The next chapter continues from the party previously. Carly is back home safely, but she's left Sieg heartbroken and hanging.
Carly, meanwhile, had made it back home safely and before either Giselle or Marie could be there.
She stepped out of the limousine, and she bid the driver thanks before entering her apartment. Rushing up to her bedroom, Carly took off the dress, the other shoe, the jewelry, and she put it all away in places that she could find them at a later date. While she felt like she would not need them again, for some reason she was hopeful that she would put them on one day.
"Thanks, May, Yosef," Carly said, as she came out of the bathroom, fresh from a shower, and all ready for bed. "Thanks for being my fairy godparents tonight. Thank you so much for everything."
The next morning, Carly woke up at the crack of dawn once again. However, since she was so exhausted from the night before, she practically had to force herself to get up and get ready for work.
"That man from the party…" Carly said, as she looked out the window to the castle. "Who was he?"
Outside, Giselle and Marie were so angry with the fact that none of the princes wanted to see them again that they decided to take it out on Carly. Giselle banged on Carly's door.
Carly, being alerted to her neighbors' presence, merely opened the door, and said, "What is it now?"
"You're gonna clean our houses before dusk!" Marie shouted, as she pulled Carly by the hair and made her look at them. "You may not have been to the ball, but whoever that masked woman was totally took away our chance!"
"What do you mean?" Carly asked.
"Whoever that woman was totally made Prince Sieg fall for her! I don't know what she did, but she was talk of the party! No one even blinked an eye at us!" Giselle said.
"Prince Hayden said that he wasn't interested in me; none of the other princes gave me the time of day!"
"Ivan totally blew me off; he called me obnoxious!" Marie said.
"Why take this out on me?" Carly said, feigning misery. "You're the ones who promised not to do this to me anymore."
"That was on the grounds that we nab a prince! But since that girl went and upstaged us, no one even looked in our direction! So..." Giselle said, before shoving every bit of housework on Carly. "Get this done before the day is out!"
"I'm exhausted," Carly complained. "I had to work overtime at the bakery; not like I had anything better to do. So, never again am I going to be doing this."
Carly got Marie's hand off of her, dropped the housework, shut the door, and locked it.
"You'll regret ignoring us like this!" Marie said.
"Get out here!" Giselle demanded.
Carly decided to change and get to work; she knew she had a long day ahead of her. A lot of her coworkers were attendees at the ball, so she knew that she would be the talk of the party.
'I'd better leave the back way.' Carly thought, as she went to brush her hair and get ready for work.
A little bit later, Carly came into the staff locker room through the back door and she dressed in her uniform. She walked into the kitchen.
"Carly, how was last night?" Yosef whispered, as he approached Carly.
"I had a great time," Carly said. "It was the most magical time of my life; I'll never forget it. Too bad I lost my mask and shoe while I tried to make a run for it..."
Yosef and Carly snickered a bit at this information.
"The party at the castle last night was great!" "I can't believe I got to dance with Prince Oliver!" "But I have to wonder... that masked girl; who was she?"
Carly sweat dropped; she knew that she would be talked about, and no one would even know it was her.
Yosef and Carly nodded before going back to work and then they all went back to baking; business as usual.
Carly, however, drifted off into space about the party the previous night, but only during her break and even then, she did not voice anything out loud.
Meanwhile, Prince Sieg was sitting in his office, staring at the mask and the shoe that were in his hands. Sieg flashed back to the previous night, and he remembered how enamored he was when he first saw Carly.
Outside the door, Sieg's butler Hans was watching him. Standing next to him was Lavi, the little boy who was butler to Prince Aslan.
"He's been staring at those things since last night," Lavi said. "I don't understand what's so special about a mask and a shoe if the girl in question isn't wearing them."
Hans was a little annoyed with Lavi; while he understood Lavi was still a little kid in that 'cooties' stage, Hans was upset that Lavi was not minding his position with his comments.
"Lavi, you may still be a little boy, but you need to develop your sense of romance," Hans said. "As Sieg's butler, it was obvious to me that he was head-over-heels for the young lady last night. Do not anger me with your immaturity."
Hans started to walk away.
"Mr. Hans, please wait! I was only joking around. I saw the way Prince Sieg was staring at her; he's totally smitten." Lavi said, before chasing after Sieg.
"*Sigh*... Who is she?" Sieg asked aloud, as he kept examining the items the girl left behind.
There was a knock on the door; Sieg, looking up and putting down the items, said, "Come in."
The other seven princes came into the room; Hayden took the lead, and they all looked around at Sieg, with varying expressions on their faces. Oliver and Max had smiles on their faces, while the others wore neutral expressions.
"Sieg..." Hayden began.
"What happened last night?" Aslan asked, breaking the ice.
"I don't know," Sieg said, as he looked at the shoe and the mask one again. "But it's like we were meant to meet."
While Sieg questioned it aloud, he knew the truth in his heart. The girl he met was the one for him. The one who was meant by means of destiny to become his bride; his princess. Sieg wanted to find her very badly; he wanted to know her name, who she was, everything.
"That's love, all right," Oliver said, teasingly. "You're in love with her, Sieg."
Sieg blushed, before saying, "Me? In love?"
"I certainly think that's what happened." Hayden said.
"Love at first sight, Sieg," Oliver said. "It's a classic case of love at first sight."
Sieg felt his heart pound at this information.
"But what I want to know is who she was," Ivan said. "Call me paranoid, but what were her intentions? She was wearing a mask; the party wasn't even a masquerade."
"I want to know who she is, too," Sieg said. "She said something about some attendees not being happy if she knew who she was."
"Sounds like she just wanted to get away from some stress," Kevin said. "Whoever it was that would have given her a hard time, they must be pretty mean if she had to wear a mask."
"But... It's like we were meant to be," Sieg said. "I'll never be able to forget last night. I have to find her again."
"But all you have is her shoe and her mask; that isn't much to go on." Aslan said.
"The shoe itself is vinyl and that brand is fairly high-priced." Hayden said, examining the shoe.
"And the mask is the same brand," Sieg said, noticing the tag. "I'll find the store this came from, and ask about who had bought these items from them within the week."
"So, you're basically going to do what Cinderella's Prince Charming did; put the mask and shoe on and see if it fits," Kuon said. "Albeit in this case, you have more to go on than just the shoe, and you actually have clues to help you narrow it down rather than just sticking it on girls' feet."
Ivan had already asked his butler, Mikhail to look into the brand and see what store around town stocked it. Meanwhile, the others were also trying to find clues to see who the mystery girl could have been.
Word of the search of the enigmatic beauty soon got around the town, and news of it soon reached Patisserie Brown in a heartbeat. It was the following day...
"Hey, girls, did you hear?" One of Carly's coworkers said, as Carly came in. "Prince Sieg Lieben is trying to find out the identity of the girl from the ball!"
"Really?" "Wow." "This is something out of 'Cinderella' in a big way." "He's smitten alright."
Carly's heart throbbed and she was in shock.
'I... danced with a prince? Prince Sieg Lieben of DresVan Kingdom, too?! This is insane!' Carly thought, feeling really surprised.
"Carly?" One of her coworkers said.
"Oh, hi." Carly said, snapping out of her thoughts.
"It must be really sad that you're not the one Prince Sieg has fallen for," She said. "Those neighbors of yours kept you too busy for you to go to the party."
Carly nodded; she knew that she was the one that Sieg had fallen for, but she could not tell her friends and coworkers this information.
"Don't bring her down," Another one of her coworkers said. "You're not helping."
"Let's just get to work." Carly said, trying not to dwell on the issue.
Meanwhile, Prince Sieg and Hans were working together to find the person who purchased the items.
"Apparently, a young lady named May had purchased those items the day of the party. The dress included. According to the clerk at the shop, she said it was for a friend, who was more than deserving of a chance at the party." Hans reported.
"So this May..." Sieg said, as he was getting hopeful.
"We'll find her and ask her about the girl," Hans said. "But since Miss May has a significant other, it's unlikely that she was the girl in the mask."
"Find her and ask about the girl." Sieg said.
Later that afternoon, Carly was at her home, trying not to dwell on the idea of her not being able to see Prince Sieg again. She looked out the window, sighing sadly.
"I can't believe this... I've gone and fallen in love with a prince," Carly said, sadly. "I just hope Giselle and Marie..."
Carly soon heard her cell phone ringing and then she picked it up; it was May.
"May..." Carly said, as she answered the call.
"Hey, girl! Did you have a good time at the ball?" May said, over the phone.
"I had a wonderful time. I even danced with one of the princes," Carly said. "Too bad I couldn't stay past midnight."
"Sounds like you lived a fairytale! But that aside, Carly you'll never believe this!" May said.
"Believe what?" Carly inquired.
"Speaking of the princes, one of them just asked me about the quote-on-quote "masked beauty" from the ball! That was so you! So, I directed them to your apartment building!"
"You did what?!" Carly asked. "May, if Giselle and Marie find out..."
"Don't worry about them," May said. "Just present the other shoe, and wear the dress and jewels from the ball when he arrives. Then, he'll know its you right off the bat!"
"If my neighbors don't snatch the chance away from me, first." Carly said.
"Don't be such a downer, girl," May said. "You just need to be confident and step up!"
Carly heard banging on the door.
"That's probably my neighbors; I gotta go." Carly said, before hanging up the phone.
What will happen to poor Carly? Will her neighbors once again prevent her from attaining happiness?