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“Well, if it’s good for the people of Chromia, then I’ll support it,” I say with a solemn air. I’ve seen my father spit out this very sentence multiple times, and it always seems to work. Sure enough, the magic strikes again when everyone smiles and applauds. Whatever the question was, I guess I must have given a good answer.
“Excellent,” the Chancellor says with approval as he nods. “Well, that just about wraps up our welcome ceremony. Thank you for attending, Prince Eric.”
“Of course. It was my pleasure,” I say formally. “It was great meeting you all too.” I walk around the room, shaking everyone’s hand one last time as the interns smile brightly, still in awe of my presence. Some people would love to have that effect on others, but I would prefer to walk in and out of a room without having people gape at me.
At last, time for my exit. After a short car ride, I’m back at the palace, and move swiftly towards my chambers. I need to find my pageboy to confirm that the rendezvous with the pretty maid is happening tonight. After all, maybe he didn’t give it to the right girl, or maybe he didn’t find her. Plus, I need to make sure that this is all confidential because if word got it, it’d be World War III. My father understands that a man’s got to sow his wild oats, but Wilhelm thinks I should marry the daughter of some noble family– preferably from a nation we could become allies with. Is he fucking kidding me? This isn’t the Middle Ages where marriages were political alliances. But Wilhelm just doesn’t get it because marriage is a duty to my father; he doesn't believe love should be a factor when choosing a significant other. To be honest, he’s already tried to pair me up with some of the world's most powerful men's daughters, but half of them are nitwits, and the other half are so skinny as to be unattractive. Yet each one of them threw herself into my bed, ready to do what I wanted. That’s just life, I suppose.
I sigh again, lost in my thoughts. My father means well by placing the needs of our people above his own, but it's not a sacrifice that I'm willing to make. I don't want to have to live my life constantly making decisions based off of what's good for the people of Chromia; I want to have some say in my own comings and goings. I've expressed that to him time and time again, but Wilhelm’s reply is always the same: the crown comes before everything else. Yet with my personality, I just can't see myself falling into line like a lemming, no matter how hard I try. Some folks just weren’t meant to be lapdogs, least of all me.
At that moment, a knock on the door sounds.
“Come,” I command.
The pageboy slips in, trembling before me.
“Sir?”
I nod.
“Did you deliver the note?” I ask.
“Yes, sir,” he replies, still quivering.
“Are you sure she was the right one?” I ask.
“Yes, Your Highness,” he stammers. “Miss Kitty, with the long, brown hair and brown eyes.”
“Good, that’s her,” I say with approval. “Harold, you know this stays between us.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Of course, Your Highness,” the young man stammers.
“Good, well done,” I say. “That’ll be all.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” he says as he bows. “Anytime.” Then, Harold takes off, nearly tripping over his own two feet.
Meanwhile, I sit back on the divan, alone once more. Tonight, I'll get to finish what I started. The beauteous Kitty may have gotten away from me once, but not again. After all, her name may mean “cat,” but I’m the cat in our game of cat and mouse … and she just doesn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER7
Kitty
Iwave goodbye to my co-workers as I climb inside of a taxi. Finally, my shift is over. I couldn't be more elated because it’s only a few hours until my meeting with the Prince and I need to get ready! I can’t possibly appear before the handsome royal with my hair a mess and dirt all over my cheeks. I need to wash the filth that comes from cleaning the castle off of my body and change out of this uniform at the very least. If I’m going to be fired, then I want to go in a dignified way.
Luckily, traffic is light as the cab veers through streets of Chromia with ease. We leave behind the flashing lights of the glitzy casinos and nightclubs and enter my humble neighborhood. As the driver pulls up to my parents’ home, I can't help thinking about how different my life is from the Prince’s. Eric knows that I'm a maid, but he has no idea how we live. He has no idea what “budgeting,” “frugal,” and “living paycheck to paycheck” mean. Plus, what would my parents say if they knew about my clandestine meeting?
My stomach sinks. Honestly, my parents would be disappointed if they knew I was sneaking around the palace with Prince Eric because they raised me to be a smart, hard-working woman with dignity and pride, not one who sneaks around in the shadows with a man who could never be seen with her out in public. But then I stop myself. Prince Eric is getting ready to fire me, not date me. Somehow, that just makes me feel worse.
The taxi finally stops before our cottage, and I get out. As I walk toward the front door, I try to come up with an excuse as to why I need to leave the house so late at night. I've never really been the type to party, and my parents are used to me spending most nights home. I fumble through my purse, searching for my keys, but before I can find them, my mother flings the door wide open. Doria smiles warmly and spreads her arms for an embrace.
“Welcome home, sweetheart,” she greets as she wraps her arms around me.
“Hey, Mom,” I respond as I hug her back.
“How was work?” she asks as she releases me.
“It was okay,” I lie. The truth is, work is quickly coming to an end, but I don’t want to worry her because she would probably cry her eyes out and wonder where she went wrong in raising me. Usually, I tell my mom everything, but this is a secret I’ll have to keep to myself. For now, at least.
“That’s good. Come, have a seat. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” she burbles as she drags me to the table.
