The Selection (Troyler AU)

♔Part XLVII♔

Honestly I forgot where I was going with this uh.

I know what I mEAN to do but I forgot how to connect the two parts together so this chapter is just random bullshit??¿?¿¿? I'm buying time until the next plot twist?????¿¿?

Anyways I needed a distraction so this happened sorry in advance (but it hasn't even been a week since the last update so honestly I deserve an award for this).

One Week Later

Troye POV

Did you know that in my lifetime, I've never had the chance of witnessing a Selection firsthand?

I guess that could've been assumed, since only the Princes of our country host them, and I hadn't even been born by the time the current King had his. 

Even knowing this, and knowing that I truly didn't know anything about how it worked, or how it was seen and viewed by everyone, and that Tyler's slow progress with the Selection was abnormal compared to past competitions, I couldn't have been prepared for what a typical Selection was like.

However, here's what I did know: word travels fast.

I remember six days ago, when I was sitting in the Servants' Lounge after a particularly tiring day of work, dimly aware of what was even going on around me, Mamrie Hart had announced from my TV screen that Prince Tyler Oakley of Illéa had just had his first kiss.

With Ingrid Nilsen.

I'd stared at the screen, blinking, unable to comprehend her words, until video footage from one of the Palace hallways showed the two of them just outside of Lady Ingrid's door - and the scene that occurred between them.

When I was fourteen years old and had just gotten my own room, instead of having to share it with the rest of the kids that weren't of working age in the Palace, I used to have the worst nightmares.  I'd never had a problem with them before, but I remember that being awful around that time.  Maybe it was because I was finally alone, and didn't have anyone's ores we nearby to console me; maybe it was because that was around the time that I was coming to terms with my sexuality, and I was all too aware of the consequences of being found out - all of which had made an appearance in my sleep.

Anyways, one night, they'd gotten so bad that I accidentally rolled off of my bed in my sleep.  I fell flat on my back on the ground, dropping from almost two feet above the hardwood floor, and instantly had the wind knocked out of my entire body.  For a few moments, I was paralyzed, caught halfway between a reality and a nightmare that I couldn't differentiate between, and surrounded by pitch black darkness, unable to see, think, or breathe.

That's what I felt like when I'd watched the footage.

I went to my quarters early that night.  Connor, noticing my absence, dropped off a plate of dinner, but it went untouched on my beside table the entire night.  The next day, I sent in a report stating that I felt too sick to work.

It wasn't even a lie.

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After taking the day in, however, I decided that the best way to take my mind off of things was to distract myself with work. 

Almost instantly, I'd thrown myself into the kitchen, setting to work on the food.  I guess I must've been on edge, because after the first couple of days back, Caspar had commented that I was acting like a "jilted lover" ((throws obscure Destiel reference at you)).