The Tale of a Princess and her Knight

Chapter 3

It’s been five years since Nicolas became Cordelia’s guard and they now tolerate each other. Princess Cordelia is fifteen, with her sixteenth birthday being tomorrow while Nicolas is sixteen. Each year on the Princess’ birthday, King Edgard threw a birthday ball, inviting the same seven Prince’s from her eleventh birthday.

Cordelia now ignores the feelings she feels towards Nicolas, still not knowing what they mean. She’s been pouring herself in the training she’s been doing to be Queen while he’s been busy training for being an official knight.

Even though Edgard allowed him to officially be trained, he couldn’t truly train with the others until three years later. With those additional years training and training with his father, he’s said to be one of the best knights in training. This news made Vladislav and Edgard very proud of him. Edgard viewed Nicolas as a son as he was there as he grew up all these years.

During these past five years, Erin, the maid, became close and got over her jitteriness towards Nicolas. During the short period of time being under Mireum and Kyler, the two headmaids. Erin was assigned to Mireum, working under the Princess. This made Erin ecstatic as she’ll be able to see Nicolas more often. Erin is still following Mireum around until she has an official position settled by Cordelia and Mireum.

Cordelia didn’t particularly care for the maid, she didn’t know why either. She’s fifteen and still hasn’t figured out what it is she’s feeling around Nicolas. She doesn’t want to figure it out, truly. These feelings are scary to her so she ignores them. She rather be into being trained to take over instead of figuring out what these feelings are.

Erin knew what her feelings were towards Nicolas. In her mind, he also felt the same but wanted to wait until he said something to her. She wanted to make sure he felt the same way and it was not an assumption. The way he looked at her every time they passed each other made her have butterflies flutter inside of her stomach and her mind go blank.

During these past five years, Nicolas grew into an extremely handsome man. All of his boyish charm fell into making him into someone more handsome than the other boys in the castle or, dare she think, kingdom. All of the maids who work with the Princess thought the same thing; he’s a very handsome man.

The attention Nicolas gets from the maids doesn’t go unnoticed by Cordelia or the other males in the castle. Envy oozes from the males as they watch on as the maids swoon for him. Cordelia had some free time and as such, she decided to watch her guard train. Sweat glistens from his chiselled chest from years of training and staying fit. As he flexes his muscles to take a swig of water from the makeshift cup from his hands, the surrounding crowd collectively inhales a sharp breath of pure lust.

Cordelia never saw what the other girls saw in Nicolas. To her, he’s more than eye candy; he’s kind, sweet- wait, what was she thinking? Shaking her head from these thoughts, she barges through the grounds making the onlooking crowd of maids immediately disperse to their original jobs. “Nicolas!” Cordelia yells, catching the attention of the other males who are training as well.

Cordelia grew up to be beautiful with long, flowing light brown hair, soft facial features and very obvious green eyes with fair skin. She hardly leaves the castle these days, or even the King's office as she helps him with paperwork. To everyone in the castle, they’re deemed the Beautiful Duo. A Princess who looks soft but will win in any debate and a soon to be Knight who will win any fight he may be in.

Every day during training sessions, no one wants to spar with him as he always wins. There was a new trainee two years back that sparred with him, saying all sorts of arrogant things. The spar only lasted ten minutes with the new trainee on the ground, heaving heavily as the wind was knocked out of him. That was the last time anyone willingly sparred with Nicolas.

Turning around to see Cordelia making her way towards him and noticing the other trainees bowing with a mumbled greeting, he did the same. “Yes, Princess?” Raising up from the bow, he noticed a slight smile on her lips. Oh no, what is it this time? She always was up to no good when she smiled at anyone. He knew from experience.

“I’m done helping father for the day, let’s do something. Anything would be better than watching you train while the maids ogle you.” At her words, the other boys snicker but quickly stop as Cordelia glances at them. Everyone knows the Princess is a fiery one and it only got worse as she grew up. Everyone thought the same thing, Nicolas was the only one who could handle her fiery personality.

Putting his shirt back on, ignoring the bit with the maids ogling, he nods. “We were done for the day anyway, Princess. Perfect timing. Give me a couple moments and I’ll be all yours, alright?” Without acknowledging his words, she turned around and started walking back in the castle. Cordelia was currently fighting a blush from creeping up on her cheeks by his words. The way he says her title and being all hers just got to her somehow.

Hearing the stomping of feet running, she knew it came from Nicolas. All of his weight is muscle and it was distributed in all the right places. His towering figure over Cordelia only made him more intimidating for others. With her fiery personality and his bulky, tall frame trailing behind her, no one bothered those two. Her title was just that, a title.

Being Princess and soon to be Queen isn’t the reason people stay away from her. She doesn’t allow her title to get in her head either as she treated everyone the same. Throughout the years, even the nobles noticed her personality and the way she held herself. All that knew her mother saw her in the Princess. The personality of her mother and the mind of her father, everyone didn’t want to start a verbal fight with her.

Going straight to the hill, Cordelia falls on the ground. Patting the space next to her, Nicolas laid down next to her. He was surprised she went here as she hasn’t been there in a couple years. Ever since they started their own training, they’ve been too busy to be around each other. Truth be told, her father sent her out of the office earlier than usual because he noticed she’s been using that as an excuse to avoid Nicolas.

“My birthday is tomorrow. I’ve noticed the maids aren’t talking about a ball this year. Have you heard of anything?” She was genuinely concerned as she didn’t want to be married off younger than what is normal. The commoners would marry off their children as soon as they turned sixteen as a way to have more money in the family. She didn’t want that for herself, to be used as a pawn while she’s still young.

“No, I haven’t, Princess. I haven’t heard of anything about a ball or a celebration either.” Normally there would be a celebration for her birthday, and turning sixteen is a huge deal as she can now be courted.

It was silent after his words as she couldn’t figure out what her father had planned. She hoped it was a secret party or something fun. Every year since her eleventh birthday, those same seven Princes came to the celebration balls. She never liked them as they all became arrogant as they can be Prince Consort to a Queen.

They stayed silent while laying on the hill, watching the clouds pass by as they both got lost in their own thoughts. With the Princess’ sixteenth birthday tomorrow, Princes from different kingdoms will be showing up to court her. This thought alone made him feel something he hasn’t felt before, a feeling he didn’t want to have towards the Princess.

She was the one who he was supposed to protect until the very end, why does he feel this way towards her? Nicolas knew nothing could come out of these feelings. Why couldn’t he feel these things towards Erin? He knew she liked him, she made it very obvious even though they hardly interact with each other.

The meal bell sounded, beckoning them to come back. Standing up and brushing the skirt of her dress off from the grass, she slips her shoes back on before making her way towards the castle. She didn’t want to head back as responsibility will catch up to her. She knew she had to go back though.

Entering through the kitchen doors, walking through to the dining hall with Nicolas trailing behind her, they sit at the table. It was a silent meal as no one had anything to say. That was until halfway through that Edgard spoke up.

“Nicolas, you’re dismissed for the night. I wish to talk to Cordelia about tomorrow.” Nodding in understanding, Nicolas took one more bite and left the dining room.

“What did you have to talk about, father?” Cordelia asks while wiping the corners of her mouth, putting down her fork. She didn’t want to continue eating just to be caught off guard with food in her mouth and chewing.

“With your sixteenth birthday tomorrow, I wish for you to start thinking of which prince you’d want to court you and marry in two years. I wish to have you marry during your coronation ceremony.” Edgard was firm in this belief, there wasn’t a way of getting around it.

“But father,” Cordelia starts in an almost whine. She doesn’t want to marry so soon and he knew it. “Why can’t I choose someone who isn’t already a Prince? We have a few decent knights to choose from. Why does it have to be another Prince? You know how annoying they are.”

She tries to explain her side of it. She truly doesn’t want to marry right away, especially if it has to be with a Prince. All the Prince’s she’s met are arrogant and only got worse throughout the years. Officially, there’s seven Prince’s she can choose from but none of them caught her eye.

“Cordelia, I know you don’t want to marry but it’s what is best for our kingdom. It is much better for you to marry at your coronation, especially for the maids who decorate and the council who plan it. Please, just choose a Prince, they’ll court you and you can marry them.”

Edgard hardly begs, he is King after all. He never had to beg either. He feels silly just begging his own daughter to marry a Prince just because she didn’t want to. She was just like her mother who didn’t want to be courted by him at first. Something changed in her during her sixteenth year. He never knew how or why until her dying breath where she told him.

Letting out a huff and an eye roll, knowing she won’t win against her father, he relents. “Fine, but I won’t like it and I’ll complain the whole time; putting no effort whatsoever.” With that said, she left the table. Cordelia knocks on Nicolas’ chamber door when she was going to her own bed chamber and he answers.

She stares just for a moment as he answers the door without a shirt. His muscular chest, wide shoulders all with muscles caught her attention. It was only a moment but Nicolas noticed her eyeing him while being shirtless. “Yes, Princess? What do I owe this-” He pauses, as if trying to find the correct words for her visit. He doesn’t want to sound like he didn’t want her visit or sound like he did want her to visit.

“What do I owe for this visit?” He asks, settling for not putting pleasure or displeasure in the sentence. He was just about to get into bed when she knocked on his door, thus being shirtless currently.

He tries to hide a smirk as she very obviously eyes his figure. After a few moments of silence between the two, mainly from Cordelia eyeing every inch of him, she speaks. “I want you to train me like a knight would be trained. I know you’re capable of such and that’s why I’m asking you to train me. I don’t want to rely on all the knights to protect me when the time is needed and what would the whole kingdom say if their Queen can’t even handle herself in a fight?”

At some point during her question, more like demand, she rambled on about how the kingdom might be disappointed that their ruler can’t fight because they were never trained to. Putting up a hand, which stops her from rambling even more, he speaks up.

“Have you talked to the King about this? I don’t want to be punished for training without his permission. Especially since you’re his only child.” Shaking her head at his question, she gets a certain glint in her eye. A glint he has seen more times than he wished for.

“You can train me without him knowing. We can train before anyone is awake and no one will know. Please, Nicolas? You know I don’t ask much of you nor do I beg.” She was right, she never begged him to go along with her plans or for anything. She normally avoids such things with him. With a heavy sigh, he relents.

“Fine, I’ll train you. Meet me in the field by three in the morning, Princess. I won’t go easy on you, even if it’s our first session.” With that said, he shut the door without waiting for her response.

Satisfied with Nicolas agreeing to train her, she went to her own bed chambers and only slept for a few hours before she was woken up by a soft yet loud knock. She knew who it was as no one would dare to wake her up at this hour.

Cordelia put on a pair of her horseback riding pants, as she doesn’t have actual pants she can train in, and a mens white button up along with an underbust corset. She had to keep up with the corset style, plus it did make the outfit look more decent.

In fifteen minutes, she had her riding boots on and was already at the training field. Standing there was a shirtless Nicolas and this made her stare again. She couldn’t stop staring and didn’t know why. Deep down she knew but right now, she wants to deny this feeling. He’s her guard, they can’t have any other relationship other than Princess and knight-to-be.

“Alright Princess,” Nicolas starts off. “We’re going to start with a run around the training field and then a spar. I want to gauge your stamina and strength you currently have. I won’t go easy on you just because you’re a Princess.”

With a silent nod from Cordelia, they began to run the perimeter of the training field. Nicolas made it look so effortless, even if he’s done this for years now. Cordelia only ran when it was to her hill; on her way back to the castle, she would walk. It took more time for her to walk than run but she knew this. She didn’t want to go back but knew she had to as it was her duty to her kingdom. She wanted to be Queen, that wasn’t why she wanted to take her time going back. It was the conversation of her marrying a Prince and everyone knew her thoughts on such a thing.

It didn’t take long for Cordelia to slow down while panting but she kept pushing herself to keep up with Nicolas, who occasionally looked behind him to make sure she was in sight at least. He noticed she was slowing down and so he halted in running. “That’ll be enough. We’ll have to work on your stamina. Now, for a spar.”

She was dreading this moment as she even heard how ruthless he is when fighting, even if it was a friendly spar. Strapping on some padding on his arms, he stood there, waiting for her to approach him. “It’s fine, Princess. Just do as I instruct and we’ll go from there, alright?”

He sensed her dread for this very moment. He knew what others were saying about him and he didn’t want that to put her off. Not just yet anyway. Approaching Nicolas, Cordlia started punching and high kicking at his arms. When he told her to punch, she did so. When he told her to kick, she did so.

This went on for quite some time as he wanted her to put her all in her kicks and punches. He stopped telling her to kick and punch as she got into the rhythm of those actions. With each kick and punch, the power behind them got stronger. This is what he wanted from her, to gauge her true strength, harness it and train with that.

Looking up at the sky, he put his arms down, making her stop her rhythmic beating she was doing on his arms. It didn’t hurt him but he did feel the power of her kicks and punches. They felt familiar to him and he knew why.

“That’ll be enough for today, tomorrow I want to gauge your sword skills. Same time every day.” With his own words, he left the field.

Her whole body felt numb, as if it was made out of jelly. It took her fifteen minutes to get back to her room as it normally would take five. This was the first day but she didn’t want to quit. She wants to become stronger just to be able to take care of herself. She wants to be a Queen who would ride into battle with her knights, fight alongside her people. She wanted to be a Queen that will be remembered, not someone who did the bare minimum and married young just for the convenience.

Cordelia wanted to marry someone she truly loved or at the very least will rule beside her as equals. She can’t see any of that with any of those pompous Princes. She fears one of those Princes will try and take over even though they are below her in title. That’s the impression she got from them and she didn’t want to deal with that.

A Prince Consort can’t take the title of King, the title will automatically go to any legitimate heir of the reigning monarch. Cordelia read in her books that the harems were abolished as the ladies of the harem were trying to pass a pregnancy off as the then King's child as he and his Queen didn’t have a child at the time. The pregnancy was deemed false as soon as the child was born.

The Lady had a child with the knight who served to protect the King. Both Lady and knight were put to death for deceiving the King as the child was raised by the Ladies family. After the incident, the King abolished the harem and later had a child with the Queen.

Before the abolishment of the harem, they were used to produce heirs from Ladies in noble families. If by the time the eldest child were to turn eighteen and no heir from the Queen was produced, the child was to take the throne. That is how noble families got higher positions and rooms in the castle.

She was glad the harem was abolished, she had no intentions of having one. She didn’t want the nobles to fight over who would impregnate her first. Just the thought made her shiver in disgust.

As soon as she entered her bed chambers, she stripped down to put her night gown back on. She hid her outfit she just wore and got in her bed. Sleep overtook her easily as she exhausted herself training with Nicolas.

It felt like minutes when it was only hours later when the maids woke her up for the day. Today was her birthday. She was officially sixteen. She would be ecstatic if it wasn’t for the fact that she only got very little sleep.

With a loud, dramatic groan, she literally rolled out of bed and got dressed with the help of the maids. The maid told her there was a party for her sixteenth year but it’ll be different. Tonight's party is for all who are sixteen and older and of noble birth. Her birthday party was being used as a courting party.

This information put a damper on her whole mood. ‘So this is what my father was planning,’ she thought to herself. He knew if he told her, she’d be against it. She didn’t want this, and made it very clear that she didn’t. Just like every year, she spent all day getting dressed for this party since her father wants her to look her best.

As soon as the party started, she was walking down the stairway, the same stairs she tripped on on her eleventh birthday. Every party after that she started lifting the skirt of her dress up just a tad bit to avoid tripping. Behind her was Nicolas, as he has been for the past five years.

Everyone who came to this party was eyeing the duo as they descended the stairs. Cordelia’s dress was very befitting of a Princess; a royal blue dress with a hoop skirt, which made her hips look larger than they truly are. Hoop skirt dresses were only worn during parties such as this one while the royal blue color was only worn by royals as the color was expensive and hard to get.

The crowd parted like the red sea, just like all the other parties. Cordelia could never get used to the treatment she receives just because of her title. She was born with it, she didn’t ask for it.

Just like the other birthday parties, she danced with the same seven Princes’. They haven’t changed in the past five years as dancing with every single one of them was the same as back then; clumsy, arrogant and self centered as they only talked about themselves. ‘Seriously, who raised these boys to be so undesirable?’ Cordelia thought to herself.

Giving Nicolas pleading eyes from across the room, as she always did, he casually made his way to her. He was amused by her torture of the Princes’, but all things must come to an end. Just like clock-work, he came up to Cordelia and saved her.

“Excuse me, Princess, there’s an urgent matter you need to tend to. Please follow me.” Without much explanation, she broke the stance her current dance partner and her were in just to follow Nicolas. “Thank you, Nicolas. These parties are such a drag since I have to dance with these pompous Princes’.”

Her words were only a whisper, meant for only her guard to hear. Nodding in acknowledgement, they walked right out the double doors and into the garden. This was her hiding place when she wanted to get away from the party.

The moonlight made Cordelia look even more stunning than she always did. The moon shone all of her features perfectly. To Nicolas, she looked amazing tonight, more so than normal. He’s not going to deny his feelings for her, even if he meant watching her love someone else.

Their love wasn’t meant to be, both of them knew. Looking up at Nicolas, the moonlight gave the same effect to her as it did him. The light shone all of his features perfectly, highlighting all of the curves of his face. She was once again tranced by his looks, as was he. They stared at each other and never broke contact.

Nicolas was the first who broke contact after a while as if he didn’t, he would have gone in and kissed her. The same goes for Cordelia. She would have allowed it to happen too as she can no longer avoid her feelings for her own guard. She now knew why none of the other guys, especially the Princes’, caught her attention. She fell in love with the very person she shouldn’t have; Nicolas, the Knight to be, the guard of the Princess.

They both went inside to avoid any attention they didn’t want. They have failed to notice someone was watching them the whole time.

Edgard watched as his daughter stared at Nicolas. Her stare reminded him of her mother. That was the moment he knew they were the same. He tried to deny it, wanting his daughter to be just like him. Fate had a different story for his daughter, a story he didn’t want for her. Everything made sense as he thought back. Her whole being screamed just like her mother.

Nicolas came from the same kingdom as his late wife, therefore they are also the same. He needed to marry his daughter off quickly as when she turns, she’ll be unstoppable against him.