Royally Entangled

"I'm truly sorry, Princess Paige. I do not think that a connection by marriage would be beneficial for either of our kingdoms. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave now. Have a safe trip." The girl nodded in understanding and bowed to the prince, before turning around and walking out of the castle's main hall with her two servants. The prince sighed once the doors had closed behind them and sat down on the steps that lead up to the throne. The Queen, who had seen the encounter from her throne, sighed as well. "Vincent, this way you will never find a suitable partner to rule the Kingdom with." Her disappointment was apparent but her soft heart could never stay mad at the prince for too long. Instead, she tried to reason with him. "I know that when you are 21, you are in the prime of your life and you do not want to think about things like marriage, but at your age, I was already engaged to your father. Oh, if only the King was still here, you would have more time to find someone who suits your needs." Vincent ran a hand through his already slicked back hair before answering. "I know, mother. I will keep looking for someone who I will be able to trust with the Rosian Kingdom. I will not disappoint you, mother, I promise. Just give me a little more time." "I trust you, Vincent," His mom replied while smiling softly "I know you will choose someone fit to rule our Kingdom beside you. You have a good vision." She then paused briefly and glanced at the floor. "But we both know that my health is declining fast. So I must suggest that you choose someone who feels adequate for the job, even though I know that you would like to form a personal connection with your future partner first. Sadly, we might not have the time for that, Vincent. You know that I need to give you the throne before next spring as to avoid any risks." She finished and sighed softly.  "I understand, mother. I had thought of doing so before, but only when the time was thinning. I now see the urgency of the situation and will do my best to find someone suitable fast. I promise." Vincent answered. The Queen smiled at him before there was a knock at the door. Vincent stood up while his mother called for the person at the door to come inside. A servant walked inside the hall and bowed before saying: "Your Majesty, Miss Warner has arrived to discuss the setup of the army at the east part of town going into fall." The Queen smiled and nodded understandingly. "Bring her in." The servant nodded and turned around to go and get the Queen's guest. "Then I will excuse myself to my room, mother," Vincent said before bowing slightly. "Of course." His mother responded and he started walking towards the door, where he passed Hazel. She had her hair tied up in a bun and was wearing her uniform. She winked at him when she saw him and Vincent just smiled and shook his head in response before walking out of the main hall. She liked to tease him when he was dressed up to meet new suitors. Because of this interaction, Vincent's face retained a smile as he walked through the castle. The different servants who passed him on his way, male and female, young and old, all greeted him in a friendly manner. The atmosphere in the castle was nice and calm and sunlight beamed through the windows in every hallway Vincent walked through. He shortly arrived at his room and went inside.  The two tall, slender windows next to either side of his bed also let in the sunlight, which gave the room a nice glow. He walked around his bed to one of the windows and opened it before stepping out on the small balcony attached to it. He breathed in the fresh air and felt the sunlight on his light skin. He smiled brightly while he looked down at his Kingdom. It was as beautiful as ever. There was a small, clear river which separated the castle grounds from the rest of the Kingdom. A wooden bridge could be crossed to go to the village where the Kingdom's people lived. Many cottage houses with small gardens were placed across town to give it a cosy and homey feeling. The town also held several shops, restaurants and a market. Within the Kingdom's walls, there were also pieces of land for each farmer's desires and some woods.  Vincent saw new houses being built at the edge of town. This was to no surprise, as many new people came to the Kingdom each week in pursuit of a new, cosy and accepting home. The Queen rarely denied new villagers, so it was only a matter of time before the walls needed to be moved outwards. Luckily, there was a lot of empty land around the walls and neighbouring Kingdoms were empathetic towards the growing Rosian Kingdom, so expanding the land would not be a problem, only a lot of work. Vincent sighed at the thought of expansion and looked down at the castle's garden. He saw Hazel walking on the gravel path around the castle. Apparently, her meeting with Vincent's mother was over already, as she was headed to her Gardner friends. Hazel was one of Vincent's only friends, as she was head of the army and was often in and around the castle. Also, she hated honorifics as much as Vincent did, so they clicked almost immediately. Hazel had two good friends, who worked in the castle's garden. One was a young adult, named Lu, who arrived about a year ago from the east with his mother and older sister. Vincent spotted him immediately, as did Hazel. She walked towards him as he was watering some flowers. They greeted each other before Hazel asked, "Where is he?" This sparked Vincent's interest, as she was talking about her second friend. Vincent also had not been able to spot him, even though his viewpoint had a big advantage over her's. "Probably working on the rosebush again. You should know that by now," Lu chuckled. Vincent's eyes wandered across the garden until he saw his mother's favourite rosebush and a person crouched before it. Vincent could not help but smile. Hazel's second friend, a boy slightly younger than Vincent, had an immense love for roses and was therefore vastly admired by the Queen.  He had arrived about three months ago, which is why Vincent had not been able to catch his name yet. He had asked Hazel countless times to introduce him to her friends as to make some more friends himself, but there had not been time for that yet, so Vincent could only admire their friendship from afar. But secretly, there was another reason, apart from a new friendship,  why he was not able to take his eyes off the nameless boy. Hazel had walked over to him and was now talking to him. Vincent could not hear what was being said as he was too busy staring at the boy. How his freckles defined his face, how his eyes sparkled when he smiled, how the sunlight hit him in such a way that his slender figure became visible underneath his loose, white button-up shirt. Vincent shook his head slightly to break out of the trance, "What am I thinking?" He murmured. He turned around and walked back into his bedroom. "I should focus on finding more princesses in surrounding Kingdoms that could potentially help me out, not waste time staring at the garden," He said to himself before sitting down at his desk. He rummaged through the papers Head Adviser Paul had given him a few days ago and crossed out the princess he had met that afternoon with a pencil. He sighed; finding a princess that he liked turned out to be harder than expected. And now that he had to be wed before spring to take over the Kingdom, time was ticking. He ran his hand through his hair and looked through the names listed on the papers before him. He sighed again in frustration. His eyes shifted to the side of his desk where a vase with seven different flowers was standing. Vincent smiled. He had found a flower on his nightstand every Sunday morning for weeks now and had decided to keep them, even though the older ones had started withering. The tiny bouquet that was forming reminded him that someone was looking out for him, even though he did not know who. The flowers gave him something to look forward to during a stressful week and Vincent was very thankful. After a while of studying the flowers in front of him, Vincent stood up from his desk and walked onto his balcony again. The sun had started to set and he now saw Hazel talking and laughing with her two friends. Vincent smiled again. Seeing them interact happily was way better than staring at names on a sheet of paper. He took a deep breath before looking down at the boy again.  He smiled brightly when talking to Hazel and his hair got ruffled slightly by the wind. Both Hazel and Lu expressed adoration for his enthusiasm before they all walked down the gravel path towards the village. Realising the group was going home for the day made Vincent slightly sad for reasons he could not exactly explain. The prince shrugged the feeling off, went back into his bedroom and closed the window behind him before heading to the dining hall for dinner.