DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

A/N: As always, thank you for the feedback! X"D I've strayed-more like messed up-from my usual schedule thus updating is-very-late than I promised. I apologize for this. OTL English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

Italic words – Thoughts

DAHLIA

- 4 -

Chelsea caressed the petals of one from many of the white roses in the garden. As she feels the soft texture of the petals, a smile crept up onto her face – she was very much enjoying her time in the garden without anyone to bother her; not even Mark, her butler of which she had sent to make something that she knew would take more than a couple of minutes to be done. She chuckled to herself at the thoughts of Mark's defeated face when she stubbornly insisted that she wanted to have a Raspberry Pie as a company to the Darjeeling Tea she's currently having that afternoon.

It's been a week since she first arrived in Sunshine Kingdom. The King and Queen of Sunshine were out on a business trip the day she arrived so she only managed to greet them properly the day afterwards, at the banquet the King and Queen held-to welcome her to the kingdom-to be precise. For the past week Will had taken her around the castle – the library, the hall, the wide open space of the field behind the castle where the crown prince spent his time riding his beloved white horse Arthur. Will had been there with her for the past one week – they spent their times together almost all day, parting only when it was already dark and each needed rest in order to function normally in the next day. Will's away visiting one of the villages within the kingdom so she's not worried that her leisure walk around the garden will be interrupted by him taking her yet to another walk around the castle. It's not that I don't like his company. It's just…I need some time to be alone to think.

During the short days she spent with the blonde-haired prince, Chelsea's interest was piqued by the language said crown prince spoke – Italian, the prince replied and he'd been taking classes of said language ever since he was a little boy. Will had told her that the country of where said language came from, which he visited only once, enchanted him; the food, the people, the culture – he told her that he would very much loved to visit the country again and if possible, he would love for her to come with him. The brunette princess blushed at his words and she earned herself a small chuckle from the blonde-haired prince.

Chelsea pondered upon what Will had told her during their first met; "It is a pleasure to finally be able to see you after all these years, Amore Mio (1)." It didn't help that Chelsea herself thought that the blonde-haired prince was familiar – it was like she had meet him before, only that she's not so sure whether it was just a trick played by her mind-after Will said that he was pleased to meet her again-or that she had really met the young prince before. If it was the latter, Chelsea thought, she can't quite remember the place or the time she came across the Sunshine Kingdom's crown prince.

Heaving a sigh and shaking off the thoughts of Will away from her head, the brunette princess resumed her stroll in the garden, walking away from the bushes of white roses to another bush of white flowers – it was one that Chelsea had never seen before. She stopped on her track, tilting her head left and right as she examined the flowers in front of her.

"Strange," she mumbled, placing a finger on her chin and reached forward to touch one of the unfamiliar flowers. "I do not think that I have seen your kind before, little one."

"Dahlia," a voice replied making Chelsea yelped out in surprise and she quickly turned around to find out who was the owner of the unexpected voice.

"Dear Harvest Goddess," the brunette princess breathed out a sigh of relief as she placed a hand on her chest. "You have surprised me, Vaughn. I hope you will refrain yourself from doing such thing in the future."

The interrupter raised an eyebrow, looking at the young woman in front of him with a questioning look. Chelsea gave out a small chuckle at the expression she received from the silver-haired man.

"I am merely providing you the answer to your question regarding the flower you are currently looking at, Your Highness," the knight said to her. "I apologize if what I have done offended you."

The princess of Sunny Kingdom quickly shook her head. "Goodness! Of course not! I was just…a little surprise at your sudden reply – I thought I was alone in this garden."

"Well, perhaps you should pay more attention to your surroundings, Your Highness. I have been here in this garden earlier than you," Vaughn added as he nodded towards some trees standing firmly in the middle of the garden. There were some bushes surrounding said trees, providing an excellent place for one to hide in the garden.

"Ah, I see," Chelsea nodded as she threw her glance towards the spot the knight motioned to her. "I am not surprised that I did not notice you earlier. Such spot is a suitable place for one to hide – or should I ask you, Vaughn, what were you doing in a place like that?"

The knight faked a small cough as his eyes locked on the bunch of white flowers next to him. "They were things that might not be…interesting to you, Your Highness."

"Humour me, my good sir."

Vaughn tore his stare away from the flowers and looked straight at the face of the brunette princess – she was smiling a teasing smile at him, as if she'd known whatever things he was doing in a place where no one else can see him.

The silver-haired knight raised a hand, raking his silver locks with it and sighed in defeat. "I was taking a nap," he answered her.

"A nap, you say? Here? In the middle of the garden?" Chelsea cocked an eyebrow.

"My fellow knights back at the quarter were kind of…noisy, if you must know," Vaughn shrugged. "I need a place to rest and coincidentally, the garden is a perfect place for me to do so. The garden usually will be empty at this kind of hour – not that a lot of people come here though."

"A shame, really," Chelsea said as her gaze returned back to the white flowers next to her – they're Dahlias, or so the young man besides her said so. "This garden is a wonderful place. It is such a waste that not many people come here and appreciate the beauty it provided."

"Which is exactly perfect for me," Vaughn added his opinion. "I do not wish to lose yet another place to rest peacefully."

"Another?"

"Am I obliged to tell you everything about the places I considered a relaxing spot for me, Your Highness?" the silver-haired man asked, trying not to show his annoyance too much his voice.

"No, of course not," the brunette princess shook her head; she knows better not to tread on someone else's privacy when she was still in term of 'acquaintance' with said person, especially people like Vaughn whom she knew would not appreciate people butting in in his business. "I apologize for asking such personal question."

Vaughn sighed. For the love of Harvest Goddess, this princess is… "Forget it. And I am the one who should be apologizing; it was rude of me to use such tone in front of a princess. Forgive me," he said and bowed his head slightly to the young woman.

"You did nothing wrong, Vaughn," Chelsea turned her face to the knight. "You were merely expressing your opinion; I see nothing wrong with it. Or is this yet another rule in Sunshine Kingdom, asking forgiveness from a person that had stepped inside the line of one's private matters? Was it not the other way around?" she asked as her eyes, again, locked with the knight's.

They stared at each other's eyes for a couple of seconds before both started chuckling – actually it was only the princess who was laughing and Vaughn was trying to cover his obvious smirk with his hand.

You're indeed an interesting one, princess of Sunny Kingdom. "It is called-"

"Common courtesy," the brunette princess finished the sentence for the knight.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow at her words. "Actually, I was about to say 'common sense'," he told her.

A slight blush decorated the princess's cheeks. "O-oh. I…I was about to sa-correct that…," she stuttered, a finger scratching her already pink cheek.

"But of course," Vaughn nodded at her – this time, he made no attempt to hide the-second-smirk he'd shown the princess that day.

"W-well," Chelsea fought not to blush more and try to find another topic to talk about. "Ah, yes. T-the flowers," she started. Get a grip, Chelsea. Stop embarrassing yourself in front of him! "They are-"

"Dahlia," this time, Vaughn finished her sentence for her. "Those flowers you are looking at right now are Dahlias," he continued and joined the brunette princess standing in front the bushes of said flowers. "There are pink ones as well," he pointed a finger-Chelsea's eyes automatically followed it-to some bushes not far from them – they're with the same shape of the ones they're currently looking at, only that the colour is different. "Is this your first time seeing this kind of flower, Your Highness?"

Chelsea nodded. "I have seen some with shapes somehow similar to these, but I am quite certain that they were from different species of flowers."

"I see. Indeed there are some with similar shape such as Dahlia but I assured you that they are not Dahlia."

"You seemed to be very knowledgeable about this, Vaughn."

"Pardon me?"

"Flowers," Chelsea replied as she plucked a flower and gently touched some of the many white petals the single flower in her hand has. "Are you interested in them?"

"Not at all," the silver haired-knight stared down at the fresh plucked Dahlia in the brunette princess's hand. "But the prince is very fond of them – he talked about them whenever we were in this garden, taking a stroll just like you."

"Will?" Chelsea looked up to him.

"Without a doubt. Since I am the one accompanying him, it is natural for me to know some facts about flowers when His Highness spoke about it."

"Do you not find it uninteresting – the facts about flowers that he told you during your walk?"

Vaughn shook his head. "Of course not. Rather, I found it to be quite fascinating, although I do admit that such topic does not interest me much. Did you know that each flower has their own symbolic meaning, that whatever flowers you gave people carried a secret message that you may or may not know wishing the people you gifted the flowers to?"

"That I do," Chelsea replied as she twirled the flower in hand. "But I am afraid that I do not know the meaning of this flower," she added and brought said flower in hand upwards to Vaughn's face.

"Dahlia carried a lot of meanings, Your Highness," Vaughn spoke as he took the flower from the princess's hand and smiling-which stunned Chelsea on the spot-, tucked said flowers in her strands of brunette locks up her right ear. "And one of the meanings-not surprisingly-suited you."

(1) My beloved

A/N: Which one of those many meanings Vaughn referred to? Take a guess. XD Anyway, I've said that this one is a short fanfic like Paper Cranes but it looks like it'll be longer that I intended it to be. I hope it won't reach more than 10 chapters though – it won't be called 'short' now if it did, right? XD Just like Paper Cranes, there is a reason why I use 'Dahlia' as a title for this fanfic. XD Thank you for reading this chapter. See you in the next one! (n.n)