A beautiful monster

"Have you found her yet ?" I heard Grace ask one of the guards with a worried voice.

I was always giving Grace a hard time since I was little. She was my personal maid but more of a mother. I never got the previlage to spend time and bond with my real mother . My father had 6 wives, my mother being the third, died when I was 6. How many children does my dearly beloved father have? I don't care cause he doesn't and more over I'm his least favourite child.

"You still haven't found the princess?" I felt bad for my poor Grace and thought of just coming out of hiding.

I opened the door slowly to prevent it from making noise. As I was closing it I felt someone behind me and my heart skipped a beat.

"Oh my goodness, Grace , you scared me"

"Not as much as as you scared me princess" Grace stated with concern evident on her face. "Where have you been your highness? I have looked everywhere for you but didn't find you"

"uuhm I was...I was in the..the garden yes"I lied with a cheecky smile on my face.

"your highness we searched the garden but you were not there." She gave me a question look.

The truth is I went out of the castle. I liked going to the woods to be far from all the royal drama that had been happening lately. My father had been marrying off his daughters to different kings and princes. He thought King Donward wanted to conquor our kingdom and so he wanted to gain more allies.

"Ok fine you got me I went out of the castle"

"Again? your highness the last time you sniked out your father punished you when he found out. I don't want you to go through all that again.You know ladies must behave. Wasn't that punishment enough to make you behave?"

"Well as long as he doesn't find out, I won't get punished right." I said to Grace as we were entering my room.

"Then what I'm I supposed to tell his majesty when he asks where you've been?"

"Just tell him I was sleeping in the guest's quarters because I didn't want to be disturbed"

"What will I do with you my little girl"Grace sighed and went to the bath room to prepare a warm bath for me since I was dirty and smelled of sweat.

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After taking a bath, Grace ordered some other maids to dress me up. I hated being treated like a child but I didn't want to give Grace more problems so I just let them do as they were told.Today I was supposed to have dinner with the whole family, or what's left of it.

There was a nock at my door just as I was about to open it. I opened it and there was a guard waiting to escort me to the dinning hall.we walked in silence till we reached the dinning hall's double doors.The guard opened it for me and I walked in. I was the last one to arrive . All eyes where on me as I was walking to my sit, it was the furthest from father. We all ate in silence as the servants stood there waiting for us to finish. I hated being watched when eating.

"Lily" finally father broke the silence.

"Yes father" I replied to him.

"I spoke to King Conward of hackenland, he said his son wants to take a second wife, when the king saw you pass by yesterday when we were taking a walk in the garden, he was interested in you for his son and when I told him that you were my daughter and not promised to anyone, we agreed that you would make a wonderful wife for his son the prince"wait a minute..... just hold on does this old man want to marry me off like he did to his daughters? I thought to myself. I really wanted to say something but I knew better than to provoke my father right now.

"The marriage will take place in two days time. You better get yourself ready because I know you are very stubborn but I'm not taking no for an answe this time around." And with that I had officially lost my appetite.

My two remaining sister's who were not yet sent to there supposed husbands whispered something into each other's ears and started laughing. I am pretty sure they were laughing because they knew how much I hated William. The troll used to be my sisters' assistant when it came to giving me hell on earth when we were little.Even though Prince William and my siblings used to team up when teasing me, my sisters never really liked him.It had been Years sinse I last saw Prince William. I wonder how the jerk looks now.

Everyone descended to their respective rooms. I was thinking of ways of how to prevent this marriage. Coming up with nothing, I got off my bed and went to stare out at the night sky. Grace used to tell me that my mother also like gazing at the night sky. She would go out in the gardens and just stare up at the stars. I must admit, it was peaceful looking at the amazing view of stars and shooting stars too.

"What if I just run away from this place? All I have to do is find a place to stay and support myself. Its not like I need too much. I could just find a little job to support myself. I mean I am used to doing hard work coz of how I train myself for defence. That's right I will do fine on my own." I whispered to myself as It finally hit me after some time of star gazing.

I planed to make my escape after diner tomorrow so that I could built up some strength for a head start.