Chapter Three: The Birthday

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It was the morning of Emma's birthday and the morning sun was shining brightly, making everything it touched look like it was glowing. Emma, of course, had been up since dawn, her boredom only suppressed by the many books in the palace's library. She was eagerly awaiting for the moment when she could step out onto the dance floor and move her feet to the rhythm of the orchestra that would be playing tonight. The only thing she didn't like about tonight was the fact that if she wanted to dance, she would have to wait for a man to ask her. She didn't like the fact that she had to dance with strangers that her father had introduced to her, but that was the way it was, whether she liked it or not. She was told to stay out of the gardens for the day because that was where her party was being set up and her mother wanted the final look to be a surprise for Emma.

She willed for time to run faster as she easily got bored of the library due to her excited mood so she went for a walk around the grand palace. After all, she knew every secret passage there was in the palace by now so she went to visit some of her favourite places. She had her own secret room that only she knew about and it was perfect in every way. as she approached her room, she looked around for anyone looking because she wanted it to be her secret. After all, she was the one who found it and cleaned all of the dust and dirt off of everything. she used to spend hours on end just polishing and restoring every piece of furniture and art piece in the room. No matter how hard it was, she stuck with the room until it was beautiful once more. She had no clue why it was made or why it was sealed up. She tried finding out in the vast amount of history books that were in the library, but to no avail. Not one single history book even briefly mentioned the mysterious room that Emma had called her own. She found that very peculiar. Surely there must have been some record of it somewhere. Someone had to have known about it other than her, surely.

The room had various paintings that lined the walls and quite a low wooden ceiling. Well, it was low compared to the rest of the rooms in the grand palace in which she had lived her entire life. A chandelier holding candles hung from the ceiling which you could light and it would illuminate the whole room. Emma loved how, when they were one, the candle light danced along all the walls and gave the gold pieces of furniture a glowing effect. This was because of the angle that the candles were at when they were lit. One time, when Emma was 14, she had sneaked off to this room when her mother wanted her to go to her lesson in which her mother taught her how to act like a 'proper princess'. Emma particularly hated these lessons when she was young and so often used the room as a way of escaping it because her mother never knew about her room. She had stayed so long that day that she had lost track of time watching the candle light that her mother was in tears with worry for her daughter. She feared that she she had lost her precious daughter that day and when Emma emerged from her hiding place, three different sets of guards had been sent out after her and all had to be called in after hours of searching. Emma got such a punishment that day for scaring her mother so badly. Emma made the excuse that she had been in the back of the library and had lost track of time. Of course, her mother believed her because she knew how much her daughter loved books and quickly forgave her for scaring her, saying that it wasn't Emma's fault for forgetting just that time.

Emma smiled at the memory as she scanned the many paintings that she had memorized over the years. Her particular favourite was of a young gentleman with dark hair and light blue eyes on the back of a jet black horse that was rearing up onto its back legs. The man was holding a sword in one hand that had ornate black detailing started around half way up the sword. At the end of the handle, there was a red jewel that was held in place by a metal ring that surrounded it. Behind the man was a dark, cloudy sky and a plain field. Emma didn't know why this was her favourite, but it just caught her eye the moment she stepped into the room for the first time.

Possibly the most ironic things about this room was that there was an ornate statue of a swan hanging on the wall. When Emma first found this room, that was the only thing that still looked as good as new. The only piece that didn't need restoring, for it was already perfect. Emma liked the books that she found in here because they had the strangest things written in them. They seemed to be like diaries, but they were written in future tense. Emma still hadn't finished reading the extensive range of books there, but she found them to be very intriguing.

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