The Prince, Pauper and the Princess
Chapter 03: Life Outside the Castle
With the princess' arrival, many different emotions found themselves swirling around in Elliot's heart. He found himself awed by Eloise's beauty and his heart began to beat faster as he followed her into the foyer. But he also recalled what the prince told him earlier, that he was currently fulfilling the prince's role and did not wish for him to fall for the princess. But while his brain thought of this, the feelings in his heart were trying to make him ignore said request. Randolph stayed close to Elliot's side as they returned to the foyer.
"M-Mister Randolph? I'm worried. W-What if the princess doesn't like me? You heard what she said earlier." Elliot asked. Randolph glanced down at the young boy and patted his head.
"Do not worry my dear boy. I'm sure you two will be fine. Let her see the kind hearted lad I know you are." Randolph said. Just then, the two were stopped when they saw another man approaching from a nearby hallway. This man appeared to be younger than Randolph but was wearing royal garnments. He had slick black hair, combed neatly atop his head, with ruby red colored eyes.
"Ah. Randolph. THERE you are. I've been searching all over the palace for you." he said. Randolph looked to the man and sighed.
"Vlad, you should have known very well where I was. I was fetching the prince for Princess Eloise has just arrived. Surely you recalled his majesty's wish for her and the prince to meet." Randolph replied. Vlad glanced towards the princess, being eyed back by her and her maid. He then turned with a huff, slightly disgusting the princess as a frown came to her face.
"Ah. Yes. HER. I nearly forgot. SO SORRY ol' chap." Vlad said. This made Randolph lightly scoff.
"You should remain on top of your daily schedules. After all, you are the advisor to the king's wishes after all. It is your job to make sure things go smoothly for his majesty and the prince." he said. Vlad glared towards Randolph before looking down to Elliot.
"Hmph. I'm just happy our "foolish prince" didn't sneak off like he always does and decided to stick around this...time..." Vlad huffed, slowly losing track of his words as he looked straight on at Elliot. His eyes slowly widened as he stuttered, glaring into Elliot's bright gold eyes. Fearing he was exposed, Elliot nervously gulped and backed against Randolph's legs before Vlad glared intensely at him. This was all observed closely by Eloise and the other servants nearby.
"W-What? Is...Is there something on my face?" Elliot asked. Vlad remained dead silent, glaring with a horrified look on his face. Just then, he felt someone shaking his shoulder rapidly. He snapped out of his trance to see Randolph.
"Vlad? Vlad! Snap out of it sir! You look as if you just saw a ghost!" Randolph called. Vlad groaned and rubbed his eyes before glaring back down at Elliot, now cowering behind Randolph's legs.
"S-Sorry...its just...ah. Nothing." he sighed. He then swiftly turned around and made his way back down the hall. Randolph was about to speak out before Vlad raised a hand.
"C-Carry on. Do not worry about me." he called. Randolph looked on in confusion as Eloise made her way back towards Elliot, watching as Vlad was fading from sight.
"Pardon me sir. But...who IS that man?" Eloise asked. Randolph glanced down to the two children and then back up the hallway at Vlad.
"That, dear princess, is Vlad. He is the advisor to our benevolent, King Alexander. He actually was once a good friend of our former ruler, the prince's father, King William." Randolph explained "Before his death, Lord William wished for us to instigate Vlad as the next ruler of our kingdom because of his grand advice and plans to benefit the kingdom's future. However, customs would not have it as the king's brother, Alexander, was to take the throne. Since that day, Vlad has been rather distant and cold to the rest of us. He only really speaks with the king when it is of important matters." Eloise lightly nodded, understanding the way Vlad was acting before. Randolph turned to Elliot and Eloise with a light smile on his face.
"But...enough of that. You must be both very parched from your long travel. Might I offer you ladies a bit of refreshment?" he asked. Eloise smiled and gave a light courtsey.
"Ah. Yes. Thank you kindly Mr. Randolph. Henrietta? I know we are guests of theirs, but please, feel free to lend Sir Randolph a hand if necessary. I wish to speak with the prince...alone." she said, turning to her maid. Henrietta lightly nodded.
"As you wish madam. I feel this will give us "servants" a chance to better know one another as well." she said. Eloise chuckled, saying that was the plan. Henrietta patted the princess' head before making her way out of the room, walking side by side with Randolph. Elliot stood and observed them before glancing to Eloise. She had a firm look on her face, glaring annoyingly towards him, before remembering her manners.
"A-Ahem. So...Prince Devin. May we adjourn ourselves to your quarters? I wish to see how my future "husband" keeps tabs on his chambers." Eloise asked. Elliot lightly blushed, stuttering for a short while before giving a nervous laugh.
"S-S-Sure thing princess. H-Here. Follow me." he said, leading the princess towards the stairs. However, just as she was turning around, Eloise's heels accidentally stepped on the hem of her gown and the princess began to stumble towards the floor. Elliot gasped and quickly acted, catching the princess before she fell.
"Y-Your majesty!" he called as he caught her. Elliot was able to catch the princess as her gaze was to the ceiling of the castle and her blonde hair was stretched out all the way. In the process, their crown and tiara had fallen from their heads and rolled across the floor. Eliose glanced down towards the floor and sighed with relief.
"O-Oh. I'm sorry. It would appear as I almost fumbled there. T-Thank you for your aide, Prince Dev...guh!" Eloise replied, stopped when she looked at Elliot's worried expression. As their eyes remained locked on one another, Eloise began to stutter and quickly blushed. She felt herself slightly trembling as Elliot held her gently in his arms.
"Uhh...p-princess? A-Are you all right? You're turning red. Are you...feeling well?" Elliot asked. Eloise gasped before straightening herself out and adjusted her gown. She then swiftly grabbed her tiara before regaining her composure.
"A-Ahem! I'm...I'm fine. I am...sorry, again, for the scene I caused." she replied, not trying to make eye contact with Elliot. Relieved, Elliot smiled before picking up his crown as well.
"That's good. I wouldn't want yourself to get hurt. After all, you're my guest. T-That probably means I should be taking care of you to make sure something like this does not hapen." he said. Eloise's face began blushing heavily again as she glared at Elliot straight on. Her eyes lightly quivered from surprise.
"T-There's no WAY he's Prince Devin! A-All the information my servants back home gathered for me h-had me understand the prince was a snob of a ladies man who always loved sweet talking the girls with vulgar actions! B-But...this boy...he's...he's the complete opposite! Ever since I arrived, he's the complete OPPOSITE!" she thought. Elliot quickly took notice of Eloise's face again as he cluelessly glared back.
"Hmm? Princess? Are you SURE you're all right? You're turning red again. Do you have a fever?" Elliot asked. Eloise gasped before quickly spinning around, covering her blushing face with both hands.
"D-Dah! I-I'm sorry! A-Ahem! P...Please forget what you just saw! I-I'm fine!" she cried. Elliot looked on questionably over the princess' shoulder, catching her gaze yet again.
"A-Are you sure?" he asked. Eloise gawked and shoved Elliot away, causing him to fumble to the floor.
"I SAID I WAS FINE! NOW QUIT IT!" she exclaimed. Elliot simply sat on the floor, his eyes focused on the princess' "weird" performance. Rejoining the prince "incognito", we find Devin out in the streets of town, now donning Elliot's clothes. He looked around with a hearty smile on his face as he took a deep breath, breathing a light sigh.
"Finally. I can be among the commoners without having to hide myself from the royal guards. And how is this possible? Heh heh. Because I found the PERFECT disguise...another person in this world who looks exactly like me. No one, not EVEN the royal guards, will tell its me!" Devin chuckled. He took another look back towards the castle walls, thinking back to the last look he saw on Elliot's face.
"Hmm. I hope Elliot is gonna be okay. I mean, I DID just up and left him as the princess showed up." he muttered, contemplating the ordeal. But just then, his usual smirk came back to his face as he strolled towards town with arms crossed behind his head.
"Nah. I'm sure he's fine. He looked like a good boy. I'm sure there'll be no problems whatsoever." he chuckled. Just then, he happened to notice someone rushing over towards him. He turned and saw Eugene, Elliot's best friend.
"Elliot! Elliot! There you are!" he yelled. Devin glanced over his shoulder, spotting the young lad rushing over towards him.
"Hmm? Who's this kid?" Devin thought. Once he reached Devin's side, Eugene stopped to catch his breath as he rested one hand on his shoulder.
"Elliot...oh man. I'm so glad I found you. Everyone back at the inn was worried SICK about you. You took so long to come back from the castle with your delivery. What happened?" he asked. Devin looked on in worry, realizing he had to think of something fast. He was now in Elliot's shoes and knew he had to hurry and fake his identity.
"Uhhh...the delivery...delivery...ah yes! Sorry about that pallie. It took a while to get in because the guards outside mistaked me for a common begger boy and turned me away. But don't worry. Eventually, I got the "delivery" taken care of." Devin said, acting his best to sound like Elliot. He looked on at Eugene's face, slowly beginning to worry that his act wasn't fooling him.
"Ehh...I dunno why the guards gave you a hard time. They should know by now that the town's wood cutter usually asks us to deliver fire wood to the castle. Anyway, come on. Now that I found you, we got to go back to the inn and finish our chores." Eugene said, taking hold of Devin's hand. Devin looked on in shock as he was dragged along with Eugene.
"W-Wait a minute! What do you mean "chores"?!" Devin exclaimed. Eugene glanced over his shoulder.
"You know what I mean. We don't share a room at the inn for free ya know. Miss Haggison has us make up for our stay by helping her around the inn. Besides, I left Giselle alone back there and work is really piling up!" Eugene explained. All this sudden excitement made Devin groan heavily.
"Ugh! If I knew THIS was how Elliot lived his life, as a payless sap working at the local tavern, I wouldn't have bothered taking places with him. Still...this Giselle girl sounds like it'll be worth it." Devin thought. The two boys continued along towards the inn, just up the road from where they met up. The inn was a slightly worn down building with wooden shutters and a large sign that read "Inn" hanging above the door, but slightly on an angle. There were pots of flowers lined up along the front entrance. Devin and Eugene hurried inside and rushed up to the front counter.
"S-Sorry it took so long Miss Haggison. But...I found Elliot." Eugene reported. Devin looked over the counter, catching notice of Miss Haggison. She was a large bodied woman with curly orange hair and freckles spotted her two cheeks. She was seen wearing a green dress, mostly covered by a large white apron.
"Ah! There you are Elliot. We were really worried about you when you didn't come back from your trip to the palace gates. Were ya able to get the wood delivered?" she asked. Devin glared on at Miss Haggison with a slightly "creeped out" glare in his eyes.
"Uhh...y-yeah. Things went SMOOTHLY back at the palace...M-Miss Haggison." he stuttered. But Eugene gave him a confused glare, quickly noticed by the phony Elliot.
"H-Huh? But...you told me you had some...ouf!" Eugene asked, cut off by Devin gutting the lad in the stomach with his elbow. Devin glared annyoingly to Eugene before directing his gaze back to Miss Haggison.
"Well, its a good thing you're back dearie. Giselle could use some help in the kitchen. So...hop to it lad." she said. Devin sighed and nodded, making his way behind the front counter with Eugene.
"Sheesh Elliot. What was THAT for back there? You're acting WEIRD all of a sudden." Eugene asked, rubbing his stomach. Devin was quick to apologize, saying his arm simply slipped was all.
"W-Well, anyway, I got to go upstairs and see how the guests are doing. You'll be doing kitchen duty with Giselle. Good luck with my sister." he said. He then made his way back to the front as Devin watched.
"Hmm. Maybe I overdid it a bit back there. I'd better watch what I'm doing. I'm supposed to be Elliot after all. But...wait. Giselle...is the runt's sister?" Devin asked. Just then, he heard the voice of someone humming nearby. He looked towards the far side of the kitchen, towards the sink where the dishes were being washed. He noticed a young pre-teen girl with long silky black hair, dressed in a european themed gown with a few patched spots along the skirt. She looked back, glancing at Devin with the same light brown eyes as her brother. This girl was Giselle.
"Hey there Elliot. Welcome back." she said, lightly smiling to Devin. The minute the prince's eyes laid sight on Giselle, Devin gasped and began to blush.
"I-It's HER! T-The girl I was looking for!" he thought. He thought back to the day he first saw her, seated in her desk while being taught by the palace's royal teacher. He glanced out the window to see Giselle carrying a basket of apples in her arms, waving happily to the other people within town. He felt as if he just saw an angel the minute he spotted Giselle. Flashing back to the present, Devin stood there and quietly looked on at Giselle, who lightly chuckled.
"Come on. I know people say I'm cute and everything...but I could really use your help Elliot. Can you please lend a hand?" she asked. Devin quickly snapped out of his trance before slipping out of his scarf and cap before rushing over to Giselle's side.
TO BE CONTINUED...
