Chapter 16- The funeral Gown

"Or what?" Abigail replies with pride as she stands tall but her pride instantly takes off the minute he turns his back and faces her like he is about to murder her any second.

"You're gonna wish you'd never met me" With that, he walked past her and slammed the door to the study room leaving Abigail in shock and speechless.

Abigail didn't take any of his words to heart because she knew she would break most of his rules but the more she thought about it, the more desperate she became.

As she paces out the corridor, she bumps into the same woman who showed up with Beatrice earlier. The seamstress.

"Your Majesty! I've been looking everywhere for you! Your gown is ready for tomorrow. Would you like to try it on?" The seamstress questioned catching Abigail off guard. She had almost forgotten about the wedding dress.

"I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Athena" Athena lowered her head as she curtseyed.

"What a beautiful name." Abigail smiled weakly,

"Thank you, your Majesty. Shall we?"

Athena led Abigail to the private dressing room in the castle where she met with Beatrice who again, was purposely ignored. After realizing that Abigail has seized her privilege to speak to her, she takes upon her fate and leads her deeper into the hidden room in the castle. The first thing that caught their eyes was a white blindfold to protect the dress from being exposed.

"Your Majesty-" Athena rushed to the dress grabbing onto the blindfold to expose the dress.

"I present to you-" she grins, excited as she removes the blindfold. Sitting beautifully on the hanger was a lecherous white wedding dress. The sleeves were bouncy and the lower length was flowing. from a distance, Abigail could tell that this was a heavy gown which is applied with an insane amount of layers.

"Is it not to your taste your Majesty?" Athena questions worriedly, noticing Abigail's numb and judgmental look. Abigail tilted her head to better understand what she was looking at. Though it seemed pleasant to her eyes, she wasn't feeling the spark of this dress. It looked rather... Simple to her taste.

"This one looks..." she composed a word in her say

"A bit too common." Abigail folded her hands

"Okay, perhaps we should try the other dresses." Athena muttered and clapped her fingers as a full house of maidens entered the room each holding the dresses in their hands. They lined up horizontally holding up the dresses and removing the white clothes over the dresses. Each time she was presented with a dress, Abigail's eyes would burn with disgust and dissatisfaction.

"This one is too flashy" she pointed at one

"This one is too plain"

"This one is too pretty"

Abigail kept on ranting until the last dress was presented to her. As they unclothed it, she gasped out loud. She stared at a black dress, pretty much like a black funeral dress with a little touch of dark purple.

There were flowers attached to the lower side of the dress and a black beautiful amulet attached.

"What horror am I looking at? Why would you bring a black dress here?" Athena yelled at the maid who held the dress.

"Throw it away, we'll find a better one," Athena says but Abigail's eyes were set on the dress, almost like she had fallen in love with the deep colours.

"I like this one" Abigail voiced before Athena could rant at the maid.

"Excuse you?" Athena turned her gaze at Abigail in shock. Out of all the dresses in the world, why did she choose this?

"Not!" Beatrice says.

"There is no way you are wearing that tomorrow. You'd look like a gothic witch attending a funeral!" Beatrice spoke up but this only made her imagination wilder than ever. Her wedding wasn't gonna be what she'd dreamt of like a fairytale or marrying a man she was in love with.

Normally, weddings are supposed to be the best day in a woman's life, but this... This one was a false arrangement. This only made Abigail know that not all weddings are like a fairy tale or are a ticket for a happily ever after. Some, are just a moaning sake.

"Abigail, are you listening to me?" Beatrice snapped her out of her thoughts

"Yes, and I say I want the dress. Period" Abigail turned her back about to leave

"You can't be serious! You aren't thinking of-" Beatrice stayed quiet leaving Abigail silent as well. She looked at her in horror and knew she had caught up to her scheme judging by the tremendous gaze she was giving her like she had just seen a ghost. Abigail turned my back on her once again, hoping she wouldn't tell her Father.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Beatrice voiced.

Abigail ignored her and kept on walking until she vanished. She didn't feel the need to answer, especially not with Beatrice. Abigail knew her sister very well and how talkative she was with the King. Beatrice was much closer to the king than she was to her, maybe it was because she was the favourite daughter and the heiress to the throne. The more Abigail thought about it, the more she tried to forget it all. She had bigger fish to fry. Tomorrow was top.

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"Your Majesty, should i get another dress? I'm sure her Majesty wouldn't mind-" Athena struggles to say.

"No. Let her wear the black dress if she pleases to. Get it ready and make sure no one finds out about this" Beatrice whispers to Athena whom tried her best not to argue and obey her orders.

"Yes your Majesty" She answered and signalled the maidens to follow her.

Minutes after Athena and she rest of the maidens left the dressing room,

Beatrice walked out but bumped into the last person she wanted to see.

Carol.

"We need to talk" Carol instantly grabbed her wrist snatching her at the corner of the walls.

"HEY!" Beatrice growled.

"what's your problem?" Beatrice spoke in a fidget tone as Carol let's go of her wrist.

"Don't tell me you haven't told her the truth" Carol pointed

"I'm not planning to yet" Beatrice uttered in a whispering tone.

"Well tell her or I will"

Beatrice let's out a devastated sigh.

"fine. I'll tell her tomorrow."

"You better do" Carol spat as he leaves the corner leaving Beatrice speechless.

Eventually, she'd have to tell her sister about the one and only thing she didn't know about her consoling relationship between her and Carol.