3 Months Later
"Thank you," Gwen said to some of the Palace workers who helped her move to her new place. "You can leave…"
After they left, Gwen walked around her new place to live after the wedding that will be held next week. For now, She has been staying at Helena's apartment while she spent most of her time at Max's place, and they just got engaged recently.
Since the wedding is near, she started to move her stuff into her new house–Horgrov house, which is an official mansion given by the king as their wedding gift.
It has 10 rooms, 3 stories, several "reception rooms", a fleet of staff bedrooms, a gym, an elevator, and a walled garden. The house will be used officially as a place to live and work.
Arthur will not exactly be a king after the wedding but he will start to be actively involved in many of the country's occasions and so does she as his companion.
"Hi Darling~" Gwen turned around and saw Arthur approaching her. He just came back from work in the main palace, meeting after meeting to discuss the country's related agenda and arranging their schedules after the wedding.
"Have you finished?"
"Yeah…not many things to discuss today," Arthur took off his coat before greeting her with a kiss, "I miss you," His smile flashed so brightly even after a long day of work. "I heard you'll move some things here today so I came. Have you looked around?"
"Nope. I just arrived."
"Let's go look around together," Arthur reached her hand and brought her to see around their future house. "This is like the reception room, The lobby…and if We move here a bit, This is the lounge where it will be used to welcome our guests from another country, just for some casual meetings…
Gwen let go of his hand and stepped forward to look around, "So, You'll work here?"
"Eum…and the Palace, If we don't have any visiting schedules to our neighboring countries," Arthur walked closer to her. "We do have several more houses outside of the country, to accommodate us when we travel somewhere."
"How many?"
"I think around…two?"
"Wow…you're so rich."
Arthur laughed in disbelief at Gwen's antics but that is something that he loves from her, "I thought you already knew about it?"
"They told me that there are houses we will use and they are located in several areas in this country…and this house is the base–" said Gwen tries to remember what she has learned so far about the Astorian kingdom. "I didn't expect that it would be that many…"
"It's only four–"
"Four houses–mansion to be exact–that was a lot for someone like me."
"Someone like you?" A smile formed on Arthur's lips. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean for a commoner like me–"
"You're not a commoner anymore," Arthur interrupted me, "You'll be the duchess next week."
"I know…it's just–"
"I understand it might be too overwhelming," Arthur reached her hand and pulled her closer, "But we agreed for this so you have to get used to this life…"
"I know…sometimes, I'm just afraid that I might have changed…"
"You don't change at all. You're still the same girl I've known since day 1."
"Really?" Gwen was a bit relieved when Arthur told him that nothing had changed. She was afraid that all of this wealth might turn her into someone else to the point that she doesn't even know herself anymore.
"Eum…you're still a bit confused but getting better each time. You'll get used to this."
Gwen smiled and nodded a bit. She felt reassured by Arthur's words, "I've learned a lot from Helena."
"That's good."
"Stop looking at me like that!" Gwen smacked his chest whenever she caught him lost in thought while staring at her face.
"Haha! I'm sorry…I'm just picturing you in the wedding gown…I just can't help it since I don't know what it will look like."
"It's pretty. Simple but pretty…"
"I love being surprised," Arthur smiled before landing a kiss on her lips. His arms wrapped around her waist and guided Gwen to the table nearby. One of his hands was placed on the table while the other one held on Gwen's waist tightly to support her while they were making out. "Mmh–I won't be seeing you till next week…" Arthur whispered right on her lips.
"It's just a week….we did this before."
"Well, that wasn't a good memory?"
"I'm sorry," Gwen smiled when she remembered that the last time they did not see each other for a week was when they were fighting before the finding tradition was over and they were officially announced to be dating. "Anyway…I have a request but I'm not sure if you can fulfill it."
"What is it?"
"It's about my dad…." Gwen pulled him closer and whispered something in his ear.
Arthur looked at him with a questionable gaze, "That's it?"
"Eum ... .that's it," said Gwen, smiling at him.
—
Later at night, Gwen was relaxing alone at Helena's apartment balcony, enjoying a cup of coffee, accompanied by the smell of old leaves, signaling that autumn is on its way to greet everyone.
"Welcome, Autumn…" Gwen muttered while taking a sip of her hot chocolate until she heard the sound of the door clicking. She took a pic and smiled at Helena who just came back from work. "You're home."
"What are you doing there alone?" Helena came to the balcony to greet her.
"Nothing! Just sitting around…"
"Max sent his greeting to you–can't come around since there will be a meeting at the palace tomorrow morning so he had to go quickly," Helena joined Gwen at the balcony. "Do you know who called for the meeting?"
"The King?"
"Nope. Arthur."
"Huh?"
Helena took a sip of Gwen's chocolate and chuckled, "Max was annoyed since Arthur suddenly called him for an 'emergency' meeting tomorrow morning but he still goes for it because the money is good."
"They will have a project together?"
"More like Arthur asked for help from him. I heard it was something related with the tram office station–"
"The Tram station?"
"Yeah! Trams are one of the most important parts of our country. Tons of people use it everyday to go from one place to another places….We've been using it since ages ago so Arthur suggested to the King that it will be much better if Astorian know the history of our trams and provide better services especially for the trams drivers."
"Does that mean they will build a museum or something?"
"Yeah it's something like that and the queen agreed to it because–you know–she used to be a tram driver and so did your father."
Gwen was silent for a moment. This afternoon, she only requested a pic of his father to be put inside the office alongside with the other best tram drivers every year, when in fact, Arthur has been thinking about it way long before she asked for it.
"So they asked Max to help with it…" Helena continued her story while Gwen smiled at it. "So, how are you feeling?"
"What is it?"
"Your wedding is next week!" Helena looked at Gwen in disbelief at how chill she was.
"Ah….well, it was overwhelming."
"You look too calm for someone who is about to be the duchess of Astoria soon."
Gwen chuckled at Helena's words, "What should I do then? There's nothing I could do. I am more curious about you to be honest. You said marriage wasn't for you but then agreed to Max's proposal."
Helena looked embarrassed when Gwen reminded her about that, "Well…I've never been treated like a real woman before…for all this time, Public sees me as the 'It girl'; The spoiled girl, The Silver spoon who only knows how to receive things…"
Gwen nodded while listening to Helena. She now understands why sometimes Helena acts like a brat. That is because how people usually portray her when in fact, she is actually smarter than what people thought about her. Helena changed a lot for the past 3 months ever since she went public with Max.
They rarely went to the club anymore but rather spent time in their apartment or seen watching some football games abroad and Max was always present whenever Helena had a runway gig.
"You might not believe me….but Max taught me how to cook…"
"Really??"
Helena laughed in disbelief, "I couldn't believe myself either but I just found out that cooking was fun. I'm envious that my boyfriend is much better than me in everything, including modeling, so I want to beat him in cooking."
Gwen stared at Helena and smiled, "You've changed a lot, You know that?"
"Really?"
"Eum! And it's not a bad thing anyway! You look so much happier lately. That's a relief."
Helena smiled shyly, "Recently I just found out that living such an ordinary life is fun. My parents said the same thing as you. They're as happy as I am when Max proposed to me. I think we just had to meet the right person at the right time, didn't it?"
"You're right. With the right person, Everything will change for the better."