Mondo Pastello | girlxgirl | Comple... - Chapter 27: Chapter 27

For some reason, I expected the banquet to be like the dinner with the Adams family. I was severely mistaken and quickly figured out this was in the context of the Spain banquet. The entire Royal Family will be attending, and I wasn't necessarily glad about that. Some of my cousins weren't all that dignified. They were dukes and duchesses, earls and viscounts. Some of their heads were too big for their shoulders to hold. I didn't necessarily enjoy their presence.
"Hey, can I use your laptop at dinner?" Sarina suddenly asked me and I turned to regard her with the strangest look I could muster.
"Why would you want to take a laptop to a royal dinner?" she found my expression funny, immediately beginning to laugh.
"No, I'm not allowed to attend the dinner but it's only an hour so I want to watch the new episode," my jaw dropped as I regarded her.
"You're not allowed?" I should have expected it, but in my happy high I didn't realize that my world was still a bit flawed. "But what about you?"
"Remember when I said I bribed your handmaiden? Well I also made plans to get dinner from the kitchen. It's all good," she said casually, checking out her light baby pink nails. It was so strange to see her make such a drastic change in such a short time, but I knew she did it for me. Where did she even get the makeup and nail polish? I was pretty sure she owned nothing but black.
"Are you sure because... now I feel bad," Sarina laughed at me, seemingly thoroughly amused by my words.
"Dude, I had breakfast with the Royal Family. I already got every inch of satisfaction form just that! The fact that I'm riding in a freaking limousine is already overkill. I really don't need nor want to be at that banquet. I would be the prey in front of the bloodhounds," I sighed a little relieving at her words, hearing her sound so sincere. "So can I use your laptop?" I nodded in affirmation.
The banquet didn't start long after and I left my room to join everyone in the hall, leaving Sarina alone with an hour plus to enjoy the newest episodes of one of her favourite series. I would kill to be in her position.
The banquet hall was even more decorated than this morning and the chandeliers were lit, shining bright. This was a more casual banquet because it is not the only festivity of the day and it was scheduled to be 'short and sweet' as my mother called it. On entering I was immediately spotted by one of my cousins, the Earl Lewis, and he abandoned his little social group to come join my side. If I had to choose one cousin, it would have to be him. Only because he was twenty-two as if this year and looked to be finally maturing.
"Melanie! I cannot believe you are still so short!" on second thought, maybe I could skip and join Sarina. He didn't even have the decency to make an attempt to call me by my title and it infuriated me.
"And you are a giant like always, Lewis," I wouldn't dare call him by his title. His figure was nearing two metres in height, towering over everyone. He chuckled at the dry humour, even though I was pretty sure he picked up on my passive aggressiveness.
"How amusing, little cousin! So I heard that you sucker punched your boyfriend in the face! Bad ass, woman! Didn't think the little princess from the palace up on the hill had it in her," I sighed deeply, patting his arm.
"Well, you don't know everything about me," I said with a shrug, walking past him to enter the hall more. I spotted the twins in the corner, being confronted by Lady Matilda, Lewis's little sister. She was sixteen and an absolute pain with resentment towards me. She carried the title of Highness because of her blood ties to the family, but she had nothing else as she was the third child and a girl. She was furious about being a part of the branch family, carrying nothing but hatred to us in the main household. The three children were the sons and daughter of Princess Alice, my mother's sister and my aunt.
From the looks of it, the twins were getting quite the earful from Matilda.
My father spotted my figure, calling everyone to their seats. I sat on my mother's left side, Cornelius at my hip. Mother thanked the party and briefly explained the reason for the family dinner. I got many comments full of 'happy birthdays' after that.
My aunt and uncle conversed with me, talking about Spain and asking my opinion on the Prince.
"Will we be looking forward to our dear Princess becoming the Queen of Spain?" Matilda teased with a glare on her face, placing her elbows on the table as she regarded me. I scowled.
"Matilda! Remove those elbows!" she scoffed as he father, Duke Piers, spoke. The Duke Piers was a rather paranoid man, apparently always afraid that we would throw him in the Tower of London. He married into the family.
"Well Lady Matilda, it is bit farfetched. The Prince Maximiliano-Alejandro would rather have a Spanish wife but you can look forward to my ascend to the throne here in the United Kingdom," I answered as proper as I could, trying not to reveal my ill intend with my eyes. She gave me a venomous glare, one that could kill like a sharp knife.
"Do you think the kingdom is biased of you?" I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously.
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, you have shown violent behaviour before as proof on your hand. I am sure there are those who feel that you are a threat," I scowled, showing my disdain for her. I could feel my mother's eyes on me, probably waiting to see how I will handle the situation. I calmed my facial features.
"Of course. There are always those who will judge me. When I am Crowned Princess, I will just have to prove them of my reliability so that when I am Crowned Queen, they will undoubtedly trust me. Loyalty takes a while to bloom between a leader and his followers," my mother nodded, satisfied. I could see my aunt impressed as well. Matilda had nothing more to retort and instead kept her mouth shut.
The actually dinner was lovely and had only two courses, luckily. Matilda refrained from making more commentaries after noticing that her mother had a close watch on her. Lewis told us of his experience with the Air Force, hilarious stories emitting form him about boot camps. I pitied anyone who had to deal with him.
It was then that I noticed the middle child, the Viscount Jasper, had not said a word the entire evening. He was always a little strange, in my opinion. He was never open about anything and almost seemed terrified of his two venomous siblings. I could tell he inherited some of his father's paranoia and had developed self-esteem issues. I was very worried for him, honestly.
The pudding was cake, naturally, and it was rose flavoured. Matilda made attempts to insult my favourite choice of flavour but ultimately lost after she expressed her love for the cake. The rest of the evening I shot her smug looks, causing her to not meet my gaze. Not once. I felt victorious.
"Princess, before we retire for the night, we would like to present you with a gift," Princess Alice spoke, indicating to the darkened sky outside. Time seemed to flow a lot faster today than usual. It was Jasper who produced a small box, elegant black and gold detail on the site of it. He presented to me without saying a word, keeping his head low to not meet my eyesight. I took the box hesitantly and opened it, although it felt nerve-wracking because there were so many eyes on me.
Inside was a ring, and from the looks of it, this was an extensively expensive ring. The diamond on top looked to be quite a few carats, but what caught my eye the most was the violet details on the side. It was absolutely beautiful.
"Thank you so much. I will cherish this," I honestly thanked, bringing each of the family members into my arms. Jasper seemed a bit hesitant, but I held him a little longer before releasing his frail body. Matilda seemed like she absolutely wanted to chew me up when I hugged her, hissing into my ear.
Princess Alice rallied her family and we walked them out of the palace. They could not spend the night because of their individual responsibilities for the next morning. One such thing was that Matilda had to attend a private school and had apparently not begun on a speech she was to deliver the coming Monday. I snickered behind my palm when I heard that, her eyes sending me her utter hate. I waved her away innocently.
"She was an utter bitch," I heard from the lips of my youngest brother as we headed back to our rooms. I looked at him with a wide jaw.
"Bartholomew!" I screeched unladylike. He rolled his eyes and scoffed in annoyance.
"What? She was," I only shook my head at him, my expression agape. I headed back towards my room where I heard soft music coming from. It confused me momentarily until I entered. My laptop and a dirty bowl rested on my bed, boyband music playing from the speakers. I was utterly confused for a second until I spotted violet on the balcony. I closed my door and headed over. I spotted Sarina, her hair now loose and her feet bare as she danced around on the balcony, Toro as her dance partner. I laid myself against the door reeling, inspecting her gracious movements as she slow danced to a pop song. It was hilarious and I tried to keep my giggles to myself.
Eventually she spun, holding Toro up into the air as he meowed in delight. The scene looked familiar, but I couldn't tell from where.
Spotting me, Sarina stopped her movement and gave me one large smile.
"I'm so glad you're alive," I laughed at her words, heading over to take Toro into my arms. I petted him gently, his entire body revealing how exhausted he was at the moment as he meowed unenthusiastically.
"Aww, was the dancing a bit too much for you?" I cooed, heading back inside and gently placed him on his cushion bed. Sarina continued to twirl outside, almost giving me a heart attack as she topped slightly over the edge.
"Hey, what time is it?" she called to me as I tucked Toro in. I looked over at the laptop's right-hand corner, spotting the numbers.
"Uh. Quarter to nine," I answered, heading back towards her. She smiled brightly at me.
"That means that as of about minutes ago, you are officially eighteen years old! Happy escape-from-the-womb day!" I laughed loudly at her words, throwing off my heels before walking onto the balcony. I sat against the railing and brought one of my feet up towards me and gently massaged my aching foot while I shook my head at her with a smile.
"Thank you,"
"So," she said, heading towards me side and sitting next to me. She began to gently pull the bobby pins from my hair, allowing my hair to fall loose in pieces. "How was the dinner?" I groaned loudly.
"I don't really like them all that much. Especially two of them," I said, taking my other foot to message it as well. She hummed in thought.
"Pray do tell," I sighed.
"Okay so... my mother has a sister and she is known as Princess Alice. She married the Duke Piers, but because my mother became the Queen, it means that their family turned into the side branch," she frowned for a bit before nodding, indicating she understood. "So that means that their children cannot be princes or princesses. Their children is the Earl Lewis, the Viscount Jasper and the Lady Matilda. Lewis is sarcastic and loves to tease people, especially me. Matilda is a little monster and is angry that she doesn't have a title," I explained.
"Isn't 'Lady' a title?"
"Yes, I guess, but anyone woman of high standing has that title. I mean, you have that title," her eyes bulged at this as she stood up, moving to put the pins away and silence the music a bit.
"Are you saying I am 'Lady Sarina'?" she called out. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Well, if you really are 'Friend of the Crown' then yes. Oh dammit. I wanted to ask my father about that but I forgot," Sarina chuckled as she walked back, swinging her ruffled hair out of her face.
"What about the other one?" she questioned.
"Jasper? Well, I think living with the other two monsters and the Duke is rather paranoid, so I think he has some issues. He's really quiet," I said, swinging my feet as I raised my head to look at the stars.
"It really is a beautiful night," I admitted, seeing the clear sky. Sarina smiled, walking over towards me until she stopped in front of me. She inspected the stars as well.
"Do you believe in aliens?" she suddenly asked. I scoffed.
"That's a rather strange question,"
"Is it? Well, miss royalty, tell me: what are the secrets of Area 51?" I laughed loudly at her words.
"What? Isn't that in America?" she shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know. I just got really excited for a second when I thought you might know their secrets," I shook my head at her ridiculousness, hopping onto my feet. I peered at the stars curiously for a second, humming in thought. Sarina regarded me with question and a head tilt. I raised my hand to a star pattern, Sarina looking up to follow my finger. "That's the Southern Cross. It's the only stars I know because it's the one you use when you get lost," Sarina shot her head back down towards me and chewed on her bottom lip for a second before releasing it.
"Do you know where I get lost frequently?" she asked, rocking a bit on her barefoot.
"Yeah?" still peering up at the celestial bodies above our heads.
"Your eyes," I shot my head down towards her in surprise, my cheeks heating up a bit at that. Sarina suddenly looked disappointed with herself and shook herself. She ran her hands over her face and let them rest over her eyes. It was quiet for a moment, and I couldn't figure out if there was tension or not. I did feel a bit uncomfortable. What was she doing?
Sarina her fingers opened her fingers like a scissor, peering through them. Suddenly she released her hands from her face and looked over the front garden for a moment, as if looking for something. I followed her line of sight but didn't find anything.
"You know..." her sudden voice startled me. "The reason why I waited until you were exactly eighteen to wish you a happy birthday is because if I said it earlier, then I would feel obliged to give you your present earlier," I frowned my eyes at her.
"Okay?" I peered curiously up at her. Was there a reason she couldn't give it me earlier?
"I'm not very smart and I really didn't focus in school, but I think it's illegal and there's no way I'm going to jail," she shook her head frantically. I looked at her with wide eyes.
"Sarina! What did you do?!" I asked frantically. She chuckled at this.
"I didn't do anything, because like I said, I think it's illegal. But now," she peered over at me. "It's not," I was feeling emotions of confusion. What was she on about? All of those confused emotions increased tenfold when she suddenly took a large stride towards me, standing so close to my own body. I could feel the heat radiating off her figure, her breath fanning a bit of my face as she stood tall over me. Almost hesitantly, she raised her hands and placed them on the sides of me cheeks, raising my head until out eyes met.
My heart began pounding louder than ever before, feeling as if I would fall dead right here. Her eyes held so many emotions, her warm and the certainty within them unwavering. She was a woman on a mission, and I knew that whatever I did or said, nothing would break her ultimate concentration and determination.
I didn't know how I looked. I don't know if my eyes were glossy at the sudden intensity in the air or if my face was the colour of my favourite rose. I didn't know if my knees can support me if she kept standing so close to me, and neither did I know if I would be able to hold myself back at this point. She was right there, holding my face so gently as if I would break.
I didn't feel in control anymore, but I gave into the feeling.
Sarina readjusted her hands on the side of my face, still a gentle touch but a better grip on my face. She came closer to me and I wondered what kind of secrets she would whisper to me, what kind of illegal deeds she was afraid of. I realised almost too late what she was doing, her closing eyes indicating her next move.
My heart went into an overdrive and I closed my eyes instinctively, moving my head up at my own accord until I met her lips halfway.