The Road to Coronation

Growing Distance

Chapter 3

(Hugo POV)

Sofia came down to dinner and sat silently in her chair barely touching her food. She would catch me staring and gave me a smile but it never lasted long. All her answers to any attempt at starting a conversation were short and polite Something was on her mind but she wasn't going to talk to me about it now. I waited until Dad left before walking over to her, "Hey Sofia, are you alright?" She smiled and nodded, "Yeah I'm fine, I just..." she was thinking about something before she said, "have a lot on my mind." She smiled at me but it was not her smile. It lacked her sincerity and warmth. "May I escort you to our chambers?" I asked. She went to take my hand but then pulled it away, "I can't yet, I still have work to do with my training." She whispered and looked straight ahead. This wasn't like Sofia but it seemed that the more I tried to get her to talk the more she retreated into herself. "You know I have a project I need to attend to as well, will you come with me to the library so we may do our work," She nodded to this request and took my hand.

It was clear that she didn't want to talk about her training so I tried talking about something else, "Hey Sofia." She looked up at me, "We never talked about this, and I have kind of assumed this before but I need to know... Is purple actually your favorite color?" She let out a laugh before she recomposed herself and straightened her posture. What was going on with her? "Yes, it is. Has been since I was a little kid" she replied with a smile. She looked forward and I was worried our conversation was over but then she said, "What about you, what is your favorite color?" I thought about it for a second, "Blue." I tried looking in her eyes, my favorite shade of blue but she wouldn't look at me.

We got into the library and she went to a table that had a gigantic book on the table. She flipped it open and began copying the writing. I decided to begin working and I started reading through the ledgers and looking into the kingdoms we traded with. Most of them were my friends' kingdoms from Royal Prep so I knew that I would be able to reach out to them and make sure that they had the things we needed. I began reading through the ledgers and documenting what we were trading so far. I looked over at Sofia and she was doing the same thing as before. Her shoulders began slumping over and I can see her blinking herself awake but, she continued with her task. I looked at the clock and saw how late it was. I walked over to Sofia, "Hey it's getting late. Why don't you finish this up tomorrow and we go to bed?" She shook her head, "I have to finish tonight.""Sofia, please come to bed. It is late and I am sure whatever you are doing with this can wait until the morning." She just repeated, "I have to finish tonight." I sighed sitting down next to her. "Alright, is there anything I can do to help?" She stopped working for a second and looked at me, "Hugo I-" she started. I wish she would have finished but then Countess Laurianne walked in, "Prince Hugo, Princess Sofia what a surprise to see you right now." Sofia turned back to her work and continued. "Prince Hugo, I am here to let you know that you have an early morning tomorrow as you and your father will be going to Freezenburg to discuss the updates to the trade alliance since your brother's engagement to Princess Astrid." I nodded and turned back to Sofia. She still wasn't talking and her body was stiff as she copied the text. "Prince Hugo, would you please escort me to my room?" The Countess asked. "Sofia," I whispered but her body wouldn't move. I didn't know exactly what was going on but, I knew that Sofia was not comfortable and it was worse since the Countess entered the room. "Yes Countess Cunningham, I would be delighted." I turned toward Sofia, "Wake me up when you come to the room." She still didn't move. I watched her as I walked out of the room moving robotically. What was going on?

(Sofia POV)

I watched Hugo leave the room and I looked down at the book. I was barely halfway done with what I had to do and I would be up longer. I wanted to tell Hugo what was going on but, I didn't want to do anything that might anger Countess Laurianne any further. This book for example was the complete history of this kingdom and all the royalty that had come before. Almost all of the marriages were arranged for the king. Hugo and I escaped that fate but, I'm not sure why she felt the need to make me aware of this.