The Night We Met

Chapter Four

"Charmed are we princess?"

 "If I were not surrounded by people right now, I would gladly slap that conniving grin off his face." 

"I am ready to leave now," Guinevere plainly states, impatiently waiting for a response. "I assume your tutors skipped a few lessons on royal etiquette then," Christopher bluntly adds while walking closer. "And why might you say that?" Guinevere steps another foot closer, leaving no more than four inches of space between them. "Well I have not received a proper greeting, which I find rather immature and rude, especially coming from someone who I am supposed to believe will be the Queen of France." Guinevere's eyes become aflame with rage, but just as she is about to scream in his face, George chimes in saying, "I am sorry to interrupt, but we must depart to the ball your highnesses."  

Realizing the absurd proximity between the two of them, Guinevere quickly steps back, and walks hurriedly to the awaited carriage, while Christopher follows her lead. 

The carriage passes several beautiful fields that contains all sort of crops and flowers that Guinevere can't even begin to name, but she definitely tries to in her head to pass the time, which has proven to be difficult due to the other person in the carriage.

 "So, Princess Guinevere, do you have any hobbies?" asks Christopher, breaking the sweet, comforting silence that Guinevere so desperately desired after his quite vulgar words. "If you do not mind, I would rather not talk at the moment. I fear what may come out of my mouth may go against your standards for a queen to be, and well, I would not dare dream of offending a snobbish prince whom I have known for a whole 40 minutes." Guinevere's response seemingly throws off Christopher, due to his once teasing stare has turned cold and stern. 

"Thank you for insincere concern, but I do not need your reassurance that what you will say is not queen-like, because I already know it will be," he shifts closer to Guinevere. "All I was trying to do was start a civil conversation like many acquaintances would, but then again, I should have known you are not even capable of that. Now that you have chosen to be nonverbal, I suppose I too will bathe in the silence, and I must say--" 

"Have you forgotten the concept of silence your highness?" Guinevere cuts him off. "Or did your tutors just teach you which fork is for dessert, and skipped the other lessons?" Christopher's slight grin and unreadable eyes is not the response that Guinevere expected, and it makes her even more uncomfortable when he puts a rogue strand of her hair behind her ear, while maintaining to hold awkward eye contact. That random and confusing moment was short-lived due to the carriage's doors  starting to open, which causes both the prince and the princess to jerk back and immediately storm out of the carriage. 

Two of the palace's doormen opened up the giant wooden doors for Guinevere and Christopher, and they walked in, being almost five feet apart from each other. As they reached the top of the staircase, the bellman announced both of their names. "Hold my hand," Christopher whispered. "I would rather die," Guinevere told Christopher. "You think I want to? I have a reputation to uphold, and a mother who is constantly watching my every move. Now hold my hand Guinevere." Guinevere hesitantly puts her hand in his, and is slightly surprised that his hand is warm and not ice cold. Their locked hands, causes the room to go silent, well there was an exception for the few gasps that filled the room. It was not shocking that Christopher brought a princess to the ball, but they had never seen Guinevere with anyone before, let alone the Prince of Spain. 

The palace regained its common chatter when they reached the main floor, and Queen Eliana already started to make her way towards Christopher and Guinevere. "There is our most popular royal couple!" Queen Eliana shouts for everyone to hear. "We are not a couple," adds Guinevere under her breath. "I hope that wasn't anything negative Princess Guinevere. It would be awful to ruin such a splendid evening, don't you agree?" Queen Eliana passive aggressively states. "I'm going to go grab us some beverages," said Christopher, trying to get out of the conversation.

 Just as Christopher left, Queen Eliana immediately tells Guinevere, "You know I already took a risk with setting Christopher up with you, especially since you have no history with courting or being a reliable asset for your people. I would also like to remind you that there won't be many options left if you turn down Christopher, and after all, he is the most desirable prince these days, or did you forget? Thousands of girls would kill to be in your position, so you better clean up this act of yours before you do anything foolish. Oh, and may I remind you that 17 is getting closer and closer by the second Guinevere. That is all for now. I hope you sit with those words."

Guinevere tried to make as much conversation as she could with the others at the ball, mainly since Queen Elaina's words still lingered in her head. Although, she had made the mistake of being too friendly with one of the flirtier princes. He had asked her to dance, so she said yes, thinking that her reputation could use a little help. Hardly mid-way through the dance, she realized how awkward it was to dance with a complete stranger, especially one who didn't know how to talk to a girl. For instance, he told her, "We would make beautiful children," which shockingly was not even the worst moment they shared. 

Just as the prince is about to randomly sniff her hair, someone taps Guinevere's shoulder, causing them to stop dancing. Guinevere quickly turns around to see Christopher lending out his hand. "Dance with me."