Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Princess June from the Ruby Palace "She backed out from the competition and she wants to study swordsmanship instead." Again by the dear king. "She wants to be a Knight, isn't that nice?" "What? She looks so frail and I don"t think she can- " "Are you underestimating me, my prince?" I snapped. I looked at him dull eyes. "No, of course not." He stared back at me, with sad eyes. Sad? Sad? Shouldn't he be happy because I won't chase after him anymore? "What I mean is… ah doesn"t she want to be a queen?" I gave him a sigh, really? You want me to be the Queen? If I knew you loved the former queen? What if I win to be the Queen in this life? Would you love me though? "No, I don't wish to be the Queen." I answered softly. "I'll be a knight instead to protect the royal family." Seraphina is going to be the Queen, you"ll meet her in a year before the competition started. She was the last candidate for the throne. And she will win even if I am the one you promised. I do not wish to die again in this life. I"m gonna live my life to the fullest this time. "Did you forget about our-" "I'm sorry for intruding, my Prince." Alistair's words were interrupted because Flloyd, his assistant, suddenly entered. His two eyes widened when he saw the king and me. "Pardon my rudeness your majesty. We really need the prince. " The king just raised his hand meaning its okay. It seemed like an emergency so the king ignored it. "I"m sorry, I have to go. Please continue your discussion with the Princess, father. " He said once bow and left, but before that he looked at me first. "Mhmm, my son seems disappointed that you backed out. I know you still have other reasons why you want to backed out but I will consider it anyways. " Yes I have many reasons that I don"t want to die. "Give me another reason. I accepted your request to back out, but what about the request to study swordsmanship? " He"s not a King for nothing. I was swallowed, shall I say? Clue for the future? "The prince won't choose me as his Queen." I mean its true though, he has already shown the obvious attitude that he doesn't like me and he doesn't want to marry me. "Hmmm? How would you know that he won"t choose you? " the king asked. "I-I'm sure there is someone destined for him, and I'm sure it's not me." "He"ll find someone fit to be the Queen and he will love her more than anything on this world" I added. I left after our conversation with the dear king. He accepted my requests and now I"m so happy that I won"t die. But of course that's not sure yet, in my past life. The one killed me was the queen, yes Queen Seraphina ordered to execute me without any court trials. It is not difficult for a queen to order me to be punished since I am also guilty. But without the court trial? Isn't that unfair to me? I can explain my side that it was an accident too. There were witnesses but they"re probably scared of the Queen. On the day I was punished there was no King, no Alistair. Alistair was on a business with other countries for a month, I was executed at the end of the month which means that he's coming back here. Case he didn"t attend nor he didn"t try to stop or save me from the execution. I was mad at him but maybe he wanted me gone too. Also, would I be angry with Alistair now in this life if he didn't do it in the past, right? Yet they are still the same person. "Princess Astraea." I turned to the speaker, My mind was out of this world for minutes. I was immediately overwhelmed when I realized who was speaking. "Gr-Greetings to the Prince of the Gem Empire." Modestly I say. "You've changed." I raised my forehead and gave him a questionable look. "Pardon? What kind of change? " I asked. Changed my ass, probably because I'm from the past. "Your etiquette has improved, and the way you speak sounds so mature." He said as he watched me. Is that a compliment that I have improved or does he mean I sound old. "I have been practicing your majesty." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Your majesty? You never called me like that before. " I was immediately stopped. I thought you hated me calling you ‘Al"? "You said you don't like me calling you by your name, my prince." He flinched when I said the last words. What is wrong with him? "W-why change of nicknames?" he asked me with one hand on his head. "Call me the usual." "Um… I"m afraid I can"t to that, my prince. You"re the prince of the gem empire, I don"t wish to disrespect his highness. " Where am I with him, what did he eat? I thought he didn't want to? He gave me a sharp look and raised an eyebrow. Is he mad now? Why? For not calling him his nickname?! "You called me by my name before, why stop now." I can feel the anger in his voice. I'm going to die early just because I didn't call him by his name? "I just realized recently that I have been disrespecting the prince. So I will apologize- " "I ordered you to call me by the nickname you gave me, princess." F*ck this! Why does a to fall? "Is Prince Al enough, your majesty?" I said with a lazy voice and looked at him. He smiled like an idiot because he won. Shit, I haven"t seen him smile since we were kids. "Yes, now that wasn't hard right?" I rolled my eyes, I heard Maddy call me. She said we were going home and my carriage was ready. "Of course your-" I saw him glare at me. "I mean Prince Al. My carriage is already here, I will get going. " He nodded and sighed. "Why did you back out of the challenge though? Did you forget our promise? " I immediately turned to him because of his question, wait, have I been deaf for a while? What? "I beg your pardon, My- I mean Prince Al?" He sighed and looked at me with those sorrowful eyes. Why are you like this? You weren't like this before? "Nevermind. I was gonna ask if you"re fine. " I raised an eyebrow at him. What? "I heard that you drowned." Oh you"ve heard? You can't go even if you're the reason. "No need to worry your majesty. I am fine "I replied. "Because of my stupidity I almost drowned." I added with a whisper. I heard Maddy call again so I immediately said goodbye to him. "I will see you around, your majesty." and he turned his back. Maybe what he's saying, he's not eating right now. It"s been weeks since I last visit the King. He is too busy now because of the upcoming competition even though it will happen in about 2 years. I was just lying in my bedroom and reading books. I already know about politics, now I'm studying about archery and swordsmanship. Of course this is difficult since men often participate, and women are also often downplayed that they are not capable of such a task. Because it's just for men. Me? I have other plans… proving them wrong is one of them. "Princess June, Princess Demitry of the Sapphire Palace wants to have a tea party with you. Along with the other princesses in the empire. " I gasped. Demitry Dough, one of the princesses in the Gem Empire. There are 6 Palaces in the Empire. The Ruby, Palace, The Sapphire palace, The Opal palace, The Garnet palace, The diamond palace and lastly The Pearl Palace. Demitry is one of the Queen Candidate too, her parents just forced her. She was one of my friends, at least that is what I thought. Back then when I committed my crime, she looked at me with such pity. Wait no, they all looked at me with pity on their eyes. All of the princesses that I thought were my friends, left me in times of need. I only have myself. But this time I won"t trust anyone "When is that?" My bored question, I am so not excited to see those b*tches I realized that they were very plastic. Why were they kind to me again? Oh, because they thought I was going to be the Queen since Alistair and I are childhood friends. "Tomorrow." Her answer was short. I just nodded since I'm not interested, I still need to attend though. Probably what they think. Time ran fast. "Princess! You need to get ready, we will go to Sapphire Palace in an hour. " I was offended by what I heard, dang it. I don"t want to see any of their faces today. Maddy arranged for me and we immediately boarded the carriage. When we arrived, many boats from other palaces appeared. Did she invite all of the princesses? In the Queen Candidate because there are 10 seats, we need to do a competition of something. Each Palace got a Princess that needs to attend. I don"t really know who the candidate was, because I was busy paying attention on winning. But I remembered Seraphina got the 10th seat and I got the 1st seat. "Good morning Princess Astraea." "Good morning Princess Astraea, from the ruby ​​palace and soon to be the future Queen of the Gem Empire." I looked weirdly at Demitry when she greeted me with those words. If I'm still stupid, I'll be happy, but I'm not stupid anymore. "Call me Princess June instead, Princess Demitry. Also don"t call me the future Queen, we might not know what the future holds. " I said to her once bow, "Greetings to The princess of the Sapphire Palace." Even though we are princesses, we need to respect each other as a princess. Even you have the weak or powerful palace in the empire, respect is a must. "You're really humble, Princess As- I mean June." She said while smiling. Wow you are very plastic. I just smiled at her, of course my smile is also plastic. She's plastic anyway. Here are the Princesses from diff palaces. Some are siblings and some are just related, many also attended. Then the tea party began. "So Princess June, I heard you were chasing the Prince that you drown yourself to make him notice you." I stopped eating muffins when suddenly someone asked. I heard several gasps from what the Princess from Pearl Palace said. Of course she"s one of the b*tches that pities me till I died. "Princess Belle! How dare- "Demitry shouted, but still got interrupted by Belle. "Hah, But wasn"t I right though?" Every b*tch ever. Belle Vespin of the Pearl Empire. Not really one of the characters that shines the most, she"s just here to drag you from the dirt and bring gossips about you. I didn"t even get to eat my muffin peacefully! "Oh? But, where have you heard of those terrible rumors? " I said with a surprise tone. Of course my surprise was fake, I already expected her to bring up this topic. "Haven"t you also heard? This news is popular! " She exclaimed, once out of her fan and fanned herself while laughing. "Of course I haven't heard of it Princess." I said calmly with a smile. "Then you"re- "If you didn"t see it with your own eyes or heard of it with your own ears, don"t invent with your small mind or gossip it with big mouth. Princess Belle. " I said emphatically to her. "Well? Have you asked me directly why I drowned? You didn"t even ask me if I"m okay. Oh dear, what a Princess! " I heard the comments of other princesses, they all agreed to what I said and went to my side. This is easy as an adult. I smirked at her when I saw her laughed turned into a frown. "I-I…" She never spoke again. I sip my tea and gave her a smile, a smile that made her shiver. "To answer your questions," I glanced at everyone. "I am not doing it on purpose, of course. Why would I drown myself? Just to get noticed by the Prince? How absurd, indeed. I value my life too. " I saw the others nod. Even I knew in myself that what Belle said was true. I sighed and got up from my seat, I still need to read some books. "I have to excuse myself." I said as I took the tissue from the table. "I have many stuffs to do- *BLAG* "OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY!" I was surprised when I bumped into one of Demitry"s maids, I looked at my dress and it was filled with hot tea. I don't get burnt because the fabric of my dress is thick so I'm fine. "HOW DARE YOU TO DO THAT TO THE PRINCESS?!" Demitry shouted loudly and immediately took out the tissues. "APOLOGIZE NOW!" "I'm so sorry Princess I didn't mean to do-" "No it's fine." I said while looking at her… wait "Seraphina?" "Yes, Princess?" She replied. SHE"S A MAID?! To be continued...