Chapter 5

The next morning, Amelia woke up as early as she could to get ready for the day. She had no idea how her first day at Dustrich would be but she knew she had to be prepared for it. 

Clad in a blue royal dress, she checked her appearance in the mirror and decided to let down her tied hair. 

It was still dark outside so she went back to lie on the queen sized bed. One thing Amelia was thankful for was the fact that the queen didn’t ask her to share a room with Prince Andrew and seeing how everything in her supposed room had a feminine look; she instantly knew it had been prepared beforehand for her. 

As she stared off into nothing, Amelia didn’t realize how fast the dark night disappeared and how long she had stayed on her bed, allowing her mind to ponder on a lot of things, until she heard a knock on her door.

Startled by the unexpected intrusion, she jumped out of her bed. 

“My lady, it’s me.” Someone said from the other side of the door and Amelia recognized the voice to be Helen’s. 

Heaving a sigh, she plopped back to the bed. 

“You may come in.” 

The door came open, revealing Amelia’s maidservant. Helen hurriedly closed the door behind her and moved closer to her lady. 

“Good morning, princess.” She smiled and bowed.

Amelia nodded in response and Helen stared at her.

“You look like you are dressed for the day already.”

“Yeah, I am.” Amelia drawled, making Helen arch her brows at her. 

“Okay,” Helen stressed and motioned her to stand up. “I get that you’re unhappy about this arrangement but can you please stop frowning?”

Amelia stared at Helen and her lips curled up into a smile.

“Great! I’ll help with your hair.” 

The maidservant pulled Amelia towards the dressing table and helped her get seated.

Knowing how sad her lady was about the marriage, Helen knew Amelia would do nothing to hide it. Hence, she needs to help her out. That was her only work, anyway. To help her!

 

“Your hair looks like a total disaster and I’m sure you don’t want to show up in front of the king and queen of Dustrich this way.”

Amelia saw the disapproving look on Helen’s face through the mirror and she couldn’t help but chuckle. Her hair was indeed a mess and she intentionally paid no attention to it. 

However, Helen’s gentle scold made her self-conscious of her appearance and she’s always loved what Helen’s words and company do to her.

Amelia loved the fact that her maid, despite being a little bit older than she was, acts like a friend, a sister she never had and also like a mother. It all made her feel safe with the lady and she appreciated the fact that she was with her in this unfamiliar environment to keep her sane.          

“What do I need to do today?” Amelia asked.

“From now onwards, you need to greet the royals in the morning, have breakfast at the great hall and say goodnight to the royals before going to bed.”

“What?” Amelia’s jaw dropped. “I’ll do these every day?”

“Yeah,” Helen nodded and attached the last piece of ornament to her hair. “Every single day!”

“Why?” Amelia stood up and turned to her maidservant. “I don’t have my breakfast with my parents every day back in Astral.”

“This is Dustrich, your highness, and they are your parents-in-law.” Helen stated. “This is what you should do until they say otherwise.”

“Okay,” The princess shrugged. “But I…”

A knock on the door interrupted Amelia’s words and without waiting for a response, two ladies stepped into her room.

“Good morning, Princess Amelia. I’m Agnes.” The older lady said. “This is Edna.” 

Amelia glanced at the younger lady whose head remained bowed as the woman spoke. 

“She’ll be your handmaid and will help you know your way around the palace.”

“Okay.” 

“I will do my best to serve you, your highness.” Edna bowed.

“Since you’re dressed, I’ll advise we head to the great hall. You need to be there for your morning greetings and breakfast.” 

“Okay.”

Agnes, who Amelia had tagged to be the head of the palace maids, took the lead and guided her to the great hall while Helen and Edna trailed behind them. After several minutes of walking, they got to the great hall and Amelia couldn’t help but get marveled at the sight of the beautiful decorations of the hall. 

Astral was beautiful but Dustrich seemed much more beautiful.

“Her highness, Princess Amelia, is entering.” A man announced and Amelia made her way towards the royal family, who looked like she was the one they were waiting for. 

Since they were all seated at a table, they fixed their gazes on her as she walked in and Amelia couldn’t help but feel small. 

She wished she could go back to her room and throw the blanket over her head. But she couldn’t do that since she was in front of the royals already.

 

“Greetings, Your Majesty.” The princess made a filial bow to the King of Dustrich, stood up and did the same to the Queen.

“Welcome, Princess Amelia.” The Queen said with a smile and motioned her to sit down. 

As Amelia took her seat, she came face to face with Prince Andrew, who was sitting opposite her. She remembered she promised herself not to try to make him love her. To achieve that, she intended to ignore him but then, they are with the royals at the moment so he can’t be ignored. 

“Good morning, your highness.” She greeted and Andrew glanced at her before muttering a “good morning”. 

“I hope you did not have any issue with your room?” Queen Marjorie asked. 

“No, I did not. Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Great.” King Arthur smiled. “I know you’re still unfamiliar with a lot of things but with time, you’ll do just fine.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Amelia bowed slightly. 

“You can stop calling us that. You’re family now.” The princess nodded. “That being said, you should get ready to attend the royal academy.”

“Royal academy?” 

“Yeah, we have an academy here for princes and princesses from neighboring kingdoms. You need to attend till you’re made the Crown Princess.” 

“Okay, I understand.” Amelia nodded, knowing there was nothing else to say to that.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get accustomed to it all. Andrew will help with that.” The queen said and it made Amelia glanced at Andrew, who seemed not to have any interest in their chats. 

“Let’s have our meal. I have a meeting to attend soon.” The King said and a maid stepped forward to dish out the meal. 

Few minutes later, King Arthur excused himself, saying he might be late for his meeting if he stayed for another minute. He left the rest of the family to their meal and not long after, Andrew pushed his plate away and stood to his feet. 

“I’ll be leaving now, mother.” He said, bowed and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Andrew turned to his mother. “Take Amelia with you.” 

Amelia’s head snapped up.

“To where?” She asked before she could stop herself. 

“The Royal Academy!”

“I...”

“You should get yourself familiar with the school. Andrew will be your guide.”

“She thinks her son will do that?!” Amelia thought and was about to object when Andrew cut in. 

“Let’s go, princess!” He smiled and stretched his palm towards her, expecting Amelia to hold unto him. 

Queen Marjorie beamed with smile and nudged her to go ahead. Letting out a slight sigh, Amelia stood up, ignoring Andrew's outstretched hand. 

“I hope you can withstand things well.” Andrew whispered to her and said bye to his mother before he walked away. 

“Hurry up, princess. We don't want you to delay me.” 

Amelia glared at his retreating back and scoffed. 

~

“Here’s the school garden...” Andrew trailed off as he pointed towards a well-trimmed garden. ”...where you can choose to rest or study."

Amelia glanced at the place and noted in her mind that she'd definitely come there to study when she joins the academy. The garden looked beautiful and gave off an intimate feeling. 

“We also have an archive. I believe you know what that is for so I don't need to explain.”

“Yeah, I do.”

Contrary to Amelia’s thought, Andrew actually took it upon himself to point out a lot of things to her as they headed into the academy. He was calm in stating what some places were used for and made sure she could identify them herself. 

“Now, this is where I'd leave you for few minutes.” Andrew suddenly said as he stopped at an open space.

”Huh?” Amelia frowned. “Why?”

“I came for my lectures, princess, so I need to go.” 

“Oh!” Amelia rasped. “So what happens to me?”

“Stay somewhere till I’m done?” Andrew shrugged and gave a little wave with a sly smirk. “See you later, dear wife.” 

“But...” Before Amelia could say anything, Andrew was already out of her sight. 

Heaving a sigh, she traipsed back to the garden, the only place she could think of going to. She knew nothing about the number of hours she'd have to wait till the prince was done with his lectures and blamed herself for agreeing to follow him in the first place. 

She stepped into the garden and sat down on one of the benches that was there. Fiddling with her fingers, her mind drifted off to think about how her life had taken the dramatic turn she'd never had imagined. But, she was still thankful she could get solace in the books she read. They take her to the world that is left better imagined. 

“Isn’t that what books do?” She heard someone interrupt her train of thought and that got her startled. “If that was you having inner thoughts, then I must say you're really bad at it.”

“Sorry, who are you?" The startled princess frowned at the intruder. 

“Apology, Princess Amelia.” The lady gave a slight bow. “I am Zelda... Princess Zelda.”

“Okay.” Amelia drawled, staring at honey blonde haired lady. 

“Don’t you think being in love with Prince Andrew is better left imagined?” 

“Excuse me?”

“This is not a fairytale, you know.” Zelda walked around the bench Amelia sat on dramatically. “He cannot fall in love with someone like you.”

Annoyed, Amelia stood up abruptly. 

“What do you mean someone like me?”

“Easy, princess.” Zelda chuckled as she reached out to tuck a strand of Amelia’s hair behind her ear which earned her a glare but she still did it. 

“Being married to Andrew doesn't make you special, you know.” Another voice came from behind and Amelia turned to see someone else behind her. 

“And who are you?” she wanted to ask but the lady spared her the stress. 

“I’m Princess Ethel.” The lady flashed Amelia a smile. “We are Andrew's friends.”

“And?” Amelia shrugged. 

“Are you sure you can survive this school talk less of becoming the Crown princess?”

“Can you take whatever we hurl at you?”

The two princesses questioned and inched closer and closer to Amelia which forced her to trail her steps backwards. 

“I doubt if you can win Andrew’s heart.”

“I don't...” Amelia paused before she could slip the words.

“You can't survive here.”

“I can.” 

Princess Amelia stopped moving backwards and glared at Zelda and Ethel. 

“I don't know what you guys mean to Andrew but I'm married to him so I'd advise you get off my back.”

The two ladies glanced at each other and chuckled. 

“Only in name!”

“Pardon?”

“You’re just his wife nominally. You might not become Crown Princess for all I care.” Zelda glared distastefully at Amelia.

Sensing the reason for their displeasure, Amelia scoffed. 

“These girls think I'm excited to be here, hooked with that cold and arrogant prince?”

“If he likes you, princess Amelia, do you think he'd leave you here all alone while he stays the whole day in his class?” Ethel laughed. 

“He never lets the one he loves out of his sight.”

Amelia’s brows furrow at that. As much she doesn't want to exchange words with those two any longer, she couldn't help but be curious. 

“Did Andrew love someone before he got married to her? Was that why he acted do arrogant and cold to her?”

“What do you mean?” she asked before she could help it.

“You have no space here.” Ethel inched closer to her and because that caught her unaware, Amelia missed her step when she tried to move backwards. Scared of the fact that she'd be falling backwards, she yelped with her eyes closed. However, instead of feeling her body collide with the hard surface of the ground, she collided into something else.

“Easy there, princess.” Her eyes snapped open to see Andrew's face hovering over hers. Her heart skipped a beat and thumped harder. First, because of her initial fear of falling and also because of something else she couldn't place. Her breath hitched but before she could dwell much on the weird feeling, Andrew helped her up and steadied her. 

He glanced at the two ladies, who smiled as he turned to them. 

“Greetings, prince Andrew.”

“Hello,” he answered. “I’m here for her now.” 

He turned to Amelia.

“It’s time to go home, princess.”

Pulling her hands, he led her out of the garden and didn't let go till they got to their ride. He turned to her after he finally dropped her hand. 

“You handled that quite well. I hope you can survive the rest of the days.”

A frown etched on Amelia’s face as she watched him enter the carriage, leaving her to blink back the tears in her eyes.