Princess Aurnia tiptoed towards the door of her room and opened it as little as she could without making any sounds. Then, she peered in through the little opening of the door and carefully checked if the annoying Aramis was guarding her outside of her room.
'The coast is clear.'
A big smile crept onto her lips when she couldn't see any signs of the young boy outside.
She opened the door wider and slowly crawled her way out to avoid being seen by him if, in any case, he was lurking nearby. Her gaze was focused on the floor as she dragged her whole body out.
"What are you doing?"
Her head jerked up instantly when she heard the familiar, cold voice of the very person she was trying to avoid. She turned around and was very surprised to see him casually standing in the tight corner of the hallway, right beside her door.
'How could he just stand there stealthily, cross his arms over his chest, and smirk at me? The audacity! He never respects me as the princess.'
She saw the young boy unclasp his arms from his chest and put them instead in the pockets on his pants as he walked towards her.
"I had no idea that you had a little bit of kindness that you were trying to hide." He said cooly while approaching her.
'Kindness? What is he blabbering about?' She thought, perplexed by what he truly meant by that. Is he truly complimenting her? Or was he being sarcastic with it?
When he finally approached her, he was towering over her with a smirk planted on his face. "Who would have thought that the spoiled princess of Throuvalon was being considerate enough to the maids and mopped the floor herself, with her clearly exorbitant dress?" He finished and chuckled slightly to annoy her before he turned away from her and started walking in the hallway. "What are you waiting? Get up now; your first class will start soon." He told her that when he turned back, his voice had now grown deeper and stricter.
She clenched her fist so hard and was gritting her teeth when she realized that it wasn't a compliment, but rather his other way of ridiculing her.
'Oh, Lord help me; I'm having desires to throw him anything right now. Just anything that would make me feel better. How dare he insult me! A princess being treated without an ounce of respect, what an atrocious man, and the fact that father was fine with him humiliating me to learn.' She ranted in her thoughts.
When Aramis turned again, he caught her shooting a dagger at him with her eyes. But, as always, he was unperturbed by her. He instead looked at her with a bored expression; he retracted his left hand and looked at the oldest watch that he owns. "Don't make me go to His Majesty and tell him that you were deliberately trying to be late, your Royal Highness."
She noticed that he put emphasis on her title, as if it disgusted him. Nonetheless, she shoved her observation to the back of her mind.
"Why don't you help me stand up? Even if you aren't technically a servant to this kingdom, you are beneath me, so you must serve me anytime I ask you. So, I, Princess Aurnia of Throuvalon, hereby order you to help me stand up." She declared, mustering the deepest voice she could, and tried to sound with conviction.
"No. Why would I help you in a situation that you had put yourself into?" He simply replied and turned to his back.
'Ugh, I hate him. I hate him. I HATE HIM!' She frustratedly grumbled inwardly.
"I swear, when I become the queen of this kingdom, I'll make sure that the first decree I'll pass is to sentence you to death." She muttered to herself while she tried to get up. Her heavy ball gown dress was making her attempts at getting up difficult.
'Grrrr, why did I even think of crawling out?'
"I'm counting until ten, Princess Aurnia; if you won't still get up when I reach ten, I'll leave you here to meet your father." Aramis' cold voice rang through her ears and had only added to her frustrations.
"Shut up, will you?" She yelled at him crudely while her feet tripped again with her ball gown. She's on the verge of crying now, but she will never cry in front of the arrogant boy. She will never give Aramis any satisfaction.
"One….. "
Aramis started counting down.
She tried to make haste, but she would end up tripping again. She was even trying so hard not to fall with her face flat on the floor.
"Ten… "
"What!? Are you for real? Can't you just help me instead of enjoying seeing me struggle to get up? Don't you think my father wouldn't berate you if he finds out about this?" She reacted right away when Aramis finished the countdown improperly.
But the young boy only shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you could try. Now get up right away; we only have a minute left now." He dismissed her with a solemn expression and decided to just stand there and watch her trip over her dress for the umpteenth time.
Aurnia felt the young boy's scrutinizing gaze on her, so she looked up and really saw his ash-gray eyes bore into her. For a moment, she felt flustered with the thought that he was witnessing her humiliate herself in front of him.
She tried to get up again, pressing her hands to the floor to support her weight while she desperately tried to drag her lower body upwards, but the moment she would shift her feet to stand up, the heels of her sandals would get tangled up with her ball gown skirt underneath.
Aurnia fell again, back to square one, barely making any progress. Tears started to well up in her eyes. She had never felt humiliated like this in her whole life. However, she didn't want Aramis to know that she was on the verge of tears, all the more admit that she needed his help.
"Here, take my hands."
Aurnia looked up and was surprised to see Aramis. In front of her was his hand, and she stared at him with a confused look.
The young boy raised his brows at her, "Are you just going to stare at my hand all day, princess?" He said it in a bored tone.
A huge smile had finally broken out of Aurnia's lips. She stretched her hand forward and took his hand.
Aramis pulled her upward; the young boy even struggled a bit due to her heavy ball gown.
"Do you really have to wear huge ball gowns on an ordinary day?" He asked her with a scowl in his face, intently staring at her dress.
She giddily turned around in front of him, twirled her dress around, and beamed at him with a haughty expression. "There is no such thing as an ordinary day for princesses. Ball gowns are a must, don't you know that? The prestige of the kingdom lies in how the kingdom's royal family conducts itself. I must always look my best; that's my duty as the princess." She proudly answered him, while her baby blue spaghetti-strap dress pranced in a graceful manner.
However, the reaction that he would have expected from Aramis did not happen. He was clicking his tongue in dismay and shaking his head in disbelief at how narrowly the princess perceived her role as the princess of the kingdom.
'There's really more work that needs to be done.'
"You're unbelievable. You think being a princess is just about dresses? Apologies ahead, your Royal Highness, but I had to be blunt with you; you clearly lack a lot of important factors to be called an accomplished princess, but that can still be rectified by religiously attending your classes. Now, let's go."
The young Aramis looked ahead and walked past the shocked Aurnia.
The young princess of Throuvalon followed the retreating form of Aramis, while she puckered her lips.
'I'll surely have my revenge one day. Just wait, Aramis." She angrily muttered to herself.
***
•PRESENT DAY•
Tears were brimming on her face as she restrained herself from sobbing wrenchingly.
She looked at Aramis' old watch in her hands pensively; memories of their first meeting flashed before her eyes.
"Are you alright, your Royal Highness?" The kingdom's official driver asked her in the backseat of the limousine on the way to the kingdom while his eyes were fixated on the road ahead, while sneaking her a few glances.
The way the driver called her in her title was very different from Aramis' when they first met.
"I'm just fine, Roman. Please don't mind me." She told the driver with a bitter smile.
Roman looked at her one last time and just nodded at her request.
She clutched the watch and brought it to her chest. She wasn't able to control her sobs anymore; she whimpered loudly in the backseat while she gazed outside the car's window.
Her mind drifted back fifteen years ago, recalling her early memories with her beloved Aramis. How their petty squabbles had turned into a young, sweet love...