The dragon and the rose

Chapter VI

I

Queen Anne-Marie and Princess Constanza walked into the former's chambers together. The queen's chambers were nice and lavish compared to other men and women's who lived in the Kingdom of Asturia, but they were not too opulent compared to other countries. Asturias was a prosperous kingdom and had enough and more to feed the people but that was mainly because the Asturian mentality was not one of prodigality. The noble's clothes were decorated and embellished but they were not that extravagant and over the top as they were in other parts of the world. There were courts and rulers famous for their spending the people's money on unnecessary things; Flavian was surely not one of them. He gave himself and the royal family everything they needed but not much more thus there were far less poor in this country than in any other. Maybe Flavian, as did Leonora, knew that actually the people held the power and that if they were overall pleased, the ruler's reign would be far longer than otherwise.

The four princesses were seated on sofas and chairs, gathered in one chamber and waiting for their mother with the food already served. The two women, one dressed in white and the other in dark blue, walked into the room graciously and held some quaint similarity in their movements even though when one looked at them, he thought that they surely could not be mother and daughter. They sat down next to the others after greeting them.

The two smallest princesses, the twins were there too; only this way did Constanza see them regularly. They looked exactly the same, their hair honey-coloured and their eyes bright blue, their cheeks still a bit chubby but they were in the stage when girls grow taller and develop womanly traits very quickly. They were childishly attractive but they were not that innocent; they liked mischief and doing what they had been told not to do very-very much. Their favourite occupation was to annoy their maids and tutors by telling them that the one was the other and the other the one, especially when they did something naughty; this way it became almost impossible to punish the guilty one instead of the innocent.

The king always consumed his first meal of the day with his closest friends and advisors, all of them men, and thus the female members of the royal family always gathered in the queen's chambers to breakfast. During this one hour or so, they spoke about things that were happening in the court, about certain ladies and lords or just simply about anything that they could talk about for at least five minutes. And thus it was quite evident to everyone that the topic of Leonora and Henry's marriage was inevitable for it was indeed very actual.

„We should start preparing for the wedding, mother." The princess said after gently wiping her mouth with a delicate white napkin.

„King Henry has told me yesterday that the ceremony will be held next week."

Constanza furrowed her brows and swallowed; she thought that they would only marry quite a few weeks later.

„Why is he in such a hurry?" She inquired.

Leonora's smile did not fade, she turned to her sister and smiled even more brightly, if that was possible. „There is no point in waiting, Constanza." Replied she.

Constanza shrugged, this was certainly not her business and she was not the least bit jealous of her sister and by that, she surprised herself too. She had heard so many tales about the king's beauty and charm that she had been expecting him almost as eagerly – at least curiously- as her sister but when the English king arrived, she was not that impressed by him – even the stranger was much more exquisite than him and they did not sing songs about his handsomeness. She knew that Henry was attractive, that was not the problem, but he did not have the charm, the alluring beauty she had expected and when she looked at her with those piercing eyes and smiled smugly, like he knew everything, (even what the princess herself in fact did not), shivers ran down Constanza's spine and she felt a sudden coldness hit her in the face. Thus no, Constanza was not envious but she was a mite suspicious. Why were they in such a hurry? She only wanted the best for her sister but with further questions she would have seemed what she was actually not, covetous.