A Princess Named Harry

Chapter 9

The sun rose quickly, and Harry woke up. She thought her bed felt a lot bigger and softer than she had remembered, but she quickly realized that she was not in her old bed nor her old home for that matter, she was in the palace.

She got up and the maids came to get her ready. They told her that she had been summoned by the king to the main hall. After getting her ready, Harry left and went to wait in the hall as she had been told. She was surprised to see the king already there waiting for her.

"Good morning, Harry," he said politely.

Harry was quick in her response. "Good morning, Your Majesty." His kind smile made Harry feel like he wanted something.

"Would you like to go get some breakfast, Harry?" he asked.

"Um, sure," she replied.

Harry felt like she should apologize to him now, but for some reason, the words wouldn't come out. The two went to dine with the rest of the royal family. As soon as Harry stepped into the room, she was met with hostility from the prince and princess. Of course, her mother was there smiling at her.

"Welcome, you two," she said sweetly. "Harry, come sit down by your mother."

Harry sat beside her and the seating arrangement proceeded accordingly, the king was right at the end of the table, Caroline was on his left, beside her was Harry, across from Harry sat the prince, and the princess was by the king's other side.

After they were all seated, multiple chefs came out, each holding a silver platter. They put them on the table and in perfect sync, lifted the lids. Instead of a luxurious meal, each platter carried simple food. Harry was relieved to see familiar food, but the first princess had other ideas for how their breakfast should go.

"Wait what?" she asked disgustedly.

"Ah, yes," answered the king. "I decided that our first meal together as a family should be a simple one."

Harry couldn't help but grin at the sight of the pancakes and French toast.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"It's wonderful, Your Majesty!" Harry cheerfully answered.

Caroline and the king turned to each other smiling. Kaitlyn glared at her plate and pushed it away. "I don't like it," she retorted.

The prince looked at the plate and then at his father. "Well, if Father is telling us to eat this kind of food, then I will do as he says."

Kaitlyn shot him a dirty look and replied, "Even so, I don't want to eat this low-level food, and why do I have to eat with such a lowly girl?"

Harry stopped eating and put her fork down. "I'm sorry, Princess Kaitlyn," she replied. "But if you just try the food, I'm sure you'll-"

"Don't say my name!" Kaitlyn shouted. "My name is not to come out of such lowly lips!" She pushed her chair out and stormed off. The sound of her high heels hitting the floor echoed through the room for a while.

The atmosphere immediately became tense. Harry stared down at her already half-eaten plate. "It's my fault that the princess is upset," she said in a very quiet voice.

Caroline patted her head and replied, "No, Harry, just like how you're adjusting to this new change, the princess is also adjusting."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, but her gloomy disposition did not change. She didn't want to upset anyone else. She tried to finish her food as quickly as possible. As she ate, the prince observed her.

"Kahil," said the king. "Make sure Kaitlyn is properly attended to."

He nodded and replied emotionlessly, "Yes, Father."

He then excused himself, so only Harry, her mother, and the king remained. "I think I'm done too," Caroline said as she leaned back in her chair.

"Me too," Harry replied. She wondered what she should do with her dishes.

As she debated whether or not she should take the dishes out, the king called her.

"Harry?"

"Yes?" she answered.

"Would you mind if I took up some of your time today?"

Harry was baffled by his actions. She knew he didn't have to ask her; he could have just ordered her to give him some of her time and that would be that.

"Um . . . sure," she slowly answered.

"Great," he replied. "Do you have any place you wish to go?"

Harry gave him an awkward smile. Truthfully, she didn't want to spend time with the king. It was too stressful, but she could handle it if it was only for a short time.

"I don't," she answered.

"Have you been to my private gardens yet?"

"No."

Harry had looked at all the gardens in the palace but the king's. Only he himself was allowed there unless they were given permission, which she hadn't been given until now.

"Okay, we'll go there."

The king then thought of more places for them to explore. "Then, we can go to the training grounds, and next, we can go look at the horses in the stable, and later, we'll have to discuss the topic for dinner. Harry, what would you like to eat?"

Harry didn't want to give her input since it was simple and simple seemed to cause disasters in the palace.

"Um, anything is fine," she answered.

She thought that she would just have to make it through the day, and she wouldn't have to see the king until breakfast and dinner time, but she was wrong. He would come and visit her every day. He would spend all of his time with her despite being the busiest man in the kingdom. Harry had hoped that his work would eventually call him back, but when it became obvious that it wouldn't, she decided to take matters into her own hands.