Chapter 14
"You're gonna be okay without me?" Troy asked with a chuckle as he walked into the office area of their bedroom. For the past few days, Gabriella had been painting during her spare time. He would see her different scrapped creations on the floor whenever he walked in the room. Things in the tabloids seemed to have died down since the successful auction.
"Elections for the Prime Minister is coming up, I'm jealous you get to eat with these potential candidates." She smiled at her husband while looking up from the canvas she was working on. The back of the painting was facing Troy in an attempt to hide what she was currently working on. Her newest inspiration came from Troy and she was working on an abstract portrait of her own husband. She didn't want him to see it until it was finished.
Sharpay advised the Princess to take some time off after the auction since it was such a success, she deserved some time for herself. And Gabriella couldn't agree anymore.
"Don't miss me too much." He winked at her wife who was hidden behind the easel. A paintbrush in her hand and her hair tied up in a messy bun, he almost melted at her casual look, seducing him with just her natural look.
Gabriella gave Troy her famous eye roll and returned her attention to the painting. "Have fun, babe."
He exited the bedroom after adjusting his tie. When Gabriella heard the door slam shut, she stretched her arms as she admired her progress on the painting. She had only outlined everything, there wasn't any color yet but she could see the familiar outline of his jaw, making her smile at the resemblance.
She had her tubes of paint ready but was running low on one of the primary colors. She needed a new tube of red paint. Reaching her hand into her jean pocket, she took out her phone to dial the most frequently dialed number on her phone. Before she hit the call button next to Sharpay's name, she suddenly held back.
She already let Sharpay go for the night, was it really necessary to call her back just for a tube of paint? She stuffed her phone back into her pocket and walked away from the easel. Just because she was the princess didn't mean she couldn't run a quick errand by herself. She quickly grabbed her car keys. An Italian sports car was one of the many wedding gifts she received from the various members of the royal family. Although she got the car as a gift over two months ago, she had yet to drive it even once. Everywhere she went she had a driver and Sharpay by her side.
It was time to finally experience life as Crown Princess on her own. She needed to be less dependent on all the luxuries of a privileged life. Gabriella walked out of the room and down the hall towards the palace garage. There were multiple sports car and multiple limos just sitting in the garage and waiting for a drive.
When she unlocked her own car, she immediately jumped in and backed up out of the garage before a bodyguard noticed her. Freedom was what she felt again. This was like when she walked down the street in Manhattan with a cup of coffee. This was what freedom felt like. No driver, no assistants, no husband, no reporters. It felt like pure freedom.
When she arrived at the art supply store, she parked her car and put her sunglasses and her hat on, hopefully no one could recognize the Princess when she was dressed down and in shades.
The store employees greeted her with a small smile and a welcome when she started to look at the signs in front of each isle. Paint, oil pastels, and colored pencils on isle seven.
Quickly, Gabriella made her down the isle and into the shades of red paint. Lost in the shades of various reds and pinks, a man of average height and blonde hair walked up behind her to tap on her shoulder. "Excuse me ma'am."
Gabriella was startled by the sudden human contact and jerked forward before turning around to find a familiar pair of eyes staring right back at her. "Mr. Evans?"
Ryan flashed his smile at Gabriella and nodded. "Call me Ryan please, your highness. And sorry for scaring you like that."
Gabriella nodded with a smile and returned her attention on choosing the correct brand of oil paint.
Suddenly Troy's words flooded into her mind. What if her presence around Ryan caused another scandal. He might have been jealous but he had a point. Her picture scandal was still up in the air and the art auction only momentarily distracted the public.
"Did you run out of paint supplies, your highness?" He broke the short silence between them.
"I did indeed." She answered her friend. "But I think I found just the right red."
Ryan watched as the Princess picked up a tube of red paint. She seemed less interested and more distant than the last time they spoke. He thought he had the cat in the bag and prepared perfectly for his next big investment. But his royal investment seemed highly uninterested at the moment. "Have you been working on a new piece, your royal highness?"
"Yes, I have." She replied shortly. She barely knew Ryan Evans and only talked to him for four short hours. What if his motive of talking to her was to create a scandal to sell to the tabloids?
"I would like to buy it." He cleared his throat before adding the honorific. "Your highness."
"Mr—I mean Ryan, you haven't even seen the finished product yet." She couldn't believe her ears. She was known for her title as Princess, not for being an artist. How could he just promise to buy a piece of artwork he had never seen from her? She immediately turned to face him in disbelief. Although she showed him her old works, she was still an unreliable artist. Her hands were rusty and she was never known for painting portraits before. She was currently working on a portrait of her husband, the future King, and it was meant for Troy's eyes only.
"Ryan, I'm afraid the piece I'm working on is not good for selling."
"Then, I'll buy your next piece." He shrugged lightly. "And the money can go directly into the funding for your addiction treatment clinics."
"You haven't even seen this piece; how could you be so sure that I'll be able to produce art of fine quality?"
"Your highness, you are the Princess and future Queen, anyone would pay to see your artwork."
And reality sank back under her skin. She was only loved for her title after all. Nobody really cared for her art, just her title. She was about to walk away from the oil painting isle and away from the blunt comment made by one of her subjects.
"We all have to start somewhere. You have a great start already to become an artist and not just known by being the princess, your highness." Ryan dared to say out loud.
That statement hit every nerve in Gabriella's body. All she ever wanted was to be a successful artist and she worked hard towards that goal. When she came home to marry the prince, all that was shattered and to be able to restore that dream once again was everything she ever wanted. And maybe there was nothing wrong with a princess that could paint her heart out. A princess who had her own dream aside from sitting in her royal palace.
"Do you care for some coffee, Ryan?" She turned to face him once again.
Relief flooded through Ryan's body when he heard the Princess's invite. He knew he always had a way of words and hitting the spot of every person he met. He was the most charming person he knew after all.
King John and Queen Lucille were having an afternoon tea when Chad was ordered to the tea room in the palace. Although Chad was Troy's personal assistant, he had his time with the Queen and His Majesty the King whenever they needed to deliver something to the Prince or needed something from the Prince.
Taylor McKessie, the Queen's personal assistant, called him to the tea room this afternoon for an important task regarding the Prince.
After his polite greetings to His Majesty the King and the Queen, Chad stood there in silence to take the royal orders.
"Mr. Danforth, I ask for you to come today because I would like for you to find a suitable picture of the Prince." The King spoke after setting down his tea cup. Canovian tea was very similar to English tea but with a twinge of French influence. Scones and soufflés were served along with the hot tea on expensive chinas.
"Your majesty, by picture suitable for the Prince, may I ask what that means?" Chad kept his arms straight down his sides as he asked in the most polite way possible. Addressing the King for anything was still more nerve-wracking than ever despite being a royal assistant for the past three years.
"No questions for now. I just need a recent picture taken of the Prince that can be used for official ceremonies. You will know in time. And since you're with the Prince almost all hours of the day, who else would be better and more trusting to help."
Confused but also honored to be trusted by the King, he wholeheartedly wanted to follow the order. That was the thing he learned by working with the royal family, questioning everything would only get him fired from one of the best jobs he'd ever had. It was better to not question the habits and orders by the royal family and follow it to the tee as much as he could.
"Absolutely, your majesty."
The Queen and the King were not seen together too often. Except for their afternoon teas and occasional family meetings, the King and Queen had separate bed chambers and did separate activities. They were a marriage of convenience and a very cooperative team. In the public eye, they were a highly functional couple and an icon for their small island. In private, they were cooperative and knew the extent and destinies of their lives. Love was there, but not a passionate one. Love was there out of respect and normalcy.
Taylor dismissed Chad from the extravagant tea room that had velvet wallpapers and portraits of the past kings and queens while the royal couple continued to enjoy their afternoon chat.
There were multiple storage rooms just for the Prince's baby pictures and two storage rooms for all of the portraits of the Prince that were more recent. Only the Prince and trusted assistants had access to such rooms. Aside from pictures of the Prince, there were also personal pictures of the royal family and a room to store all the pictures taken by the Prince for his personal enjoyment.
The rooms were the opposite of all the elegant tea rooms, ballrooms, and bedrooms of the rest of the palace. They had plain walls and was temperature controlled to store important information regarding the royal family. It was Chad's second time in these rooms. The first time he was here with Taylor, who was searching for a written record of the Queen's dietary habits back in the 1990s. He was still a trainee at the time and was warned that all the information in these rooms were highly confidential. Not only did it require a key to get in, but also face scans and fingerprint recognition.
Although it seemed too protective when it came to just portraits, many of these pictures were irreplaceable and had to be protected from fires and any one who tried to break into the palace.
As Chad found the room with the Prince's recent photoshoots and portraits, he twisted the key in the keyhole and stepped inside the room. There were rows and rows of candid photographs labeled with the event name and date.
While Chad looked through the pictures, he found a few suitable oil portraits. Although snapping pictures nowadays only took one millisecond, it was still a royal tradition to have portraits drawn and used for important events. Some of these portraits were hung in the various rooms of the palace.
There were parts of the palace that were out on display for the public to tour for a price. Older pictures of previous members of the royal family were hung in those places while most portraits of the current royal family were kept safely to be put up in a few years.
He picked through some of the canvases that had yet to be framed and found various portraits of the Prince in a suit or traditional Canovian attire. While looking through the paintings, he found the perfect picture of the Prince. His eyes were bluer than the water in the Atlantic, his hair was gelled back and his suit was the perfect gray that brought out all the color in the portrait. Chad thought he had finished his task until he looked on the bottom of the portrait where the paint had scratched off, giving it a major flaw.
He sighed out in frustration when he looked down at the broken paint only to find a wooden box sitting right in front of the broken paint. The small wooden box had 'T' engraved on one side, and 'S' engraved on the other. There were gold designs on it and a heart carved on the very top. He smiled at the box, thinking it was a wedding gift from the royal wedding that had been misplaced. He picked it up and opened it to find photographs packed tightly inside.
The first photograph Chad took out was of the Prince sitting on the couch playing video games. The couch was slightly battered and definitely seemed out of place if it was in the palace. This had to have been pictures from his years spent in London. The thought of this box being a wedding gift quickly left his mind when he looked at the second picture. There was a coffee mug in his hand while his homework was spread out on the dining table. The prince had longer hair that was loose and not the least bit styled and gelled back. He looked much younger and his razor stubble was almost non-existent. His clean shaven and wrinkle free face was a dead giveaway at how old this photograph must have been.
Chad looked at more of the photographs in the box and finally stumbled upon one where he posed with a female. The background looked like a nightclub and he had his hands around her waist as the blond lady smiled vibrantly in the picture. He took a closer look to find the face to be much more familiar than he thought. More pictures of the woman filled the box. Some of them kissing and some of them posing with other people.
His eyes widened and he gasped in shock when he realized who this woman in the picture was. It was his closest co-worker. The co-worker he talked to every day and organized affairs with. Ms. Sharpay Evans.
How could they possible know each other? He could have never guessed that they knew each other back in college, much less have been romantically involved.
Everything about these pictures screamed trouble and trouble that the Prince didn't need after the scandal with the Princess.
Chad had never been faced with this situation before. The most difficult task was remembering the types of wine that Prince enjoyed and the bathwater temperature he liked most. It had been a while since the Prince had a major scandal. If these pictures were released somehow or if the public found out Sharpay was working for Gabriella, scandal after scandal would erupt, ruining the Prince's damaged reputation once again.
As a loyal employee of the royal family, he knew the royal family needed to find out before Sharpay's motives would be revealed.
Sorry for the lack of Troyella, more is coming! Thanks for reading and please give me some feedback so I know what to improve on or what you like! Thanks for reading guys, it brightens my day to know you guys love my story!