Chapter 02

"I've made my decision and I'm not going to go back on it." Gabriella pointed at her closet to direct her house maids to pack all of the clothes as she spoke to her mother who was frantically following her around the house.

"Gabriella, this is serious! Are you sure? I mean I know your dad and I have been a pain in the ass asking you about this marriage arrangement but I want you to think this through." Maria sighed.

Stopping in her tracks, Gabriella bit her lip and swallowed. She swallowed again as if she could swallow away this important decision and her mother's nagging. She was sick of the arguing in her home and tired of thinking about what to do about this dilemma. She just wanted to make a decision and now that she made her decision, her mother wouldn't stop nagging her about the final decision. "Yes, mother. I know you're worried I didn't think this through but trust me… I know this is what I want." She turned around to face her mother before stepping forward to grab Maria's hand. She squeezed her mother's hand tightly. Although deep down she didn't feel certain that this decision about her marriage to the prince was what she really wanted, she wanted to reassure her mother that everything would be okay and their company would be okay. "You and dad mean the world to me. I'd do anything for you guys and I know how much this company means to you guys. I promised you guys that even though I was pursuing art, I would want to manage the company eventually. I'm not going to let you guys down." The certainty and reassuring tone in her voice was almost too real. It was so real and bold that she felt weak deep down. She wasn't sure. She just wanted her parents to think she was sure. Thoughts were racing through her head and making loops like a never-ending race car track.

At this point she confused herself. Was she doing this because she didn't want to lose the luxuries in her life? Was it because she became so dependent on all these servants and lavish products that she would sacrifice marrying someone she actually loved for it? Was she marrying the prince because she was materialistic or was she marrying the prince because the family business meant this much to her?

Gabriella sighed after letting go of her mother's hand. Maria had quieted down after her daughter's reassurance.

The once vibrant young woman was now a miserable sacrifice for marriage. She continued to walk around the house ordering her house maids to pack little things that she knew she would miss after moving into the royal palace.

All she could do right now was move all these objects she loved to help distract her from this miserable ache that represented throwing away her career and love life for this marriage.


"Both the Prince and Miss Montez has agreed to this arrangement, your majesty." Chad handed the signed contracts to the King, John (who went back Jack in private) Bolton II.

"Perfect." The King nodded. He smiled at the signatures on the contracts and handed the folder back to Troy's personal assistant, Chad Danforth. "We will have the cake and royal wedding party planned in a week. The guest list will be handled by Lucille." He informed Chad about his wife Queen Lucille's plans for the guest list.

Most of this wedding will be broadcasted on national television. Canovia hadn't had a royal wedding since Troy's older sister Princess May's wedding five years ago. May currently resided in England after eloping with one of United Kingdom's very own Prince William's first cousins. Princess May's wedding attracted almost seven million viewers in Canovia, which was seventy percent of Canovia's small population.

"I will make sure the Prince's suit is ready by tomorrow so we have time for further alterations, your majesty." Chad nodded humbly at the King.

Not only did Troy have to look his best on their big day, Gabriella also devoted almost all of her time to fitting and trying on different wedding dresses. Unlike a traditional wedding, Gabriella's mother didn't have much say in her daughter's choice of a wedding dress. Instead, Gabriella was transported in a limo with one of the Queen's personal assistants. Gabriella was told that the Queen sent her to help find the perfect wedding dress. Gabriella felt almost numb throughout this whole process. She thought that the day she got to pick out her wedding dress would be one of the happiest days of her life but all she felt was emptiness. All these expensive fabrics of lace and satin felt so foreign to her. Was she a dress up doll or a bride?

Throughout the week, all sorts of arrangements were made so that the wedding would be perfect on the big day. Days of dress fitting, cake ordering, guest inviting, and room decorating were all finally coming to an end. Although so many plans were made for the soon-to-be husband and wife, they had not spoken a word to each other. Gabriella knew nothing more than a Wikipedia page when it came to her future husband.

And Troy knew nothing more than that one picture of Gabriella. Every once in a while, Troy would take the photograph out of his pocket and look at it, examine it, and study it. This was the woman he would have to be with for the rest of his life starting tomorrow morning. Was he ready? Was he ready to cherish this woman? Was he ready for this challenge? Most things in his life were always already planned for him like this marriage. Troy was used to having everything set up for him before it even crossed his mind. Did it matter that this marriage was also already arranged for him? Troy loved a challenge and beautiful women. Marriage to him was just another challenge, a challenge he knew he would win since the first time he looked at this photograph of his stranger of a fiancée.


Breathe, Gabriella, Breathe. Her eyes were glued shut as she listened to her breath. If she opened her eyes right now, it would be the reality that finally arrived. She was about to walk down the aisle in a few hours.

"Okay, open your eyes, please, your highness." The makeup artist said as Gabriella fluttered her eyes open slowly. She felt the heavy lashes on the top of her lashline glued tightly to her thin and natural eyeliner. After blinking a few times she gave a small smile to the lady doing her makeup. "It looks good."

"Thank you, your royal highness." She grinned wider than Gabriella. Why were all these people happier than her even though she was the one getting married? Those last three words made her cringe… your royal highness. She would never get used to this.

"The princess is almost ready." Servants were pacing around the room, organizing and arranging everything else about the wedding that Gabriella didn't even know about.

The Queen's personal assistant walked into the room, the same lady that took her dress shopping, to check on Gabriella's makeup and dress. "Wonderful. You look absolutely beautiful, your highness." The tall dark skinned lady named Taylor McKessie smiled at Gabriella through the mirror. "Your highness, may I ask you to stand up so we can make sure the dress is fit properly?"

"Like I have a choice." Gabriella mumbled before standing up with a smile in her heavy tight-fitting mermaid dress. The sleeves were long and lacy showing conservatism and neckline was low, pushing her petite breasts up stylishly.

"Can you pull the Princess's dress up a bit." Taylor ordered one of the servants. "We need to cover the tattoo on the side of her arm." This dress covered all of her tattoos. She had a floral design about the size of her hand on her thigh, a small daisy on the side of her arm and a pink bow under her breasts. If this was a real wedding with a man she really loved, she would be wearing a sleeveless short dress that showed off pieces of art on her skin. But she didn't have a say in any of this, she was just a mannequin.

Her dark chocolate curls cascaded down her shoulders as her dress draped past her for what seemed like millions of miles past her steps. The dress was beautiful and fit perfectly on Canovia's most beautiful woman. To think this would normally be this day two people commit to each other for the rest of their lives knowing they loved and cherished each other was foreign to Gabriella. She was about to meet and marry her groom at the same time. Did all brides felt this lost during their wedding or was it only those who didn't marry out of love?

Troy stood at the end of the aisle where the bishop stood. The church the wedding took place in was Canovia's most famous and extravagant church. It was a Gothic style Catholic church that held hundreds and thousands and it was situated in the capital of Canovia—Canovine City.

Troy looked at his bride in disbelief. She was more petite than he thought but more beautiful than he'd imagine. The picture showed her innocence but the woman walking towards her was nothing but exciting and exotic. Her eye makeup was soft but her lips were red. Her eyebrows were filled in darkly and although her dress was conservative, her aura was different. Her eyes met his and he could swear he felt a zap. He smiled at her knowing that cameras were everywhere, capturing their every movement.

How did it feel to marry someone you actually took the time to grow love for? Did it feel to same? Troy's smile grew wider as Gabriella finally made her way close enough to stand across from him.

The words of the bishop hardly mattered to Troy as he examined and studied the face of his bride.

The words of the bishop hardly mattered to Gabriella as she looked at Troy with blank eyes and a blank state.

Her emotions were all mixed and jumbled but her face showed nothing of it.

"I will." Troy responded to the bishop's statement

"I will." Gabriella answered the same.

Troy took his bride's right hand from her and started to speak his rehearsed vows. "I, Troy Harrison Bolton III, take Gabriella Rosalina Montez, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse: for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy law; and thereto I give thee my troth." And during the voicing of those vows were the first time Troy touched her hand and also the first time he spoke to her in almost sixteen years (since that banquet they both went to when they were eight years old).

Gabriella took Troy's left hand before looking into his eyes. "I, Gabriella Rosalina Montez, take Troy Harrison Bolton III, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse: for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy law; and thereto I give thee my troth." Those words flowed through her lips heavily. Her tone was light but those words were the heaviest words she had ever said in her entire life.

After the ring had been blessed, Troy slipped the fourteen solitaire diamonds surrounding a twelve karat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in eighteen karat white gold right onto Gabriella's fourth finger. In other words, the ring had a blue gem in the middle with diamonds around it and was more expensive than any number you could imagined in your head.

The ring fit perfectly around Gabriella's tan fingers. She looked at the ring and then looked up at Troy.

"Now you may kiss the bride."

Troy pushed a few strands of her back by Gabriella's ears, his eyes never leaving hers before he leaned down and met their lips for the first time—the first touch of her hand and now their first kiss, it was all in the public eye. Gabriella closed her eyes and let her lips move against his. Her top lip locked between his before he pulled away from her with a smile.

She looked down at her ring once more and then up at Troy's lips and then up to his eyes. This was it. She was now officially the Princess of Canovia. And the man standing in front of her was now her husband, the man she just committed herself to for the rest of her life minutes into speaking to him for the first time since they were eight years old.


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