His Majesty And I ✔️

Puppet Princess

Chapter 24

Princess Eleanor
Furia

The princess' feet took the steps of the pool, descending into the hot waters. In her procession, her wings waved in the air, the sound of wind a melody to the ears and the visuals a silhouette to the eyes. A tiny yellow feather plucked off and danced before landing on the bubbling waters.

Wings were beautiful boons of status to every member of royalty and nobility in Furia. They showed off different kinds of design and pattern, alongside various shades of colour. The queen's wings were pure white feathers that had lost their decorating pattern with age. It was only those who were young who possessed patterns on their wings. The young like Eleanor.

With a lack of elegance, Princess Eleanor closed her wings, a ruffled fold of white and yellow feathers behind her curvy frame. Her wings were naturally sewn to her spine like any other fury, but she struggled to control them.

Queen Elora, her mother, lived as though she did not have wings stuck on her back. She was skilled and had natured the art of having her wings yield to her. They obeyed her and heeded her commands.

Eleanor recently became of age, therefore she still struggled. The dresses she could wear were limited because out of nowhere her wings would sprout open. Thus at all times she had to wear dresses with open backs. 

Her wings had a mind of their own, and adding to that, they acted upon her emotions. When she was angry they vibrated with angst, when experiencing sadness they were droopy and lifeless, and in happiness they flattered excitedly.

"Have you received a letter from Hugo?" Her friend kicked her foot in the steamy waters, making puddles.

"No." Princess Eleanor slumped. "I don't think I want to be hopeful anymore."

"He is the man who took your virtue, Your Highness."

"Shh!" Eleanor hurriedly covered her friend's mouth. "Don't say that so recklessly," she hushed. "Until mother arranges a mate for me, I am a virgin."

There was a Hunting Celebration recently. The event in which princes, princesses and royal members in youth of Gurio, Huticah and Furia came together. She had noticed Hugo instantly and he had looked back at her with lusty eyes.

An hour later, he whispered sweet nothings and bedded her. She liked it, enjoying the bliss he created for her. Yet the following morning he was gone. She would not know whether the night she spent in his arms was a dream if not for her tainted sheets.

An attendant of hers entered the steaming chamber. It had flowers drawn all over the walls, the roof, the floors. And the air had the scent of roses, her favorite smell.

The rose flower was her given flower name by the priestess, at her birth. Every princess was given one at their first ceremony. Her mother was Plum Blossom while the once existing sister of hers was Lotus Flower. The flower given to you is what you could drench your surroundings with when sick, down spirited and also in ceremonial practises. They were your ribbon of strength.

Eleanor liked the steaming waters too. They weakened her wings and helped her in her training sessions that she currently attended to learn control over her wings.

"How is mother doing?" she asked her attendant, Shilla.

"She sleeps all day." Shilla knelt at the edge of the steaming pool.

"That is good."

"We shall keep drugging her until the people accept you as their crown princess."

"That is fine too." Eleanor let go of the concrete she held on to and floated in the hot waters. Her wings were linguid due to the high temperature and the inhibiting water.

"Very well. It is pleasing that Her Highness will be Crown Princess soon."

"As you say."

The people of Furia saw things as black and white. Only the first born princess can be Crown Princess according to them.

Eleanor disagreed.

Her sister was an outsider, did not understand their ways and didn't have wings to save herself. How could she become queen? The court heads also saw it this way because unlike the people, the commoners, they were learned.

"I cannot believe you choose to drug your mother." Her friend wiped the perspiration from her forehead.

"She chose to betray me first, Jena."

Her mother wouldn't choose her to be Crown Princess. Her delay in crowning her as Crown Princess proved this. Queen Elora never liked her as much as everyone else did. The one person that was supposed to be her top supporter was entranced by an abandoned worthless princess.

"Her Highness does what's best for this nation. If she did not do this, the queen could have committed a fatal mistake." Shilla sided with her.

Eleanor did not control everything as much as Shilla. Her attendant along with the heads of the court made the instructions using her name. She did not care. As long as she became the next queen all the sacrifices were fit. Eleanor trusted they would have things in order for her and take care of what needed to be taken care of.

They said her mother found out the exiled princess was a pure Furian, the child of her previous lover. For this reason she sought to see King Tobba and request the return of her daughter. This meant one thing. Princess Eleanor's position was threatened. If that abandoned princess came back, she could become the seating crown princess.

"I think this could be done without hurting other people." Jena tried to reason.

"If I don't hurt people. They will hurt me. Right Shilla?"

Shilla nodded in agreement. The other day Shilla told her how much her mother loved the other princess than her. Years ago, her mother sacrificed herself to the possibility of losing her throne by temporarily leaving Furia for months just so she could be with Elora. She asked King Tobba for allowance to see Elora, and after bargaining and trading tones of golds, her mother was granted permission to be at the Borderlands for many months.

Though it was said her mother lived under a false identity when with Elora, the whole point was how much she was willing to give up for that girl.

A Furian queen cannot be out of the country for a whole month. What if someone took over while she was gone and she found the country in ashes?

Exactly.

When her mother wakes, she should not blame her. The queen did this to herself.

S.V