My Foreign Prince

Chapter 3

Tap tap tap

I huffed, my finger tapping impatiently against the surface of the desk as I glared down at the pages of my diary. There was nothing for me to write for the past three days; I was grounded for God's sake, and I was therefore bored out of my mind. The only time I could go out was to get supplies for the bakery, and so far that had only been once. And that was to replace a broken wooden spoon. If only the spirits would make something interesting happen...

"Cindy! Cindy come down here, you won't believe this!"

Well. Hallelujah.

Picking myself up I sprinted out of my room, skidding against the floor as I made a turn for the stairs and practically leaping down them. I straightened before addressing my parents "What? What is it?!"

They both grinned and my father pulled something out from behind his back, holding it up for me to see "Look at this."

I stepped forward, reading the words of the flyer out loud with squinted eyes "King... Elias Wisteria cordially invites every civilian of Belliak to attend a ball celebrating Prince Alexei's arrival--" I stopped, before backing up with a frown "Oh no, no absolutely not."

"Why not, sweetie?" My mother whined "It sounds likes fun!"

I crossed my arms "That's not my point, mother. You know how I feel about royalty."

"But--"

"And I'm grounded. I'm not allowed to go out remember? Or are you planning to go against your own house rules?"

They fell silent.

"As I thought." I huffed, turning abruptly with a 'hmph' "Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna continue being bored--"

"If you come to the ball with us, we'll lift your punishment~"

I stopped walking, turning my head to glance at my parents "Okay, what are you up to?"

"Whatever are you talking about?"

"Bye."

"Okay!" Father called out, and I once again turned to him with an expecting eyebrow raised "There is a reason we want you to come with us..."

"Go on..."

---

Un-freaking-believable.

I was their ticket to get in!

Apparently the prince was looking for a Belliak Bride, and every young maiden in our kingdom was qualified. So you see, after they had quite literally begged me to go to this Prince Alexei welcoming ball or whatever, and given me the extremely childish reason to get in, I didn't even care that I was grounded anymore and stormed the hell out of there.

So here I was, walking through the streets of Belliak. Fuming, freezing, and with no intention of going back until I had a reason to. Like, if I bumped into those pedophiles and needed a hiding spot again. I grumbled, rubbing my goosebump-covered arms as I walked blindly down the street; I made the oh so smart decision of forgetting my cloak in the middle of November. But I wasn't gonna give in. I did not want to go back--

Thump

"Ow!"

"Oof!"

A force knocked into my chest. The two of us were sent backwards a few steps, and my hand flew up to cover my chin which had been headbutted by the other person. A curse escapes the others lips, who seemed to be hunched over and holding his head in pain. After a moment of processing, we stood abruptly to face each other.