of my hand.

"Don't read it.", I yelled after him.

But no response. That was worth having my dessert taken away. I walked back to my room and sat down. I couldn't do anything else besides wait.

***

There was a knock on my door.

"It is open."
"Letter arrival. Here. You got a reply. Whoever wrote that, has nice handwriting.", Martin said.
"You are an angel.", I said, kissing his cheek.

"Ew, but only because it's you.", he said, laughing.

He closed the door behind him.

It was a reply from Bastien. He was going to meet me at the hidden house and we would talk about everything. He would be waiting for me.

***

It was the middle of the night. All candles were blown out. I slowly crept down the stairs, in the hope to not wake anyone up. They wouldn't understand why I did what I just did.

I snuck out and jumped on my horse. We went slowly, as my head was hurting. I saw the small house and Bastien waiting in front of him. He smiled as he saw me.

"Hello stranger.", he said, helping me off the horse.
"I missed you."
"So do I. Let's go inside. You must be freezing."

We walked inside and Bastien made some fire to warm us up.

"I am engaged."
"I know. You mentioned that in your letter. Who's he?"
"An Alexandre Tebun."
"What? I will kill him."
"No, he has saved me.", I blurted out.

"What?"
"When I left the palace, after Maria's threats I went home. A shot rang out and my horse got scared and threw me off. I fell on a root and have a head injury."
"You are crazy. Why didn't you say anything to me? I could've picked you up from home.", he said.

He took my head and inspected it. He stroked through my hair.

"The things you do. Maria's threats are empty. But I have to confess something too: I am the leader of a group. A group that has the mission to overthrow the King. It's my last chance to save myself.", he explained.

"You don't need to explain. I understand. I support you 100%. You know that. And it doesn't matter if I get married, I will always belong to you. Always."

"When will you get married?"
"By the end of March next year."
"In the biggest church of Paris. I will be there anyway. He's a member of the court so we have to attend.", whispered.

"When my injury has healed, then I will get to know him."
"I know."
"When I get better, I want to go ice skating."
"Ice skating? I've never done that.", he said.

"What? Well, we need to go. I am pretty good at it."
"You know we can't do that."
"Well, who cares about the others? It is just us, together. We could go somewhere else."

"Where do you want to go?"

I walked around the living room. I was thinking. It did hurt, I must admit.

"How about we go to the Kingdom of Netherlands? You're not a prince there and no one would know us.", I said.

He just looked at me.

"What do you say?"
"I say it is a fantastic idea."

We were going to take on the journey to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We would go ice skating and return to France better than ever. We would finally get to spend some time together and would make some memories in the process. He could live, just like any other man.