~Prologue~
I, Cecilia Aurora Serindia Marie, am a princess of Suala. Notice that I said "a princess", not "the princess". In fact, I am one of thirteen princesses of Suala. Before I continue with my story, you should probably be informed of what has happened in my life thus far.
Ever since I was young, I knew that I was the true princess of Suala. Before the king and queen were murdered, they placed their daughter, me, in the arms of Sir Stephen, a knight, to protect me from the evil forces that killed them. They trusted him to hide me in a remote village and bring me up as a princess in hiding, as the princess I really was. Princess Desmia was an ordinary commoner placed on the throne as a decoy. Sir Stephen placed me in a house on the outskirts of a small village with Nanny, my guardian. He lived in another village, but every so often, he came to visit and tutor me. Up until I was fourteen, I was taught how to be princess. I studied imports and exports, geometry and geography, manners and etiquette, and everything else a princess needed to know. I knew I was a princess, and I knew that evil men were searching for me, to kill me.
When I was fourteen, I started feeling suspicious. The brand new leather latch on our hut's door was sliced, I saw shadows following me, and Nanny and Sir Stephen acted scared. I knew I had to tell my best friend, Harper, about my true identity. One night, after Nanny went to sleep, I snuck out of out to go to Harper's hut. I went with him to his barn and told him my story. He told me that I should go to the capital city of Corona and regain my throne. I was unsure, but I decided that it was the right thing to do. Nanny thought that I was going to Sir Stephen's home.
When we arrived at Corona, Harper and I entered in a music competition so that we could talk to Princess Desmia. After we performed, I whispered in Desmia's ear, "I am the true princess. I am here to relieve you of your duty." She led us through a secret passageway and locked us in a tower room. Every day, we found food that she had left us. One day, Princess Desmia and a girl from our enemy country, Ella, came up to talk to us. Ella was part of a peace delegation meeting to end the war, but people from our country weren't too happy about it, especially Lord Throckmortan. They heard our side of the story, but Desmia told us that she had been told all of her life to be aware of pretenders to the throne. I couldn't believe her! She and Ella led us down the stairs to the palace dungeon, where, to my horror, 11 girls were kept. They all yelled out, "I am the true princess." I had always thought I was the princess. Now, I had no idea who I was.
We devised a plan to figure out who the true princess was. I would listen in on Lord Throckmortan and the other lord's meeting to see if I could find out anything interesting. I learned that they were going to try to capture Harper, so I left to warn Ella. But before I did that, I freed the 11 knights who had tutored the other 11 "true princesses" and freed the girls themselves. The royal guard and Lord Throckmortan caught Harper, Nanny, Sir Stephen, and Harper's mam and brought them to Ella, Desmia, and me. Lord Throckmortan accused Desmia of not being the real princess, so I hit him on the head with Harper's harp and he crumpled to the ground. Sir Stephen told me that Harper's harp was actually mine, a gift from my mother, the queen. As I hit Lord Throckmortan with it, a letter fell out. The letter was from the queen!
The letter told us who the true princess was and who we were-all 13 of us. It turns out that the queen had picked all of us-even Desmia-out of beds at an orphanage, hoping that we could be loved and cared for. She told each knight that "this girl" was the true princess, to hide her in a remote village, and to tutor her to regain her throne someday. The true princess, after all, died on the very day she was born. I asked the royal guard if all 13 of us could be princesses, and hesitantly, he agreed.
Everything was happy and wonderful, and it became more so when Harper and I became engaged. But the rest of this story is what happens after I become one of 13 princesses.