Royal AU: Yellow Jessamine

Unplanned Visit

Two weeks had already gone by since the ceremony. Flora kept going on with her routine although she was a bit slower and less organized in what she did, sometimes appearing a little absent mentally or drained more easily. She would often bring a head to her upper torso and rub it by her chest briefly, taking deep inhaled and exhales as if she felt something stinging before she shook it off. It was a Sunday afternoon and she had avoided yet another meeting with the prince without even telling him. Every time she thought about it, only the words of Caroline echoed in her head along with the images of their marriage, which only caused her mind to get even more foggy and out of focus.
At that moment, she was standing in a hall of the castle that headed to the throne room as she held some papers, going through them silently but not fully concentrated.

After a while of waiting for Flora to meet him at the usual spot without any results, he grew a bit more worried, especially since he hasn't heard from her ever since the marriage. The prince then decided to make his way to the Pink Kingdom with the help of Cobalt and once he arrived he questioned the guards if Flora were alright and whether she was available to speak to

The guards brought their attention to him and smiled at the prince since he was always welcomed in the kingdom. "Your Highness, it's a pleasure. The Queen currently doesn't have meetings of any kind, you may go talk to her. She should be somewhere in the throne room" one of the guards spoke. "However... She appears to be a little drained. Just be warned of that" the other guard added, moving out of the way to let him through and bowing slightly.

"Thank you dearly, I appreciate it" He smiled back at the guards and gave them a slight brief bow to thank them before walking through the gates into the castle, making his way to the throne room to look for her. Eventually, he'd come across her in the hall towards the room, a relieved smile appearing on his face "Ah- Good afternoon, Flora!" He tried to catch her attention

She was pressing her tempers while glancing down at the papers and exhaled heavily, furrowing her eyebrows and closing her eyes. When she heard the prince calling for her name, she quickly opened them again and felt her whole body tense up and almost freeze. She hesitantly turned to him, not smiling at all at first but instead appearing taken off guard before she smiled a little nervously. "Skylar? What are you doing here?" She asked

He kept his smile up a little and replied to her question "I haven't heard from you for two weeks and uh- you didn't seem to show up at the lake these last times. So I came to check up on you and see whether you were doing alright" he explained, furrowing his eyebrows slightly and showing slight concern

"Ah, right..." she said, lowering the papers and rubbing her neck slightly. "Well, I've been quite busy. And I still am... shouldn't you also be busy either way? You probably have a lot more papers now that your territory is expanded" she reminded him "In fact, you should really get going and go back to that, I wouldn't want to chat and slow you down now would I?" she said, walking past him and setting a hand onto his back while leading him back to the door as if hurrying him to leave.

His smile slightly faded having listened to her, noticing that she indeed seemed drained as the guard had said. "Ah, apologies- I didn't think you were this busy" he raised his eyebrows slightly when he felt her hand on his back, slowly noticing that she was leading him back out "Uuuh then.. perhaps I'll send you a letter next time? I don't intend being a bother for you, I just tend to get a little concerned is all" he spoke as he was led, glancing down at her and observing her expression

"A letter? With all the paperwork you already have? Don't be ridiculous now" she said, shaking her head and scoffing "Look, just don't waste energy coming here. I'll visit instead once I'm free, no need to send anything, yeah?" She said quickly, still looking as if she was in a hurry as she fully led him to the door and let go of him, glancing up at the man but often avoiding eye contact or glancing behind his shoulders as if checking if Caroline was around.

"Mmh..alright? I guess we'll do that then-" he was quite unsure about her behavior and the odd feeling hasn't left him either. Once they were at the door and the Queen let go of him, he turned towards her "Well- Despite the short visit just now, I hope to hear from you again soon enough" he bowed to her slightly before glancing back at her "I wish you a pleasant day, Flora" he wished her with a softer smile

She was mostly staring at the ground but when he was saying bye to her, she hesitantly looked back up at him with a slightly resentful look, before glaring back down again at the papers. "The same to you..." she said quietly and a little numbly before turning around and leaving with her eyes on the paper silently.

He kept smiling at her although everything about her seemed quite off, until she turned around and left silently after having spoken so strangely. Once she didn't face him anymore his smile faded completely into a worried expression, slowly turning to the door to leave as well eventually and head back to his Kingdom.