Be My Princess

That question stayed on Francis's mind throughout the rest of the day; so much so that, as soon as he saw Angel stand up and go to the veranda adjoining the private sitting room while the rest of the family was chatting around tea and cookies, he quickly joined him there so as to finally satisfy his curiosity.

"You've spent more than a day with the maiden…" Francis said a few seconds after he had stood next to his cousin. "That's a bit cheating."

Angel chuckled, not duped by Francis' nonchalant tone. "Feel free to get even." He replied.

"Can I? Then maybe you should tell more about what the two of you did there so I can properly get even." Francis cleverly requested, not realising his cousin was already unto him.

"There is literally nothing special to tell." Angel dryly replied, unwilling to revisit the events of the day before; and especially those of the morning.

Misled by Angel's dry tone, Francis assumed that his cousin was just trying to make him think that there was something to hide, while nothing special had happened between Kat and him.

"With you, I can only assume that Changadim Kat had a really hard time." Francis mocked.

Angel looked at his cousin with an undecipherable expression. "I don't know… she seemed to have a rather blissful expression this morning." He said with a smirk.

And before Francis could ask for the meaning of his statement, Angel made his way back inside with a feeling of triumph.

⁂

With regards to the scandal caused by the pictures of the crown prince that were leaked through the internet, the royal family has opted not to respond. In their opinion, any acknowledgement or refutation of that information would only draw all the more attention on the subject.

King Angel II had left it to Angel to handle the matter; only emphasising that, as crown prince, he should mind the fact that his actions did not only have an effect on his credibility as future ruler of Ruund, but on the credibility of the royal family as a whole at the same time.

So, as the new week started, life at the palace carried on as usual. The active members of the royal family pursued their scheduled activities as if nothing had happened, and Kat carried on with her lessons. That Tuesday, the maids brought Kat to the perfumery within the greenhouse instead of the library. There, she was introduced to Agathe Mukeng, the lead perfumer in a top cosmetic company in Ruund hired to teach her the art of perfume making.

"It is uRuund tradition that, following a betrothal, the bride to be will created a unique scent for her future husband. The wife will apply the perfume on her husband for the first time during the Scented Bath Ceremony, on the morning following their wedding night, and that scent will be worn by the husband for the rest of their married life." Jane explained.

"The Scented Bath Ceremony…?" Kat repeated in puzzlement.

"It is a ceremonial bath newlyweds take together on the morning following their first night together – basically, their wedding night." Laure elaborated. "It's during that bath that the wife will apply the scent on her husband for the first time."

"Does everyone in Ruund follow this tradition?" Kat questioned.

"Some commoners might not be able to follow it because they can't afford it. But, generally speaking, this is a tradition that hasn't lost its importance; especially because perfume making is very much anchored in the uRuund culture." Jane answered.

"And what happens if the husband does not like the scent?" Kat enquired.

"Then I think he will have to suffer for the rest of his life." Tiana replied with a giggle.

Jane shot the young maid a reprimanding look, and Tiana straightened herself and cleared her throat; all at Kat's amusement.

"Just as the wife is expected to create a scent unique to her husband, the husband is expected to accept and wear that scent for the rest of his life." Jane explained.

Kat nodded. "I see… How about you guys? Do you already have ideas on the kind of scents you will create for you significant others?"

The maids seemed to be caught off guard by Kat's question. "Well… marriage is really not in our prospect." Jane answered awkwardly.

Kat frowned. "What? Why?"

"Palace rule. Our lives are devoted to the royal family, anyway; so such requirement is little sacrifice compared to the honour and privilege it is for us to serve here."

Kat had objections; but she knew that it was pointless to argue a palace rule, so she simply nodded and turned to the perfumer.

"I'm in your hands!"

Throughout the week, Angel was pressed by a horde of reporters at every of his official outing, but refused to make a single statement on the matter. Hence, by the time it was Friday, the uproar about the crown prince's pictures had significantly subsided; but a new wave was about to come surging on the inhabitants of the palace.

When Kat exited her bedroom that morning, she immediately noticed that something was amiss. Tiana was heading towards her bedroom, apparently sent there to call for her, and she appeared to be quite agitated. Downstairs, both Angel and Francis seemed to be waiting for her in the sitting room. After her first weekend at the palace, it had been arranged that, on Fridays, Angel would let her have breakfast with Francis in the West wing. Hence, she found it odd that both princes were waiting for her. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, both men courteously stood up.

"Is something wrong?" She quickly asked when she got closer to them.

Francis indicated a seat for her to take, then the men sat down after her.

"Walankanyi first…" Francis started.

Kat slapped her forehead. "Where are my manners? Mwanyi mwa vude! Sorry about that." She quickly said.

"Don't worry. I understand that you must a bit startled to see the both of us here this morning…" Francis gently replied. "But something has indeed happened."

Francis unlocked the screen of his phone and handed it to her. Kat took the phone from his hand and looked at it. Once again the internet was buzzing with news regarding the royal family; but this time, she was the one under the spotlight.

Not only her presence in the palace, but everything, from the oath taken by the late king with his royal guard's commander down to the Courtship Program agreement, had been leaked. Worse, reporters seemed to have caught wind of that information soon enough; so she was also making the newspapers headlines. At that moment, the only pictures leaked were those taken when she had accompanied the crown prince to his official meeting with the Minister of Tourism at the Natural Park.

"How did all this get on the internet? And the newspapers?!" Kat exclaimed in a mix of bafflement and discontentment.

"Apparently it was leaked on the internet late last night." Angel calmly replied. "Reporters must have been on the lookout for any new piece of information since the first leak; so I guess newspapers must have worked overnight to change their front pages."

"But who leaked this?" Kat exclaimed again, unable to keep a cool head like the princes.

"That's a good question…" Francis started.

"Given the quality of information, it can only come from a person living at the palace." Angel interrupted. "Either a member of the staff working very close to the royal family or a member of the royal family itself."

Frustrated both to have been interrupted and by Angel's inference, Francis let out: "Do you realise what you are saying?!"

Angel calmly looked at his cousin. "Look at the details of the information. Most members of the palace's staff were simply told that Kat was chosen in respect of the late king's dying wish; very few are those to whom more details were given because they might at some level be involved into the Courtship Program.

The royal family, the royal secretary and those few staff members are the only ones who could have directly or indirectly disclosed this much information. How can my reasoning be erroneous?"

"I don't deny that it has to be someone here at the palace. But don't you think that suspecting a member of our family is going a little overboard?" Francis protested.

"Given that we do not know the intention behind the disclosure of this information, we can't rule out any possibility. It is just as unbelievable that a member of our family could be behind this that it is for any member of our palace workforce. At this point, we can't even tell whether it was intentional or accidental; hence, we can't rule any holder of this information out." Angel replied. "Not even you."

"Me? Are you out of your mind?" Kat shouted, outraged. "Why would I do such a thing?"

"How would I know? Money, fame…"

"Angel!" Francis interrupted.

Kat balled her hands into fists. "What kind of person do you take me for, Crown Prince? Does it even make sense that I will do something that I know will put not only me, but my family…?"

Anger gave way to concern in an instant. "Oh no, my family!" Kat clamoured as she reached into the pocket of her robe for her phone, frantically unlock the screen and opened the call log.

Her mother's number was first on the list because Kat had the habit of calling her family almost every night.

The call connected right after the first ring. "Hello, Kat…"

"Maaku, are you okay?" Kat asked, febrile.

"Yes. Why?"

"I don't have time to explain now, but you and Michael need to leave the house now…" Kat let out in one breath.

"Princess! Princess… I've seen the news." Charlotte calmly said.

Standing next to the window in the living room, Charlotte pulled the curtain and looked outside. "And an army of reporters has already taken siege at the entrance of our compound." She then released the curtain and went to sit on the sofa, next to Michael. "How did this happen?" she asked.

"I don't know…" Kat sounded, restless. "Apparently, someone from the palace leaked it on the internet last night."

"Do they have any idea who?" Charlotte enquired all the more.

Pacing to and fro, Kat answered: "No, not yet." Then she stopped and shot an angry look at Angel. "Apparently, it could be anyone."

"I see. Alright, for now, don't worry much about us. Today is a holiday so Michael is home. I've called the Museum to excuse myself already; but I hope this situation can be fixed before Monday; otherwise it will be very difficult for me to get to work and for your brother to go to school."

"I hope so too." Kat replied.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Maaku."

Before her mother hung up, Kat was able to hear Michael argue that he wanted to talk to his sister and Charlotte reply that he should be considerate of the fact that his sister had an urgent matter to handle. As the call ended on their squabble, Kat smiled; but at the same time tears filled her eyes as she was reminded of how much she missed her family.

Breaking her emotional moment, Angel stood up and passed by her, heading towards the stairs. "I suggest we all get dressed." He said in passing.

Two steps on the stairs, he turned back and looked at the two others who had not moved from their positions, looking at him in puzzlement. "We will surely receive a Royal Summons[1] very soon." He explained before resuming his procession up the stairs.

Once Angel had disappeared in his bedroom, Kat turned towards Francis. "Don't you feel like punching him right in the face sometimes?" She asked, her thumb pointing in the direction of Angel's bedroom.

"Why would you think that?" Kat asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's because Angel told me some nonsensical thing about you looking blissful in the morning…" Francis explained.

The image of the two of them sleeping in each other's arms immediately flashed in Kat's mind.

"But I get now that he just wanted to bug me." The prince added without perceiving the change in Kat's expression. "Let's go get dressed."

Kat walked Francis to the door, then headed for her bedroom. She climbed the stairs pensively, pondering on the reason why Angel had made such a comment in front of his cousin. In her mind, the crown prince would not have even wanted to evoke the event of that morning.

Once in her bedroom, she took a quick shower, got dressed and, just like Angel had predicted, as soon as she exited her bedroom, a Chimangat[2] came to stand at the entrance of the West Wing to proclaim a royal summons for the maiden and the crown prince.

"Every single person in the palace must be investigated; and I mean every single person. That includes the persons sitting in this room as well. Make no exception."

George Chang bowed at the king's order. "I will give instructions to the RIS (Royal Intelligence Services)."

All the members of the royal family, plus the royal secretary and Kat, had assembled in the royal private office to discuss the new leak. And very quick, the king and the royal secretary had come to the same conclusion as Angel: It had to be someone from the palace.

If Kat had first thought that Angel was too cold-hearted to even go as far as suspecting her, she was now understanding that, as crown prince and future king, he was called to stay objective in all circumstances and not let himself be swayed by feelings.

"Changadim Kat?" The king called.

"Mwant Yav."

"I am sorry for the inconvenience it will cause you, but we will have to break the confidentiality close of our agreement and hold a press conference where you will be officially introduced to all of Ruund. With everything that has been revealed, we cannot afford to stay quiet like the first time. If we do so, reporters will surely seek for a way to get answers on their own. They will dig into your family's history in search for any explanation as to why the royal family has been hiding your presence at the palace all this long." The king explained.

"I understand, Your Majesty. At this point, it might also be the only way for us to stop reporters from further harassing my family." Kat replied.

The king once again smiled in appreciation at her mature reasoning, and Isabella, who was sitting next to Kat, took her hands in hers and squeezed them to give the young woman some courage.

"Don't worry; our princes will be there with you."

[1] Official summons from the king (just rtlated to the book; not referring to something actually used in the Ruund Empire in real life)

[2] Herald or Protocol