“Oh, of course. Arthur…. Silly me!” I said, nervously, as we left the closet. “It’s alright Princess Madelyn. Now, it's time to escort you off to Alfonzo.” “Yes, Alfonzo my….” “Royal advisor, Princess Madelyn” “That’s what I was going to say. My royal advisor.” All of a sudden, the giant golden door that was the entrance to my room burst open, and a small, anxious looked man barged in. He was wearing a dapper jet black suit, and holding a golden scroll. “Good morning Alfonzo.” Lise started, “I was just about to escort her to your office, why did you come here” “Well.” Alfonzo said sharply, “Someone was taking an awful lot of time preparing Princess Madelyn for the day.” Lise’s eyes widened, “I’m so, so sorry Alfonzo, there were…. Complications” “Hmm I see. I just want to remind you that someone with a job as great as being the lady-in-waiting to the Princess wouldn’t allow complications.” “I-I’ll do better Alfonzo.” “Good. If you don't, we will have a problem.” He shifted his gaze to me, “Oh, darling! You look beautiful! Now, we must get a move on if we want to make it to the guestlist meeting at precisely 9:15!” Alfonzo stepped toward me and grabbed my pale arm and gently led me out of the room. We walked swiftly and I tried to take in everything I could of the palace halls as we walked. It was beautiful, incredible, even, but soon we stopped abruptly as we arrived at giant doors that seemed to be made of jade. Aflonzo pushed open the door and scurried into a chair at the head of a long, golden table. I sat down in a chair opposite Alfonzo, and looked around at the finely dressed men and women holding scrolls and pictures. “Welcome Princess Madelyn, it’s a pleasure!” A tall, tan, blonde lady said, curtsying to me, “I’m Victoria, the head of guests for your royal wedding, and I must say, you look beautiful!” “T-thank you.” I stammer Victoria sat down and pulled out a long, milky white scroll from her pocket, and started talking at me. “Now, Princess, I know you had a conversation with my assistant, Alexandra about a month ago to decide the guests, but I’ll be telling you who can attend, and making sure you have everyone you want, and getting rid of anyone you don’t want. And all these other men and women here are from other kingdoms, so they can be updated on whether or not their royalty is invited.” “Okay! Sounds great.” “Now, Lady Willomina of Zinlow can’t make it, and neither can Lord Winston of Zinlow, so they’re going off the guest list. The Duke and Duchess of Quichley are on their honeymoon, so that’s a no, and Queen Cora of Glinta is on vacation. But other than that, that’s it for the nos. Everyone is so excited to see you Princess Madeyn! So many of them have known you since you were little!” “Yeah… We’re really… close” “Definitely! So, that means that King Steward and Queen Clarisse are definitely on the list, so is Lady Sylvia and of course, your close friend Princess Lacy!” My heart stopped. “Princess Lacy..?” “Yes, Princess Lacy of Himonius, our neighboring kingdom! You’re best friend? You visit each other a lot, in fact, she was the first person you put on the guest list.” “Yes! Princess Lacy! My apologies, I…wasn’t paying attention” “No need to apologize Princess Madelyn” Victoria then droned on, listing name, after name, after name, of people I’ve never heard of before. I said yes to every single one of them. But I wasn’t really thinking about the guest list for a wedding to a boy named Arthur who I’ve never met. I was stuck on Lacey. Lacey was my friend on the farm who came to play with me after she helped my parents, I remember. We would pretend we were princesses from neighboring kingdoms, but… how can this be? After about an hour of random yeses to random people and utter confusion, Alfonzo grabs my arm and leads me out of the room, where I full on slam into the boy I’m supposed to marry.
