𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

31. 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀

𝕽ilynn's Royal Bakery became the success Rilynn hadn't expected to boom as quickly as it has. She doubted it would work because she didn't put herself out there, but with Ben's help, Rilynn was proved wrong.

It's only been a year since her bakery opened, which started in her new kitchen; after they left the dorms for the summer, Rilynn officially moved out of the dorms and purchased a cute cottage closer to the woods. Growing up in a castle for her entire life, Rilynn had always imagined herself living in a small cottage somewhere in the woods. She loved her tiny home--admittedly, her parents did help pay for it, but Rilynn was determined to earn her own money and pay for it. Rilynn fully intends to repay her parents for it, even if they tell her not to worry about it.

Jay often spent the night at her place, and well, it became his space as well. Rilynn loves having him around.

Rilynn rushed to her fridge and pulled out the cake she had made the night before; she made it for the event to introduce new VKs, so Rilynn went up and beyond with this cake. It was a strawberry and chocolate layered cake with buttercream frosting, but it was the hours of artwork that Rilynn put her tears and sweat into making. Okay, not her actual tears and sweat because that would be disgusting, but you get the gist.

The VK's welcoming cake might look as stunning as ever, but her parfaits for Ben's announcement were yet to be assembled, so Rilynn was panicking a little. The princess was running around, forgetting where she left her piping bag, choosing between square or round bowls. Rilynn was a mess. She had made two different buttercream flavors because she couldn't decide which one to make with her parfait and eventually did vanilla to even out the sweetness of her strawberry glaze.

Rilynn started tossing pieces of cakes into the round bowls, then piping them with a dark purple ombré effect, swirling the frosting perfectly. Frost first, decorate last. So, Rilynn skipped the second bowl to the third, using the same frosting. The other parfaits would be frosted with a blue and yellow swirl buttercream, which Rilynn intends to add edible mini crowns to some. Rilynn even made Auradon's crest. Rilynn and Ben came up with the designs together, especially since it was for a particular day; the princess wanted to make sure the parfaits spoke between the couples, merging their love and story into her desserts.

It turned out to be a lot of work--balancing the parfaits and their designs with the cake was a handful, but Rilynn wasn't going to back down from a request.

Ever since Rilynn officially opened her bakery, Jay has been alongside her, helping her with whatever she needed. Sometimes, Rilynn even teaches Jay a little about baking and how to decorate; it became something special between the two--also because Jay loves seeing how excited she gets whenever they bake together.

"Babe?" Jay's voice called from the front door.

"Kitchen!" Rilynn shouts over her shoulder but doesn't lose her focus on her parfaits.

Rilynn was on a time crunch, meaning she only had about an hour and a half to get these parfaits decorated and into her packages and on their way to the courtyard. Rilynn and Jay both have a big day ahead of them, and they need to be there on time. It was stressful, yeah, but Jay and Rilynn seemed to manage everything together.

Jay stepped behind Rilynn quietly, surprising the princess when he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into a smothering hug. Rilynn grinned like a fool, shaking her head at Jay's sudden need for affection.

"I missed you," Jay sighs, kissing her forehead.

Rilynn hummed casually, but her heart was swooning all over again. "Were you?"