Destined for Death

***Audrey at age 11***

"What?" I flipped the page and gasped, "She killed herself too?" I grabbed another book and flipped through the pages, "And so did she!"

~How is this possible?~

Over half of all the Destined Princesses committed suicide.

~Were they really that unhappy? Jeez, being the Destined Princess must be the worst~

"Audrey, what are you doing?"

I snapped the book in front of me closed before my friend Mary could see what I was looking at. She was one of my closest friends aside from my sisters. She was also close to my age, which meant, like me, she was eligible to be the Destined Princess.

It was Mary's dream to someday be the Destined Princess. She talked about the Princes all the time, almost as if they were one of the boys from One Direction. In fact, I can't really think of a conversation we had that didn't somehow revolve around the princes...

Aside from Mary, it was the dream of nearly every young girl to be the chosen Destined Princess. Even my sisters claimed that they envied my age, because I was eligible to be the Destined Princess.

~But what was so great about it? Why did everyone want this?~

"I'm not doing anything." I hoped off my chair and smiled at Mary.

I had decided to read about the Destined Princesses to see what all the fuss was about. If every girl wanted to be the Destined Princess, surely that meant they would have loads of money and power, or that they could make a great change for the people of the country. But that wasn't the case at all. There wasn't a single Destined Princess who had had that. All they had had was a husband who didn't love them.

~What a load of crap.~

Mary grabbed my arm, "Hurry, we have to get ready for the banquet! I heard the princes will be there! And we have to make a good impression!"

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~Make a good impression, ha!... That's the last thing I want to do. Like I would risk my life and happiness just for a couple of Princes..... If I'm going to do anything I'm going to make a bad impression.~

I nodded my head at the mirror I stood in front of as I made my decision. I would do everything in my power from that moment forward to make sure I wasn't chosen as the Destined Princess.

"Please hold your breath as I tighten your corset, Miss Benedict." My maid instructed me.

I nodded and held my breath as she tightened the corset, then dressed me in a pink and yellow gown. It looked awful, but that was my mother's orders. My physical appearance apparently wasn't eye-catching enough. Unlike the other girls my age, like Mary who had blond hair and beautiful blue eyes, I had brown hair and brown eyes. So, my mother always made me dress in the brightest and flashiest clothing to make up for my lack of natural beauty. She never even payed attention to how out-of-style the dresses usually were.

~Well that's all the better for me now... I want to make those princes disgusted by me...~

And that's exactly what I planned to do.

When the Princes turn 20 is when the Destined Princess will be chosen. So until then, I need to do everything I can to make a terrible impression.

~Those princes are going to wish I had never been born!~