To Be A Duchess

'Sssiiipppsss.' Ahh, nothing can beat a cup of tea on a stressful day. Although, the best tea for me is Chai tea that is prepared by simmering a blend of cow's milk, water, tea leaves and, some spices like dried ginger and mint, together with honey as a sweetener; this relieves the stress that builds up when I'm reading the current reports of the whole dukedom. "Frielle, are you alright? Do you want me to handle some of the matters for you?" He asked with a concerned look. This is my cousin— Drew Adrian Fortess. A gorgeous young man who receives tons of letters about marriage proposals. Even though he's an illegitimate child of his father, he's still my closest relative and is acknowledged in the high society because of his mastery in academics, a professional in the field of archery, and good looks. I mean, who wouldn't fall for a man whose eyes are tantalizing magenta complemented by the glint his glasses give, a perfect greek nose, and those peachy thin moist lips. It all goes alon

‘Why is he here?’ My mind entered a state of confusion for a little while, wondering why a very important person could be out in the open so freely, without any guards or servants with him. ‘Is he not aware that he could be killed at any moment?’ I thought to myself as a switch flipped off inside my mind. The ‘protect mode’ was flipped on and I was ready to grab His Highness and drag him to safety, to my carriage and ride off into the insides of the palace to keep him safe. I was about to stand up and do what I had in my brain but I felt a hand grab my left arm that’s on the table.                 I looked down and it was Drew, he has a frown in his face; his brows knotted together and his eyes held the stare of a warning— sharp and a bit deadly. He’s grip on my arm tightened the longer I remained in the position of standing up. I slowly sat down again and his grip loosened together

“You mean, you need money?”                 “You can just ask us to lend you money right?” The two boys said in unison. I can’t help right now but sigh in disappointment.                 “Wait, better than that… we can just give you money. You know, I have a treasury all to myself, Drew has a pastry shop who has a great amount of income. Just ask and we can give you the amount.” Uriel emphasized. He said it in a monotonous tone and yet it still bears confidence, his face— emotionless, no twitches, no smudges— it’s a straight serious face and it scares me. This guy, the Crown Prince, a person soon to be king, has his own treasury that should be used for the sake of the kingdom— will willingly give me some of it just because I asked for a way to earn money. ‘I don’t know if I should feel loved or terrified.”

‘To my dearest cousin, Hi, I hope that you are having a great week. As I have promised, I will help with the best that I can-- without using my status, my treasury or anything that is related to me being the Crown Prince. And so, I decided to just introduce you to someone who might be of help. I happen to be friends with a businessman who has a genuine desire to sell new things all the time. So, I have said that you have a new product and he said he’s interested in it. Now, he wants to meet you personally to have a look about this product.  However, here comes the bad news, we have decided a date,without your consent I know it's disrespectful and bad. But, i think it is considerable enough since it is a long time before you two meet, finally. It’s one week. Anyways, I hope you can finish your product by then.

I don’t know what happened after but, all I can say  before that is just utter disappointment at my creation. I am currently trying to calm down so that i can recall some contingency plan (if i made one) to fix this mess. “Drew, I know you’re concerned about me, but please do remember, you have to be at the palace in a few minutes. You’ll be delivering some pastries right?” Drew stopped his pacing as he looked at me intently, his right index and thumb holding his chin as it’s supported by his left hand. He continued to give me the look of pleading as if telling me that ‘I don’t want to –be there, I should stay here with you.’ and the ‘I should be helping you right now’ look.  I know he just wants to support me all the way through but, he still has his own life and I don't want him to be like, ‘wrapped around my finger’ or something. “Drew—” I pleade