"Prince Kris is so mysterious." I stated to the girls sitting at my table. We were playing a game of cards in the Lounge. Not a really princess-y thing to play but Ice enjoyed it a lot.

It had been a few days since Prince Kris barged into my room. I avoided him after that. Avoided him at all costs. It wasn't that he bothered to look at me or anything. I'd say he was ignoring me just as much as I was ignoring him.

"I think we all know that, Ames." Ice chuckled and sneakily picked up a card thinking that we're not looking. 

"Ice! I saw you doing that!" Seulgi slapped Ice's hand.

"Ow ow! Okay okay, I won't cheat again." Ice frowned.

"That's what you said last time." Jemma giggled. "We'll disqualify you if you try to cheat again!"

"Excuse me, but these are my cards." Ice huffed.

"Really, I feel Kris would be so good at playing this game." Minah sighed. 

We all gave each other sneaky looks and then yelled, "Poker Face!" and burst into laughter earning some glares from the nearby Princesses.

I was surprised to see that Jemma was laughing too. She usually defended Kris during times like these.

Well, the reason could be that Kris hadn't taken her out for a date yet. Or any of us. 
Not like I care.
He knows we hate him. (Except Jemma of course)

"I'm hungry!" Ice rubbed her belly. "Wanna get some pudding, Ames?"

"Why do you always just assume that I'm hungry when you are?" I chuckled.

"But you never say no, right?" Ice grinned.

I just shook my head with the same grin as hers.

"I want to come as well!" Jemma announced. "I feel hungry...sort of."

Ice, Jemma and I walked downstairs to the Pantry. Ice had made friends with the Chef who always let us try some of his Chocolate-mint bars and cinnamon tea.

When we walked into the pantry  I spotted Kris and Princess Hanae right away. They were indulged in a perky conversation while sipping some tea.

I felt a surge of panic through my body. I had planned to avoid Kris until the Public Parade held day after tomorrow. He was to dance with all of us that day so there was no avoiding him then.

"Uh, Ice, why don't we-" I tugged Ice's sleeve but she held a finger to my lips.

"Good afternoon, Your highness." Ice approached Kris with a fake smile. Jemma followed her and so did I (reluctantly)

"Oh!" Kris feigned surprise. "Nice to see you here, Princess Ratvarin." His eyes looked around and met Jemma's but before he could look at me I turned around and went to get myself a tart.

"Sorry to disturb your...quiet time." I heard Ice say. "I must say that I'm quite offended that you haven't asked me out yet."

Sarcastic Ice at her best

"I'm so sorry!" Kris said. "It's just that I've been quite preoccupied lately."

I shook my head and picked up a bar from a tray. I shouldn't have walked away like that. I felt like a coward.

"Or maybe you just don't like us." Ice laughed like it was a joke.

"You guys are weird, to be honest." Hanae commented abruptly. 

"Hanae, don't say that!" Kris told her.

Oh so now he's on first name terms with her.
Not like I care.

I stuffed the strawberry tart into my mouth. 

"Weird is awesome." Ice said. I'm pretty sure she smirked while saying that.

"Princess Ratvarin," Kris started. "My apologies for not being able to personally spend time with you. It's just that there are 15 of you and only one of me." He chuckled. "Anyhow,Would you like to go star gazing with me tonight?"

"Too romantic."

"Horse riding?"

"Bleh."

"Poker?"

He's seen us play

"Sounds good." Ice tried to hide the excitement in her voice but I could hear it clearly.

"Good" He said. "I'll meet you in the Library today evening."

I picked up another choco-mint bar and started nibbling it. Only a few more days and then it would be back to bread and jam.

"Princess Jemima, Would you like to go stargazing with me?"

"Y-yes, Your highness. That would be lovely" Jemma answered shyly.

"That's great." He said. "Tomorrow night. Oh, and tell do tell Princess Minah and Princess Seulgi to meet me later."

Did you hear that Taeyeon?
He's going to take everyone out except you.

"Wait, What about Aimee?" Ice probably turned around to see where I was. She didn't know that I had run away to the other corner of the room.

"Honestly speaking," There was some sort of malice in Kris' voice. He wanted me to hear him. "I'm finding it hard to believe that she is worth my time."

The cake in my hand fell down and I hurriedly walked out of the pantry. My heart felt heavy for some reason...but I don't like Kris...Right?

I went out into the garden even though evening had not fallen yet. I quietly sat on a bench in front of a giant water fountain.

I thought about stuff for a while. It felt strange. All this felt like a fairy tale but fairy tales aren't true. These people love me for someone who I am not.

What do I do?

I want to go home.

"Princess,"

I gulped. I felt so weak all of a sudden.

Kris sat down beside me. Not too far but not too close either.

I didn't quite look at him.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked me suddenly. I didn't expect this question from him.

Duh.

"You spoke the truth. It doesn't matter what I feel about it." I admitted. 

He let out a long sigh, "Stop being so diplomatic with me."

"Well, you're a Prince." I said. "And you've been ignoring me." I blurt out, unable to control the urge. 

"You're the one who's been avoiding me." He snapped back.

I took a quick glance at him. He had a frown etched on his face. His sudden retaliation pinched my heart. I didn't even know what to say to him because he was right.

"You barged into my room in a complete drunken mess. What do you expect me to do after that?! Smile and ask you about your hangover?" I tried my best to sound polite but I couldn't.

"You could have talked to me about it." He muttered. "All these other Princesses, all they talk about is themselves. You're the only one I can talk to about my life."

"Firstly, there has been no such conversation between us. Secondly, do you think I'm an idiot?" I said. "I'm the only one you can talk to is because I know about your secrets, Prince."

"It's not like you're going to reveal them." 

"What makes you think that?" I questioned

He smirked.

"You just wouldn't." He got up and smoothed his suit. "I would like to talk to you in my chamber. After dinner."

And then he disappeared into the palace.

***

I decided not to tell the other girls that Kris called me to his chamber. It took me a long while to decided whether to go at all or not.

"He is so damn good at poker.I'm not even half as good as him!" Ice whined at the table during dinner.

"Someone's melting..." Seulgi looked down at her plate with a smirk.

"Yah!" Ice slapped Seulgi's arm playfully. "As though he didn't read that book with you!"

Seulgi scoffed. "Exactly my point. We read silently. No talking involved."

Soon Ice and Seulgi began a silly quarrel and Minah tried to calm them down. Jemma had dinner in her room because she was having a headache.

I diverted my eyes towards the royal family. Chanyeol and Queen Cecily seemed to be having a pleasant conversation. King Aiden had this really serious look in his eyes, his face mirrored Kris'.

Suddenly, Prince Kris caught me staring. He raised his eyebrow and smirked. I wanted to look away but then he mouthed to me, "my room"

We were dismissed after dinner.

I wished my friends goodnight and then tried to walk back to my room as fast as I could when suddenly, someone pulled me from behind. I stumbled a few steps back and turned around to see Princess Sarang. She had that frown on her face as usual.

To be honest, Sarang was really beautiful. She had these big doe-like eyes and a cute baby-face. (Though she almost always had a frown on it). She was probably really spoilt too, no doubt. But in most people's eyes, she was the one who would make a powerful queen. 

The thought of her being queen made me shudder.

"Yes?" I tried to be polite.

"Hello, Aimee." Her eyes traveled from my head to my toes. Her judging stare made me feel  uncomfortable.

"Well, Hello to you, too." I replied wanting to get away from her judging eyes as fast as possible.

"Going somewhere?" She asked me with a smirk.

"It is bedtime now, isn't it?" I answered.

"You seem to be in quite a hurry to go to sleep." she crossed her arms over her chest. "or are you planning to meet your secret lover?"

"Nice joke." I fake smiled. "But I'm really tired, I better go."

I began to walk away from Sarang.

"Wait!  Aimee!"

I turned my head back and waited for her to say something.

"Actually...never mind. Have a good rest." 

Even though she was smiling, I felt as though I saw a hint of wickedness on her face.

 I barged into my room and closed the door behind me. My lady-in-waiting and maids looked at me as though I'd gone crazy.

I swallowed, "He called me. To his chamber."

They squealed and I joined them too. It was strange. Why was I so hyped up?

"Oh, You Highness, I'm pretty sure he hasn't called anyone else to his chamber yet." Alice chuckled.

"We need to find you the perfect nightgown!" Haru chimed in.

"Something red! I've heard that the Prince loves the color red." Tiffany eye-smiled and rubbed my back.

Unfortunately, Aimee didn't own a red nightgown so I had to wear a raspberry colored nightgown instead.

"Not quite red, but it'll do." Alice pursed her lips as she adjusted the gown.

Haru let my hair fall loose on my shoulders. Then she finger combed it and told me that it's give the natural look.

Tiffany offered to take me down the stairs but she couldn't come with me to the royal chambers.

I walked across the royal court and up the stairs on the left side. There were two guards near the corridor of the first floor. I had no idea where Kris' chamber was.

"Uh excuse me but do you know where Prince Kris' room is?" I asked one of the guards. 

He examined me from top to bottom and I felt really awkward. His eyes were like a hawk's.

"Sorry," He said when he was done. "No permission into the royal chambers."

"But!" I protested. "Prince Kris called me!"

"We were'nt informed about any visitors." The other guard told me. 

"That's not my problem" I said.

The guard rolled his eyes, "I'll you back to your chamber."

"Wait, Wha-!" The guard just grabbed my arm and turned me around while I struggled to get rid of his hold on me. "Stop it, I need to talk to Kris!"

The guard paid no heed to my words and pushed me towards the stairs.

"What are you doing with her?" A foreign voice made the guard remove his hands from me immediately.

We turned around and saw that it was Prince Chanyeol.

"Your highness," The guard bowed down in front of Chanyeol.

Chanyeol just glared at him, "That is no way to treat a Princess, Leroy."

The guard, Leroy, paled after hearing Chanyeol's words. "P-Princess? My apologies, Your highness. I thought that it was one of the Ladies-in-waiting."

"Apologize to her not me." Chanyeol ordered him. It was strange to see this regal side of him. I bet he felt bad for doing it.

"There's no need to apologize." I told Leroy. "We all make mistakes."

Chanyeol looked at me and smiled. This was the Chanyeol I liked.

"You were going somewhere?" He asked me as we walked down the carpeted corridor.

"Kris' chamber." I responded, looking at the portraits hanging on the walls, no doubt the former kings and queens of Astra.

"Woah that's a little fast isn't it?" Chanyeol chuckled.

I blushed at his assumption of the situation. "Its not that! We were just going to...talk."

Chanyeol let out a nervous laugh. "I see. I'll drop you there if you want."

"Please do! I don't want to 'accidentally' walk into the king's chamber." I said.

"It's better not to walk in there knowingly too." Chanyeol said. " My parents are weird"

I giggled at his remark. It felt nice being with Chanyeol. He was a lot more chilled about the whole royalty thing.
And he also believed his parents were weird like any other normal person.

We were walking together in pace when suddenly, the glass of the window next to me shattered into a million pieces. Everything almost happened in a blur after that. Chanyeol yelled out to the guards and I could hear a loud siren ringing. There was smoke all around us and I couldn't see a thing. I was coughing and choking and unable to breathe before Chanyeol grabbed my arm and pulled me into a room.

***

"W-what's going on?" I shivered as Chanyeol closed the window in his room. The siren was still ringing and I could faintly hear people yelling and...gunshots.

"It's okay, you're fine. Nothing's going to happen." He didn't quite answer my question.

"Are we being attacked?" I asked him again. Astra wasn't particularly on bad terms with the other countries of the world...except for this one country whose name wasn't coming into my mind. The people of that country were recognized for their peculiar color of eyes. Most common being blue and green.

Chanyeol drew in a breath. "No, we aren't being attacked. A riot mob probably managed to sneak past the guards."

"Oh...a riot mob" 

Riot mobs were those groups of people who opposed the monarchy rule in the country. The strange thing was that, these mobs were rarely from Astra. The riots were usually initiated by people from...

"Xaeri" Chanyeol said grimly. He walked over to the wall in front of me and rest his back against it.

I remembered my dad telling me about Xaeri. Astra and Xaeri had long tried to improve their ties but failed miserably. They even tried selling off their Princess to Astra just to create an alliance between the countries. When King Tristan rejected their offer, they were furious and began sending riot mobs from their country to attack Astra. But I wasn't too sure whether I had the details correct because all this happened before I was born.

The sound of the siren slowly faded and I saw Chanyeol's shoulders relax a bit.

"It's been taken care of" He murmured under his breath.

I just tried to concentrate on my breathing. I had never actually experienced a riot attack because they were always aimed at the Royal family. The town was free from harm.

I wasn't exactly frightened because I hadn't even seen anything. Seeing the mob in action would be terrifying.

"Would you like to-" Chanyeol was cut off when Prince Kris burst through his door, making Chanyeol jump and almost giving me a heart attack.

He looked pretty messed up. I'd never seen him so distraught before. The sound of his panting broke the quiet of the room.

"God, Hyung..." Chanyeol retracted to the wall again.

Kris didn't bother to look at Chanyeol. He walked over to me in long strides and pulled me up by the shoulders.

"Princess" Kris glared at me. His left eye was twitching. "Why the hell are you here?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "You're the one who called me here!"

" I told Sarang to inform you that I won't be free after dinner." 

So that was the reason why Sarang stopped me all of a sudden. 

"She never told me." I muttered.

"And how did you get pass the guards?" 

I looked at Chanyeol.

Kris raked a hand through his hair and cursed under his breath. "We were checking the rooms of the Princesses to see if they were alright and yours was empty. You...your lady-in-waiting is sobbing in your room. when I told her that you weren't with me she thought you..."

"She's alright, Hyung." Chanyeol spoke after a long time. "That's all that matters."

Kris sighed and nodded. "I know that, Yeol."

Chanyeol bit his lower lip. I knew he had questions to ask Kris but couldn't while I was in the room.

"I'll be leaving now." I excused myself out of the room quietly. Kris followed me and grabbed my hand.

"Don't wander alone." He said. "I'll take you to your room."

"No. I remember the way." I clearly declined his offer. 

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want, Princess. And sorry about the date"

He walked back into Chanyeol's room, failing to recognize my real motive.
When I was sure he won't come out, I tip-toed to the door and tried to listen to their conversation. It was stupid of me, but I was curious.

"Is mom okay?" I heard Chanyeol ask.

"She's quite fine. Used to it, as she says." Kris sighed. "She's more worried about the Princesses."

"It was Xaeri, right?" 

"Of course it was." Kris sounded tense. "Those mobs will do anything to stop this contest."

"Princess for Princess, eh?" Chanyeol chuckled darkly. 

"It isn't funny, Chanyeol." Kris said. "Dad said that there will be a notable increase in the riots. Especially after today's incident. They accessed the palace from a hidden tunnel. Can you imagine?"

"They're becoming sneakier and sneakier. What do you plan to do ?" Chanyeol asked him.

"we're doubling the guards at all entrances and also inside the palace. Officer Suho and Officer Yixing are personally going to be on rounds near the Princesses' rooms and the Royal chambers. I think it would be better if we arm ourselves too."

"Can do." Chanyeol said. "By the way, what's up with your eye?"

"Oh, I had taken off my lenses when I was in Dad's study. When the siren went off I just carelessly put them on."

Kris wears lenses?

Chanyeol laughed, "Don't let Mom see your eye twitching like that. She'll yell at you for being so careless."

Kris scoffed "It was better than not wearing them at all."

"That's why I don't take them off until I lay on my bed." Chanyeol said.

I felt as though their conversation was coming to an end so I quietly crept away from the room. Their talk had left me wondering. 

It also felt nice to see Kris worrying about me. He never really expressed any of his emotions. But at the same time, He probably would have been worried if it was some other Princess too.
I'm no special after all.

Wait, did Kris just call our meeting a 'date'?

***