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Just You Wait by rui

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Chapter 3


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"Lady Hitomi, I would like to introduce you to your shadow." Hitomi's blond eyebrow rose at that introduction. One of the council members had bumped into her in the courtyard and from there had whisked her away to a more private part of the palace.

"This is Armand, he will be the one who will be providing for your—physical appearance and also instruct you on the way you are to behave when Prince Van is crowned in a week."

Her blonde eyebrow twitched but neither man seemed to notice. Armand bent in half, showing his deep respect or tying his bootlaces, the girl wasn't sure, but when he popped back up he grabbed her hand and kissed it. "My pleasure, future Queen."

The council member was content to explain that Armand was the best in the business at turning nickels into gold pieces. Hitomi raised an eyebrow at his back as the member quickly, and quite jolly, nearly danced away.

When she gave her attention back to Armand, his pleasant brown-nosing smile had completely gone. Instead of the cheerful look, he wore a disapproving grimace as his eyebrows were making a point in the middle of his forehead. "Now, lady, we may work."

"I—beg your pardon?" Hitomi questioned.

"You see, I can list three things that are wrong with you at this very moment." Hitomi's defense went to the sky. She opened her mouth to protest his rude behavior but found it impossible when one of Armand's fingers, placed under her chin, snapped it up. "Four."

"One. You are dressed like a peasant. Not even a fashionable peasant. This whole summer dress has got to be a thing of your past."

"It's hot. It works."

"Imagine you on the balcony smiling down at the people who you now rule over and a good breeze comes and everyone can see Prince Van's honeymoon night!" Hitomi's cheeks turned a lovely sunset red. Armand nodded his chestnut, curly hair covered head and sighed while he gave the blushing female another one over. "So we need to get you fitted for heavy, long dresses. Something that will make you look pretty and powerful at the same time. A true tailor's nightmare."

"How dare you—"

"Tsk, tsk. You didn't let me finish. Number two is that you are walking aimlessly around. This is a big no-no. You can not stroll without a purpose and number three, consequently, is that you can go no where in public without a knight or the king. People want to know their queen is important and not just a frump lying around a palace." Hitomi could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand erect from her sheer annoyance. Though her temper was not fast nor was it cruel, being torn apart by a pretty boy was the last thing she wanted to happen at this moment.

"I will not take orders from the likes of you," Hitomi hissed dangerously.

"Good!" Armand's mood swung back to his more giddy self. "You already have that holier-than-thou attitude but I must say that after seeing your back water ways, I will tell you what to do and if you want to be a queen instead of just a baby-making factory alone, you will obey me."

Her fingers wound up tightly into a ball as the man walked back and forth spewing his gibberish and repeating about how important it was for her to respect him. Just as her fists itched to hit something, she turned on her heels and walked away. Armand was in hot pursuit.

"Lady!" the fancy man screamed as she quickly picked up the pace. When she still couldn't rid herself of him she broke into a run. It took little time for her to sprint the courtyard, past the confused people and up the two flights of stairs. She waited patiently for Armand's face to appear at the bottom of the stair well.

"Looks like my back water ways, like knowing how to properly run, are still better than your pampered prissish ways in any race." She was smug, oh yes, but the red faced man, she was sure, cursed under his breath as he attempted to crawl up the stairs. Hitomi made it back to her room safely and locked the door. Her mother and sister were the first to think she needed to be re-done and now this man that the Grand Council had hired to make her seem like someone else because just being her wasn't fashionable enough.

The dirty-blonde shook her head. It wasn't going to happen. Absolutely not. She refused to become just another airhead.

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"During your coronation you will remain on one knee before the high priest until he announces your full title and then—" Van sighed. He knew the procedures like the back of his sword. He wasn't overly eager to be King because of the extra duties and stricter regulations placed upon him, but he had heard about this ceremony since he could sit up straight in a chair.

Just when Van had gotten to counting the number of times the instructor said 'king' for entertainment, a messenger burst through the doors and breathlessly waited for permission to speak. The instructor sputtered with insult because of his interrupted lesson, but Van was glad that some higher being rescued him.

"Go ahead," the Prince instructed.

"There-is-a knight from Asturia." The boy, a few years younger than Van, stood up. "He is one of high ranking!"

The gray-haired instructor sneered at the boy. "And how do you know this? You interrupted our highness' important lessons to report that a lowly knight has come to the gates?"

"No sir." The boy recovered, his eyes fixing on the raven haired heir. "He is so important because he is escorting the Princess of Asturia, Millerna."

"Why didn't you say that before!" The man ran from the room, rambling a hundred different things that had to be done in order to get the palace presentable.

"Where are they?" Van asked, having gotten to his feet just as quickly as his teacher.

"They have just arrived on the flying ship. They have yet to dock, your highness." The boy's eyes quivered with excitement.

"Did they say why they've come?"

"To meet the future Queen of Fanelia," the messenger said proudly. "And to witness the crowing and marriage ceremonies."

"Oh gods…" Van muttered, dropping down in his chair in defeat. Why did they want to meet her? Witnessing the ceremonies was fine, wanting to actually speak to the headstrong merchant's daughter was another fiasco all its own and, Van accused mentally, a disaster waiting to happen. Catching himself as the young boy tipped his head and blinked curiously at his to-be King, Van collected himself. "Very well. Tell them they are more than welcomed. I will receive them in the throne room."

The boy nodded and sprinted out the door.

Now came the hard part, Van thought, trying to get that girl to cooperate.

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It had been two days since the introduction of Armand and Hitomi could not have been more miserable. The brunette proved to be a true try in her patience as he groomed, gloated and grossed about almost everything in the world and mainly about her. She was too thin, too bony, too muscular and the list went on. He even had the nerve to compare her to an old work mule that his father had once had.

She had gotten in the practice of dashing off whenever he would come near but by the first night, she found him smirking and cross-legged on her bed. Apparently he had tattled on her running off adventures to some members of the council who, in turn, gave him a key to her bedroom.

"Isn't it improper to enter a woman's bedroom?" Hitomi had tried to attack him with his own expertise but the man gave her a pointedly flat stare and shot back a comment of his own.

"Don't worry, milady, I am not physically attracted to you." He gave a light snort. "I mean, I like my women to actually resembled women, not young boys in a skirt."

Even now those cruel words rung in her ears. Now the fancy man had the audacity to nearly break the door down while she was bathing to tell her to meet him outside in the main part of her bedroom immediately. Hitomi was about to protest until Armand gave her that look and she loathingly obeyed.

"What is so important that you have to come charging into my bath like a cannibal after his supper?"

"Oh please, honey, there isn't enough meat on you to make a finger sandwich much less a meal."

She glared at him and gripped the towel tighter around her body. "What is it?"

"You have to shine like a star in about twenty minutes. Two people have come to see you." Armand was ripping through the wardrobe with fierce determination, discarding clothes and throwing shoes over his shoulder. "Don't you have anything here that is remotely attractive?"

"I go for comfort and practicality not attractiveness," the towel girl pointed out happily, feeling an ounce of triumph at her advisor's exasperated expression. Finally he dubbed one of her dresses okay enough to put on and before the girl could shoo him from the room he ripped the towel from her body and shoved the dress in her arms. "What are you doing?"

"Getting you dressed. This isn't a time for modesty!" The man made quick work of her dress and before Hitomi could form a single coherent sentence of objection in her mind, Armand had her dressed, hair down and half way down the hall.

"Remember that you are to represent his lordship with your utmost grace." Armand's voice was firm. "It's important that we look good in the Princess' eyes. You represent Van now, so I know this is a lot to ask, but would you please try not to say too much and act like you have at least an inch of femininity in you."

"What should I care if I make Prince Van look bad?"

That was the number one wrong thing to say as Armand came to a dead stop, causing the girl to run into his back. Rubbing her nose, which had met his right shoulder blade, she peeked through one open eyelid at him.

His eyes were almost on fire with the amount of wrath he was feeling. "I don't care about you or what you think you have a right to do. You might not like Prince Van but plenty of people do. You aren't doing anything for him, none of us work for him, and so much as we work for the kingdom. If you make him look bad, you make everyone, ev-er-y-one look bad in Fanelia." With a jerk, they started their journey to one of the smaller halls leading from the sleeping quarters part of the palace to the throne room.

Van stood, waiting, for Hitomi to come as he had been told to do. He was dressed in the red jacket and black pants that symbolized Fanelia's royal colors along with the gold seal of the kingdom. Having never seen him in anything else, Hitomi wondered if he owned any other clothes.

"You are late," Van pointed out as Armand bowed low and presented Hitomi to his highness.

"So sorry your majesty." There wasn't a drip of sincerity in her words and Armand laughed nervously. Van offered his arm and she hooked hers through his. "But Armand was too busy striping me for me to notice the time." Armand's laugh stopped cold as Van's eyebrow rose. Before anything else could be said, the doors open and Van started forward, with a light nudge, Hitomi followed him.

"His Royal Highness, Prince Van Fanel of Fanelia and Lady Hitomi." The announcement sounded strange in Hitomi's ears but she didn't have the luxury of trying to adjust to it. Van and Hitomi met with the two tall blondes who greeted them with smiles and the proper fashion.

"I'm so pleased to finally meet you, Prince Van." The tall female spoke with a smile. "I am Princess Millerna of Asturia and this is my personal escort, Sir Allen."

The two men bowed before each other and the conversation kept a stiff formal note to it as they stood there chatting. Hitomi, who was mainly left out of the conversation, kept her arm locked with Van's and slipped into a dazed state. Of course that is when someone must have directed a question towards her because when she became painfully aware someone was watching her, she noticed that three people were watching her intently.

"Are you feeling well?" The princess asked in a concerned tone. "You seem distant."

"Oh," Hitomi's mind raced for a thousand excuses but could only give a tiny nervous laugh.

"You'll have to forgive my Lady Hitomi; she has been exhausted making preparations for the wedding." Van swooped in like a knight with a shining vocabulary to save her from making a complete fool of herself. The smile the princess gave the couple spoke volumes of understanding. "I'm sure you would like to rest before dinner, I've had rooms prepared for you—Enki will show you to them."

It took a few more minutes but eventually, Van led Hitomi out of the room. She was about to ask how he could seem so calm under that boring pressure when he dropped her arm as he pulled on the tie and first button of his shirt.

"That's not very professional," Hitomi pointed out as he successfully untied the restricting fabric from his neck and got the first two buttons of his shirt undone. His garnet eyes flashed as he looked at her.

"Neither is drifting off into the clouds during an introduction."

"It was boring, I couldn't help it."

"You'll have to learn to 'help it'," Van reprimanded. "Although she handled it well, there are many others who don't have a sense of humor." With that, he turned and walked off.

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"I don't want to go to dinner. Tell them I'm sick," Hitomi suggested. The maid and Armand both frowned at that.

"If you say you're sick, they might think it is the food and then accuse us of trying to kill them and take over their lands."

"That's insane. No one would think that."

"A war hungry general would. And then Fanelia would be crushed and it'd be all your fault, Armand pointed out and then sighed dramatically. "You would single-handedly take down a kingdom and one you are trying to become Queen of. Imagine what the history scrolls will say."

Hitomi glared at him as the old maid hit him on the arm. "My lady, it will cause Lord Van to look bad if his own intended isn't at the dinner."

The blonde studied her hands. She didn't like the Prince because she was the reason she had to get married to him, but it wasn't really his fault that her father was a money hungry hog. He was mean to her, but she easily and eagerly returned the treatment. It was painfully obvious that she embarrassed him this afternoon, who said it was impossible to do it again?

"I won't." Hitomi stated with less conviction than before. "I can't."

"You have to smile and be nice,"Armand instructed clearly. "And then I promise you can go back to chewing your toenails with your teeth or whatever savage girls like you do." He waved a hand as if brushing her off.

"I am not a savage and I certainly do not chew my toenails," Hitomi battled back.

"Then prove me wrong and actually attend the dinner." He was cornering her into going.

Sticking her nose in the air, she turned to the side. "No."

"Why you little—!"

"Out, Armand," the old maid instructed.

"But I have to get her to the dinner on time or I'll—"

"Now!" Armand sprinted to the door and slammed it shut.

"I've been trying to get him to do that for a few days," Hitomi said, amazed.

"You have to be over fifty to wield power like that over the young men." The maid scooped up the dress Armand had brought in for her to change into. It was red with gold embroidery—Fanelia's colors. "Now missy, time for you to get dressed." There was no fighting with a woman who could make Hitomi's arch-nemesis run for the door. The girl begrudgingly slipped into the dress and allowed the maid to fix her hair and make-up.

When it was done, the woman nodded her approval, "Very well, you look very well. Do Fanelia proud."

Sighing, Hitomi could barely breathe in the corset that was wrapped like a vice around her rib cage. Saying a little prayer, the blonde opened the door and stepped into the hall.

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