Tale of Stolen Hearts

The Ball Night

"Is the Queen ready yet?", asked Alexander Dierksheide, the King of Aspad. "No your Highness, she is coming in a few minutes. Please wait here."

Alexander's POV

Queen Helena… You have no idea how eagerly I have been waiting for this juncture. When we finally tell the whole world that we are going to marry off soon. We will soon be official and Aspad and Orlando will be combined. Everyone thinks I'm doing it because I'm in love with Helena… huh! Putting up a fake smile and behaving like I'm in love with her isn't hard. All I need is Orlando. Fighting and quelling against them would be harder. After all, they have battalions after battalions and our military is way too minor to strike against the Orlando’s. Once I marry off this queen, I would inherit half of Orlando, but not to forget, Helena gets to inherit half of Aspad too. 

I'll figure it out anytime soon. 

"Your Highness, everyone's waiting for you." Said Graniel, my chief secretary. 

"I'm waiting for Queen Helena then I'll come along," I told him and sent him away.

I saw my best friend walking down the hallway and sat next to me. "Alex, I know you're doing this because you want Orlando, but have you thought if others get to know this, Orlando will probably clash against you. And even your people could turn against you. What would you do then?" Said, Frederick. He is the King of Prussia. 

"Honestly, I haven't figured it out yet. I am thinking of turning people against Helena and taking up Orlando but how would I do that? If I could clash against the Orlandens then I would have. But our troops are way smaller in range than the Orlando's. What better way do you think than uniting with Orlando's Queen?".

I said, worrying about my reputation and reign.

"Don't worry right now Alex, we will figure something out soon." Said Frederick, stroking me at the back.

Where is Helena? What's taking her so much time? There are so many royal guests and their families here today and above that, we have to announce our being together. Where is this girl?

Meanwhile…

Helena's POV

I was never ready for this. Am I going to marry Alexander? Guess what, it's my fate. Be a Queen at 14, married off at 21, give birth to some children, die. 'That's what life is like my mother used to tell me. And soon I'm going to be a married woman with even more responsibilities. Today we are going to have the ball at the Wettin's Royal Palace. I'm not in love with Alexander. How am I supposed to dismiss it all when all my elders are anticipating me to marry off this man? 

What have I done?

Spending a few days seeing each other won't make you fall in love with the other one, will it?

Love. A term not accepted between the royals. The royals have to marry between royals, no matter how or what they feel. This rule could be changed, I'm the Queen after all. But, unfortunately, no. It's not like that. There are certain laws written by our ancestors that we need to follow and keep the ritual alive, or the law enforcers might become a problem and they would take your position away from you. 

I certainly can't just lose the stance as the Queen of Orlando. Anyways, it's getting late. 

I have to finish up and head downstairs to the ballroom.

I had worn a deep red gown and wore my golden-diamond necklace with two diamond earrings. 

"Savannah, give me my crown."

I took the crown and wore it. It was time to walk downstairs and face the world. I looked at myself for one last time in the mirror till I headed downstairs and there was a strange tingling in my stomach as if something good and bad was about to happen.

Now I have time to waste, let's go. As I walked out the doors, I saw King Alexander and King Frederick.

I bowed to King Frederick to show respect and he kissed my hand gently.

"Hello Your Highness, it's a pleasure to meet you today. You look more beautiful and elegant than I thought." Said King Frederick.

"Oh, please call me Helena, and King Frederick you look handsome too," I said complimenting him back. Even though I didn't find anything special about him, he was respectful. Here, complementing the other royals only means showing gratitude to the other and it's necessary.

"Helena! You're exceptionally beautiful! Shall we?" Said Alexander, giving me his hand to go downstairs. I held his hand and started walking downstairs. The guests were already talking but they went silent when they saw us walking down on the red carpet.

"Wow, Queen Helena looks so beautiful in person." 

"She is a beauty."

"Lucky King Alexander."

We haven't made the announcement yet and everyone was conversing. As we led the way down we foremost met King Danlin and Queen Wandra. They were the rulers of the most powerful country, the country Archenland. We talked a little and asked about their children and everyone. They were getting on well.

We started meeting more royalists. We were sauntering when I slightly hit my elbow into someone and electricity provoked inside me. 

"Oh, Pardon me," I said looking behind and saw an insanely handsome white-haired man.

He whispered, "Meet me at the rooftop." And he went away. It was a masquerade ball and I couldn't really recognize him, but his cologne smells familiar and his voice sounds familiar too.

"What happened Helena? Let's go." Said Alexander taking my hand. I was so interested in who this man was that I said," I need some fresh air. I'll be back soon. You meet the other royals." Alex nodded and I started heading off towards the rooftop.