Emelyn followed Anastasia in the streets, trying not to get recognized. She didn’t want others to come call her and gossip that she was the new princess and soon-to-be-queen of Kordania. She didn’t want any attention being drawn to her. Since all her life, she pretended to be someone else and hid in the shadows, attention was the worst she could earn now.
She felt her anger increasing and her blood boiling at the thought that they were shopping for wedding dresses for Edward. Him. He was the whole reason why this didn’t get her excited. Normally, a regular wedding with your “true love” seems pretty great-yet she hated him. Even though this wasn’t the best idea, Emelyn felt grateful that they noticed her and that she got this lucky to have this kind of treatment that she hadn’t gotten in all those years.
The young princess used to be incredibly happy. To have high treatment and to live happily ever after with her parents and her siblings. She has always been quite wistful about it, but the more she thought about it, the more tears she had to stop from shedding. Emelyn shook her head. Now was the worst time to get nostalgic, and she knew she had to get a hold on herself.
Keeping her chin up and her expression as royal as possible, “Sarah” followed her personal maid through the streets. Her auburn hair fluttered with the slight evening breeze, as she clenched her jaw. She could not believe how inappropriate the timing was. Anastasia called her out for the wedding dresses at 10 in the evening-which would normally be a time to go to bed. Yet Emelyn wasn’t one to complain. Royals never did, never do, and never will. If there’s one thing, she learned from the LandWar, it’s that the world is ruthless and would never care if someone’s hurt. Whether you want it or not, you’re the victim of everyone’s bad decisions and the author of your destiny. Yes, this was the sad truth, and everybody had to accept it.
Unfortunately. Her thoughts wandered as Anastasia pushed the door open, a small bell ringing as they entered. Emelyn looked around, amazed. The shop was holding a huge amount of cloth, arranged in a few rows on the tables. Women with brown dresses stood behind them, making clothing as sewing needles throned everywhere. A man in the back played the harps as an atmosphere of peace and serenity reigned around, a small odor of violets floating in the air. Immediately, the soon-to-be-queen fell in love with this place. She couldn’t help a smile from creeping up her face, and she sighed softly.
“You like what you see, Your Grace?” Anastasia asked, amused, as she led her through the store. People would stare at them, agape- mostly Emelyn- yet she knew she had to ignore them. She jumped around with a big grin, letting her maid lead her there.
“Yes, I do.” The princess stated, even if it was evidence for everyone. "What are we looking for, exactly? Is there a specific type of cloth or colors that are often used for the making of wedding dresses in Kordania?”
Anastasia would have narrowed her eyes at her, the corner of her lips twitching. She sneered, her expression hardening as she stopped in her tracks, shifting to face her Queen. Suddenly, she looked more intimidating, more important. Yet she quickly hid it with a small snicker, shaking her head as she sighed softly. Happily, for Emelyn, the young girl didn’t have to worry about being a burden because that expression was only for a second.
“Oh, so you don’t know about the Kordanian habits yet? Very well, where are you from, Your Majesty. If you didn’t know this, I doubt you’re really from here. That’s usually something everybody acknowledges...” Her maid commented with a small smirk.
Emelyn froze for a second, feeling like the room grew dark and that she couldn’t breathe anymore. Her eyes flickered a bit as she frowned, biting her lip. What was she supposed to say? Anastasia was being truly disrespectful, as the princes knew she couldn’t just tell her she was from Mayain. In that case, she would’ve guessed who she was, just by her appearance. Emelyn was surprised that they didn’t quite figure out who she truly was already. They’d just look at her blankly, with the same expression as if they saw her somewhere before. Yet Emelyn knew all of this was in her head. They couldn’t get who she was, since maybe they didn't remember her face. Trying not to make this so obvious, “Sarah” 's expression grew serious as she narrowed her eyes, scoffing.
She wanted to make Anastasia think that this didn’t hurt her. That she didn’t even care about what she just said- acting like a regular Queen would. Emelyn doubted this could have been a test already, since Anastasia told her that she wasn’t being told whether she was being tested or not from now on.
“I am from Pyril, actually. And whether I knew this or not, you have no right to treat me this way, Anastasia. Very well now, I suggest this is the time for us to be searching for the colors, no? With the way you’ve been looking at that table over there, I assume baby blue should be the most associating color.”
Anastasia’s expression softened as she nodded her head, stuttering to find her words. She ended up not saying anything, leading Her Grace to the table containing all the baby blue tissues. Her hands wandered around the stack of clothing, wrinkling her nose as she took a few ones. She handed them to Emelyn, who grabbed them with a grateful yet cold glare. Who also threw a glance at the citidian who came into the shop.
She tried to act casual in front of them, hoping they wouldn’t recognize that she was the soon-to-be-queen. Obviously, they did notice her, because of her graceful dress and her elegant posture, starting to squeal and point at her. Emelyn wanted to tease them and point out that pointing out people isn’t a polite gesture, but she stopped herself. That’s not what princesses nor queens would do. She knew that if she had to pass the test, she had to act like a real Queen.
“Here, you might want to test this stack of cloth, Your Highness. They have different textures but keep the same color, so please tell me which one looks more appropriate to you, and so the most comfortable one. We want you to be shining and to make people notice you, but we also want to make sure Your Grace is alright with the idea”
“I am. Thank you very much, Anastasia, I shall be heading to the changing room to do so.”Emelyn commented as she held onto the clothes as she walked off, closing the door behind her.
***
Being a princess and having a wedding shouldn’t have been too complicated. That’s what she thought. She tested more then a hundred dresses and it took her forever, more than an hour. She ended up choosing one, along with a certain style of wedding dress. The shop owner back there told her that it should take a day to be prepared and adjusted-as they took her waist size, her height and everything. Yet the wedding was in two days. If the dress didn’t fit well, she would have to keep the white silk dress. Not that bad of a problem. She thought it hugged her body well.
By the time of getting back to the castle, it was already midnight. And even though Anastasia suggested to her and pleaded with her to go to sleep to get ready for the next day, she didn’t want to. Of course, she was dead tired, yet she wanted to know more about the Kordanian family. Rather than following along Anastasia’s words once again, she preferred making her own decisions. That’s what queens do, isn’t it? Her maid wouldn't learn about it anyways. As long as she didn’t fall asleep reading the book and stuffed it right into her night table, everything should go along well.
After greeting her maid and slamming the door behind her, Emelyn giggled and rushed to her closet, choosing her royal pajamas. Her choice stopped on a simple purple one piece fit, excluding socks- who would sleep with socks anyways? The soon-to-be-queen walked slowly to her night table and opened the drawer, grabbed the book, and closed the drawer. She sat on her bed silently and wandered around the pages, coughing with the amount of dust it contained.
“Sarah” blinked a few times and looked at the table of content, finding the name John. Finding it quite special that this name figured in the royal family, Emelyn grinned and opened the manual to John’s biography, beginning to read. On the left side of the paper, there was a man with short brown hair and brown eyes, wearing the classical golden crown along with the royal suit, the Kordanian emblem pinned to his shirt. It constituted the letter K in cursive following along with a bow and a crown and a blood symbol.
“What would those symbols mean?” Emelyn muttered to herself quietly as she inspected the picture and the text, hoping to find evidence. She knew that all that cruelty and ruthlessness came from somewhere, so she hoped to find the guilty one and his weaknesses. Yet John looked quite friendly, with his charming smile and rosy cheeks- we could almost say that he was a good King. He wasn’t, though.
Because when Emelyn searched in the text, she found evidence that John was the author of all that cruelty, and that all of Meyer’s weakness was love. If a Meyer felt love, that would soften that person and would eventually lead to the melting of his heart-not in the real melting way though. In some kind of way, she found a way to make Kordania a better place, and to seek revenge on their biggest weakness.
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