Chapter 7

The rest of the days, Alexandra practised her sword dancing. She put all her mind, heart and efforts into it, she did it with much passion, as though she really wanted the crown prince to choose her. So much for someone who doesn't want to get married.

The twins came over sometimes and they all had fun. Cleo being the talkative, spoke a lot and made their day. Now it was the evening of Sunday. The sun had gone down but the moon was yet to be seen.

Alexandra was packing all the things she deemed necessary. From her chemises to her sanitary napkins and her jewelries. Her nightwear, few clothes and shoes. And lastly, her swords. The one that Austin bought for her.

She plopped down on the bed after she was done packing. She looked out of the opened window, into the dark night. She wondered if the bed in the tents that the king had set up for them, for the carnival, was as soft as hers. "A carnival on his return, immediately? They wouldn't even give him a rest?" She mused to herself. She had never seen the prince, she didn't know what he looked like, even. She had only heard rumours about his dark hair and flaming gold eyes. She sighed.

Alexandra didn't know when she slept off without even having dinner. She was woken up by the singing of the bird on her window pane. She didn't even close her window. She got up and realised she didn't also take off her dress and had even slept on her jewelries. "What is wrong with you, Alexandra?" Alexandra didn't know why, but her heart was palpitating, though it wasn't even the day of the carnival. She stood up from her bed and to her bathroom. She cleaned her teeth with twigs and rinsed with clean water from the faucet. After she was done freshening up, she went downstairs to the dining room and saw her father seated at the head of the table, and her mother, on the right side of her father, she took a sit on the left side.

"Good morning to you papa and mama." She greeted them both.

"Morning, my angel. How did you sleep?" It was her father who asked with a smile. Her father had light brown hair with specks of grey in them. His eyes were ocean blue. A few wrinkles on his face to show his aging, but that didn't hide the handsome man he was. Although Alexandra didn't have any features of her father, they still had that slight resemblance of a father and daughter. 

"It was good, papa." She smiled.

"How are you feeling today?" Her mother asked. Brione knew her daughter might be nervous, or was, instead. It wasn't easy for a child to be married off just like that, but they couldn't do anything about it.

"I'm nervous, but it's fine." She gave them a strong smile. "What time are we leaving, mama?" Alexandra asked as the maids had dished their food and they started eating. 

"Mm. By the hour of three at noon. It is so that you'll familiarise yourself with the daughters and sons of the Duke. It's really a pity Ryanair can't make it." Brione sighed. Her son, her first child had gone to the North for business.

"A pity really. But don't stress, he's living fine with Aunt Paloma and her children." Alfred, Alexandra's father, said. "You should write to him, my pumpkin." He told Alexandra and the pumpkin nodded. She was planning on writing to him after the carnival.

...

Alexandra didn't do much for the day, except sitting pretty in her room and feeling her nerves wreck. When it was the time for leaving, the servants came to help Alexandra and her mother take down their properties. Alfred wasn't in the mansion, for he already was in the Midlands, handling duties of a Duke before the King.

Alexandra bid the maids, she was a little close to, goodbye and entered inside the carriage. Brione instructed them, the butler to be precise, on what they need to do and what needed to be done. Ingredients and foodstuffs were enough for them until they returned, so that wasn't a problem.

"Take care of the mansion in my absence, Jarr." She told the butler who was a young man.

After she was done speaking to them like the lady of the house she was, she entered the carriage and sat beside Alexandra. The coachman flogged the three horses tied to the carriage for them to start moving.

"Mama... What if the prince chooses me? Will I get to come back home?" It was what had been on her mind, so she decided to ask.

"Of course, dear. You'd need to come back and prepare to be his wife." Brione smiled. She noticed that her daughter didn't have a problem with this anymore, like in the beginning.

Alexandra nodded her head. She watched as the trees of Ylzia passed by. She was really going to the Midlands.

The ride to the Midlands took an hour and few minutes as it was far from the East. Alexandra was fast asleep on her mother's shoulder. The older lady just smiled looking at her baby, wondering how things would be if the prince actually chose her. It'd be a good thing for them, but her baby would be out in danger. But she fear not as the man she was marrying wasn't just any normal crown prince.