"Why do you like playing house with me? No other prince does, they say it's only for girls." A little pout formed on my lips. I loved playing house with my sisters and friends but no one ever wanted to play the role of a husband because they were girls!
"I play with you so that I can prepare myself for the future!" The prince in front of me smiled, making me smile as well. He had such nice teeth.
"You want to play house with me in the future too?" I smiled in excitement.
This was so good. I had someone with me forever. Mama said that everyone needed those.
"No silly!" He flicked my forehead. "I want to build a house for you and live with you in it!"
"Oh!" I gasped, rubbing the area he flicked. "A real house?"
"Yes, and we would be mommy and daddy for real! And it would a big castle."
"Those are quite big plans," we both turned to the source of the voice. It was his mother; Queen Anastasia.
"Those are my plans, mother!" He proudly stated yet the queen didn't look happy. She was eyeing me instead.
"Does the princess want this?" She asked me, in a way that was not loving as mother spoke.
"Yes. I like it." I lowered my eyes. She was a very powerful queen. She had led her kingdom and won the war. Mummy would tell her tales. She was the queen in real terms. If there was someone I looked up to, apart from my mother, then it was her.
"Well then," she took me and his hand and held them together. "I shall make it happen." She graced us with one of her rare smiles. The real one. I smiled as well, fascinated at her words. She knew she had the power and she was not afraid to use it.
That was who I aspired to be.
That was who I was going to become.
******
"But you?" Estelle questioned me again. My elder sister, the eldest of my mother's children, stood in my room like every other morning.
I ran the castle and she took care of the courts, doing her best to establish her ground in the field of men.
We have had this conversation numerous times yet she asked the same question again every morning. It was astonishing to her that a prince from a wealthy kingdom had kept his promise. Usually, they would never come out of the harem except for the politics and duties. Tits and booze were the life they lived.
"Yes me," I answered with a sigh. "Now, let us go and wake Catherine." Picking up my dress a little, I start walking to the door.
"Why can her lady in waiting not awake her?" She grumbled again as I heard shuffling behind me.
"Because mother was there for us and a maid cannot be compared to one. So, we must act together and give her some love." I smiled to myself. Sisters were second mothers or so they say and I wanted to be one before I had to turn my heart into stone. Becoming a Queen was not easy and I was a second born.
"Alright but hurry. I have to go to court or that dimwit might start it without me." Estelle was right. Augustus was looking for reasons to show that as the firstborn daughter of the king, Estelle was not the right choice to be selected for the queen of the kingdom. As if being a girl was not enough, he had to add his two cents in as well.
But she was not the only one. "You are not the only one, I have to make sure that the palace is working accordingly as well." I don't hate it, it comes with the duties of being a Princess. Also, it prepared me for the future.
"It's the queen's responsibility but she is too busy with the politics." She made a disgusted face. "Dirty politics." Sleeping and getting work done.
That was true. Queen Mira did that. It was said that she poisoned our mother and for that, I had always made my distance from her. Since if it ever came out to be true, I won't hesitate to kill her, so having a relationship with that wench didn't matter.
"Hush," I say to her. "We must not talk about it in front of Catherine," I say as we reach the doors to her room.
"What? why?" She stopped me from opening them. "Eve, Cathy should know these things because she is a part of the royal family too."
"And she will," I was determined to make her a strong Princess, "but childhood is meant to be cherished." Which always conflicted with me.
Not giving her a chance to refute, I openedthe doors and woke up my youngest sister.
"Good morning, my sweet." I wished to go over and pull her gently out of the bed and hug her close.
"I hate the mornings," she grumbled. "Why does it come every day?"
"Catherine, hurry up. We must not be late for breakfast." Estelle had parted the curtains making the light come inside and wake my sister up even more.
Her lady in Waiting had prepared the bath and toiletries already. Catherine went forward and took her hand because she always stumbled while walking half sleepy.
"In court, they always talk about how the prince will save us when you marry him," Estelle said looking out of the window with a sullen expression. "They think of him as our saviour."
"He is not a saviour but away. He shall provide for us for a short period not forever, Estelle." I tell her. "His kingdom will always be his priority."
"If he allows us to prosper again, I will never have the chance to be Queen." Her voice cracked in the end. I get up from the bed and make my way to her.
I pull at her shoulder harshly. "What rubbish are you spouting? Why won't you? Everyone who is not corrupt knows how capable you are!"
"No one will choose a queen, it will always be a king! Because in the end for the kingdom, I will be married to someone for an heir and then he would be an outsider!" She whispers to me with tears coming to her eyes, "for those who are not corrupt today, can you say that they won't be tomorrow? We cannot count on anyone but ourselves."
"We promised mother that we would protect the kingdom and now, Melenmore is no longer the jewel of the land. We struggle." I look out of the window as well, the gardens are beautiful but now I only see the money they cost for the beauty they show.
"We do," Estelle repeated after me. Both of us were looking at the sun rising, wondering what would become of Melenmore.
******
"Ah! My daughter! My pride!" Father acknowledged me. He always did and only to me and it was because I was the golden hen saving his kingdom. The prince wanted to marry me. If he had not, I would be off somewhere else, married already.
"Father, good morning." I wished him, politely. Ignoring my stepmother and her son. He had married her the day my mother passed away from a sudden illness. The one that came out of nowhere and took her life but also appeared with concubine Mira's entrance into the court.
"Good morning! Come, come and eat!"
How can I when my people are hungry? I eyed the table which was full of food when the others did not even have enough for one.
Yet, I put some on my plate like the rest of us. Recently, it was made sure that the leftover food was consumed by the staff, and if any was left, it was given to the homeless. Staff was more important and a tough choice I had to make but in hard times someone had to suffer.
"Your highness," everyone in the room turned to that voice but I did not, I knew who he was. He was one of those I would recognize from afar. He arrived every alternate day with the letter. He was the only one who had permission to enter the two countries whenever desired.
"Your letter from His Highness has arrived."