He would be king some day. That was just the way it went. A first born baby boy in a royal family was always named king when the father resigned, unless he was somehow unable to follow through.

Roy was the only boy among his many sisters, and was going to become king very soon. If he could find a wife, that is. How he anticipated and dreamed of being king, but he couldn't get to that position until he married. It would have been easier to find a woman to fall in love with if his father wasn't so pushy about it. He could tell that his father was more excited for him to fill the position than he was. Or maybe it was simply that he wanted to see his grandchildren before he was dead.

"How hard is it? A girl and a boy meet, and that's it! You get married!" his father exclaimed from across the chess board.

"If I may," the Grand Duke, Alex Louis Armstrong, added in,"It isn't that easy. It takes time to fall in love."

"Love shmove," the king scoffed, moving his piece. "You don't need to be in love to get married. That is blasphemy!"

"Didn't you love Mother?" Roy asked, catching the short king offguard.

"Of course I loved your Mother, after some time to get used to living with eachother!"

"If you say so, Father," he rolled his eyes, sitting back in his chair.

"You're never going to find a wife this way. Go! Leave and find a wife for yourself! It'll put some rest on my poor old heart knowing that I may be able to see my grandchildren when they grow," the king suggested.

"I will not resort to just any princess. I kindly request that you stop this immediately," Roy folded his arms over his chest.

"But you must! Find then, go on a quest to fall in love, or whatever you call it! Please, don't sit around waiting for it to happen, my dear son," the king pleaded.

"Getting to old to see your grandchildren? That is preposterous. You looked like a two year old child just now, and you claim to be old."

"Roy, please."

"Father!" There was rage behind his voice. He was not all that great about keeping his cool.

"If I may," Armstrong spoke,"You could always have a get together to clear your minds."

"I've got it!" The king yelled with his finger pointing to the sky. There was a long silence before he spoke again. "A ball!"

"A ball? What do you mean?" Roy looked at him questionably.

"We will host a ball, and invite.. well... all the young maidens in the kingdom!" He had sign of excitement on his face.

Now, Roy did not appreciate being pushed into marriage. But that many young girls in one ballroom fighting to be with him? That sounded like something he wanted to go to. There was another long moment of silence.

"I won't promise I will find a girl to marry," he said first, and then loosened up. "But I will attend, I suppose."

As the king suddenly jumped over the table to take his son into his arms, Armstrong's eyes teared up.

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Not only was Riza covering her ears, but Carl as well, as the two girls went through their voice lesson for the day upstairs in the music room. Riza knew the song well herself, after hearing it so often, and could probably sing it better than either of them. But she would never try. She was afraid of Lustette getting angry about ruining the song or something.

Unlike the prince, she easily kept her cool. When someone was yelling at her, she took it. When someone tried to force her to do something, she fought back. But she never yelled. She always remained calm, at least with her facial expressions.

Just as she was pouring out the bucket of dirty, soapy water into the back yard, she heard a knock on the door followed by a loud, out of tune call of a trumpet. That meant that the royal messenger was there.

A short, seemingly annoyed young boy stood at the door with a paper rolled out in front of him when she opened the door. "I, Edward Elric, the royal messenger, am sent here to deliver this letter from the King. Please send blah blah blah ba-blech. Just take the stinking letter," he spoke with an annoyed tone, which told Riza that they weren't the first home he'd delivered this to.

Riza reached out and took it from him. "Have a nice day," she said as a goodbye while he left to his horse, and he didn't answer. He was too busy grumbling something about 'stupid girls'. With a shrug of her shoulders, she closed the door.

She thought about opening the letter to see what it was about herself, but she decided quickly that if Lustette saw it opened before she got it, then she would be in a lot of trouble that she didn't want. Riza knocked on the door when she got to it.

Lustette slammed her fingers on the piano. "What have I told you about interrupting voice lessons? What do you need?" she hissed.

"I've just gotten a letter from the royal messenger," she answered, stepping into the room with it in her hand.

"What!?" Gluttona snatched it away.

"Let me see!" Envie grabbed it away from her.

"I'll read it," Lustette took it gently from Envie. She took a second to read it, and then her face lit up while she read it out loud. "You are invited to the royal ball tonight at the castle. It begins at ten o'clock and goes on for as long as is needed. Every eligible maiden is to attend."

"I'm a maiden!" Envie shrieked.

"I'm eligible!" Gluttona said to herself in a loving voice.

As the girls and Lustette shrieked, speaking over how they finally had a chance to be royalty, Riza spoke up.

"That means.. It means I can go, too," she said, stepping towards them confidently.

"What ever do you mean?" Lustette asked.

While Gluttona and Envie laughed over this matter, making fun of the scenarios which could happen if thing went their way, Riza exlplained to her step mother.

"It says here that every eligible maiden is to attend. And, well, as far as I know, I am an eligible maiden," she said.

"Yes, yes, I understand. You are correct. Alright, very well. You may go, if you can finish all of your chores." The girls gasped and Riza smiled brightly. She hadn't in years.

"Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!" she could hardly stand it. Quickly she left the room in hopes that she would finish in time.

"Mother! Do you realize what you just said?" Envie asked loudly.

"Of course I do. If she finishes her chores," she explained quietly.

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"How do you think it looks?" she asked Hayate, holding an old dress out in front of her, earning a bark from him.

"You think so? It was my mother's. It's a little out dated, but I bet I could do some things to it to make it look nicer."

"Elizabeth!" Lustette yelled from downstairs.

Riza sighed. "I'll see you in a bit. The witches are calling again."

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"I need you to sew on the hem."

"Redo this sleeve."

"Add a pink shawl."

"Sew these together."

"Make it low cut."

"Tighten this."

"Loosen this."

"Put my hair up."

"That hurts!"

"Add a few buttons."

Commands here and commands there, she could find any time to make her dress. Her chores were finished and so were the girls, but her own things weren't. When she saw the carriage arrive, she knocked on the door to tell them it was there.

"Why, Elizabeth, aren't you going?" Lustette faked her voice to sound like she actually cared that she wasn't dressed in a nice ball gown.

"I can't. I don't have anything to wear," she stared at the floor, closing her eyes tightly to stop any tears from coming. She wasn't going to allow herself to fall apart over a stupid dance.

"That's too bad. Well, let's go girls," Lustette stepped past her, and the girls followed behind with a smirk on their faces. When she weren't looking, she walking quickly back to the attic. Hayate wimpered when he saw that she had a wet face. Either she was crying, or another dog had licked her face. The second option seemed for likely for Riza.

"I can't go. It's just not possible. Besides," she said matter-of-factly as she wiped her face at the window, facing the large shining castle. "it would probably be boring anyway. Just a bunch of people dancing around and talking." She lied to herself to stop her tears, but quickly she found it wasn't working. She knew very well that it would have been the best time of her life.

In regret of not finding the time to finish it, she stepped over towards the closet in which her dress was hung up. When she opened the closet, she found not the old fashioned ballroom dress, but a modified version of it. She looked at Hayate with a large smile. "How in the world..?"