A Princess Named Harry

Chapter 19

She stopped once she was far enough away from the girls and could no longer hear the sound of their mocking laughter. The tears she had been trying hard to conceal came pouring down her cheeks. Harry bent down on the ground as she quietly wept all by herself. She was so upset that she did not hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Here," said a voice.

Harry looked up to see Varian. He was holding out a bright red rose for her to take. He wore a worried expression on his face. Harry sniffled as she took the flower.

"Thank you," she said in a weak voice.

She held the rose close. Once she had calmed down, she asked, "But where did you get this?" She hadn't seen any gardens at all in the estate.

"From the duke's private greenhouse," Varian answered.

"What?" Harry asked. She looked down at the rose. "Stealing," she said very worriedly. "This is definitely stealing. Are we going to get in trouble for this?"

"It's fine," Varian replied.

"No, but!" Harry was going to protest more, but Varian grabbed her wrist.

"Come on, let's go," he said as he pulled her forward.

"Go where?" Harry asked while wiping her tears away.

"Back to the palace of course," he answered.

"But the tea party is still going on," Harry tested. She tried to reason with him. "Wouldn't . . . wouldn't it be rude to leave without informing the host?"

"So what?" asked Varian. "Weren't those ladies rude to you? What do you owe them? Besides, you don't want to ride back in the same carriage as that other princess, do you?"

Harry was speechless because it was true, but she wondered how Varian knew that.

"Have you been watching me this whole time?" she asked him.

"What?" he answered disgustedly. "Of course, I haven't been watching you the whole time. You just make everything obvious."

Harry was going to point out that it was his job to watch her, so it wouldn't have been weird if he had been, but she decided not to. Instead, she replied, "I'm sorry for assuming such things."

Varian sighed, "No, don't apologize I'm the one who was being rude just now."

"It's okay," Harry replied.

The two of them approached the carriage with the coachman already on it and ready to go.

"Let's go. Get in the carriage," Varian told her.

When the two of them tried to get in it, a man yelled at them, "No one leaves! Not until both of the princesses are here!"

"What?" asked the two of them confused.

"You heard me!" shouted the man. "No one leaves until both of the princesses are here."

"Well, the problem is with one of those princesses," Varian sighed. "Can't you just let us go?"

"I'm sorry, Sir Knight," he replied. Although, it was obvious that he wasn't sorry at all. "But it's Princess Kaitlyn's orders."

"Ehh? So this princess's words mean nothing to you then?" Varian asked as he gestured to Harry. The man looked over at her. He slowly began to stutter, "T-that's-"

"It must be true since you won't do as she says," Varian smirked at the man. "Do you really want to answer to the king when he asks why you didn't do as she requested?"

The man started to get nervous. "But even so!" he gulped. "I can't just set aside two carriages! One still has to be here for Her Highness!"

"But there's still some time left until the tea party ends," Harry replied. "It's not that long a ride either. You can take us back and then immediately come back for Her Highness and arrive just on time."

"Will that idea suffice?" Varian asked him.

"Well, Sir Knight," answered the man. "I still don't think-"

Suddenly, Varian put a stack of money in the man's hands. "Now," he said coldly. "I'll only ask one more time. Will you take us back or not?"

The man eventually agreed and the two of them got into the carriage.

"I can't believe you got him to agree," Harry said happily. "That was wonderful!"

"Not really; it would've been wonderful if he had agreed from the start," Varian replied, a bit annoyed.

The two sat across from each other as the carriage drove them back to the palace.

"But you still got him to agree, though."

" . . . "

"It was truly wonderful; thank you, Varian."

"It was nothing," he replied without even batting an eye.

Harry gave an awkward laugh. She thought he didn't like her very much, but even if that was the case, she liked him. Even if Varian said it was nothing, Harry was glad to have at least one nobleman on her side.