Chapter 1

"Mother, what do you mean? How do you expect me to get married all of a sudden?"

A young lady dressed in a simple yet flowing white gown, that seemed to be a nightdress, could be seen talking to an older lady. The girl struggled to keep her emotions at bay and not yell. The older lady looked on as the young girl paced, her gown’s train trailing behind her. 

The girl was bewildered at the unexpected news she had received. Why would she not?

She recently turned sixteen and had her birthday celebration in all excitement yet she got the shock of her life that same night.

Three days ago, she was so elated about turning sixteen and how her party would be that she didn’t give anything a chance to get on her nerves. Not even when a clumsy maidservant bumped into her and poured tea on her dress. 

“I’m sorry, princess Amelia.” The maidservant fell to her knees. “Forgive me, your highness.”

Despite the fact that the young girl, reportedly known to be Princess Amelia, said she was fine, the maidservant continued to plead.

“I’m fine. You can go on with your work.” Amelia tried to make the maid stand to her feet but the latter wouldn’t budge. 

When Princess Amelia realized she could do nothing, she left the maid on her knees and went back into her chambers to change. Little did she know someone would melt her resolve that night and finally get on her nerves! It was none other than her father, the king of Astral kingdom.

Yeah, she was a princess, the only child of the king of one of the most powerful kingdoms, King Louis Mark Ferdinand. 

The happiness she felt all day faded immediately a maidservant told her the King wanted to see her in the great chamber, a room he shares with the queen, her mother. The young princess became concerned because the king rarely talked to her in his room. He either calls her into his office or they randomly chat anywhere but his room. It was only on rare occasions she got invited to his room and she knew this had to be one of those rare occasions.

~

"Lia," King Louis had beckoned as he saw his beloved daughter entered the room. Princess Amelia traipsed towards the king who sat on the bed. Amelia saw the Queen, seated across the room, with a solemn but guilty look. 

This made the young princess wonder what the unusual meeting was all about. She sat down beside her father when he patted the bed. 

"Thanks for the birthday party, father." She smiled in appreciation, remembering every bit of the event.

~

The birthday party was awesome and she was glad people came to celebrate her. Different royal families attended the party. It was meant to be a small party but being the only child of one of the most famous royal families, the news that a party would hold at King Louis’s palace spread far and wide like wildfire. 

The extra information that attracted a lot of people, mostly royals, to the party was the fact that it was organized for the princess of the kingdom, who rarely shows up at royal events. Everyone knew she was the only chance for other kingdoms to latch unto Astral kingdom. 

  

The royal kitchen had to make extra arrangements for the families that attended without invitation. The guards couldn’t send anyone back. Their king wouldn’t allow it in the first place. He always made it clear that everyone was welcome in his palace.  

A lot of princes and princesses attended the party with their parents and most of them attempted to get Amelia’s attention. They wanted to get close and be friends but Amelia barely gave anyone of them a chance because she understood what their motives were, even before they spoke. She knew they wanted to strengthen their kingdoms' business relationship with Astral kingdom through her. 

While some came for economic reason, some were there to make friends to increase their military strength with the help of Astral kingdom. This was how powerful Astral kingdom was. 

No matter how hard they pretended Amelia could still sense their intentions from afar. 

While she cared less about all these because she didn’t want to be used as a political tool, she also did not like to interfere in the administration of the kingdom. 

~

"Amelia," The king called, jolting Amelia out of reverie. 

 "Yes, father." She glanced at him. She had formed the habit of not staring into his eyes for too long. It wasn’t due to fear or shyness but most times, she felt an aura of majesty radiate off him. She couldn’t blame him for that. He was a king after all and that has been her habit. Though he was strict as a ruler, he was never austere as a father. 

"I called you here because I have important information for you." King Louis said.

"I'm all ears, father." Amelia nodded, urging him to go on. 

"I don't want you to feel bad about this or blame anyone". He started. 

That simple statement already gave Amelia a bad feeling about what her father would say. 

"Father, you can go ahead and tell me what it is." She said, despite what she felt.

King Louis kept quiet, occasionally sharing glances with the queen, Amelia’s mother. Amelia, on the other hand, grew anxious each passing minute as the silence began to eat her up. 

“Father!” She whined when the silence finally got her annoyed. 

"You're getting married." Her father announced and then shut his eyes, a look of guilt etched on his face. 

“What?”

“You have been betrothed.”

Immediately he dropped the bombshell again, the room went silent. Amelia looked back and forth between her father and mother. 

Everywhere suddenly starts to spin from her view as she stared at her father like he just spat nonsense. 

It’d have actually been nonsense to her if he didn’t look serious the next minute he opened his eyes.

Her body tensed up and her heartbeat accelerated, hoping she heard it all wrong. It suddenly occurred to her that she needed another definition of the word "betrothed". 

 “This is a joke, right?” She almost asked. 

"I- I don't understand, dad." She said instead.

”We really need another definition for that word," her subconscious screamed.  

"I'm helpless here." She mentally replied, staring at the silent couple – her parents.

"Dad," She almost yelled when her father remained silent, as though he didn’t just talk about her marriage. 

Her eyes became clouded with tears and her vision blurred. She broke out in cold sweats. Amelia knew she could break down any minute if she didn’t stop herself from shuddering. 

“Dad,” she whispered, unable to bring herself to say it out loud.

He disliked it when she called him “dad”. 

“I can see the books you read make you neglect the proper rules of address. Don’t even try to practice those on me.” He would usually say.

“Some ancient rules still apply in the palace, dear.” Her mother would remind her with a smile.

 But this wasn’t the time for proper address.

"You have been betrothed, Amelia.” He repeated. “And you're getting married in few days." He continued, elaborating on something Amelia didn't want to hear. 

“This isn’t true. This had to be a dream! It is surely a dream.” Amelia muttered to herself crazily, resting her palm on her face. She shook her head erratically. 

She wanted someone to tell her it was all a joke. Her silent mother wasn’t helping the matter.

She stopped her erratic behavior and turned to seek answers from her mother who avoided her gaze.

"Mother," Her eyes squint slightly in her failed attempt to smile. "Am I really getting married?" 

The queen remained silent and she instantly knew what that meant. Sometimes, silence speaks volume and in this case, the word it chanted was none other than a "yes". 

"No!" She screamed. "You can’t force me to get married to anyone against my will." 

“I won’t.” She said firmly and stormed out of the chamber just before her tears could streak down her cheeks.

~

"Lia, my dear, I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do about this." Queen Alyssa wiped the tears that threatened to fall. She had been on her daughter’s neck after the birthday night, trying to appease her and get her to agree to their plans. Princess Amelia was having none of it though. 

“How do you expect me to get married to someone I’ve never met?” 

Amelia just could not wrap her head around it. 

“Tell me! How do you?” she asked, a shaky breath that had effortlessly suppressed her rising rage escaped through her mouth. 

“Amelia, do not forget I never met your father before I got married to him. Our wedding day was, in fact, the first day we met.” Queen Alyssa answered.

Amelia looked away from her mother. Her parents’ case was different. They are in love!

Wiping off her tears, she fixed her gaze on her mother who looked at her with a smile. 

“Look at us now, dear!” The queen exclaimed with her comforting smile, one that comforts the young princess anytime she needed it.

But this time, the smile in no way comforted her.

“He takes good care of me and I love him. He loves me too.” Amelia blinked. “And you are the product of our love.” 

The young princess shook her head, unable to accept the point her mother was trying to drive at.

“Yours is totally different. You love each other.” She argued. Queen Alyssa responded with a smile and patted her hair. 

“And we didn’t know each other before we got married.” She pointed out the fact. “There is nothing different about it. It’s the same situation.” 

Amelia couldn’t help but groan inwardly. Her mother was right after all. 

“The only difference I can note is the fact that you’ve been betrothed from birth while I wasn’t.” Queen Alyssa noted.

Amelia, who had always fantasized about getting married to someone she loves, just like the female lead, in the book she read earlier that week, had married the male lead. 

It felt all too surreal that she could be a victim of an arranged marriage and to someone she did not know and have never seen before…!

She turned to her mother to see her stare at her with an amused smile. 

“What?” she asked with a confused look.

“Those are only stories. Such love stories only happens in stories.” 

She let out a gasp, realizing she had thought aloud and her mother heard all she had said. 

“This is real life, dear. Love stories don’t happen that way since life itself isn’t a bed of roses.”

“But if arranged marriages were to be the fate of princesses, it’d be better if I just live a commoner’s life. I really don’t want this.” Amelia replied, her voice sounding firm with determination.

The door to Amelia’s chamber opened and the king stepped in. He walked closer to his wife and daughter, whose eyes were on him immediately he entered. The king sat down on his daughter’s bed.

"Father," Amelia stood up. "Is this some sort of political arrangement? Tell me and I’d understand.” 

This was the only thing that came to her mind. Her father had promised to do all it takes to make her happy. Why then did he give her the news that had left her disoriented?

The marriage had to be a political arrangement. That was the only reasonable reason she could think of. Nothing else fits in. Or how would they explain this sudden decision of marrying her off? 

"Lia, I'm sorry." King Louis apologized, infuriating her more. Her father wasn’t even trying to defend himself. Was she right about their intention?

"I guess I was right then. You two are trying to get marry me off for your selfish reasons?" Amelia yelled as tears threatened to blur her vision. 

Before she could blink them away, she felt a painful sting on her face, leaving her shocked. Tears effortlessly rolled down her face. She raised her head slightly to look at her mother. The queen had slapped her. 

Amelia stared with mouth agape. She couldn’t believe that her mother had slapped her even when she just did. 

The queen had never raised her hand on her before, all sixteen years of her life. How she could react as fast as that to just one statement she made was surprising to Amelia. She touched her face and it really stung, making her wince.

"How dare you say that to your father and me?" Queen Alyssa asked furiously. She couldn’t believe her daughter would think so low of them. 

However, in response to her mother’s question, Amelia let out a chuckle as she lifted her hands off her face. 

"You slapped me, mother!" She declared. 

As if on cue, the look of anger dissipated from Queen Alyssa’s face. She looked down with guilt as though she realized what she did wrong which made her sigh out of frustration. 

"Look Lia, I'm sorry." She hurriedly apologized, placing her palm on her forehead. 

“Oh! Now she can feel her head aches? I should be the one doing that not her. I'm the one who just got a face-stinging slap. I’m the one that's getting married. My head should ache not hers.” Amelia thought as she stared at her mother.

"Liz, you shouldn't have done that. I understand Amelia's pain." The king finally intervened. He walked over to them and he placed his hands on Amelia’s shoulders. 

"We are meant to explain the reasons behind this to her and not to further hurt her." He said to Queen Alyssa. 

King Louis held Amelia’s hands and pulled her back to sit on her bed. They all sat down and Amelia looked on, waiting for them to get down to their story. 

"Amelia, you're not a political tool. I can assure you of that." The king began. "I've always seen in you a girl that will bring greatness to our kingdom and I'll not misuse that opportunity by using you as an advancement tool. You're my precious jewel." 

Tears slipped from Amelia’s eyes and he wiped them off with his thumb. 

"This is all happening because of an agreement between two great kings. They..." 

"This shouldn't concern me if you know you didn’t make any agreement." The queen shot a glare Amelia’s way for her interruption. 

"You should let your father complete his explanation before you interrupt." 

“Like that was important!” Amelia thought as she rolled her eyes slightly before she could stop herself. Thankfully, none of her parents saw that.

"This affected you because you're the grandchild of one of those great Kings." King Louis said and a frown creased Amelia’s forehead. 

"Granny sold me out?" 

"No, your grandfather didn't sell you out. He made an agreement with his friend to give his daughter's hand in marriage to his friend's son. This was an attempt to strengthen their friendship." 

"Now, that doesn't make any sense" Amelia thought for a while.

"That makes little sense." She had to admit. 

"Yeah, that's because I was his only child and I wasn't a girl." The king smiled.

“What was the need for a marriage alliance in strengthening their friendship?”

“Well, I have no idea why they opted for that but history has it that these two kingdoms had been at war for a long time. When my father, your grandfather became king, being the peace-loving person he was, he didn’t want to go to war against that kingdom anymore.”

“Sounds like what grandfather truly was.” Amelia muttered under her breath.

“As fate would have it, a new king was enthroned in this kingdom as well, who had a similar agenda to your grandfather’s. These two kings met and during their peace treaty, they agreed on a royal intermarriage. I believe this is because it is a known fact that none of them would be able to attack if their family member is in either of the kingdoms.”

The room fell silent as Amelia tried to process what her father just said. Since he wasn't of the female gender, it was impossible to get married to the person. Hence, the next generation was dragged into this. 

“Now, this explanation makes perfect sense, right?” Amelia thought, suddenly feeling helpless. She knew the situation was still more like the political arrangement she thought it was. The only difference is that her father wasn’t the orchestrator. 

"I think I get this." She said. "But I'm sorry, dad. I can't marry the prince." 

Whatever prince she was betrothed to, she doesn’t want to marry him. At least, not yet.

She knew she wasn’t ready for marriage nor is she ready to shoulder the responsibility of being a crown princess of another kingdom.

"You have to, dear." Her father countered. "We’ve decided to get you two married before you start to show interest in someone else."

  

"What kind of decision is that?" She scoffed. “And what’s with the rush? I do not even know his name.”

“He’s seventeen already and their law makes them obliged to naming a crown prince after his eighteenth birthday.” King Louis answered. “And his parents want their son to have his crown princess before he’s eighteen. They want you two to start taking proper steps towards ruling.” 

“And he’s Prince Andrew… Andrew Harrison Brown, prince of Dustrich.” Queen Alyssa added. 

“Finally, someone mentioned his name. I’m starting to think this prince of mine has no name.”

Amelia murmured. 

This time, her parents heard her murmur but choose to ignore it.

“How I hate situations like this! Why can’t I just live like any normal girl would?” Amelia whined and her father laughed.

“You are a normal girl, my princess.”

“So why do I have to be subjected to an arranged marriage?” she wanted to ask but there was no point in asking. It had been explained already.

King Louis stood up and headed towards the door. He opened the door, ready to exit the chamber when he suddenly stopped and turned as though he remembered something.

“But I must warn you, dear. You need to get ready as soon as you can. Your wedding is in two days.”

“Dad!” Amelia exclaimed, wide-eyed. 

Oh no!