"𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞?" "𝒏𝒐, 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒚." |𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚡 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜

☘︎𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕨𝕠☘︎

Alice woke up as the sunlight tickled her nose. She stretched, relaxing as her bones cracked just in the right places. She sat up, looking at her window. Her eyes wandered to the necklace on her bedside table, thoughts drifting to the man she had met the day before. "Xander...." His name left her lips before she could even think about it, eyes shooting open once she realised. "What is wrong with you, Alice...? Why.... forget it." The princess shook her head, crawling out of her bed and walking into the bathroom.

At the dinner table, her family was caught in chatter of all kinds, but Alice remained quiet. She had never seen Xander in the village before.... may he be a traveller or a new resident? That was the question Alice was desperate to get an answer to. The princess was interrupted in her thoughts when her brother Finnley asked her a question. "Uh, my apologies, I didn't catch that.... could you, uh... repeat yourself?" She asked, clearly embarrassed about her behaviour of zoning out during breakfast. But her family only laughed, being used to this behaviour. "No worries, Alice. I was simply asking if you'd like to go with me to the tailors today to retrieve our clothes for the royal ball next Saturday?" The glint in Finnley's eyes spoke, more than his mouth. The eyes of the young princess widened a bit, but she agreed nonetheless. After that, breakfast went well, but Alice couldn't help but wonder what mischief her older brother had planned.

The two siblings exited the castle, entering the village. The young woman looked at her older brother, expecting him to speak. And speak he did, "you know, Alice..." he began, voice calm and comforting, his body language confident and self-assured. "I can tell you don't like the castle.... and to be honest, I don't as well." The princess looked at the ground, already being aware that Finnley and her had the most non royal way of thinking. "But Alice," he stopped, grabbing her hand and looking into her eyes, "Be careful. You might be daddy's favourite, but that doesn't mean you're free from royal duties..." Alice looked at Finnley, tightening her grip on his hand. "I know." She smiled, and the second oldest prince immediately relaxed, smiling as well before walking towards the tailoring shop.

"This can't be!" Alice groaned, already exhausted by her brothers nagging. "Come on, Finnley, it's just 𝑜𝑛𝑒 colour..." she tried to reason, but he wouldn't listen. It was quite amusing in her eyes. The tailor got one colour wrong, and Finnley acts like it's the end of the world. After a few minutes, she just exited the tailor shop and walked down the streets of the village until she saw a figure in the corner of her eye. She looked into the direction the movement came from but saw nothing. She just sighed and continued walking. The sun was already going down, so nearly no children were outside. Sitting down on the grass near the river, the princess fixed her hair in the golden hue of the dawning sun.
"Let me help you, beautiful." A dark voice chimed behind her, casting a smile onto the princess' face. She had only heard his voice once before, but she would always recognise it. "Xander..." her soft voice echoed through the breeze. She closed her eyes as she felt hands touch her hair, relaxing slightly. "Ah, seems you still remember me.... impressive, I must say." His rough hands were gentle as he fixed her hair, playing with her waves as he sat behind her. His words earned a chuckle from the young princess, and the sound made him grin slightly, almost unnoticeably so. "What is a royal doing out alone at this hour? Especially one as well-known as you..." His breath fanned her neck, the warm sensation making her shiver a bit. "Well, I actually came here to get some clothes from the tailor with my older brother.... but he's being a drama queen about one wrong colour, and so I came here...." her voice was silent, shaky, a melody to Xander's ears. "Hm... is that so...?" She nodded, his voice making her feel weird. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, beautiful.... I hope I'll see you around more..." With a gentle peck to her jaw, he stood up and left, leaving her flustered and confused. She turned around to look at him but only saw his back as he left. "Goodbye...."

"Where did you go?!" Finnley asked her, his voice and face troubled, as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Eleanor touched Finnley's shoulder to calm him down. "You'll turn her brain into a smoothie if you continue shaking her like that." The oldest spoke with her gentle voice, immediately stopping Finnley. She looked at Allice, a bit disappointed. "You can't just wander off, you know? You're important to this family and to this kingdom. What if something were to happen to you, dear." Allice looked down, feeling bad. "Sorry.... Finnley was just so.... annoying to listen to, and so I went to relax by the river.... and then I lost track of time.... my apologies." Eleanor sighed, nodding and signalling Allice to go to her room. The young princess obliged, immediately going into her chambers.

As the moon stood high above the kingdom, Allice looked out her window, her mind filled with endless questions. She put on something casual before sneaking out of the castle. She walked towards the river, where she last talked with Xander. Her eyes widened when she saw his silhouette standing there. The man turned around, shocked to see the princess out at night, in normal clothes and attire. No fancy makeup or anything, just her. Her beauty was striking, even in the dim light of the moon. In his eyes, she looked like a gem. The most rarest of all. "Princess...." he was captured by her, fascinated by her aura. But no, he couldn't fall for her. He only needed her crown. That was the only reason he came to this village in the first place. He heard that the youngest of the royal family was naive, in desperate search for true love. He saw that chance and wanted to take it. He was a mere thief, after all.

"Xander..." she was shocked to see him, standing there. She couldn't see his face since the light of the moon came from behind him, but she was sure he was striking. She smiled, and she was sure she heard his breathing halt for a second. He came forward, taking her hand and pulling her against him. "Care to dance with me...?"