Chapter 8

The day before the party Noriko presented me with a new book she discovered. It was a splendid love story where the protagonists had to conquer many difficulties to be together going against their family. It seemed that their parents were on bad terms, but the two lovers received permission from the king to marry and even granted them a big title before saving the country from a plague. Even their families looked to be on better terms by the end of the book. The king can be so powerful. Granting titles and protecting people. Not only that, but our real king is a powerful mage as well. The two princes inherited this power from him. I really shouldn't get on their bad sides.

While we were talking about the book, Mia came in with a very big bag. I then realised it was my dress for the next day. When Mia showed me the dress inside, her smile was bigger than ever, while my own disappeared. It wasn't that the dress was ugly, but who will be able to move in that? Noriko who covered her mouth with her hands was mesmerized by it. You try and wear that, then, I thought. The monster dress was the perfect princess dress. But instead of blue or silver it was champagne with small silver glittering threats going through it. It really was beautiful to look at, but I don't think it will be easy to wear. To the surprise of my companions, I sighed deeply.

The next day, preparations began in the morning. First, my hair was washed and dried and styled in a fancy, very elegant bun at the back of my head. The five golden star pin was present as well, of course. Although I am pretty sure that the prince won't remember it. A few rebel hairs were loose around my face. Only the hair took the whole morning, what a bother. I could go and practice some magic instead. Or at least lie down on the grass and just enjoy myself.

After the fastest lunch in history, I was on my way to part two of my torture. The dress. It took a while to get that monster on me, but I had to agree that it wasn't as bad as I initially thought. It was light and despite its proportions, I could freely move in it. But I shouldn't dance too much, as the corset threatens me to take every breath I have. On the way to the castle I was already tired. I just wanted this to be the way home instead, but not happening, I guess.

Once I arrived at the castle, I had to remember to keep my mouth closed as my mother was not there to remind me to close it. My parents will be arriving later. I thought the school was imposing, but the castle was another story. I had seen it before, but I never went inside. The ballroom was immense. It puts our own to shame. A dusin crystal candelabras were hanging from the ceiling and reflected the light through the room in all the rainbows color. The room was very airy and decorative, one can spend a day looking at the decorations.

As I was spacing out, admiring the place, when I realized that I was next in line to greet the birthday boy. I took what I assumed was a propped stand and bowed while saying the word I prepared from home.

"Happy birthday, your Majesty! I hope you will live a happy, healthy life!" The same words he must have heard a thousand times today.

"Thank you very much Miss. Fredrika. I look forward to your gift!" He answered with that smirk on his face again. I was puzzled. People usually don't say anything about gifts, anyway not after just meeting each other. He seemed to enjoy my puzzled look because he started smiling. I recovered quickly and answered.

"It's just a simple gift that might be too simple for your majesty. But I hope you'll like it."

"I think I will love anything as lovely as you would give me. Did you pick it yourself?" What's with all these questions? Someone help me!

"I actually did, your majesty." Well, at least I was not lying. It took my mother a whole week to look after a precious present, and had many luxurious items aligned on the table of our tea room. Some jewelry, a fancy watch, a pair of buttons, perfumes and even books. She even asked me to help her out. She definitely wanted me to impress the prince. In the end I agreed with the 'impress him' part. But none of those presents were really good for a prince, I thought. He surely has all those and even more expensive things. But in the end, I came up with the perfect present. My mother liked flowers very much, especially roses. And we have plenty of them in our garden. I thought of another prince from a story I read a long time ago who received a cursed rose and thought of giving one myself, but instead of being cursed, it should be blessed in order to help me in the future, in case tragedy strikes. But roses wither in just a few days after you clip them, how should I preserve one? Hm…. I got it, ice magic. I tried a few days to freeze a white rose and to keep it that way. If it melted, it would all be for nothing. In the end I created an ice rose which didn't melt, but I felt that it should be more special, not just white.

Anyway, a more special rose would be better for the prince. If only I could find a blue one or something similar. The idea struck me immediately. I could put ink in the rose's water and leave it overnight. It's a trick we used when we were feeling bored and tried to color some flowers. Mia and I wanted a rainbow rose, but there wasn't one so we tried to paint it, but didn't look right. In the end we discovered that leaving a white rose in ink water will color its petals. So we put a rose in different ink water for three nights. It wasn't exactly a rainbow, but it did have different colors. So my gift to the prince was actually pretty special and my mother was very content with my work. She even complimented how talented I was with magic to be able to make something so beautiful. Thank you, mum, for finally seeing my enormous talent! Hihihi

After thanking me for the present I was free to move on. Finally! I was able to meet Noriko and began chatting right away about the gorgeous ballroom. A boy named Arild Mordt, the son of a duke, joined us shortly after. We became friends during the last Spiritus party when he found us giggling and munching some cookies in the garden. It seems that being a glutton and laughing out loud is perfectly fine with him. "More than those fake persons inside" he added. After that we met at a few other parties and he even came once to play with us. He seemed to like our unlady-like characters when we were ourselves and we had good laughs together.

I could see him looking at Noriko now and then, and smile gently at her. But I don't think she noticed. She kept talking about the first prince and how charming he was when he smiled at her. So only I received a smirk? Arild's face became a little sad. Don't worry my friend, I am on your side! I will root for you.

Soon the music began playing and the prince and his mother, the Royal Queen, started a vals in the center of the room. It took a while for others to join in and, gathering all the courage he had, Arild invited Noriko to dance and headed together to the dancefloor. After a few valses, a boy named Tudor, with whom I chatted before, asked me to dance with him. Yes!

We rotated through the room and I felt like flying. He was a good partner. We chatted a little about the party and we promised to dance again later. I was heading to the buffet where I was sure to find my friends, when out of nowhere the birthday boy appeared in front of me and invited me to dance. Well, mother will be pleased to hear this… I, on the other hand, not as much.

He again had a smirk on his face and I wanted to ask him what's so damn funny? But I'll keep that to myself and just smile. We were just talking about the castle, school, and dance when he asked me what I thought of him. Despite my surprise, I answered what I thought is suitable.

"Your Majesty is very talented and the most handsome person alive. Any girl would be happy to receive your attention."

"But not you! Tell me your honest opinion." he added. I partly froze and almost ruined our dance. I was lucky he supported me and no one saw my little mistake. He heard me that one time at the first party when I confessed that I wasn't interested. He smiled this time. Maybe I should try to be as honest as I can without making him mad.

"Well, it's not that I am not interested at all, but I won't be a person to cover your majesty up in compliments and linger around just to be noticed. Firstly, I think it's tiresome and would not make anything good happen. In the worst case scenario, I might make your majesty angry and that is the last thing I want. And I assume it's really bothersome for you too, to have a lot of girls following you and linger to you all the time, right?" I said all that in one go, before analysing that I might have said too much. I hope I haven't. I was surprised to see his smile still on his face.

"It's alright. It's actually refreshing to know your sincere opinion and I'd like it to always be sincere with me. I am always around fake people who try to approach me because of my status and there aren't many who would actually tell me things like you did right now. Promise me to always say what you think."

I hesitated. "I promise to say only what I think it's appropriate without lying."

He burst out laughing."Good enough. Would you keep a dance for me later?"

"I would, but there are plenty of girls who are nervously waiting to dance with your grace, and I would hate to be the reason for their disappointment." He laughed again while I was retreating. Well, I will try to avoid all times when I could ever say my sincere thoughts to him again.