Time rolled by quick and soon it was a month that Gwen and Arvcan had gotten married and come to live in the Rylica kingdom together.
Since the ball, Arvcan and her had not really seen each other except for few minutes during a Council meeting.
As Crown Prince and Princess, the King demanded they were present at every meeting to see and learn how to attend to the state affair.
It was tiring but she still had to do it.
Sitting through the hours of boring meeting and watching the Council members and State ministers argue amongst themselves was not a pleasant one and even moreso being handed some of the Queen's responsibility.
Gwen sat down looking at the pile of documents before her, she felt a headache coming.
She had being assessing and giving sanctions to document since the beginning of the week, just when she thought she was done, a new batch was dropped on her work desk. Now she had to go through all these and give her signature before the end of the week.
"Princess the preparations for the ball are yet to be made. We are awaiting your instructions"
Gwen held unto her forehead. She had been buried in a lot of work lately that she had almost forgotten the most important issue at hand.
Every New Year, Rylica would always organize a party and send invitations to their Ally Kingdoms across the globe. The ball would usually last for a week and the Queen was usually the one to organize and make preparations for the ball.
This year things changed as the King had suddenly passed the responsibility to her as well as a few other responsibilities that belonged to the Queen. Every day was a different role being added to her responsibility. He was directly stripping the Queen of her responsibility but there was nothing anyone could say, even she who was being bombarded with loads and loads of work didn't get to refuse or agree to them.
Speaking of the Queen.
Since that day she had not gotten to speak with the Queen anymore. Queen Eleen didn't ask for her presence neither did she go finding her. They would only bump into each other whenever Queen Eleen attended a council meeting and even then the Queen always treated her like a stranger.
It kept her wondering, 'was that really a test then?'
"Princess!' The man standing before her called out loudly.
"Yes yes?" Gwendolyn was jolted back to reality. He had been talking with her but she was lost in her thoughts and didn't get to hear anything he said.
"I said the Minister of state affairs awaits your invitation list so that they can begin sending out emissaries" he repeated his statement.
"How long do we have till the New year ball?" Gwen asked.
"Barely over two week"
Barely over two week?!
Her eyes widened. How did time move that fast? Wasn't it only a week ago she was told she would be hosting the New year party in a months time? Or was she wrong?
"I'll make the list today, tell the Minister in charge of Palace treasury to hand over the budget set aside for the ball, I would need to make preparations in accordance to he Budget." She gave a few other Instructions, the man listened attentively and jotted those he wanted to.
"I'll do as you say Princess" he bowed and left the room.
With no one else aside herself, Gwen slumped into her chair exhaustedly.
She used to be the one who was being instructed, it was challenging for her now to be given instructions on a whole kingdom affairs. She was not like other Noble lady's that had gone through detailed and educational lessons of leadership while growing up but she had to learn in a haste, both when she wwas at Greecia and even now she was at Rylica.
To make preparations that would suit each and everyone of the invited guests, she would have to conduct intensive studies on each of the kingdom that would be invited. She had to meet their tastes, their requirements and their ethics.
Her brain felt like it was going to explode!
How can she do all that in a measly two weeks?
How she wishes she could have magic that could help her memorize all that she needed.
Magic...
Why was that ringing bells in her head?
She sat up hastily and hurriedly rummaged through the stacks of documents on that table. Just beneath the dusty brown books was a neatly sealed brown envelope laying there waiting to be opened.
The Seal of the Magic Guild.
Yes! She had almost forgotten.
She opened the letter and hurriedly read through it.
"To whom it may Concern" The letter started "We welcome Your Presence to the Academy of Magic to commemorate the admission of new mages into our Academy." She read the first line and quickly skipped through the body hurriedly.
The Magic Guild was an independent faction if it's own, it answered to neither of the Kingdom. None of the Kingdom could control it as it belonged to the Council of Five. Young mages from all kingdoms would assemble each year to compete to get into the Academy with the hopes of getting into the Guild when they graduated.
Since Rylica was relatively one of the lead Kingdoms in the Council of Five, Queen Eleen would be invited each year to give a speech and welcome the newly admitted students. Like many other issues, this year the King opted that Gwen be given the honour instead of Queen Eleen.
So the Guild had written to her to invite her to the ceremony. She skimmed through the contents and what they required of her then skipped to the end of the letter.
"We shall await your Presence at the Magic Guild Academy on the 16th of ****. Be reminded that..." They wrote the time and a few other things to note.
Gwen folded the letter and was going to put it back in the envelope but her hand paused. With a confused look she opened the letter back and glanced at the last few lines. Her eyes settled on the date.
16th?
16th?!.
Wasn't that today! She looked at the calendar on the wall of the room and true enough this day was the 16th.
She jolted up her chair, almost stumbling to the ground. She lifted her gown up with her hands and ran out of the study.
"Princess is anything the matter?" Amelia and the other Maids asked when they saw her hastily walked into her room. They were not allowed to stay with her in her study except from occasionally providing her coffee or snack so they had been waiting in the lounge in her Chambers.
"Quick get me an official outfit and get my carriage ready, I'll be going out in five minutes time."
Thank God the program still had a total of four hours before it would begin, she would use over two hours to get to the Academy and would arrive there just in time.
As she spoke she already began to strip herself to get prepared.