The Proposal

15 - Heir

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The fake honeymoon was over.

Nicholas and I returned to the Palace. He remained in his room while I went back to mine. I was pretty relieved that I had a room to myself because staying in the same room would have been so hard. Not with all the recent tension between us.

The next two weeks, we lived our lives apart but together nonetheless, to keep us in the act. Nicholas filled me in on all the duties of the queen, what to do and what not. He made sure Alma was always there to keep me on the right track.

As for my upcoming or rather ongoing acting career, it has been going well. After our return, Nicholas took me to the movie director, who gave me a very warm welcome. I was introduced to everyone on the set, the producers, writers, and mostly the characters. We got to know one another, as well as our parts and shared scenes.

I could say that my dream was coming together, and I loved every bit of it. I was happy.

Nicholas, on the other hand, took the advice I gave him during the honeymoon. He established the fact that he desired to be a businessman, and he was going to do just that. Everyone, Palace and court, respected his decision.

We were both happy doing what we loved.

One evening, I was in my room awaiting dinner when Nicholas came into my room.

"Nicholas?" I said surprised, he hadn't done that since the day he brought me to the Palace.

"I apologise for intruding in your space, but..." he said as he walked towards me.
"My aunt just arrived in Roosevelt. She will be here any moment,"

"Okay," I looked at him weirdly, wondering why he looked uneasy about it. "Should I be worried?" I asked him.

"No..." he said weirdly as well, " he just wanted to inform you," he said.

"Okay, consider me informed," I said.

"One more thing, my aunt is very meddlesome and intrusive. Just want to make sure you still remember the story. We can not afford to get caught," he said.

I remembered the story, we met at a fair, I offered to get him tickets, he thought it was very kind of me so he offered to make it up to me by going on a date and then we fell in love. It was his story. He came up with it, and honestly, I thought it was a pretty lame story.

"Yes, I remember perfectly," I assured him, "and you need not worry, she won't suspect a thing," I added.

"Oh, you don't know my aunt," he sounded genuinely worried, which tipped my curiousity. I was just about to ask more about this aunt when a guard came in to announce his aunt's arrival. So we went downstairs together to welcome his aunt.

"Nicholas," the average-aged woman called excitedly as soon as she laid eyes on him.

She looked like she could be in her forties or fifties with the way she was dressed. Truthfully, she looked like she jumped out of a 90's movie scene. Her hair was nice, her make-up was also nice, but her dress...I couldn't find the right words for it.

Don't get me wrong, it was quite nice too. It looked like those traditional royal dresses, only this was the ugly version of it. The colour, the style, the fabric, it was all awful.
Who still dresses like that?