It had been three months since my father died. I would be lying if I said I missed him. Things at the castle has been wonderful. Mother renovated the entire castle, not a single room did not get changed. It's beautiful here, there is flowers all throughout the halls, new paintings and more light. She also updated all the staffs rooms. I can tell everyone is happier now that we are all under her rule.
"Faith we have to have dinner with the Duke and Duchess of Lexington" Rio tells me while reading. I really can't stand this man and every morning I wake up, I hate that I married him. "Of course, just let me know when" I tell him. We were in the library as always. Rio loves to read and can spend days in here. "I'm going to go have some tea with the girls" I say standing up. "mhm" he mumbles as he reads. I get up and walk out of the library. As I walk down the castle halls, I smooth out my yellow dress. I hate yellow, but Rio insists that it's my best color and I should wear it. "You look like a big ball of yellow snot" Blaze says as we pass each other in the halls. "Screw you" I reply and flick him off. I hear him laughing as he walks further down the hall.
I walk into the indoor tea room and see all the girls "Hello everyone!" I say walking over to the table and sitting down. "Yellow again?" Evelyn asks sipping her cup of tea. I roll my eyes "purple again?" I reply looking at her purple dress. She looks at me and giggles "At least purple compliments me" "Oh you troll!" I tease her then we both laugh. "I'm hereee" I turn and look at the doorway and see Princess Perfect standing there. Perfect and her mother, Queen Lexi of the Givmea kingdom have been visiting up quite often recently. Lexi and my mother have become good friends, as well as Perfect and I. Perfect was short and has long blonde hair that she often wore up. She always had fluffy pink dresses on and lots of jewels. "It's about time" Evelyn says as Perfect comes and sits at the table. "I was busy admiring all the dashingly handsome knights and guards here. I must tell mother that we need to hire more attractive people" Perfect says grabbing a sugar cube and placing it in her tea. I laugh softly "Yes, I must admit we do have some cute ones." "Do you guys think the new coast guard is cute? His name is AJ... I think" Evelyn says quickly. I look at her "Why do you ask, sister?" "I.. uh no reason! Just simple girl talk" Evelyn says as she starts too blush. "You're blushing Eveeee" Perfect sings out and takes a sip of her tea.
A few gossip sessions later I look at the time and quickly get up "I must go, I need to go speak to mother" I say pushing in my chair. "Oh? About what?" Evelyn asks. "Just some things about.... marriage. Yes marriage" I lie. "Marriage?" Perfect questions. "Yes" I say quickly and walk out. I quickly walk to the gardens and out to the back fountain. I was about ten minutes late from the usual time I meet Ronin. I sneak through a few bushes then see him standing there looking at the water. "Ronin" I say walking over to him smiling. "There you are Princess" he replies smiling at me. I walk over and sit on the ledge of the fountain and he does the same. I have to admit that I have a crush on Ronin. He makes me feel safe and accepts me for who I am. I feel like I have to change who I am for Rio. I know I can't act upon my feelings. Honestly I think Ronin views me as a best friend. I don't want to jeopardize our friendship so I keep my feelings to myself. Also for the sake of my marriage and I don't want Ronin to get freaked out and stop talking to me.
"Are you alright Faith? You seem quiet today" Ronin asks. "I'm ok, just in my head today it seems." I reply and look at him, admiring his facial features. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asks. "Sometimes I feel like Rio thinks I'm too much or too difficult" I whisper. "What makes you think that?" He asks. "He likes to keep me away it seems or when something is happening he reminds me that princesses should have manners and not open their mouth to argue." I say sighing. "But I'm ok" I reassure him. He nods then stands up and walks over to a rose bush. "Come here Faith" he says and motions for me to come. I get up and walk over and look at the bush. "Why are you looking at this?" I ask. "They say rose bushes are one of the hardest to keep and tend too" He replies looking at it "This one is having trouble blooming it seems" He squats down and touches the leafs on the bush. "If roses are tended too correctly and are given enough water and sunlight, they can bloom to be beautiful" He stands up and looks at me "It all depends on how they are taken care of" He walks a little further down to a rose bush in full bloom. "They are beautiful" I say looking at them. I have never seen roses this beautiful before. They were a deep red color and were so big, I honestly was stunned. "This is what roses can be when they are cared for correctly" Ronin tells me as he picks one and hands me it. "For you" He says smiling. I take the rose from him and smell it "Thank you, this is stunning." He looks at me nodding "Yes, it really is" He looked like he was going to say something else but another knight was calling for him. "I've got to go, talk to you soon." He says then grabs his helmet and sword and runs off.
Later that evening I was sitting on the balcony of my chambers looking at the stars and holding the rose Ronin gave me. My mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts. I felt horrible for having feelings for another man while I was married. Rio was a kind man, he had never done anything rude towards me. I just felt like we weren't a good fit. I knew I needed to tell mother about it but wasn't sure how. I stand up and walk to the railing and look down at the gardens. Suddenly I see Ronin walking down the paths. I guess he got the night shift for the gardens tonight. I look down smiling as he walks back and forth. He looks towards the castle and smiles when he sees me standing there. He waves at me then blows me a kiss and continues walking. I start to blush and take a step back from the railing. Oh shit he makes my head spin. I hope no one saw that. I look around to the other balconies to make sure no one was out and watching. I stopped breathing when I saw who was. Blaze and my mother were on the balcony of her chambers and they were looking at me.
Well shit.
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