I Must Save the Evil King

Chapter 9: But Not Everyone Was Happy

The carriage ride was obnoxiously bumpy. Every time we hit a rock or a hole in the road I was launched out of my seat. I sat for most of the ride with one hand clutching onto the railing and the other onto my hair in a desperate attempt to keep it held in a bun. Nanny had spent so long careful placing my red hair into a bun with curls framing my face, it would be a shame to see it go to waste.

"For the love of God, stop bouncing around like that." groaned Emilee "You are giving me a headache" Despite how the carriage bounced up and down Emilee did not move even an inch. I tried to straighten my posture but just then we hit a pothole and I grabbed onto the railing to not fall face first into Emilee.

"I can try," I hissed through my teeth as I tried to straighten myself. "But you might find better results if you ask the horses." Emilee stared at me as if she wanted to strangle me.

"Petulant child" Emilee muttered under her breath, loud enough that I could hear her. Then she looked up and met my eye, slipping back into the role of a kind noblewoman. "The princess royal will be in attendance at today's lunch. I will not be able to attend the lunch with you since I am not family of your father, the duke. Though I will be in attendance at this evening's ball. Regardless you should be on your best behavior around the princess royal. Since the queen's death, she has taken up control of the courts. I don't care if she asks you to jump off the castle do everything she says!"

Christ lady, I may be 17 in reality but as far as she knows I'm 13. Would it really hurt so much to be a little positive, or well at the very least not evil. What's a princess royal anyway? Aren't all princesses royalty? Just then the carriage came to a stop, throwing me back against my seat.

"Ow," I muttered as I ran my hand over the back of my head, where it had hit the wooden carriage walls. The door swung open and a footman offered his hand up to Emille.

"Behave yourself" she hissed as she took the footman's hand and slipped out of the carriage. I tried to follow suit but found it difficult to do anything gracefully with my floor-length dress. Though thankfully the skirt was straight up and down, meaning I did not have to tackle the giant petticoats Emilee wears under her dresses. The footman, realizing I would most likely fall flat on my face if I tackled the carriage stairs on my own, had to place a hand on my back to stabilize. Finally out of the death trap I smiled brightly, though it quickly faded when I saw Emilee. I doubted anyone could smile in her presence.

She rolled her eyes at me and began walking towards the door of the castle. I resisted the urge to send a rude gesture her way. The inside of the castle looked like something out of a millionaire's fever dream. The entire room seemed to be made entirely out of marble and every single thing in it was covered in gold. The room itself was probably the size of a house, and that's not counting the giant staircase at the end of it. A giant picture frame at the stair landing showed a painting of the King and his late wife holding a baby, who must be Prince Julian. A woman at the bottom of the stairs lets out a high pitch yell and runs toward us, startling me out of my trance.

"EMILEE! DARLING!" she yells excitedly as she runs up and embraces Emilee in a tight hug. She releases Emilee with a huff looking her over as if trying to memorize how she looks right now. "It has been too long"

"Too long indeed, your royal highness." smiled Emilee dropping into an elegant curtsey.

"Oh stop being so formal!" she laughed, slapping Emilee playfully on the shoulder. Suddenly his attention turned to me, like a dog seeing a squirrel. "You must be Thomas and Juliette's daughter, it is Claudette is it not?" I was about to speak up when Emilee began talking. 

"She is, though sadly she has lost all memory due to the accident," Emilee replied bluntly, not bothering to paint a picture with her floral words. Instead, she seemed as if my existence exhausted her.  

"Aw how tragic," she said in a tone that I would take as mocking if I had not just seen how oddly she acts. "Well regardless I'm sure she will be a much more interesting company for this lunch than the other ladies," She turned to me and whispered a brilliant smile on her face, "they are all soooo dull."  

"I would prefer dull to mean," I said simply, feeling comfortable around this woman. 

"Gasp! She speaks! Oh thank goodness, I thought you might be a mute" She laughed as if this was the funniest thing that had happened in her life. "Though spending time with a mute would be better than spending time with those ladies. Ha! Well, we best be going my beautiful Emilee" She grabbed onto my hand and pulled me along with her as we made our way to an arch to the right. Just as we made our way through the door she stopped suddenly. 

"Oh! I haven't introduced myself yet have I?" she smiled. "I am the Princess Royal Annia Maria Celenia, though you, my darling, may just call me Anna. How embarrassing is that?" she huffed "forgetting to introduce myself as if it has not been 36 years since my debut." Could this truly be the woman Emilee wished me to be so afraid of? She was barely an inch taller than me and seemed paler than a ghost. I imagined that if I tapped her too hard she would shatter like porcelain.  

"May I say something embarrassing, so we can be even?" I asked she perked up, turning her entire body towards me, and nodded her head fervently like a puppy.  

"Do tell me quickly or I may faint of anticipation!"    

"I have no clue what all of these titles mean. Duke, princess royal, I have no clue." She stared at me quietly for a second then let out a brilliant laugh. 

"Then my darling, Claudette I shall have to teach you!" she hooked her arm around mine and we began walking down the hall.