Chapter1: The big day
My entire life I had been preparing for this day. My father never really paid any attention to me ever since my mom's death. The only time he ever spoke to me was to talk about my future wedding- a marriage to a powerful and wealthy prince from a successful kingdom.
I always knew that I was never going to be able to choose whom I marry because I'm a woman and a princess. I didn't have the right to choose. Hell, I didn't have any rights at all. My opinions and feelings never mattered to anyone, not even my own family.
My stepmother; Elena, and her daughters- Veronica and Angelique, who are both older than me-hate me more than anything in the world and believe me they hate a lot of things. My step brother- Raymond and my older brother, Luke were not allowed to associate with me.
Raymond was piled up with classes and royal studies so he won't have time to spend with me while Luke was being taught how to run our kingdom and was being sent out to lead wars and form alliances every now and then. My father only viewed me as a tool to gain more power, to create an alliance with the kingdom of -the most powerful Kingdom of all- Aragon- by marrying me off to one of their princes.
And he got his dream handed to him when their king opted for peace to end the two year war between our countries by offering his youngest son for marriage. My father willingly agreed to the proposition and chose me as the "lucky princess".
You see, both our kingdoms have been at war for two and a half years so to an outsider, it'd make complete sense for me to make this big of a sacrifice as a princess for my country but in reality there was no choice at all; my family derives joy in seeing me suffer and they'd do anything to get rid of me. I bet if the king hadn't even opted for peace they would have married me off to a servant in the castle just so I could be their maid.
Other than that, it was a well-known fact that if a prince married for alliance and didn't like his wife,he could just marry another. Most of them had several wives and concubines,but for a princess the story was different. There was nothing she could do.
She just had to please her husband and watch as he married other women when he gets bored with her. The thought of it makes my blood boil, but now was not the time to get angry.
Pushing all the bad thoughts behind, I studied myself in the mirror. My maids had spent hours on my hair and makeup, making me look way more beautiful than I was. I wore a long white dress with golden flowers imprinted on it, my long dark brown hair was curled at the tips and combed back with pretty gold flower hairpins.
I wore my favourite necklace; the navy blue pendant my mom gave to me a few weeks before she passed. I was well aware it didn't match my white and gold style but this is the only thing I had left of my mother, it made it feel like she was really here just like she promised she'd be.
Still looking at myself in the mirror, I began to feel weak because of nervousness, or was it fear? I didn't know but I was feeling sick. There was a knot in my stomach that refused to go away no matter how hard I tried to calm down.
My face twisted in an unpleasant expression. "My lady, don't you like the dress?" Yasmine asked face full of worry. Lydia, Yasmine and Kayla, my handmaids, have been taking care of me since I was little girl- since my mom died.
They were like my parents. They raised me, taught me most of the things I know, they were the only ones who cared if I was happy or eating and they took care of me when I was sick. Aside for Luke and Raymond, they were my only family, the thought of how much I was going to miss them caused tears to sting my eyes.
"I do." I said getting more teary eyed "It's just that... I'm going to miss you three so much." "Oh my! Princess don't cry you'll get mascara in your eyes and you'll ruin your makeup." Lydia said and they all gathered around to coax me which made me even more sad.
Our semi-emotional moment was ruined by a very familiar wicked snarl. "You should let her cry, it's not like anything can make her face uglier than it already is" Veronica said mockingly. "Yes, I agree.
Where's the veil that's supposed to cover her face? We don't want the guests to get a migraine from looking at it." Angelique taunted. "What do you guys want?" I asked as I rolled my eyes getting straight to the point. "Simmer down, that's not how you talk to your seniors, Alyssa you need to watch your tone. You're no better than us just because you're getting married." Veronica snarled playing with my hair.
"I wonder why such a handsome prince like crown prince Damien would even want to marry you." Angelique spoke with a tone filled with disgust and disdain but what she said caught me completely off guard. "What do you mean by he wants to marry me?" I asked completely unaware "I thought this was an arranged marriage?". Angelique snarled "Looks like our Cinderella over here is really as stupid as we thought and oh so oblivious. The king wasn't specific on who should be prince's bride, the prince came here and personally selected you to be his wife." I stood bewildered, I had seen the prince around the castle a few times way before the idea of our marriage came to light, he even smiled at me once. I honestly thought he was here for business not to propose! He didn't even court me or ask my opinion and my dad happily sold me off. It was a win-win for him, he'd get rid of his disappointing, ugly daughter, get the alliance he's always wanted and end the war. Atleast I'd get something out of it too- freedom. My blood was boiling with rage.
"Don't go around feeling special, Prince Damien is a very smart guy the only reason he'd choose someone like you as his bride is to serve as his royal maid. His dozen of concubines already give him all the pleasure he needs. At least now you can stop talking about your imaginary boyfriend that you met at your recognition party." Veronica voice out snapping me back to reality. It was true. On my 14th birthday party which is a recognition party for royals all over the world, I met a very handsome boy who was a few years older than me. We danced and talked for a few hours but he had to leave to attend to some issues in his Kingdom. I had never seen his face since it was a mask party but we had been exchanging letters ever since but of course I never told anyone except my handmaids.
It is true I developed in liking towards the strange man and he had said it a few times before that one day when I turn 18, we will get married. I was really looking forward to it and now that I'm finally 18, I'm getting married to someone else. I was about to say something when Raymond-our younger brother came in. "The wedding ceremony is about to begin. The guests are waiting." he said. Lydia quickly smoothened the part of my hair that Veronica scattered and raced towards the entrance of the church.
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My first ever fantasy romance book. Hope y'all love it.