Be My Princess ✔️

Chapter 12

I was nineteen when I asked why you didn't want to marry me.

After my proposal, you did not write me. And I was too ashamed to write you in turn. I had been so sure you would have said yes. All your life, you said you wanted to marry a prince. You wanted to be a princess. And I was supposed to make your dream come too. It was supposed to be just like a fairytale.

And it wasn't. I just couldn't understand. I thought that maybe I had done something wrong. I was a prince, wasn't I? And it was your dream to marry a prince, wasn't it? Was it because of the school? Was it because you had all of these new responsibilities? I tried to think as to what it could have been. But the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became.

We both wished on stars. We had both worked hard. What had gone wrong?

Big Brother and Sister Tiana urged me not to ask you, but I couldn't stop myself from writing a letter. I apologized, but I had to know. I just wanted to know why you didn't want to marry me. And if you never wanted to speak again after that, I was fine. I just wanted to understand.

It took two months before your letter finally reached me. It was short, only two pages front and back, and it didn't smell like perfume. There were small splatters on the pages and the ink was smudged. But every word meant something. Nothing was swallow or fluff or gentle. You honest, so painfully honest, I could have cried too.

You still wanted to be a princess. But you were older now. All your friends were married, had children, had families. And there you were, still wishing on stars and praying for Prince Charming despite being a grown and independent woman. You knew what people said about you, you knew what they thought and there were times you even agreed to them. But that never kept you from wishing. Not then, not now, not ever.

But I couldn't be your prince. It was a waste for a young man like me to settle for an old lady like you. I had a life ahead of me and you knew being a princess wouldn't be easy. You wanted the glamour, you wanted to be a princess, but you were no longer a little girl. You knew what royalty was really like. Big Brother told you it wasn't as easy as it looked. He told you what we had to do, what he had to presented for our people. It was a luxurious life with a heavy price. And you were scared of the responsibility of being the older wife of a young hard-working prince.

And an old unqualified lady like you shouldn't hold me back from finding his true love, a younger and more suitable girl to be my princess.

You ended your letter with a thank you and an apology. No name, no love, no kiss. Just more little dried splatters at the bottom of the last page. I imagined you writing it, trying not to cry and failing miserably. Hunched over your desk, writing as honestly as you could while still trying to be kind to me. Because even if you didn't write it down, I knew you cared. I'm sure that you might have loved me too.

No matter how many times you break my heart, it seems I am always destined to be in love with you.