THE FIANCÉ

Caroline’s POV:

When the car doors were opened, I had a small panic attack that left me speechless for a few moments. Luckily for me, I did not do anything wrong, I just stood there, staring at the tall, slim, imposing young man who had stepped out of the car. To my relief, there was a short flight of stairs and a few yards between the incoming entourage and our position, and I used those moments to compose myself. I absolutely did not want to embarrass our country in an event that had as much weight as this one. If anything went wrong, it would be seen as some more ammunition to Lord Deveraux and my father's other advisors who told him every day how unfit I was to take the throne.

Last night while I was unable to sleep, I decided for myself that I would not do anything wrong today. I would be a perfect lady who would stay away from the entourage, but still be polite. I wanted to show my 'fiancé' that I was superior to him, and that he was the one who should strive to keep up with me.

This decision did not go with a nervous posture, so I needed to calm down. I was happy with myself for having the ability to compose myself with so little time available, and on the outside, no one had realized how disturbed I really was the first time I saw the entourage coming from Eurasia.

I must admit that the young man was handsome in his own way. He was dressed in a three-piece suit that had a great cut, and he was fit to wear it without looking like a complete idiot. That was already a positive point. His eyes were green, and his hair was light brown. The beard was meticulously shaved, and he was impeccable. Points for him.

His parents were impeccable, too. Apparently, they knew mine, although I am sure I had never seen any of the three before, but since they were the first to arrive, my 'fiancé’s' parents were the first to revere us. I bowed to them briefly, greeting them back.

"Ah! Finally, our guests have arrived!" My father thundered with joy. That was kind of weird. In the past few days, what I had gained from him was grunts of dissatisfaction thanks to my protests for the arranged marriage. I was getting used to them by now, so his jovial, cheerful posture felt a little out of place. "Arthur! It's great to see you again!"

Arthur, the first to be identified then said to us: "It is great to see you again too, Your Majesty. How many years have it been since we last saw each other?" My 'fiancé’s' father asked my parents and his wife.

"If I remember correctly, it was almost sixteen years ago," the woman next to him reminded him. This explained why they were familiar with each other, but I could not recall any of them.

"And you, Your Majesty, how are you?" the well-groomed woman asked my mother with a friendly smile on her face.

"I've never been better. Thanks for asking Henrietta." My mother answered her in the same cheerful tone that Henrietta had asked her.

"And how are you doing? I have heard encouraging news from Eurasia," my father asked them.

"Ah, it is very good to see that a great country like ours is growing in a healthy way. And you here in Tresoria? Have you achieved peace on your borders as you wanted so many years ago?" Arthur asked my father.

The smile my father wore on his face faded a little with Arthur's somewhat inappropriate question, who seemed to suspect nothing. My father, as a good diplomat, circumvented the situation without further damage, just replied: "We can deal with politics later. We have all the time in the world, after all," my father suggested, and Arthur soon followed, agreeing. "Certainly."

"Let me introduce my daughter: This is Caroline Helene Phillipa Andermier, our daughter and princess of Tresoria." The whole family bowed after my father introduced us, and I greeted them back.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness," this Henrietta said to me smiling.

I smiled back and replied, "It is a pleasure to meet you all too."

I answered them sincerely, but I was a little irritated. It was typical for my dad to come out of an awkward situation by throwing me in front of the moving car. He loved to do this to change the focus of a conversation, and if he did not do this to me, it would be to my mother, even though they already knew each other.

Arthur then placed his hand on the young man's shoulder, puffed out his chest, and said proudly, "This is our son, Stephan Dorian Reichart." That was all he said out loud, but I could hear his voice deep down saying something like 'this is our son and her future husband.'

I smiled again, even though I was screaming inside and greeted him with a bow: "Nice to meet you, Stephan," I told him.

"And I, you, Your Highness." He answered me. I thought it was good for him to use my title right away because I had a certain fear that he was too familiar from the start.

Right after that, we stared at each other for a few seconds without saying anything. He seemed happy to be there and maybe a little relieved. I did not know if he had any idea who he was promised to, but maybe he found my appearance or my title satisfactory. I cannot stand awkward silences like this and usually I fill them by chattering about the first thing that comes to my mind, and probably what would come would be huge rigmarole, because if I got nervous by silent strangers, I got even worse when I was stared at. that way. When I was about to break this silence, my father realized what was happening and soon he started to speak, thus saving me from embarrassing myself in front of the newcomers.

"Well, we are not going to stand here at the door. Come in, come in!" My father said and then went on: "Welcome to the royal palace in Lorechester, the official residence of the royal family during the summer." Everyone entered behind him through the palace doors, and I was careful to stay further back in the group while I was relieved that my father had taken it upon himself to show the place to visitors.

The tour, however, did not go far beyond the main hall and the first drawing room. We soon sat down for tea. The more discreet maids we had in the kitchen came in and served everyone, and then left us alone. I felt out of place. I had nothing to talk about with these people, so I sipped my tea slowly, pretending I was too busy with it.

The disposition with which we sat did not favor me either. My father sat in his favorite armchair that stood at the head of the rug at one end, while Arthur Reichart sat across from him at the other end of the rug. He left it for the wives and children to sit on the sides, facing each other. I felt that I was being watched by both the mother and the son. This sensation gave me a strange tingling in the back of my neck, and it irritated me deeply.

The couples talked about amenities such as my parents' last visit to Eurasia or the last time the Reichart were in Tresoria. They talked about their favorite places and I wondered how there were so many places that I had not seen yet. My mother always told me that a couple of years after I was born, wars and upheavals that had lasted for ages intensified, and our intelligence service frequently informed us of possible attacks we could suffer. And with the king and queen of Tresoria only an heiress who was still a baby, they could not risk their safety and mine only for diplomatic visits, so they started sending families that represented us in foreign policy. In fact, as far as I knew, the threats were real. Now and then our soldiers were sent on rescue missions to ensure the freedom of these families or, in more extreme cases, to recover their bodies to be buried in our territory.

So, the last big trips I made were when I was a little girl. For the rest, all I saw of the world was through armored glass and behind the backs of well-armed security guards. People used to tell me that I was very lucky to be who I was, to have fame, wealth and the opportunity to make a difference in the world in the future. However I could only see everything around me as a big golden cage. Now seeing my parents talking to the Reicharts, I realized that they also missed that time, because in a way they also lost this freedom.

Then we move on to the subject of education. Stephan had a degree in politics and business. How he had managed to study so much looking so young was a mystery to me. His father, Arthur, just let us know his good points and emphasize how useful his son would be in our country, bringing peace to our borders and calming the rebels that plagued us internally. Then my father spoke proudly about my political upbringing and how I often attended the kingdom's strategy meetings. I did not know what he was so proud of, because for him and his lords, I was a cause for concern and apparently needed to be controlled by a 'good husband'. Well, maybe this whole situation was a little bit like a job interview, but I could not confirm that. The only position I would occupy had already been chosen for me even before I was born.

The conversation between the couples went on for far too long in my opinion, and not all the tea and cookies present could distract me forever. When I finally realized this, I decided to look back at the mother and son who were analyzing me intensely. Maybe I could make them feel so uncomfortable as I was. At first, my strategy worked, and I soon realized that Stephan dropped his head a little embarrassed. I laughed to myself, because I knew that this way, he would be where I wanted him to be: on his toes. To my unhappiness, however, my mother realized what I was doing, and in the most delicate way she could, she put her hand on my arm to get my attention and shook her head almost imperceptibly so that I would stop it.

After the uncomfortable tea, we were all excused to freshen up and change clothes for lunch, so after leaving the room as calmly as I could, I turned the corner at the end of the corridor and slipped through one of the secret passages that led up to my bedroom floor. All I wanted to do was be alone and be able to relax a little. Maybe I even called Lucille to keep me company and to have someone to tell me about how nervous that Stephan made me feel, but unfortunately when I walked into my room, I realized that I would not be alone for a minute. There were already two maids there finishing the last adjustments to the dress I was going to wear for lunch. Could it be possible that I would not have at least a minute of peace?

"Ladies, are you guys finished yet?" I asked them kindly.

"Yes, we are, madam, another five minutes and we will leave you at ease," Mary Anne, my maid in charge of my clothes, replied with a smile on her face.

I nodded to show that I understood what she was telling me, and then I walked to the bathroom to freshen up, but before I closed the door, I walked over to them again and said, "When you are leaving, one of you can request Lucille to come and help me, please?"

"It will not be necessary, Your Highness," Lucille answered me as she entered the room with Madame Tremblay.

"Ah, great. You arrived, and I brought Madame Tremblay with you," I told them.

Madame Tremblay raised one of her hands and said to me, "Do not worry, Your Majesty, I just came here to oversee the adjustment of clothes. Since the maids are finishing, we will be out in a few minutes," she explained to me.

I nodded again and then continued, "Can you help me here, please, Lucille?"

"Certainly, Your Highness," Lucille answered me and walked directly to the bathroom.