The Princess's Secret

Chapter 7

Morning came a little earlier in the Chankimha palace today as preparations for the maiden selections were being made. Rosemary entered Freen's room hastily prepping for the day. Freen watched as Rosemary stripped the bed and set out clothes for her to wear for the day. She begrudgingly made herself to the bathroom to begin to ready herself for the day. She know her mother would be requesting her presence in the throne room soon, but she was hoping to get lost in the palace and avoid having to take part in today's selections. She rushed herself to get ready and hopefully hide in the library room where she can busy herself reading for most of the day.

Just as Freen was getting to sneak out of her room, Rosemary called her name. "Princess Freen! Your mother is requesting your presence in the throne room." Freen looked back at her with an annoyed look on her face and said, "Yes I'm just stepping out to do something real quick." As he was turning to walk out, Rosemary replied, "Princess! I have been instructed to accompany you everywhere and ensure you make it to the throne room on time." Freen knew she would not be able to sneak away, not with her mother making Rosemary shadow her until she made it to the throne room. With a monotone voice Freen replied, "Fine." Freen made her way to the throne room with Rosemary following close behind.

As Freen arrived into the throne room she could see the large number of servants standing by the far most wall of the room awaiting to follow any instruction given by the royal family. Her mother the Queen sat in the second larger golden chairs in the dais located in the back wall in the middle of the large white room. There was a chair to the left hand side of the queen with a smaller throne chair made for the princess. Freen made her way across the large room and took a seat in her chair with a monotone expression. "I'm glad you made it on time." the Queen said. "Now let's begin the procession." the Queen demanded.

On that demand, the guards opened the main throne room doors and began to let in the maiden candidates. One by one each candidate presented themselves before the Queen and the princess and gave a short presentation describing why they believed they were the right candidate for the first maiden position to serve the princess. After dozens of presentations, Freen was ready for a break. "Mother may I be excused to the powder room?" Freen asked her mother.

"Yes, I suppose we can use a break. Rosemary! Escort the princess to the powder room and ensure she makes it back after." The Queen ordered. "Mother, I can use the powder room on my own. Can I just have 5 minutes alone?" Freen began walking away before her mother could answer the question. She quickly headed out the room before anyone followed her. She quickly jogged down the hall intending to head outside and get some fresh air in hopes her mother would continue the selections without her. As she was hastily making her way through one of the side exits, she was startled by the sudden appearance of a younger girl running into her.

Both girls gasped as they looked into each others eyes holding onto each other in a small embrace to avoid falling from the unexpected impact. Freen looked down at the fair skinned girl in her arms and was instantly surprised at the girl's beaty. Although she had brown hair and brown eyes, her beaty was mesmerizing. Her brown eyes shined with a gleam of joy and life Freen had never seen before. She looked down at her pink lips and for a moment her mouth went dry. She felt like time stood still and she wanted to continue looking into those precious pools of honey that were her eyes. Her face looked like she was foreign and could easily be mistaken for a model.

They stood there entangled in each other for what felt like minutes until Becky broke the silence. "I'm so sorry! I was just looking for the room where the maiden selections are being made. I'm running late and was in a hurry so I didn't see you there. Please excuse me." She apologized as she backed off of Freen's hold and bowed down 2 times in attempt to apologize.

Freen snapped out of her trance and replied, "You should be more careful, I could have really gotten hurt and then you would really hear it from my mother. You're in the wrong entrance, the commoner entrance is that way." Freen pointed to her right to a door toward the other side of the palace.

Becky apologized and excused herself to head to the door Freen had just pointed at. Watching the girl hastily walk away, she found herself staring at her until she disappeared into the palace. Freen wondered to herself who the girl was and if she was coming to interview for the first maiden position. The curiosity got the better of her and Freen headed back inside to the throne room in hopes of confirming her suspicion.