Ushered into the carriage in-between guards, it looked like she was being escorted or protected but in truth she was more like a sheep that was being led to the slaughter. She had expressed her refusal to get married whilst pretending to be the princess and then as a result was threatened and now being forced.
To make sure she didn't try to sabotage their plan by exposing their conspiracy, the Queen had sent her right hand man to make the journey to Rylica with Gwendolyn.
As the carriage began to move, Gwendolyn's heart sinked further and further into despair. How ugly can her life get? She had thrown away her identity to Impersonate someone else and now she was about to be forced into marrying someone else.
She felt like crying but at the same time, her fears chilled away every tears that would have fallen. Gwen wasn't sure who she was more afraid of, was it Queen Jordyn or the supposed Seventh Prince she was getting married to?.
It seems she might just fear the Prince more. After all, the devil you know is better than the angel you don't know. This was probably wrong, she shouldn't refer to the prince as an angel... He was a monster!
She had heard a lot about him. Who did not know about the battle in Valkyria, even she whose status was lower than a commoner had heard the bloodbath he had created in Valkyria Singlehandedly. In one night he put a whole town to eternal sleep... including women and children.
No matter how she thinks of it, she couldn't stop her teeth from clattering just from thinking of his name.
Slowly the carriage left Greecia and advanced to Rylica. The two kingdom practically shared boundary except from the vast unclaimed land between them yet they were sworn enemies. Civilian of the two kingdom knew better than to take a step into the other kingdom. As the carriage slowly entered into Rylica, and began making it's way to the Royal palace, the tension she felt didn't reduce, instead it intensified. Her hand became sweaty and it was almost like her air supply was cut off but she tried her best to keep her composure.
"The Princess had arrived!" One of Rylica's guard announced her arrival as the carriage came to a stop in front of the palace.
What Princess? She was but a prisoner.
With numb legs she managed to drag herself out of the carriage. The first sight was the stern faces of the Rylica army. Her heart did a backflip and her legs almost gave way but she managed.
"Good day Princess Guinevere, we are delighted to have you in our midst" a certain young man bowed courteously.
Delighted? What a grand white lie!
The whole army were obviously glaring at her with offensive looks in their eyes and here he was saying they were delighted to have her presence.
Gwendolyn didn't know how to respond to that, she opened her lips but no words came out in return. She could only close them back.
The young man took her hand and gave it a slight peck then made another bow "I am Alex, the second in command of the royal army and I would start off your tour today Princess Guinevere"
He had a warm smile on his face that successful calmed her heart a little bit, still she couldn't completely calm down as she knew she would get to meet that tyrannical Prince.
"I heard the... Um... Prince_" she tried her best not to stutter but just trying to mention his name alone made her tongue almost abandoned her.
Alex watched the girl have a inside battle whether or not to call the prince name, he found it funny cause he was told the princess was meant to be an arrogant boobs-for-brain kind of girl so why was she suddenly acting nervous or was he being delusional, unable to see her struggle with herself anymore he chimed in.
"Unfortunately the prince is tied up in a serious matter right now that he can't afford to be here so I'll be your tour guide instead, that is only if you don't mind Princess Guinevere?"
Gwendolyn breathed a sigh of relief, at least she gets to escape meeting that man.
"That's perfect, and please call me princess Gwen" Now she has finally regained her composure so she could correct the name issues. The real princess name happened to be Guinevere, luckily for her she could keep her real name by just shortening it into Gwen.
The young man rose an eyebrow but didn't say anything, "this way my Princess" he ushered her into the palace, all the guards she had come with could not go in with her only two of them were given permission. It's totally expected, Queen's Jordyn's man was one of them to make sure Gwendolyn does nothing out of the script.
The Tour started.
Gwendolyn could completely feel the unwelcoming air surrounding the people they passed on their way, even though most of them bowed or curtsied, they didn't do so without scrunched up faces. Gwendolyn didn't hold it against them, the people of Greecia would also do the same if not even more if a Rylican was to walk into their kingdom.
She was already grateful that the person accompanying her on this tour treated her so naturally, she could tell there was no insincerity in his slight chuckles neither was there any disdain when he answered her questions.
"Please don't be offended by the unwelcoming gestures you are receiving" Alex apologized "These folks all have past issues with Greecian s, it's still unacceptable to them that their future Queen will end up being a Greecian"
Gwen cringed at the mention of future Queen. "I really don't mind at all. This is even less than I expected, I expected to be walking on pins and needles the moment I stepped into the palace, so a little unwelcoming air is nothing"
The young man spared Gwendolyn a few curious glances, he expected her to be a difficult person but she was so easygoing and free minded. He couldn't help but feel sorry for his master. How was the Prince going to make her refuse the marriage with her being this easygoing?
Actually, on normal grounds the maids and guards they had passed earlier would naturally have not had the effrontery to showcase their disapproval, so openly except they had been ordered to. The Prince had investigated the Princess and found out she was a frivolous and short tempered girl, she could cancel a program that took years to plan, all because she wasn't satisfied with the way someone looked at her. That was why he had put up this act, by telling the whole Palace staff to act rudely towards her, he thought he could get her to arrogantly reject the wedding.
Unfortunately for him the arrogant Guinevere was now the meek and weak hearted Gwendolyn, even if the maids were to directly whisper hateful words as they passed, Gwendolyn would just have turned a blind ear to it and proceeded on. She was just that type of person that always stayed away from strife.
"Why don't I show you to the chamber region, this way Princess Gwen" He smiled and led Gwendolyn and the guards to another direction. The young man didn't have anything against Gwendolyn and infact he found her personality very pleasing but he just had to help the prince out. Since the first plan didn't work, he could only lead them towards Plan B.