The Kind Young Lady And The Crown Prince

Chapter 6

This continue for five days, Chioma finally gave up searching after searching the entire village, she was scared and hurt, she thought maybe Emeka encounter a bad people or he did not want her anymore after hearing the news of her having a disease, she even thought maybe her stepmother was the one who made him disappeared but she did not know what happened, she could only cried to sleep.

the morning of the sixth day, the sound of the drum if the village town crier summoning the villagers sound, all the villagers drop all the things they are doing and run to the village square including Chioma and her stepmother and sisters.

The village square is a big tree in the center of the village, all the villagers were present.

When the town crier saw that everyone was there, he made the announcement.

“ The Royal majesty the crown prince will be holding a bride selection event in the palace two days time, all the unmarried ladies must be present and will be accompanied by their mother, you must be prepare and gather here with your mothers in two days time”.

The town crier announced and left, the young ladies where very happy to attend the bride selection of the crown prince, so is their parents, they want to be the in-laws of the royal family.

The happiest person was Rosemary, she miss the opportunity to be the queen of the late King back then because she got pregnant even if she was not married, she was not allowed to participate because she was carrying another man's child but now that the crown prince is choosing a bride, this is the opportunity, she has two daughters, she would dress them beautifully, when the crown prince set his eyes on them, he will fall in love, one of them must surely be the Crown Prince bride.

When everyone was happy, Chioma was not , she did not want to be the bride of the prince, she have someone she loves already but she could not disobey the order of the Crown Prince, she would be executed if she is caught.

All this days she have been looking for Emeka but now that she is going to participate in the competition, she is afraid that she might not be able to be with Emeka again.

Two days later, Chioma and her stepmother and sisters gathered and set off with other young ladies they were twenty-five in number with Chioma and her stepsisters include and they are accompanied by their mothers. Even Rosemary did not want Chioma to go but, she could not disobey the order of the Crown Prince or else she will be punished by the village laws.

All the ladies including Chisom and Titi dress beautifully except Chioma, all her clothes are close that her stepsisters did not want anymore, they are worn out and look old but that did not hide her beauty.

When they arrived in the palace, they were separated from their mothers, their mothers sit on the audience, why the ladies was asked to stand on the stage.

“ Good Morning everyone as we all know today is the bride selection Competition, there are three stages, the ladies must do your best and if you are caught cheating or pretending not to know anything, you will be punished for deceiving the Crown Prince” the host said.

Chioma wanted to pretend not to know anything but the host's word made her give up,. it was as if he could read her mind.

there are three stages of the competition, first is Cooking Competition, second is dancing competition and the last one is Singing competition, during this progress anyone who fails in any of this three competition will be eliminated, the last three ladies will be the ones the Crown Prince will choose his bride from.

When Rosemary and daughters heard this they were discourage , mostly Rosemary, she thought that the competition will be like the late King's own but it was different, the late King's bride selection was just to choose a girl he found pleading to his eyes but this was different, her children did not know how to cook, sing, or dance even if she want to forced Chioma to help her children, she could not help them in the dancing and singing competition and the villagers and the palace elders are watching.

the cooking competition start, they were given one hour to make pounded yam and egusi soup .

After one hour, the host and the palace elders stood forward to taste the foods. nine ladies were eliminated because some add too much salt, why some forgot to put salt or clean the fish they use to cook, Chisom was among the nine ladies but she was different, she could not even start the fire. the villagers found it weird because if a young lady wants to marry in this village, she must know how to cook.