ROYAL HEARTBREAK

Paula's P.o.v

I stood in front of my father the king who sat on his throne with a calm expression plastered on my face when in truth I was panicking on the inside.

"It's been finalized, your wedding to our neighboring kingdom will be in two days, I hope and believe you are happy with the arrangements I've made" father said loudly so his advisors could hear his authority lance through his voice.

"Yes my king, it's for the greater good of our people after all" I answered with my gaze stuck on the floor.

I bowed then stood upright, I notice the happy smiles that came from all the advisors.

"You raised her well," one advisor said in admiration.

"Of course" father answered with pride.

"excuse me," I said then turned and walked out of the throne room.

I found my ladies waiting for me at the doorway, when I walked past them they quickly followed me behind in silence.

I pushed the door open to my bedroom and entered with forming tears.

"Why can I never refuse my father? In all my years he has never truly cared about me, he only visits me once a year, today when he summoned me I felt happy and took no time to accept his summon, but yet again he only wanted what was best for his people, what about my feelings? Am I that worthless to him?" I asked sadly.

"You are very important to him my princess, you are his only heir, he loves you a lot it's just that he is usually busy with his duties" Lauren my most trusted maiden answered.

"I was raised for the people, taught for the people, but all I have ever done is to see him happy," I said while I sat down on the bed.

"I heard that his majesty who is to take you as his wife is young and very attractive but mostly handsome," Miriam said trying to get all the girls to cheer me up

"Does that matter to me? You all know that I have never seen any man up close, my father made it clear to always keep my eyes fixed on the floor and covered, so it doesn't matter how the man I'm going to wed looks like, all that matters is to fulfill my father's wish and my duties as a bride to the man I'm to marry" I said loudly then stood up and walked to the balcony.

"She sure has it hard, she has been guarded in her room with only our company for the past 15 years, the king only summons her when her presence is really needed, I feel sorry for her" the new maiden who was recently assigned to me whispered lowly thinking I couldn't hear her.

"Lauren" I called.

She quickly came forward and stood in front of me with a bow.

"I want to rest, I'm feeling tired over everything," I said.

"The princess wants to rest" she announced loudly for everyone to hear.

I walked back in my room and stood still as they disrobed me and dressed me up in a sleeping robe while others braided my hair carefully when they were done, I got on my bed and lay down facing the other side, I stayed like that for an hour then relaxed and closed my eyes.

"This must be very hard on her" Miriam whispered lowly thinking I was asleep.

"I know, I have known the princess ever since we were young, this is the first time I have seen her in nearly tears, she won't only be leaving her home and father behind when she weds the neighboring king, she will be leaving everything she has ever known behind," Debby said with distaste in her voice.

"So sad, I'm sure we will all go with her, remember our training? We are to serve and protect her with everything we have, it will be our duty to cheer her up and make sure she feels at home when she goes to the neighboring country" Janet answered.

"Lauren,so...what do you think will happen on their wedding night?" The new maiden asked causing everyone to giggle.

"What do you think of yourself? we have all heard the rumors, the king there is not only handsome but some ladies claim that his good in bed, so I'm pretty sure they will enjoy their passionate lovemaking, the princess will forget about all her sorrows in one night" Lauren answered as the giggles increased causing me to open my eyes uncomfortably.

"I so envy her, I wish I knew how it felt to be touched by a man, have you ever been touched before Debby?" Janet asked with soft laugher.

"Yes," Debby answered as the others gasped in shock.

"Only a hug you corrupted minds, remember? We can't be touched until the princess is, we are to remain pure as her maidens even if it takes forever" Debby said as I felt bad.

"What if she dies a virgin?" The new maiden asked with concern in her voice.

"That won't happen, we all heard the neighboring king is a beast in bed, now let's all get some rest, when the princess wakes up, we will make sure she smiles, she's so pretty I don't like it when she always holds a sad expression on her face" Debby answered.

"She's more than pretty" Janet said.

"Agreed" Lauren answered.

"Lauren, you are like our elder sister, not only are you the first maiden to ever attend to her, you are her friend right? I too would make you my friend, you are always calm and know how to handle any situation, I really understand why the princess loves you very much" the new maiden said.

"Come on, lets stop the gossip before we wake up the princess" Lauren said.

I heard footsteps then the door open and close.

"I know you are awake, you have been pretending to be asleep," Lauren said.

I slowly sat upright with a low sigh.

"Nothing goes past you it seems" I whispered.

"Yep," she answered then sat next to me and pulled me into a hug.

Paula's P.o.v

I woke up with a slight headache and found my ladies ( servants ) looking at me quietly, I sat upright and cleared my throat, those days I used to wake up with their eyes on me I felt so uncomfortable, but now I was so used to it.

"Morning princess." They greeted together.

I smiled happily, they were like my own 6 blood sisters.

"Isn't my hair a mess?" I asked while standing up, I moved and sat on a chair that was opposite my big mirror.

Bridget got a brush and carefully started brushing my hair.

"My Princess aren't you nervous about tomorrow? You know you will be wedded to the king right?" The new servant asked.

"Cleo Know your place!" Lauren yelled at her angrily.

"What did I do? I was just asking politely, we can't all just pretend to be calm, we are about to take a journey to a foreign land who knows how people live there!" Cleo yelled back making me lose my temper.

"Enough!" I yelled while standing up.

The ladies quickly bowed.

"Why can't you all learn from Lauren! I hate it when you talk as if I'm not in your presence, I'm a princess for crying out loud if you can't respect me here then what makes you think the others will when we go there?" I yelled angrily.

"Princess Paula please don't get upset, forgive us, we will try our very best to improve, tomorrow will be a big day, you don't have to be stressed okay?" Lauren said calming me down.

"I think I will request for new ladies to attend to me," I said as they all looked at each other in fear.

Cleo quickly knelt down as everyone else did the same, I looked at Lauren with a pained heart, why would she kneel in front of me when she knew I wasn't mad at her.

"Debby prepare a bath for me," I said then turned and went to the balcony.

"You see? Your stupid mouth will one day cost us our heads" Miriam said angrily.

"Debby you heard the princess, prepare a bath for her, as for the rest of you, don't get back to your duties until the princess forgives us" Lauren instructed.

"Lauren please ask for forgiveness on our behalf from the princess," Janet said lowly, while I acted as if I heard nothing when I heard it all.

I heard footsteps approach me then shortly Lauren stood next to me.

"Let me guess, you are here on everyone's behalf right?" I asked facing her.

"Yes," she answered honestly.

"Lauren, the ladies have been attending to me for years, I thought by now they knew me better, why is it that you are different from them, you understand me well and know what I like and dislike?" I asked.

"Well princess we have known each other since we were young" she answered.

I sighed and looked away, she was right but that still didn't answer my question.

"Is that an excuse?" I asked.

"No, to me you are more like my little sister, I like your stubbornness and your kind heart, I know I'm not suppose to say this but I just feel like you should know" she whispered.

I looked at her sadly then laughed softly.

"You laughed?" She asked in disbelief.

"I hate how disrespectful they can act towards me at times, every mistake should not settle without a punishment, remember what father used to do to me every time I made a mistake?" I asked loudly.

"Yes, he used to starve and lock you up so you could do better" she answered sadly.

"Exactly, I don't want to do the same to them but I want them to learn, that's why I was thinking of having new lady servants to attend to me" I answered.

"Paula, I know how much you care for all of us, you treat us like family and we are lucky that you do, not all princesses can be this kind, many are self-centered but you aren't, please reconsider your decision, are you going to be happy after letting us go?" She asked as I widened my eyes in fear.

"Us? Why are you including yourself in the sentence?" I asked loudly.

"Because I wasn't appointed alone by the king, he chose us as a group to attend to you, if you are to send the ladies away, that will include me too because I am part of the group" she answered.

I bite my lower lip thinking hard.

"I can talk to father, he can agree in letting you stay," I said quickly.

"No princess, I can't stay behind even if the king did agree, to me you and the ladies are my family, I can't choose sides, so I would rather disappear" she answered.

"You are not being fair Lauren, you are not really giving me a choice here" I whispered feeling tears swell in my eyes.

"I am giving you a choice Paula, so? What will it be?" She asked seriously.

I took in a deep breath then released it.

"Fine, they will stay, I won't say anything to my father, but as for their punishment, they will continue to kneel, they have to learn to respect me," I said firmly.

"Thank you princess" she answered with a smile then went down on her knees.

"What are you doing?" I asked trying to understand what she was doing.

"Accepting my punishment" she answered calmly.

"But...but I didn't punish you" I stammered.

"My princess, I don't want any special treatment from you, I'm to be treated as they are treated, I trained and took the vow that they too take, I'm glad that you have given us all a second chance, for that I'm grateful, I will gladly accept the punishment you have given all of us," she said while avoiding my gaze.

"Why are you doing this Lauren? You are suppose to understand that everything I'm doing is for their own good" I whispered.

"I know" she answered.

"Fine, may you all stand, you are forgiven," I said loudly for everyone to hear.

They stood up happily, Lauren looked at me then smiled happily too, I nodded then walked past everyone and got in the bathroom to take a bath.

Paula's p.o.v

Today was one of the worst days of my life, immediately I took a bath, my ladies dressed me up, a servant came to inform me that my carriage was ready, I wanted father to see me off but he refused, he was busy with one of his concubines to even say a simple goodbye to his only daughter.

I got in the carriage with Lauren while the others got in the other carriage, when the carriage began moving, I sighed sadly.

"My princess are you okay?" Lauren asked with concern.

"Yeah" I answered then leaned against the couch and closed my eyes. . . .

I was woken up by the sound of loud trumpets, I quickly sat upright and found Lauren asleep, I looked outside the window, it was no longer morning but mid-evening.

The carriage was moving slowly in the street where people were gathered and cheering, Lauren woke up and looked at me then at the window.

"We are here?" She asked as I nodded and closed the window.

Lauren quickly fixed my veil that was covering my face, if there was one rule I abided by, was the rule that said I was to cover my face before marriage, only after the wedding was I allowed to choose either to cover my face or let it show.

The carriage stopped and the door was opened for us, Lauren came out first then I followed, I looked at the huge beautiful castle that was in front of us.

Many richly dressed men stood looking at me and my ladies, but amongst the men, one caught my eye, he was taller and somehow huge than the rest, his robes were expensively designed, his ring and neck jewelry were the finest, it was the first time looking at men this close, amongst all of them he was the most handsome, his eyes were light green and his hair dark blond, although he was very handsome his eyes were not welcoming but rather cold and unfriendly, the man that stood next to him was a bit shorter and not that largely built, he had long dark hair and was smiling happily at us, he looked very friendly.

"Um excuse me but, didn't the king ride with you?" He asked while still smiling at us.

"No, he sends his apology" Lauren answered then handed a scroll to the man who took it and read it silently.

I had no idea father had given Lauren the scroll, he must have made sure not to see my annoying face.

"Oh okay, I understand, your Father won't attend the wedding, but you are here so let's carry on with the plan, the wedding is in an hour," he said as I looked at Lauren in shock.

The tall handsome man turned and left with a displeased expression and some of the men.

"Welcome," the friendly man who held the scroll said as two ladies approached us.

"They will attend to you your highness and help you prepare for your wedding," the man said.

"I'm Cindy," the tall older redhead said.

"And I am Amore," the younger redhead said as they both bowed.

"I must admit your country does have very beautiful women, you are all breathtaking," the man said as I smiled, my ladies giggled happily.

The man took Lauren's hand and kissed it.

"Your highness, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," he said.

I smiled keeping my laughter in, did he think Lauren was me? Lauren bowed low.

"Likewise" she played on.

The man turned and left with a chuckle, he really was friendly, if he was the king I had a feeling we would try and rule hand in hand peacefully.

"This way my lady" Cindy and Amore said as they walked in the castle.

We all followed them upstairs, when we reached a certain room they pushed open the door, we all walked in.

I took off my veil while looking around, the bedroom wasn't much different from my room back in my kingdom, the only difference was that the things in this room were a bit more expensive.

Lauren went out leaving me with my ladies, Cindy and Amore.

"Isn't any of you going to escort her highness?" Cindy and Amore asked together.

"Oh, we will" Bridget answered as she got Cleo's hand and walked out.

"They are weird, huh, how could you forget your duty easily," Amore asked.

"Do you think her highness went to talk to our king?" Cindy asked.

"No way, that would be a mistake" Amore answered.

"Why is that?" I asked curiously.

They looked at each other for some minutes.

"Girls we are all servants here," Miriam said trying to make them spill anything they know.

"Well um.. The king is busy preparing the wedding" Cindy answered in a whisper.

"Oh yes preparing it on lady Grace" Amore answered with laughter as I frowned confused.

"Lady Grace?" Debby asked.

"Yes, lady Grace the beautiful daughter of lord Ridder" Cindy answered.

"You mean, he is having sex with her right now as we speak?, As in he sleeps with her?" I asked trying to understand what I thought I was hearing wrong.

"The king sleeps with Almost half of the castle ladies, the king finds pleasure in all the women here, mostly the younger ones, but his best is lady Grace, I can bet you five tails of gold right now, when you go upstairs you will hear the screams, he can never get enough of lady Grace, every time we walk by we could hear their moans and groans and at times when the king sits with lady Grace on his throne he touches her almost everywhere, his not afraid to show everyone how much she means to him," Amore said.

"Poor princess, she will be marrying a man who is in love with another, rumor has it that our king only agreed to marry the princess because of the ministers who advised him to do it, he wanted to wed lady Grace but the ministers couldn't agree on it," Cindy said as I sat down powrlessly.

"It seems our princess is really unlucky" I whispered sadly.

"No don't say that," Debby and Miriam said together.

The door opened and Lauren walked in with Bridget and Cleo.

Cindy and Amore bowed low.

"Its time to start the preparations," Lauren said seriously.

"Yes princess" Cindy and Amore answered together.

"Not me, I'm not the princess, she is," she said pointing at me.

Cindy and Amore looked at me in shock, I stood up then smiled.

"Your secret is safe ladies, thank you for opening up to me and my ladies, now if you will help me get ready for my wedding," I said as they bowed.

"Right away your highness" they answered in fear.