The Princess's Handbook

Rule #8: Your Kingdom Comes First

Rule #8: Your Kingdom Comes First

One of the rules that every princess has to follow for the rest of her life is behave. Although in my case, that rule flew out of the window about 17 years ago.

I had Dante looked out for me as I duct taped one of those airhorn things underneath my mother's chair in her office. She had one of those fancy swivel leather chairs with wheels that you can just roll around on but the downside in her case was that the chair will dip down when someone sits on it because of the pressure thus it will activate the airhorn and give her the fright of her life. 

I'll admit, I did want some payback for her grounding me from before. Besides, she can't ground me this time because I have a lot of royal duties to attend to starting from tomorrow. Muahahaha, I'm evil.

"I'm done. Are we safe to leave?" I whispered to Dante as I finished duct taping the airhorn and pushed the chair back into place. He nodded at me and together we sneaked out of my mother's office, closing the door silently. Then we made our way to the kitchen.

"What are we doing here?" Dante asked as we were right outside the cooking area.

"We are going to make caramel 'apples'." I said with a too bright smile. He raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have a feeling that by apples you meant something else?"

"You are so definitely going to get an upgrade to be my best friend soon, Williams."

"Thank you. I assume that is a compliment."

"It is. Now let's get ready to victimise more people." I said. He shook his head but followed me into the kitchen.

"Chef Rodrigo!" I greeted the head chef happily.

"Princess Julianna, what brings you here today?" The olive skinned, plump chef that I have a soft spot for asked in surprise at my sudden appearance. He always gave me too many cookies for my cookie addiction that's why I really like him.

"I wanted to make something with my friend here. By the way, this is Dante Williams. He's American. Dante, this is Rodrigo, the best chef in the world." I introduced them both. 

"Pleasure to meet you." Dante said with a smile. "Nice to meet you too. Now what do you two need?" The unsuspecting cook asked.

"Don't worry about us, you continue with whatever you're doing. I know where everything is anyway. It's not my first time in this kitchen." I said.

"Are you sure?" He asked hesitantly.

"We'll be fine, now go on." I gave him a light push towards the stove. He reluctantly relented. I proceeded to drag Dante with me to the humongous refrigerator and grabbed our ingredients. An apple, caramel cubes and the star of the show, onions.

"You're evil, do you know that?" Dante whispered in my ear as he helped me washed the ingredients in the farthest corner of the kitchen, away from all the other staff. A small shiver went up my spine at the feeling of his breath on my ear. I smiled up at him innocently. "So I've been told." He shook his head. I then said. "Help me grab some sticks from the cabinet on the top right." He obliged.

I peeled the onions and washed them along with the apple as Dante melted down the caramel cubes. After stabbing the single apple and five onions with a stick, we started to roll them around in the thick caramel until they all looked the same. The onions could really pass off as real caramel apples. I randomly plate them up on a tea before leaving them in the fridge to speed up the cooling and hardening process. 

"How long do we have to wait?" Dante asked. "20 to 30 minutes should do. Come on, I'll show you the library in the meantime. It's my favourite place in the palace besides my room." I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the kitchen.

We made our way up the long staircase to the library. I only let go of his arm then. I pushed open the library doors and said. "Welcome to the royal library of Odivalon." "Woah." He exclaimed.

"This is the largest room in the palace. It was originally a ballroom but my great great great multiply great by another 5 times grandfather converted it into the library you see before your eyes today. It also requires a lot of money to maintain. The paintings on the ceilings are very old and requires the most care to keep them looking this great." I explained to Dante.

"How many books do you have in here?" He asked, awestruck. "I lost count a long time ago. We have a royal librarian but I think he doesn't work on weekends. Come on, I want to show you something else." I said.

He followed me as I brought him to the second floor of the library. I stopped when we stood in front of a book podium that had a large and very old looking book on it. The cover of the book had the royal crest of Odivalon on it.

"This, is the family history of Odivalon. It details every royal family that has ruled Odivalon since around the 15th century or so." I motioned for him to open it. He carefully did so. He flipped through the book until it landed on the page titled,

'LOCKHART-FARRINGTON. SINCE THE 19TH CENTURY'

Dante glanced at me. I said. "My family has ruled Odivalon for 200 years and counting. We're the longest to ever rule the kingdom. Some say that Lockhart-Farrington is the strongest monarchy to ever rule, Odivalon. Personally, I think we're lucky. The former rulers left behind a great base for us to work on."

"You love your kingdom don't you?"

"I do. I'm proud that I can be the princess of this kingdom but I also know that change has to be instilled in my homeland if we want to continue our ruling. My parents are great leaders but in today's society, a country led by a monarch isn't taken seriously. People prefer democracy and republics."

"You want to change the government system?" He questioned with wide eyes. I shook my head. "No, I don't want to change the government system. That's silly, I can't change that, only the people can. I want Odivalon to be recognise as a modern country. Everyone seems to think that because we are a monarchy, we are automatically undeveloped or something other. There's a reason why I travel so much and support so many campaigns. I want the world to see Odivalon as a country that is leading in its field. Did you know my people were the ones who made a breakthrough discovery on the vaccine for that horrible disease last year?"

"Wait, it was Odivalon doctors that discovered that?" Dante asked eyes wide. I nodded. "And they said it was some American researcher. I like to say that the American merely solved the final equation to the vaccine. Without Odivalon doctors, the cure would've never been found." I said.

"Wow okay. May I ask why are you showing and telling me all this?" He asked slightly puzzled.

"You're American. I want you to help me prove Odivalon's worth to the world. You're my friend and you live here now. Your word will be taken seriously."

"Why would you think so?"

"I don't mean that I want you to go telling all Americans how awesome Odivalon is. I want you to help me convince my parents to set up a people's council of sorts. One downside of the monarchy system is that the king has full political power and sometimes that isn't a good thing. My father is a great king but I think he needs advice and strategies from other people sometimes." I said.

"You think your parents will listen to me? No offence but your mother is a little..." He trailed off.

"My mother can be hard to handle but she isn't unreasonable. Besides, I'll back you up." I said and patted his shoulder confidently.

"So my permanent residency is safe?"

"Absolutely. So you agree to help me convince my parents?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything for a friend."

"Good. Now let's get those onions and apples out of the freezer and find some victims to feed." I said.

He chuckled. "You surely are something else, Jules."