A/N: I'm back! This was a tough chapter! So much so, that I took a break and worked on another story! I had to rework chapter 5 a little bit to make them fit. But hopefully the rest will be completed in a reasonable amount of time! Please leave your feedback!

Chapter 6

After Miel's departure, Prince Henri wondered if he should find Isabel a new lady-in-waiting, but she said she would prefer to have just Lisette wait on her. Lisette had become more of a handmaiden than a maid by now. Over the past few days, she had thought a lot about what Lisette had told her about not giving up on her father or her kingdom, and she began to ponder how she was to do it. Would she start attending court again? Or council meetings? Lisette, who had become her confidante as she thought out loud, suggested that she could perhaps start by visiting her father and Andrei in the library, instead of simply spying on them.

It took Isabel many attempts at strengthening her resolve enough to approach them in the library, where they sat after dinner with a glass of wine each, talking.

"Isabel?" asked Prince Henri in surprise. He had not seen her in days. Andrei looked just as surprised, but he stood up in way of greeting.

"I thought I might sit with you?" she mumbled.

"Of course," Henri replied happily. "Please join us." Isabel took a seat to his right, as Andrei sat down again, looking very cautious. "We were only talking about our visit to the building site of the new town to see the progress on the constructions of the road," her father said, and proceeded to give her details. Isabel listened with some interest, but she found she could not have a free conversation with her father with Andrei present. She could think of nothing intelligent or insightful to say, so she remained silent. Her father asked her questions about how she was spending her days, to which she gave very clipped responses, and then finally excused herself and ran back to her room. She recounted to Lisette how awkward it had been, and she almost decided she had no intention of trying again.

But there was no point waiting around for the curse to break anymore. She had to try to get her life back, and she was determined to try to be polite and courteous about it. Her father was happy to see her again when she joined them the next day, but all attempts at conversation were stilted. She could not quite forgive him for his clear preference for Andrei, though she grudgingly admitted he had some solid grounds for it, and affected no warmth in her interactions with him. She avoided speaking with Andrei altogether, and it seemed he was doing the same, though Prince Henri made some attempts to get them to talk.

She was actually surprised by how uncomfortable he seemed in her presence. Of course she had known that all his previous flattery and flirtations had simply been an act, so was this the real him? Or maybe he was bothered by her being so heavily veiled? Or perhaps he felt some contrition for taking advantage of her cursed situation to get what he wanted? At any rate, she was glad that he maintained a respectful distance, and addressed her very formally when he had to. On the third day, she felt comfortable enough to participate in the discussions, and stopped worrying about looking foolish in front of Andrei.

She still remembered the first time they had met, at a celebration in Lavigne. He had been trying to impress her from the start. He asked her to dance, paid her an abundance of compliments and only spoke with her about frivolous topics. She had actually tried to speak with him about the trade relations that he had been building, and she actually had made naïve comments that must have made her look foolish. Andrei had seemed very amused and seemed so dismissive of her opinions. She was very embarrassed, and thought it best to avoid him. But then she realized that she was determined to pursue her, even though he thought her foolish. He probably actually expected her to be foolish, or shallow and flippant, and thus her intense dislike of him began.

Now, it was strange to see the usually suave and confident young prince be so awkward around her. But one day, he did make a genuine attempt at conversation.

"I trust you are well, your highness?" He asked after she had walked into the library and realized to her dismay that her father was not present.

"As well as I can be," she responded in what she hoped was a good natured tone.

After an awkward silence, he ventured to ask, "You mentioned yesterday that you have been reading?" She nodded and turned her head to look at the book that he had put down. She didn't recognize it.

"May I ask what you have been reading?"

She had been reading some of her old favorites, mostly novels and many historical accounts of royal families, but she did not feel like sharing with him. But to be polite, she mentioned one title which gave an account of a long forgotten battle on the mountains. He said he had read it many years ago, but could not recall the specifics, and asked her if she would care to remind him.

He was genuinely trying to be nice to her, she realized with some surprise. Not that he had ever been anything but nice before, but it had never been sincere. So she obliged and recounted the events of the battle, and then it was evident to her that he clearly had not forgotten. She frowned. Was he just trying to make conversation or was he trying to make her look foolish again? It turned out they disagreed on the outcome of the battle, but she had read the book very thoroughly and knew what she was talking about. She held her ground and he claimed she should trust him since it had happened closer to his homeland. Isabel rolled her eyes beneath her veil. His smug demeanor was back. But for some reason, she felt more at ease now. And they had just had their first proper conversation.

She asked him what he was reading, for his book was lying by his chair. He showed it to her. It contained details of road building and had accounts of some of the bigger roads built in the Foretlands. He said he was trying to understand the process so he could have more informed conversations with the overseers of the construction. Isabel, as usual, felt very intimidated by his level of commitment, but it occurred to her now that Andrei worked really hard to have become as knowledgeable as he was. She was going to have to work hard too, in order to win back her kingdom.


Isabel began to look for books on ironworks and steel production. She decided she also wanted to understand the process better so she could fully appreciate the impact of the new bloomeries in the south. But the material was dense, and she could not follow half of it. This was going to be harder than she thought.

She had taken to coming to the library every day now. Her father and Andrei spent a great deal of time there, discussing affairs of the kingdom. She paid close attention to everything they said, and as her initial fear of sounding foolish gradually wore away, she began to ask a lot of questions, to understand what they were even talking about. Prince Henri usually deferred to Andrei to answer them, and he would always oblige. Sometimes he was somewhat patronizing in his explanations, especially when she asked basic questions, but most of the time he gave very thorough answers. Her father had never discussed matters in such detail with her before, in fact, she doubted he ever considered them so thoroughly by himself, and she had started to enjoy these meetings.

Andrei had warmed up to her considerably since their first proper conversation, and seemed much more at ease speaking to her. And the more they interacted, the more her dislike seemed to ebb. Still, she was glad when he visited Lavigne, which meant she could have the library to herself so she could carry on with her studies in there instead of carrying the heavy books back to her chambers. She had meant to leave before he returned, but had lost track of time. Andrei walked into the library after coming back from Lavigne and found her staring at a book. Her back was to him, but he could tell she had taken off her veil. He felt an urge to walk softly in front her, for he had been quite curious lately to see what she looked like, but decided against it and cleared his throat to announce his presence. Isabel jumped and scrambled to put on her veil.

Still extremely flustered, she stood up and nodded in greeting, and asked about his trip. It had been short and there was not much to tell, though he mentioned that Miel sent her regards. He walked up to her and inquired after her reading. Feeling self-conscious again, she explained she wanted more background on steel, but she didn't want to admit she was struggling with the material. He leaned over to look at the diagrams she was studying.

"This book is extremely dense though," he said frowning, "I could not follow it without consulting some scholars first."

"Oh," she said, feeling much better, but scooting away from him, as she became aware of his proximity. But then he had walked over to the shelves to bring back another volume that he said covered the material in a simpler way, and actually showed her the passages that would be the most helpful.

"I'm didn't think you would find steel so interesting," he said after a while. Isabel flushed, though thankfully he wouldn't be able to see that. She wouldn't admit to him she was trying to compete with him, though who knows how much she could possibly succeed at that. And was there a hint of teasing she detected in his voice.

"Well what with the recent developments, I thought some background would be helpful," she replied carefully. Andrei nodded and didn't say anything. "I do have a certain amount of interest in what goes on in my kingdom," she insisted.

"To be honest, I have not met many princesses who are interested in the kingdom's affairs," he replied. "I must admit," he said hesitantly, "I was taken by surprise when you started coming to the library."

"Well, I always used to come here before I-" she didn't finish the sentence. She gripped the corner of the book, and the pages were getting crumpled.

"Well, I better get going," said Andrei quickly. "I have to go to the council meeting now. I imagine we might be discussing the progress of the construction."

Isabel tilted her head to the side. "I'd like to come as well," she said.

"To the council meeting?" Andrei asked in surprise.

She nodded. "Yes, I used to attend those frequently as well." She had been thinking about going to one actually, but just couldn't manage to walk in to one by herself.

"Alright then," he said a little uncertainly, but then offered her his arm. Isabel hesitated for a moment before she took it. She was very nervous as they walked into the council room, and had to stop herself from gripping Andrei's arm tighter.

Her father and the rest of the council were immensely surprised when she walked in on Andrei's arm. The councilmen all stood up and the councilwomen (there were only two) immediately came up to her to inquire after her health. She assured them she was fine. They didn't seem convinced, perhaps because they could not understand why she had taken the veil. As she took a seat, she noticed that many council members were stealing glances at her belly. Of course, there was nothing to see there. Fools, the lot of them, she thought, scowling under her veil.

At the meeting Isabel discovered that Lord Francis was as dreary as ever. Andrei often interrupted him, and would start leading the meeting himself, which annoyed the lord immensely. This she found rather amusing and had to bite back laughter. There was a lot of talk about the new southern town and excitement over the impending industrialization, and all the reports sounded very encouraging. But one report in particular caught her attention. One of the landladies from a southern town had complained that the smoke from the bloomeries were turning her carriages very dirty when they passed by. Everyone else rolled their eyes and laughed, but Isabel wondered what would happen if they were to build more bloomeries, as was the plan, closer to the towns and villages.

She went back to the library after the meeting, and looked among the Inghet books that Andrei had brought with him. Some of them had accounts of difficulties faced by towns surrounding bloomeries where steel was made. She wondered if she should find her father and talk to him about it, but he would probably just ask her to speak with Andrei as he had been doing lately. At first she had been very annoyed by it and considered reminding him that he was to have no expectations that she would actually acknowledge her marriage. But on the other hand, she was learning a great deal from interacting with Andrei, and he would have better answers for her anyway.

When Andrei came to the library later, she spoke with him about it, and he said that was simply an unfortunate trade-off for greater wealth. He could sense she was not pleased by the answer. She said the comfort of her people should be the first priority and she began to list all the ways she had found that could inconvenience the townsfolk who would live in the southern town.

"Well," said Andrei, his eyebrows raised. "Some of these don't really apply to Jardinia do they?" She made an exasperated noise. He went into details about which problems were relevant and which weren't. "I suppose we can take measures to prevent these inconveniences, I can bring it up at the next council meeting."

She wasn't sure he would make it a priority, though. She made up her mind to start attending all the meetings from now on. She had to make her voice heard. Besides, if we wanted to get her kingdom back, she would need to start pulling more weight.


Andrei wasn't sure what to think of the recent developments. He had thought the princess would never come out of her seclusion. He really was very surprised at her evident interest in the affairs of the kingdom and her eagerness to participate. He had not missed the large change in her. She was more subdued, and significantly less haughty.

He felt a twinge of guilt for what he had caused. He hadn't intended for the condition to be permanent. But it had worked out in his favor, at least initially. When she confined herself to her chambers, it gave him all the opportunity he needed to make himself indispensable to Prince Henri and the council. He had managed to achieve what he had always dreamed of. But now, he worried that his position was threatened.

He had misjudged Isabel when he first met her, taking her to be like the frivolous ladies he met at the Lavignian court. Based on what he had heard about her, he did not expect she would jump at the opportunity of a political marriage like Adaline had, but her reputation had made him attribute it to her pride. He was determined to impress her and woo her, but his initial error in judgment set him back significantly. By the time he had realized she was different from everyone else, she had already taken an intense dislike to him.

Andrei had to admit he had acted somewhat childishly when he wanted to punish her for her behavior. He should have thought it through before asking that fairy to curse her. But how was he to know she would fail to do it properly? But still, he did manage to eventually win the kingdom. If she had elected to never speak with him, he would have been fine with that, but now she seemed to be putting aside her animosity and she seemed willing to work with him. She was receptive to everything he suggested and explained, and in fact, she was actually rather keen to learn from him, though she tried to hide it. And Andrei would never admit it, but he was a little bit flattered, and he actually liked talking to her, now that they had been having proper conversations.

He worried a little what it might all lead to, if she decided that she would renege on the earlier agreement and demand sovereignty upon coronation. He would need to come up with a plan to prevent that, he decided. But he couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt, especially when he witnessed how difficult it was for her to speak about her condition. For now, he owed her at least some compassion, and if she wanted to be involved with the council again, he resolved not to make her feel unwelcome.