A Not So Forced Marriage...?

Chapter 1

It was a warm summers morning, and Cassandra was doing her daily chores in the cottage that her and her mother stayed in, cleaning the dishes, sweeping and mopping the floor, doing the laundry, dusting the counters, she was made to do it all.

"Darling, I'm home! And I have a big surprise!" Came a voice, it was a voice that Cassandra knew well, it was her mother.

Gothel was standing by the open door with a smirk on her face.

"Oh, hi mother, what's this surprise you have?" Cassandra said as she continued to sweep the last bit of dust off the floor. That was until she heard something, or more specifically, someone, making struggled noises.

"Mother... what's that?" Cassandra said worryingly.

Gothel just smiled wickedly and pulled a young girl, not much younger than Cassandra in front of her.

Cassandra was very confused.
"Mother, who's this?" She asked.

"Oh my sweet innocent child. This is the princess of Corona, and I have a plan to make you a part of a royal family. And me as well... the princess is to have an arranged marriage with the Prince of the Dark Kingdom, and all you need to do is pretend to be the princess and marry the Prince of the Dark Kingdom so we can rule." Gothel explained getting straight to the point.

Cassandra stood there wide-eyed, looking from her mother to the princess and back again.

"W-what?" Cassandra said.

"You heard me dear, now go and get out of that retched dress and put something more suitable on, you will be leaving for the Dark Kingdom at noon, the princess will go with you and pretend to be your lady-in-waiting as well as make sure you do the job correctly, and if she refuses to do so she will be punished. Is that clear your highness?" Gothel said to the young princess that she still had a hold of by the wrist.

The princess just nodded obviously scared to say anything, and Gothel smiled.
"Good, now that that's cleared, go and help my daughter get ready, now." She said as she threw the princess towards Cassandra, ending up bumping into her.

Gothel went to her room leaving the two girls alone.

The princess looked very scared, and Cassandra felt terrible, but if she didn't do the job, her mother would be so disappointed in her. So she just went along with it.

"Hey, it's okay, come on, I'll show you to my room. I'm sorry about all this." Cassandra said soothingly to try and make the young girl feel a bit better.

The princess just nodded and followed Cassandra to her room.

Cassandra went behind the changing board and changed into a beautiful long light blue dress, "fit for a princess" some might say.

The young princess eventually spoke up when Cassandra came out.

"You look stunning." She said with a small smile.

Cassandra returned the smile and thanked her.
"I didn't get your name." Cassandra said softly as she sat next to the young girl on the bed.

"Rapunzel, Princess Rapunzel of Corona." She replied.

"That's a lovely name, I'm Cassandra." Cass said still giving a small smile.

"You have a really pretty name Cass."

Cassandra sat in awe, Rapunzel already had a nickname for her.

"If you get to call me Cass, then I get to give you a nickname to, okay Raps?" Cass said with a giggle.

Rapunzel giggled too and smiled at Cass.
"Yea, that's fine." She replied.

"We'd better get ready to leave. It's nearly noon." Cass said to Rapunzel as she stood up offering her new friend a hand, which Rapunzel gladly accepted, she had a feeling that they were going to get along really well.

After a further 20-30 minutes of getting ready and some small talk with a lot of laughing, both girls were ready.

"Cassandra, it's time for you and the Princess to get going!" Gothel shouted up to Cassandra's room.

Cassandra and Rapunzel appeared and walked out to the cart but before Cassandra got on, Gothel stopped her and whispered to her before she left, "don't disappoint me Cassandra."

Cass stepped inside the cart and sat next to Rapunzel as the footman closed the door.

Rapunzel looked at Cassandra and could feel that she was uneasy about something.

"Cass, what's wrong?" Rapunzel asked worryingly.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing Raps, I'm fine..." Cassandra replied with a smile.

Rapunzel knew something was wrong, but let it drop, as she didn't want to get too in Cass's business.

"Okay, but if you want to talk to someone, I'll always be here and willing to listen." She said with a smile as she placed her hand on top of Cassandra's.

Cassandra looked down at her hand and back up at Rapunzel before returning the smile.

The entire trip was filled with small talk, mainly the both of them getting to know each other better.

"I might need some help figuring this entire acting like a Princess thing, if, if you wouldn't mind?" Cassandra said with a small chuckle.

"I'd be more than happy to help my new bestie." Rapunzel smiled.

"I'm your friend?" Cassandra asked.

"Nope, your my best friend!" Rapunzel said with a big smile.

Cassandra couldn't stop the smile that was crawling onto her face, she'd never had a best friend before, nor a friend in general, well, apart from her companions Fidella and Owl, but they didn't count as people.

"I- I've never had a best friend before, thank you Raps." She said sweetly.

"Of course! Now, time to learn the ways of a princess..." Rapunzel began as she went on with the princess lessons.

(Hey guys, so I hope you liked this chapter, as usual, it just came off the top of my head and wasn't planned with a plot at all 😅😂 but, oh well, next chapter will be coming out soon!!)