Her Royal Pen Pal

Chapter 1 [Making a Move]

(Copyright) © 2011 Candle_Ice

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 Chapter 1

prince_charming01 : so you don't like Prince Leonidas?

ellie_belle: Of course not! he's arrogant, self serving and total playboy! our kingdom would be better off without him on the throne. But seeing as he's first born, the crown is his, if he can find a bride in 4 mths time. no doubt he will--> :@ i bet she's a size 0 bimbo with as much intelligence as her size and an attention span to rival a flea!

Leonidas had to laugh at Elise's description of the type of girls he normally dated. Some would see them as that, but he wasn't dating them for conversational purposes for sure. But the time for fun and games were up and it was time to find an Elyrian bride and take the throne. It was expected of him and Leonidas was not one to disappoint.  

At a loss at how to proceed with courting a potential bride candidate, he got into the 21st century and went to the internet to help him make a choice. Of course there were a millions reasons why meeting someone online was a bad idea, but he had the entire Royal security force on his side, so what did he have to lose? With that thought in mind, he entered into a chat room and chatted with a few females, -and a few males-, but wasn't impressed with any of them, (the females, he wasn't interested in the males!). All they talked about were parties, what they could do to a guy and had no idea what the future of Elyria should be.

Almost lost hope, until he came across a post from 'ellie_belle' on the web page asking for persons to take part in an Early Leaders Lecture where the young people can voice concerns about their future in politics. Hmmm, interesting. An interest in politics was always a good thing to look for in a potential future queen. 

Sending her a request to chat, Leonidas was not disappointed. She was young, passionate and had strong views about the future of the Elyrian people. He gathered all of this from their first conversation that lasted about 15 minutes. He did not give out his identity, but when she questioned his choice of a screen name, he said it was because his name was 'Leo' similar to that of their Prince. Her views of Prince Leonidas did not come out that first night, but honestly, who would bad talk the crown prince to a total stranger? 

The next day, bright and early, the Royal Investigators were put to the task of finding out everything about 'ellie_belle.' And by six in the evening Leonidas had a portfolio on his desk with every public detail about this intriguing young woman from birth to last night.

Elise Van Hastening. Such a pretty name, to go with a pretty face, he smiled. Leonidas looked at the pictures his team had gathered from her facebook profile and wherever else they got hold of them: brown hair, light brown eyes, one dimpled cheek when she laughed or smiled. Good family background, also. She was the middle child of her parents' five children. There were three boys and two girls. Parents still married, father a lawyer, mother runs a local magazine. Eldest brother a medical student in his final of med school; brother after him a photographer for the mother's magazine; Elise, a second year student at Elyrian Royal University studying political science; younger sister still in high school, aspiring ballerina, and youngest brother in primary school, currently a football fanatic, with Chelsea as his team of choice.

Her family was one thing, but Elise was something else. He was impressed by her. She was the captain of the debate team when she was in high school and shows strong interest of one day running for Prime Minister of Elyria. She wouldn't need to run for Prime Minister, when she can be Queen, Leonidas thought.

Realizing he has yet to respond to her outburst of his usual female company, he did what any normal person who didn't know what to say would.

prince_charming01: lol :)

 elle_belle: i bet u're jealous of him... -_-

prince_charming01: Hell yea! who wouldn't be? :p 

elle_belle: typical male response... o.O

prince_charming01: because i'm a typical male... ;)

They have been talking now for almost a month and a half, and Leonidas was most convinced that she would make an ideal bride and future Queen. His parents would support his choice when they met her. He wouldn't be embarrassed to introduce her to his parents, knowing she was intelligent and can carry on a conversation with anyone. 

Most importantly though, she likes him and talks to him as an equal. Granted she doesn't know who he is, but he knew for a fact she wouldn't shy away from him and not engage him in a heated argument if they had a difference of opinion. 

The charade of 'prince_charming01' had to come to an end. He needed to give her enough time to come to terms with who he was and have her agree to marry him. Now that she's chatted with him and knows the real person behind the media's version of Prince Leonidas, he doubted she'd be too reluctant to accept his proposal. He'd have to apologise for deceiving her, but she'd agree to marry him, he thought arrogantly, after he was the Prince, and who could turn down the opportunity to be a princess bride? 

***

She was debating whether or not to ask him. Shaking off her uneasy feeling, Elise typed in her request.

elle_belle: hey…umm, do u think u’d like to come to a group meeting?

prince_charming01:  at the university?

elle_belle: Yea…it’ll give us a chance to meet.. u kno, face to face? That’ll be a change from our cyber world conversations…

Elise held her breath as she waited for his response. After a while, she finally saw that he was typing.

prince_charming01:  I think tht be a good idea.

elle_belle: really? U don’t think it’d be a buzz kill to have our cyber ‘relationship’ meet the harshness of reality?

prince_charming01:  not really… it may be better in reality than ‘cyber world’ as u always like to call it.

elle_belle: Yea ..maybe… =)

elle_belle: so we agree? To meet … in real life? … face to face!

 prince_charming01:  Yes..   J  I think it’s time we did

elle_belle:  U do? …so next meeting u’ll be there?

prince_charming01:  not the very next one… I have things to take of. How bout I let u know?

That was a little odd. Stuff to take of? She was really tempted to ask what stuff, but didn’t want to appear too… she didn’t even know what she didn’t want to appear as, but she wasn’t going to ask him.  

elle_belle: sure thing.. Can’t wait!

Can’t wait? Can’t wait? Gosh, she sounded desperate. But it was too late to retract the statement, as it was already in the conversation. He didn’t seem to mind, as he replied that he couldn’t wait also.

So maybe she will relax a little and stop stressing out.

But there was still the little voice inside of her that reminded her of the fact that this guy could either be everything she hoped for, or he could turn out to be her worst nightmare. Pushing that thought aside Elise just continued chatting with her friend, cyber ‘Leo’, and wished for the best.  

[A/N: Pic of Justin Gaston as Prince Leonidas at the side] ;)