Few days after the Emperor's address to the people, everyone in the palace had been busy, preparing for the welcome of the guest who happened to be no one else but Prince George, Prince and Future Emperor of Eldrida. He also happened to be the Princess's betrothed. They've been betrothed to each other even before they could even begin to speak.
As they grew into adults, Princess Natalie began to fall in love with Prince George while on the other hand, Prince George did not like her as much as she did. His coming to Kingdom Valtoria was forced by his father because according to his father, Princess Natalie was about to turn 19 and when she does, they would be able to get married and the two kingdoms could form an alliance which could later lead to a merger.
Hearing about Prince George's visit made Princess Natalie very excited. She couldn't wait for him to come and ensure that everything was prepared for his arrival. She even began to plan things she was going to do with him when he arrived. She was even more excited that in a couple of weeks, she was going to turn nineteen and she would get married to the man she loved.
Meanwhile Elena, who had never seen the Prince before, asked Tia one day while they were cleaning up.
"Have you ever seen the prince?" She asked.
"Of course. He comes here very frequently," Tia replied, wiping the glass window with a partially dry rag.
"I heard he is the Princess's betrothed," Elena asked again.
"Yes he is," Tia responded.
Then suddenly looking around to see if anyone could overhear them and seeing that no one was around, she turned to Elena and said with a sly grin on her face,
"But there is something interesting about their relationship. While princess Natalie seems head over heels for him, Prince George doesn't seem to be interested in her."
Her eyes widening with curiosity, Elena asked,
"Really?"
"Yes, even a blind man could see it. Although I heard some rumors about the prince," Tia said.
Elena's curiosity level went even higher as her eyes widened even more with curiosity.
"What rumors?"
Looking around again to ensure that no one was really going to overhear them, Tia replied,
"The rumors I heard were that Prince George has someone he is secretly seeing in his Kingdom and doesn't have the intentions of getting married to Princess Natalie but is only been forced to do it because of the betrothal made many years ago."
"Noooo," Elena said unbelievably.
"But like I said, it was just a rumor I heard. I don't know how true it is but judging by his unenthusiasm towards the Princess, it could be true. Trust me, the couple of weeks is going to spend would be quite interesting," Tia said before returning back to her cleaning.
Elena also went back to her work, her mind went back to all that Tia had said. She couldn't help but feel sorry for princess Natalie for the one-sided love relationship she was in with the Prince. A part of her hoped that this visit would be different from the rest in the sense that Prince George's feeling towards Princess Natalie would change since they would be getting married soon.
That night, Elena went to bed pretty early since Princess Natalie gave all her handmaidens the evening off as they would be up early the following morning to welcome Prince George. But before she allowed the sleep to consume her, Elena couldn't help but wonder what the couple of weeks ahead would bring.
As early as 7 the following morning, Elena and every other staff in the Palace were already up in order to put finishing touches to their work in preparation for their arrival of Prince George. At exactly 9a.m. the watchman announced that the Prince's entourage was about 20 minutes away from the kingdom.
Emperor Atlas called out all the noblemen and women in the palace and also all the lower ranking members of the kingdom like the servants and others and made them stand in front of the castle to welcome the Prince. The emperor himself with his wife and daughter were also standing in front of the Castle to welcome the Prince.
Just like the watchman had announced, Prince George and his entourage entered into Valtoria Kingdom. Immediately they walked through the gates of the kingdom, the court trumpeters began to play their trumpets as a sign of welcoming Prince George. As the trumpets played, the crowd erupted in cheers as they showed their excitement concerning Prince George's arrival.
Prince George was seated on a white horse which had two riders by his side and another three riders behind him. His grey eyes scanned through the crowd, a smile appearing on his face as he appreciated the warm welcome. His chiseled jawline seemed even more chiseled and his brown hair, which was a bit ruffled because of the wind from riding for too long, appeared to have a deep golden brown color.
As Prince George and his entourage drew closer, Princess Natalie's face lit with excitement as she couldn't take her eyes off her man. The faces of her parents beamed with pride as they saw how happy their daughter looked. Prince George got down from his horse and so did his men and they walked towards the Emperor and his group.
"Your majesty," Prince George greeted with a little bow and his men followed suit.
"Oh please, you know you longer have to greet me like that. We'll be family soon. Come here," Emperor Atlas said, pulling him in for a hug.
After they broke from the hug, Princess Natalie quickly wrapped her hands around his arm and said,
"Let's go in, I'm sure you're tired from the ride."
Not wanting to appear rude, he followed her in, but then his eyes caught someone and his heart skipped for a second.