1883, Arania Kingdom....
Ashton arrived at the castle during night time and quickly set off to find his mother alongside Colin Williams who had insisted on greeting the queen mother with a plan to pacify her as well.
Marceline was in the bathroom taking her bath with the assistance of the maids who refused to leave her be as it was their duty to attend to the family of the royal household.
She had never had so many people bathe her like this. They kept washing her body as though it was some delicate piece of artefact that they could not bare to jinx.
One of the maids had even wanted to help her watch her private area but she quickly stopped her. She was totally embarrassed enough that she could not really let them do that and seriously how do royals live like this?
After finishing in the bathroom, they prepared her for dinner. She had long been informed by Aurelia's aunt Lady Eloise that during meals, the royal family of Arania never ate together.
They only ate together when it was an order to do so else they ate within the corners of their room and tonight would be no different. She would actually have to eat alone with Ashton, how beautiful.
The maids attending to her did a very good job in styling her long golden blonde hair with pins. They even gave her a night time makeup and to think that if it were before when she still lived with her parents that she would not have bothered with such, life could really change when we least expected.
She sat down in front of the dressing mirror as the maids adorned her with jewelry. All of a sudden, the door opened and someone stepped in.
" I will see who that is milady", one of the maids said and quickly disappeared from her side. It was another maid who had arrived, she had dark skin and short hair, she seemed to be a maid of low status because she quickly curtsied in front of the first maid before stating her thoughts.
Afterwards the dark skinned maid left and the other maid returned to Marcy's side. It appeared to be nothing of concern to Marceline so she did not bother. She had other things going through her mind after all, the prince was finally back.
She was worried, it was not her life in the first place, was it her place to actually confront him about his sudden disappearance? Did she even have the right to argue and feel hurt?
Although they were married she was only pretending to be his wife and she was even deceiving him, if there was a bigger offender, it was her.
No, she should not bother with him. Once Aurelia arrives she will take care of the situation herself, all she had to do was make sure she had to do was make sure they never realized she was not the real princess.
With that thought she sighed and relaxed a lot more as the maids continued with her hair. The door suddenly opened and without a maid going to see who was there, quick footsteps reached her hearing and she swiftly turned around to see who had barged in without invitation.
There he stood, with his hands behind his back in an elegant manner and his eyes trained on her. The maids quickly curtsied and disappeared from her side leaving the both of them alone in the large room.
" You are back, so I have heard", Marcy said blankly as she stood up from the chair making her way towards him. " Let's have dinner together then", she said once again without putting up any argument.
There was no need for her to be angry over spilled milk, it was not her life anyway. All she should be concerned with was doing her job and making sure no one finds out that she was not the princess.
" I know you must be angry with me and believe me you have all right to be", Ashton said as he watched her walk towards the small dinner table in his room elegantly.
She turned to him with a fake smile plastered on her face as she shook her head. " Actually crown prince I am not angry after all I do not have the right to be, it is my fault after all", she said softly as she pushed out one of the chairs and sat on it.
" You should come have dinner, you do not wish to have your meal cold, do you?", she asked as she aimed her hand towards a serving spoon wanting to serve herself but some maid quickly stepped in from nowhere and started helping her serve the food.
She smiled as she listened to the maid ask which dinner she would like to have while she felt the Prince's watchful eyes on her. Hopefully it was for the best that they stop this understanding they were having and just remain clueless about each other.
" What do you mean by it is your fault? Clearly I was the one who disregarded your conditions, I even caused you to suffer such humiliation earlier today, I definitely do not understand why you blame yourself when I alone am the one to be blamed", Ashton said making his way to her in soft footsteps before stopping at her side.
The maid continued serving the food as if no one was there. After she was done, she quickly disappeared. Nothing happening had fazed her, after all the prince had always been known to have a golden heart but so many mood swings.
Marceline looked up at his sincere eyes but instead of feeling touched she felt all the more angry, why was he suddenly being caring and wspecially when she had just decided she wanted nothing to do with him?
" I am being nothing but honest with you crown prince. To think I that trusted you makes me at fault. I should have just taken this marriage as nothing but a settlement means and not tried to make the most out of my time with you", she said staring at his eyes, a bit of fierceness in hers.
" I should have ignored you from the start and made it clear to myself about my situation yet I chose to believe that things could be different that I could make things okay at least so it is all my fault", Marcy finally looked away from him as she closed her eyes and muttered a short silent prayer.
" I am sorry that I made you feel this way. Trust me I really did want us to have an understanding relationship even though they might never be love between us", Ashton said softly knowing this time he had gone too far but perhaps she was right, they should have ignored each other instead of trying to understand each other.
" I no longer trust you anymore Crown prince, but I do wish to let you know that from here onwards we are now bound by only one thing and that is marriage. Do not expect anything else from me", Marcy said decisively as she also made a decision within her.
She should think about her future after this sham of a marriage instead of thinking about Aurelia's future. When Aurelia takes her rightful place as his wife, she would worry about that herself for now, all she had to do was make sure that she was never found out.
She picked up her fork and knife as she aimed for the meat in her plate. Before she did eat, she turned to stare at him who seemed to be staring at no where but was in a trance.
" You should eat, less your meal gets cold", she said with a blank face, her voice lacking warmth as she finally let the meat touch her mouth before chewing as slowly as ever.
Ashton recovered from his trance and slowly walked out of the room while the guard shut the door behind him. She was right, they should have nothing between them, nothing at all.
**
Authors note:
Dear lovely readers, it has been quite a while but I do know you have surely enjoyed every bit of this story.
If so, please do not hesitate to support this story with power stones, comments and reviews. I will surely be pleased and fueled to give more chapters in the nearest future, do not disappoint.
Your dearest author,
Lady Tessa Udotor.