A Whole New World

"Flora," Even after ignoring him for the past two hours and a half, her dad was still there. Standing outside her bedroom door she thankfully locked after she retreated to her room and he was knocking nonstop. "Sweetheart, will you please open the door so we can talk? Please?"

The green-eyed beauty listened to her father's knocking for awhile before she finally turned her body around the other way and lifted her head up from her pillow to stare at the door, looking at it for awhile without really seeing. She wondered how long he was going to stand there. She wondered if his hand was staining from all that knocking. But mostly she wondered how long it was going to take for him to realize she really didn't want to talk to anyone today.

She sighed heavily as she turned away from the door, shifting her body back to the right where she was previously looking out her balcony windows and watching the beautiful sun beginning to set. Her beautiful emerald eyes watched as shades of pink and orange color the sky as the sun was slowly going on, shining some beautiful light into her open room.

"Honey, please?" her father pleaded. "Prince O'Neal seems like a fine young man. You may not like him now but you might sooner if you give him a chance."

Choosing not to answer her father and pretending not to hear him, Flora nuzzled her head into her pillow and closed her eyes, deeply sighing again.

Tis a burden being a princess, she thought.

At the young age of seventeen, caught in the middle of not being a girl but also far from being a woman, Flora seemed to achieve so much and yet so little in her life. She was the princess and sole heir of the Linpena throne, daughter of the kingdom's beloved and wise king, Sir Edmund, and the late queen, Lady Lilly. Her father always had her best interest of heart, always making sure she had everything her heart desired but also being careful to make sure she wasn't spoiled. She was praised and loved by her people, who never failed to show her how much they all admired her. She was blessed with beauty and brains and kindness, things most people dream of obtaining, but she still wasn't happy.

She may be a princess, a dream she knew most girls her age wanted so badly, but there was burdens and requirements that came along with it that made her feel so low. She was never allowed to go out beyond the castle gates until she had an escort by her side. But even when she was allowed outside, they didn't really go far and they usually went to a social gathering for one of their royal friends. Since born, she was taught to be seen and not heard at gatherings until spoken to, otherwise she was required to stare straight ahead and do nothing at all. Not being allowed to travel throughout her kingdom, it really didn't give the young princess time to socialize. She had no one else but a few servants and her plants as her friends to get her through the loneliness, but there was one custom she had to follow that she hated so much.

Getting married before she turned eighteen.

For generations and generations in her royal family, before a prince or princess could become king or queen, then they would need to be married before their eighteenth birthday and can take the throne. And as princess of Linpea and her already being seventeen, she needed to find a husband before she can take over her kingdom as queen.

Although the custom may have been in her family for decades, it was still a rule of a princess she hated to follow. Unfortunately for her, whether she liked it or not, it was a hated rule she still had to follow if she wanted to be queen and her father immediately started searches throughout the worlds, in every kingdom, for the perfect prince to be the husband for his precious daughter.

Unlike most royal marriages, where the parents would pick out the groom or bride and the child was accustomed to follow through with the marriage, King Edmund was going to let the princess pick out her husband to be. However, he still was using anyway he could think of to find her a groom and help her meet some princes. He had the maids doll her up for the countless parties and balls thrown in her honor, where she'd danced with endless suitors wanting her hand in marriage. Had servants make dozens of lists filled with endless names of all the available princes from neighboring realms to the universal worlds. And just recently started letting the princes come over to her palace, where'd he arranged a meeting between the prince and the princess for a lunch meeting or a walk through the royal rose gardens.

Not wanting to let her father down, she swallowed her pride and went along for the ride. She accepted to dance with the princes and noble men who asked her to dance at the parties and acted politely to every bachelor her dad arranged for her to meet, giving them each a fair chance to charm her but they just weren't the right matches for her.

Most of the princes were a bit too crazy or too timid for her and the dates were so dull, but the one her dad arranged to come spend the day with them today was the most horrible of them all.

He was Prince O'Neil, soon to be king of the kingdom Iciuis who was seeking a wife. Very high in the social status ladder, came from a powerful family who had very high power, and the fact marriage between him and Flora would draw an alliance between their two kingdoms, King Edmund thought the Iciuis Prince would be perfect for Flora.

When Flora was summoned to the dining room, finally through with her servants preparing her for dinner and had her dressed in the dressiest gown she owned, she held her head high as she walked into the room and didn't falter when she saw a young prince standing beside her father. She smiled politely as she curtsied low before him while he bowed, and then studied him for a moment. He seemed attractive with his honey-golden hair slicked back, giving him a mature and sophisticated look, had a face she found very attractive in a boy-ish baby-faced way, and had eyes that were the color of the ice.

Unfortunately at the time she was a bit naive when it came being deceived by appearances, and learned the lesson later as the day went by and she spent more time with Prince O'Neil. He seemed okay at first and charming with that dazzling smile of his own, but he quickly caused her to lose that thought of him as his true self was coming out, proving he could never be the type of person she imagined herself spending time with-much less getting married to. He was arrogant and rude, talking endlessly about himself and his accomplishments without even bothering to ask her a question about herself, indicating he had no interest in getting to know her. He looked at her in a predacious way like a raving wolf meeting the eyes of its prey as he reached out to caress her arm, not even knowing she was shuddering from his cool and rough touch, while he went on and on about their future together. They weren't even engaged yet, but he was already acting like they were days away from their wedding. But the worst came at the end, when he was ready to leave.

He thanked the king for the invitation, nodded to Flora, and was about to leave. Then suddenly he came back, smiling that charming smile that she might have cute at first but quickly found it annoying, and then had the nerve to kiss her-long and hard, crushing his lips against hers before she could even blink-in front of everyone, and then got slapped hard by her when she was finally able to free herself from his suffocating embrace. She then slapped him again, her hand lashing out and smacking his right cheek, once she saw the smugness in his eyes like he won his prize. She usually wasn't someone to do something so hasty. She always liked to think through before she does them, but knew she had every right to slap him across the face.

Prince O'Neil, being so arrogant, had the nerve to think he was allowed to kiss her, and actually did it in front of everyone-her servants, her friends, her father who were all speechless and stared with shocked, wide eyes. She was so disgusted by his kiss and shamed everyone around her witnessed the embarrassing moment, already feeling the hot tears burning in her eyes ready to feel any second.

Before they could fall, only adding more embarrassment, she quickly fled to her room and slammed the door loudly behind her; sure everyone could hear it downstairs. It wasn't until she changed out from the lacey dress she was forced to wear for the occasion into more comfortable clothes, unclasped the dozens of pins holding her up-do and let her long hair flow freely down her back, and crawled into bed did she finally allowed the tears to fall. At first two big tears slowly rolled down her face, but quickly countless tears were streaming down her face. She spent most of the time in her room crying until they weren't anymore tears left in her system and then became extremely quiet, feeling so numb inside while staring out the window.

"Please, flower, will you open the door?" her father pleaded. "Just a crack, so we can talk."

Flora shook her head miserably, although she knew fully well he couldn't see it. Crying so hard and for long really worn her out and completely drained her. She was too tried to open the door, but even if she wasn't she still wouldn't because she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. She only wants to be left alone, or bet yet wants this horrible day to be over already.

"Do you know that today was one of the worst days of my life, father? Do you realize that?" she said, a sharp tone hardening her usual soft voice. "To be kissed by a total stranger whose hands were running all over my body in front of everyone? Do you realize I felt like melting into the ground and disappear?"

"I didn't know-" Her father tried to explain, but was cut off by her. He flinched at her voice, hearing how cold and sharp it was in contrast to her warm voice.

"Of course you didn't know!" she said, her voice low yet loud with anger and sadness. "Because you didn't even bother to ask me about my own option on the matter! You didn't ask me how I felt being forced to go to all those parties. Didn't even regard my feelings on how I felt being looked over like some prized cow by those horrible princes you tried matching me with."

"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry," he apologized. "I know I'm not the perfect match-maker, but I am trying my best. This kind of thing would be something your mother would have been good in…" His voice trailed off, and she could picture him trying to get himself together as he mentioned her mother, even though she knew he felt like crying. "Anyway, I know I should have asked your opinion, but I'm only trying to do what's best for you."

This time Flora was the one who flinched, feeling uneasy shame settling inside her. But this time the shame was aimed at herself. Here she was, a seventeen year old princess taught to be proper and elegant, sobbing in her bed like a child and acting like ungrateful brat towards her father who was trying his best to do what he thought was best for her.

True, her father wasn't the most match-maker in the world. True, he drove her up the wall more than half the time. But he was her father and she still loved him. He could have simply picked her husband and forced her to marry him, but he was giving her the chance to choice, which showed to her how thoughtful her father was and how much he cared about her. Although she was grateful for that and touched by his gesture, she still wished he'd let her find her own prince her own way.

Slowly the weary princess lifted herself off from her bed and walked through the French doors, leading outside to her balcony which featured a beautiful, grand view of her magnificent kingdom. She imagined girls her age walking freely through the streets by a friend by their side or walking solo, without worrying about being recognized and being crowded by people, no need of a strict escort to walk their side that scared away anyone who'd even glance at her. What she would give to have such life, to be among other people without getting any special treatment and live her way.

"Tell me what can I do to make you feel better?" her father asked. "Name anything you want, and it'll be yours in a second. What do you want, dear Flora?"

She looked out longingly at her kingdom, wanting nothing more than to fly away and see the outside world, being free of so many rules controlling her life. She then eyed the high stone walls surrounding the whole castle from acre to acre, encircling around the entire estate. To other people, the walls were meant for protection and were barriers protecting the king and princess. To her, however, they were restrictions meant to isolate and kept her prisoner in her own home.

"To be a normal girl." She murmured, feeling tears welling up in her eyes and did nothing but let them fall freely.

To be a normal girl and see the whole kingdom outside the walls, she thought as hot tears streamed down her face. To see a whole new world out there.