The carriage came to a stop but Princess Evangeline and her father, King Lucien didn't make any move to get out just yet, she sat deadly still with her chin held high as he watched her under critical eye "You'll be an obedient wife for the Prince"
She desperately wanted to scoff, everyone knows she is far from obedient but she didn't want to upset her father even more than he already was. She knew he wanted to discuss something important with her that wasn't for her mother or her brother's ears and that's why he demanded they ride in a different carriage.
"You have to use this time before the wedding to show the Prince that he can trust you"
She lets out a huff of air through her nose in frustration "He hasn't wrote a single letter back, father."
King Lucien scowls at her "Well now you'll be in his presence constantly so he can't avoid you. I don't care if you have to open your legs for him to earn your trust, just do it discreetly"
She tenses and grits her teeth so tightly she hears a slight zing in her ears from the pressure. "Father, you know I can not do that. It's tradition for me to be a virgin on the wedding night"
He waves a hand "You already passed the virtue test so the Clarke's know you're untouched. And besides, I'm sure the Prince won't tell anyone if his future wife decided to give him an early wedding present"
He knocks on the carriage door which the knight outside instantly opens but she doesn't follow him out just yet. She has a bitter taste in her mouth at the thought that she's nothing but a pawn in her father's game and he quite frankly does not care about her. He does not care that she does not want to marry Prince Clover. He does not care that for the virtue test, her legs were shoved open and fingers thrust inside her to make sure her virtue is still intact.
She can hear her parents speaking with the Prince's parents and she lets out a heavy breath before stepping out of the carriage, the hat she's wearing covering the harsh sunlight from her eyes which immediately lands on King Henry and Queen Charlotte. She had met the couple once on the day when they arrived at her parents' castle in Dunstead to arrange the marriage between her and the Prince.
Speaking of which….she glances around but he's nowhere in sight.
His mother catches her eyes and steps forward which makes Evangeline bow respectfully "Your Grace"
Queen Charlotte smiles "Princess Evangeline, it's good to see you again"
Before she can express the pleasantries of being there, King Henry says "There was an emergency in the city and I sent my son to handle it"
Evangeline could practically feel her father tense next to her at the King's lie but she smiles tightly "Of course, I understand"
Clover's mother rushes to say "He will be back no later than ten so he'll join us for lunch. I'm sure you guys are exhausted from your journey so the servants will show you where you'll be staying until the wedding"
King Henry snaps his fingers and the servants who had been standing behind them moves forward and starts unloading their luggage from the carriages.
The Queen then says "Princess Evangeline, I assigned Margaret Hugo as your Lady in waiting."
Evangeline opens her mouth but shuts it when her mother says "That's generous of you, Your Grace but we'll have to decline. As Evangeline brought her own Lady in waiting from home to tend to her."
Queen Charlotte's eyes narrow slightly on Queen Amber's smug look before she says "Very well then"
Evangeline's brother, Prince Edward discreetly nudges her side with his elbow and the two of them share a look that can only be understood by siblings who are close friends. The Evans family knew that the Clarke's were going to keep eyes on Evangeline as much as possible and they tried to reduce that by bringing their own Lady from Dunstead. It is ironic that the Evans feared for being spied on when that's exactly what they plan to do to the Clarkes.
Hours later everyone sat in the dining hall, eating the lunch the chef had prepared. Well everyone besides Evangeline that is. Clover took a sip of his tea as his eyes zeroed in on the empty seat opposite him which should have been occupied by his fiancée. Her parents said she would be down shortly but almost thirty minutes had passed and he could feel his annoyance bubbling to the surface. He has a stinking feeling she's taking her time as pay back that he didn't welcome her when she arrived. So what if he was too angry to meet her this morning and settled for watching her through the window of his bedchamber? He's here now and she's not.
A moment later the double doors are opened to the dining hall and in Princess Evangeline walks, her heels click against the floor as she makes her way over to her seat muttering an apology. Clover notes that she has changed her outfit from the one she was wearing this morning which had been a simple baby blue dress and a white hat that covered her face from his view. Now she's wearing a light pink gown that makes her look…soft. She takes her seat across from him and for the first time ever their eyes catch.
Baby blue eyes on forest green ones.
Time seemed to slow as she stared at him, what felt like five hours was actually just five seconds. Because unlike her, he didn't want to stare at her so he looked down at his plate and continued eating like she wasn't even there. Evangeline could feel the eyes of their families on her and any other women would have probably been embarrassed by the outright disrespect of her fiancé but she didn't let that bring her down
"Prince Clover, it's lovely to finally meet you"
He grunts in acknowledgement but when he catches the glare from his father at the head of the table, he says "The pleasure is all mine, Princess"
Everyone seems to relax slightly but Evangeline doesn't look at all pleased when he doesn't try to make conversation with her. "Are you quite alright?"
"Quite." he didn't bother to look up from his plate
Her eye twitched "I am too, thank you for asking"
"I did not"
"I'm aware of that, it's called sarcasm." She says dryly
Her brother coughed a laugh next to her which made Clover even more annoyed but he refrained from snapping.
When everyone was finished eating, her father cleared his throat before saying "Prince Clover, perhaps you should give my daughter a tour of the palace. She didn't have the pleasure of seeing it all yet"
Clover's jaw twitched as he tried to keep his annoyance in check, he did not want anything to do with her but he had to satisfy his parents so he stood up "Follow me then"
He didn't wait for her nor did he offer her a hand to stand up but as he headed out of the dining hall, he heard the sound of her heels following behind him.
"This is the library" Clover states the obvious as he gestures around at the thousands of books decorating the room.
"It's stunning" Evageline said and she meant it. Her father practically shoved books down her and Edward's throats so they wouldn't be clueless on what's happening around the world but unlike her brother she had actually come around to liking it. She eventually saw it more as a hobby than a chore.
Clover watched as her eyes scan the books with a sparkle in there that wasn't there before "Do you enjoy reading?"
She blinks, a bit surprised that he asked her anything about her or her interests because for the whole tour all he did was point out each room. She also doesn't know whether she should be offended that he asked the question, because she knows in one of her letters she wrote about a book she loved and recommended it for him. The Prince himself was surprised for the question that spilled from his mouth and he curses internally for seeming like he's interested in her.
"I do enjoy reading" she confirms
He wants to tell her that so does he but he doesn't want her to know his likes so instead he says "A lot of women do not read"
"Because their husband forbid it."
His eyebrows shot up "Pardon?"
"Their husband forbid it." she repeats with a slight tilt of her head "If not their husband then their father. Women are curious and would love to read but men fear that they'll become too smar so they forbid it."
His eyes narrow on her "Is that how you see yourself? Too smart because you simply read?"
Her eyes narrow right back on him "I never said that but I'm clearly a little smarter than you if that's what you decided to pick up from everything I said"
He's taken aback by her words, no one has ever dared call him stupid and he doesn't know what to make of it "You certainly do have a mouth on you"
"One that plans to never be quiet" she says unashamed.
Brat. He thought to himself and lets out a soft scoff "I take it your father did not forbid you of reading?"
"No, if anything he encouraged it."
Clover can detect a hint of disdain in her voice that he doesn't quite understand, if King Lucien encouraged her to read then why isn't she talking about it with pride? He watches as she rub a finger over the spine of a stacked books and decide to be a prick and cut her sort of her fun, he starts heading for the door again as he says smoothly. "Our last stop will be the garden"
Evangeline found the library to be beautiful but she found herself utterly mesmerized by the garden. She closes her eyes for a moment as she tips her head back slighly and takes in a lungful of the smell of flowers. Clover used the time to study her, the sun shined on her hair and finally he understood why everyone goes crazy for it, because it's not the typical blond that everyone has. It's bright, shining and seems to be glowing, if he squinted his eyes a bit he could almost swear it was gold. He couldn't help but compare her to Mia, the two of them so entirely opposites of each other.
Mia is adorable with her round face, big brown doe eyes and button nose. She's petite, quiet and shy, only speaking when spoken to type of woman. But Evagenline? She was gorgeous in a way Clover knew men would go to war for her. Her cheekbones frame her face that make her look flawless whichever direction she is staring, her jaw is sharp and her lips were full, she wasn't overly skinny, she had curves and was quite tall, reaching just below Clover's chin whereas Mia hardly reaches his shoulder. Their voices are so different too, Mia's is soft and sweet whereas Evageline's is a little raspy.
She catches him looking at her, offering him a small smile which he does not return. "I do not like you"
Her smile instantly fades at his firm words "And why is that?"
"Firstly I do not want a wife and if I did, it most certainly would not be you and-"
She cuts him off "Is that so?"
"Yes" he says sharply "I quite frankly do not want a wife that everyone feels they have to walk on eggshells around. My wife should be nurturing, soft hearted and kind"
Basically Mia.
Evageline nods like she gets it "So you want a doormat?"
He scowls as she twists his words but before he can snap at her, the gardening makes his presence known "Prince and Princess"
Clover grits his teeth at the interuption but forces himself to calm down, because he's not the type of person to be rude to the palace staff. "Marcus" he acknowledges, shoving his hands into the pockets of his bleachers before glancing at the Princess "This is one of the gardener's"
"Oh? Well pleased to meet you" she says with a nod before asking "How many gardener's does the palace have?"
"Four" Clover answers "Marcus, his two brothers and their father" he then turns back to the man in front of them "What can I help you with?"
"I've done what you've asked and sent the roses to…" Marcus' eyes dart to the Princess before settling on "...as you requested"
"Very well then, thank you" Clover responds smoothly, watching as the gardener bowed before walking away but he didn't turn look at Evagenline even though he could feel her eyes burning a hole in the side of his face.
She stared at him for a moment before deciding against questioning him about the roses and saying instead "I have to choose a wedding cake next week, will you help me with it?"
He gives her a sideways glance "I'm sure you can manage choosing a cake by yourself, Princess"
She nods in agreement "I just thought it would be better if we came to an agreement together rather than me choosing one you don't like"
He found her consideration….nice but then he reminded himself it's the bare minimum "I'll see what my schedule looks like"
She was pleased with his answer, because she expecting refussal but that isn't a no "Of course."
They made their way back into the castle where they are met Mia who pauses when she sees them. She freezes for a minute before bowing "Princess"
Evageline nods in acknowledgement and Clover clears his throat "This is Mia, she's one the castle maids"
He forces himself not to grimace at the word, not that he's embarrassed by her job but it's a reminder that they can't be together. Not in the way they want to.
"Good to meet you."
"Good to meet you too" Mia sputters, a hint of a blush on her cheeks "If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work"
She bows again before walking away and Clover has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling at her. He always found it adorable when she got all shy. Evageline glanced away from the little maid and her eyes narrow slightly as she watched him watch her. "In the garden you only gave one reason why you do not like me." Clover turns to her at her words "What's the other reason?"
A muscle in his jaw tensed but he says nontheless "My heart belongs to another and I don't ever want it back from her."
Interesting. She thought to herself.