Dream (part 1)

Ch. II - Dream (Elice)

-----

Noon has arrived.

The bell rang loudly from the main cathedral, which is only a few tens of metres away from the royal palace.

It's the one sound that will wake me up if I somehow oversleep. Anything but that, will absolutely not wake me up at noon.

It is also marking the busiest time in the kingdom, which is the peak hour for work, business, or basically any sort of event.

And today, there is one absolutely important event.

The birthday of the crown princess.

"Thank you all for coming today! It truly is very thoughtful for all of you to be here!!"

As always, my dad just knows exactly how to make the nobles happy. 

He opened the party right after he arrived in the throne room, and he immediately thanked everyone for coming here with a rather loud voice. And right after he spoke, everyone cheered.

CLANK!!

The party has begun. Nobles are given a chance to talk with one another as well as enjoy the drinks and desserts presented by the royal family.

There's no desserts here that looked to be the ones that were given to me this morning, so I am glad to know that I am special. Looks like the maids, butlers, and chefs absolutely made those desserts for me and for me only.

'No matter how much money in the world, nothing means more to them than you.'

Mom's words rang inside my head again, and made me blush red once more from being so ashamed.

Am I really that likeable…?

"Elicia."

Suddenly, I got brought back to reality. I was dozing off because I was in deep thoughts, but the voice of my dad suddenly woke me up.

Right now, I am standing next to him at the party. And in front of us is also a pair of father and heir.

Only difference is, their heir is a guy. A young male, looked to be around the age of 18 to 20.

I am a princess, and the other party is a young male the same age as me…

You can guess.

"Ah… Sorry, I dozed off."

I quickly apologised to the two, and the old noble simply bowed his head.

"It's okay, princess. It is a very important day for you, so if you wish to be alone--"

"N-No, it's nothing like that. I was just thinking…"

I turned my awkward gaze to my dad, and he let out a tired sigh. He placed his hand above my head and chuckled.

"I think she is just overwhelmed by everything. Well, it's not everyday where you are the centre of the universe. Right, honey?"

He is… pampering me on purpose.

I lifted my hand, and I smacked his hand away from my head.

"I'm not a child. I'm going to use the restroom for a bit."

With a cold tone, I left them just like that. The three were very confused, especially the dude who was with his dad.

Nothing personal… I just don't want that to continue.

Dad was purposely meeting me with all those young noble sons, so he could find me a potential partner or something. It is very obvious that he wants that to happen, but he is making it waaayyy too obvious.

Pampering me in front of them? Come on…

I arrived in the bathroom that was far inside the palace, far away from the throne room where the party was. I had a little me time for a bit, and then I stood in front of the window once I'm done.

… I look pretty.

But that makes things even more difficult… Those boys will absolutely fall for me the moment they see me.

And the only thing they needed to do is to simply win my dad's favour, then they are betrothed to me.

It is that easy…

Then, what about what I want?

How is all of this fair…? What if I liked none of them? No, I'm certain I liked none of them. No matter how handsome they are, if they don't have the 'requirements' that I obviously took seriously, they are nothing in my eyes.

What are my requirements? Pretty simple.

One, they must be kind-hearted, soft, and always think of others as number one. This requirement is my number one on the list, because having an eccentric annoying egoistic bastard as my partner is simply the same as jumping into a pit of lava.

Second, they must be strong. This one is as straightforward as it gets.

Third… well, is actually something I take fetish on.

They have to be… weak.

Before anyone yells at me for having my second and third requirement to be against one another, let me explain the third one even more.

Weak as in… mentally. I want to be the one to fill in that gap, to be with them when they feel weak, so they will always come to me every time they have an issue.

Now, who can't stand a strong, kind hearted, unegoistic, handsome guy who just always and always needs you at any moment's notice?

Absolutely was not taken from my personal favourite romance novel. Nope, not Knight Melvin from the story "The Kind Knight General and The Wicked Princess".

…

Yeap. Once again, I dozed off.

I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my face for a flat fifteen minutes before the door to the bathroom was opened. Since the bathroom was huge, the person at the door was actually rather far away from me, so they couldn't see my face.

I turned to them, and it took me a while until I noticed that it was actually mom.

"What are you doing here!? Your father is dealing with everyone by himself!"