Gravensnod (manxman)

Chapter Two

Philo

"Look alive people!" Everyone groaned as our chaperone continued to walk up and down the lunchroom rows. Louise had woken me up from a good sleep to excitedly say that everyone in Gravensnod was welcome to the castle island. Why? No clue. I wish we didn't have to go though; it was a Saturday for gods sake! I wanted to sleep in and waste away the weekend like a normal teenager. But no, we were being forced to go mix with all the other people and act like we're one big happy family. My eyes spotted the fork that was chilling next to my plate and wondered if I could successfully poke my eye out. "We leave for Warington castle in five minutes."

Louise was practically bouncing up and down from excitement, her food long forgotten. She was then yanking me towards the boat that was waiting for us, which never happens. At least we'd feel somewhat normal by getting in a boat and going to the castle, but not by much.

When we were finally able to get on the boat, Louise pulled me on before standing towards the front. It took a hot minute for everyone to get on but we were finally leaving. I rested my arms against the railing and looked out at all the beautiful sights around us. If nothing else Gravensnod was gorgeous, even if I couldn't see the more beautiful parts.

The wind was blowing my hair around my face and was pretty goddamn annoying. It was also pretty cold with the wind, even though it was March. I couldn't wait for the summer sun and to get my tan back on.

Once the boat was finally docking, we followed Mrs. Yutz through the crowd before getting closer to the castle. It was gorgeous and was also the size of like fifty houses put together. It was a pretty white with cool domed roofs, our country flag displayed everywhere. The flag wasn't that cool, just a yellow flag bordered with black with a hibiscus in the middle. Who even came up with that design?

There were already a lot of people here and luckily they weren't looking at us too weird. Most everyone was dressed to the nine while all of us were walking around with borrowed clothes. Mrs. Yutz finally stopped not that far from the entrance to the castle, where multiple guards were standing.

"Did you hear?" Someone behind me whispered to her friend. "Prince Alexei is formally introducing his girlfriend Genevieve Brentwood. They've been dating for a little while and she must be special if he's introducing her to his people."

My eyes rolled at that because honestly who cares? There's a lot of issues in this world that we should be thinking about. Who the prince is sleeping with should not be one of those issues. Augustus had introduced many girlfriends but I don't think people cared about him as much as Alexei. I mean Alexei was the first in line for the throne and needed to get married and pop out some more little heirs. What a challenging life he must live.

When someone tall suddenly stood in front of me, I sighed before pulling Louise over to a tree. If only I stood taller than 5'3. I quickly climbed up the tree after realizing no one was paying any attention to us. After helping Louise up I sat on a branch and took a piece of bread out of my pocket.

We waited a long ass time before the balcony doors on the castle were opening and the prince himself was walking out. Not going to lie, he was an attractive man. He had thick black wavy hair and bright blue eyes, his teeth always a nice shade of white. All of the charitable causes he works for is something else that makes him attractive. Out of all the royals he was the one I could actually somewhat stand. I mean he was only twenty five and had already served multiple terms in the army, loved the people here and loved to help in any way he could.

My eyes traveled over to the woman hanging off his arm with a wide smile. Genevieve Brentwood was not a Gravensnod native but everyone seemed to like her pretty much. It helped that she was pretty, with her curly brown hair and hazel eyes. I wonder if that was the only thing Alexei saw in her; because I've heard she isn't the best person. But people will do anything to become royal.