Chapter 36

Millie was definitely not liking her new situation. Her new fiancé, or whatever he was, was not of her liking. At all. Except maybe physically. But no. All she could think about was that the three agents hadn't replied yet.

Then, her phone rang with an e-mail notification from one of them. A file was attached and she quickly opened her computer to see what he had found on the suitors.

"Hmm," she hummed to herself, reading the first document. "This is good. This is really good." She quickly skimmed through the documents, and grinned. She could work with that, while the others took their time to reply.

But there was a knock on her door. She slammed her computer shut and plastered a smile on her face. She was, after all, the perfect Princess, wasn't she? At least that's how daddy Oliver had sold her to the Iranian Prince.

"Oh, it's you," she said, seeing her sister, and dropping her smile. "What do you want."

Eliza slapped her hard across the face. "That's for putting rat poison in the Palace."

"What the hell, Eliza?" she said, holding her cheek. "I did not do that!"

"Oh yeah? Then why did Draco almost die of rat poison?"

"Draco? Who the hell is Draco?"

"The ferret," Eliza said, clenching her fists. "And don't you dare attack my suitors, or their animals."

"You know," Millie said, composing herself and snorting. "You're even crazier up-close."

"Then who put the rat poison there?"

"I have no idea," Millie said. "But I'm not heartless. I don't harm animals."

Eliza snorted. "No, but people are fine."

Millie snorted. "You might want to check the news, though," she said before slamming the door in her sister's face. "And don't come back here!"

Millie went back to her computer. On her way to her desk, she grabbed her new Chanel scarf, from her new Hermes bag, and tied it expertly around her neck. Oh, how she loved the feeling of a new accessory. The scarf and the bag had cost, together, roughly fifteen thousand dollars. And she was proud of it. She sat at her computer and read some more.

"Hmm," she hummed to herself. "Now this is going to be interesting. If he has mental health issues, the news from this morning is going to break him. Too bad I won't be there to see this. Oh well." There was lots of work to do. But first, she needed a plan of attack, and for that, she needed all the replies of her agents. She didn't want to drop a huge bomb in the beginning. She would go gradually. First, something small.

-x-x-x-

Eliza walked back to her room, after having the door slammed in her face. She scrolled through the news on her phone. She frowned. How did this happen? How did no one see this coming?

A knock on the door made her jump. Still with her eyes on her phone, she went to open the door.

"Eliza, we need to talk," Linus said.

Eliza looked up. "We do," she said. "How come no one told me about this?" she said, handing him her phone with the morning news.

"Because this is the least of your troubles, right now," he said, inviting himself in her room and closing the door behind him. "We have eyes on New Asia, don't worry about this. There's something else I need to tell you."

Eliza frowned. "What is it? Who else is dead?"

"No one." He sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Come on, you might want to sit down for this."

Eliza didn't question him. As much as he annoyed her sometimes, she trusted him with her life. She looked at him expectantly.

"Your sister hired three agents to dig into the Selected's lives, pasts, and other shady things." He paused, but not long enough to let her speak. "One of them is a friend of mine, and he kept me in the loop of his findings, and what Millie was up to. He doesn't know what the two others found."

"Oh my God. What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that your sister is on the move. She sent them a message to make them hurry to send back their findings."

"And?"

"And… remember when the Illéa Weekly came over and I asked you and the guys to distract Millie away from her room?" he whispered. Eliza nodded. "I planted a high-tech chip inside her computer, that would let me see everything she did, from my own computer."

Eliza lifted an eyebrow. "That was a week and a half ago. Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"Because I didn't want you to worry. But now that your father is planning on shipping her to the Iranian Empire, I'm afraid she started moving faster."

"Linus, stop stalling. What did you find?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well, for starters, Alaric was right. He told me to look into her bank account. When you follow the money, you always find something interesting about the person and-"

"Linus. Get to the point."

"Fine. She bought several very expensive fashion items in the past couple of weeks, with her school organization money. She's embezzling large amounts of money for herself, instead of building the schools. I dug a bit, and I found out that almost half of the money raised on every school she started was sent to her personal account, then quickly spent on clothes, handbags, and jewelry, so she would never be able to reimburse if she got caught."

"Holly molly," Eliza said. "What else did you find out?" she asked, morbidly curious.

"Things she found on the Selected, things her agents found, plus what my friend found, and… she has a really odd research history."

Eliza snorted. "Like how to kill without being noticed or something?"

"Yeah, something like that." He sighed. "Also, your grandmother told me to tell you that she wanted to talk to you."

"Oh." She frowned. "Couldn't she just call me?"

Linus shrugged. "I don't know. But you should go see her."

Eliza sighed and nodded. "I will. But first I have to go see the guys." She stood and headed to for the door. "Thanks, by the way."

"Eliza?" he called after her. "Be careful."

"I will. Don't worry."

-x-x-x-

Men's Parlor, end of the morning.

"Hi," Eliza said, coming in after the third knock. She didn't wait for someone to open the door for her. All the guys looked up to her. "So, I'm here for the next date," she said without any preamble. Henri took out the black box and held it out for her. There were only three papers left in the box. Four? She frowned. Another joke from Rafe? "Rafe," she read out loud.

"Finally!" he said. "I can't believe it took you this long to pick my name."

"It's totally random, Rafe," Henri said. "There's nothing Eliza could have done differently."

"I know, I know." He sat up straight on his seat. "This evening sounds good?" he said, and Eliza nodded. "Good." He grinned.

"Now, before I go, I want to speak with Haruhito," she said.

The New Asian Prince looked from over his laptop. "Me? Why?"

"Because," she said. "Outside."

"Is this another elimination?" Rance asked.

"No," Eliza said. "I said I didn't want to do one before the end of the first dates."

Haruhito closed his laptop, put his cat down on the floor, and followed the Princess outside. "What's the matter?" he asked when they were finally outside, in the gardens, under the shade of a parasol.

"Have you, uhm, read the news this morning?" she asked.

"No." He frowned. "Why?"

Eliza scrolled on her phone to find the article she had read and handed it to the New Asian prince. "Wait, you can read English, right?"

"Of course, I can." He almost added that he wrote in English, but stopped himself just in time. He read the article and became pretty much colorless.

"I should have seen this coming," he mumbled and handed Eliza her phone back. "I need to be alone," he said. He stood and walked to the other side of the gardens.

Eliza read the article again.

~.~

New Asia has a New Emperor

Early yesterday morning in New Asia, which was noon the day before that for Los Angeles, the Emperor Shigehito, along with his wife the Empress Makoto and their four children, were found dead in their rooms. No security camera showed any breach in their rooms, so specialists think it was a poison. We're still waiting on the autopsy reports.

The Prince Regent and brother of the late Emperor, Michihito Prince of Mikasa, has denied any connection to the deaths of his brother and his family, and choosing not to comment. It is rumored he will be crowned Emperor after the funeral takes place, in a couple days.

But that leaves us with one question: Prince Haruhito of Mikasa, currently a suitor in Princess Eliza's Selection will be the Crown Prince of New Asia and Heir to the throne, since his older sister, Princess Riko of Mikasa, cannot inherit the throne. What will become of him?

Stay tuned on your favorite news feed for more information on this new development.

By Isabel W. Green

~.~

Eliza decided to join Haruhito. He was looking at the trees, his fingers laced behind his head.

"You okay? Did you know about this?" she asked.

"No. I don't even know why my sister didn't call me."

"Maybe your dad cut all contact to and from the country?"

"Possible." He paused. His breathing was becoming quick and ragged. "I can't do this," he managed to say. "I can't- this was not meant to happen."

Eliza didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Not your fault," he said, then mumbled something in Japanese. "I have to go." He turned around and headed for the Palace.

Eliza sighed and headed to her tree house. She needed time to think. And a cozy, place, too. She walked up the stairs and opened the door easily, since she hadn't locked it last time. She pushed some pillow to the side and sat down. She sighed. Why was everything coming down on her at the same time? Millie, and the Iranian Princes, and Haruhito and New Asia, and the whole Selection to finish- heck, she needed to finish the first dates, first.

She closed her eyes and just listened to the silence around her. This was really a nice place. She stayed there a little while longer before heading back to see Andromeda. She hadn't even taken any time in the past couple weeks to talk to her grandmother.

-x-x-x-

Eliza knocked on Andromeda's door, and only got a small reply to come in. She pushed the door open. But instead of finding her on her couch, or on the balcony, Andromeda was in her bed. And she seemed to have lost some weight.

"Grandmother, are you okay?" Eliza asked, coming over.

"Sit down, Elisabeth," Andromeda said, showing a chair next to her bed.

Eliza obeyed, really not liking where this was going. "Grandma, what's going on?"

Andromeda smiled. "You haven't called me like that since you were a little girl." She sighed smiling. "I need to tell you something," she said, and paused. "I'm dying."

"What? No. That's not possible," Eliza said. "You're not dying, you-"

"Eliza, listen to me," she said, grabbing her granddaughter's hand. "I haven't been feeling well for a few weeks, and your father wanted me to go see a doctor. I refused." She paused, searching for the princess' eyes. "But three days ago, I starting coughing up blood."

"But Grandma-"

"Let me finish, Eliza. Please." She paused and closed her eyes, and Eliza closed her mouth. "My doctor ran some tests, and I have- I have cancer."

Eliza couldn't say anything.

"Cancer of the throat," Andromeda finished.

"But it can be healed, right?"

"Not at this stage."

"But how come you never saw it earlier? You never coughed or anything."

"That's because oesophageal cancer doesn't usually cause any symptoms in the early stages," she said. "It's true I often had indigestion problems, but I never thought it was that." She sighed and swallowed, which seemed to be very painful. "I didn't want to eat anymore. Because I was always scared of indigestion."

A tear streamed down Eliza's cheek, but she didn't wipe it away. She started out the window, from her seat near her grandmother's bed.

"Say something," Andromeda said softly.

"You're only seventy-five years old. You could live another twenty years. I wanted you to be at my wedding. I wanted you to see my children. I-" a sob choked the Princess, and she muffled the sound with her hand.

Andromeda tried sitting up in her bed, and she looked at her granddaughter. "Oh, my darling. I wish I could do all of that. And I promise I'll be here by your side for as long as a I breathe. But you have to know that I'm an old lady. And old ladies sometimes get sick. Old ladies die, Eliza."

"But you're not old!" she said. "You're still young, you still have plenty of years ahead of you!"

Andromeda shook her head. "Not that many," she said. "I'm going to go through chemo to help with the pain. But it won't heal me."

Eliza just sat there, staring at her grandmother. She couldn't imagine a life without her. "But you're still here," Eliza finally said, trying to stay strong.

"Yes. And as long as I'm here, there's nothing to worry about." She coughed into her handkerchief, and quickly hid the speckles of blood on it. "Now," she said. "Who's your date today?"

"Rafe."

"Good. I like him." She paused. "He's a bit loud and speaks his mind, but he's nice. I spoke with him a few times."

Eliza chuckled. "Yeah, he is nice. I wonder what he planned, though."

Andromeda smiled. "I can imagine something wonderful."

"What about the others?" Eliza asked. "You said you had your favorites?"

Andromeda chuckled and coughed again. "I'll tell you about those when you finished dating them all, I promise." She sighed. They were both silent for a moment, and Eliza squeezed her grandmother's hand in hers.

Andromeda decided to go down to lunch with everyone. She didn't want the others knowing about her condition. And if she could pretend as though everything was alright, it would be easier for everyone. For now, only Oliver, Elinor, and Eliza knew. And the doctors of course. But she didn't want the Selected to know. At least not yet.

When they arrived at lunch, one on the Selected was missing: Haruhito.

Eliza didn't mind. He may have needed some time to process what had just happened to his country and his family.

-x-x-x-

A little before supper time, Rafe came knocking on the Princess' door. She opened and offered him the best smile she could muster under the circumstances.

"Hi! I'm almost ready," she said. "What do you think is better for our date, though? Sneakers or heels?" she was wearing a black top with a white circle skirt.

"Hmm… Heels? But maybe take a pair of something more comfortable to wear for later in the evening?" he said.

"Good thinking." She put on a pair of velvet taupe heels, and put a pair of derbies in her big purse, along with her phone, a bottle of water, sunglasses, and her wallet.

"You're leaving the country?" he asked, pointing at her big bag, smirking.

"I like to be prepared," she said. "I'm ready. Shall we?"

"Yes, please," he said, grinning. They walked to the car in silence and drove all the way to their destination in silence. Eliza looked out the window, thinking on everything that had been thrown in her face that day: first, Millie and her evil plans. Then, New Asia, and Haruhito, with whom she didn't know what to do. And he hadn't shown up all day, after that. Last, her grandmother dying.

The car stopped in front of a large building and Rafe helped Eliza get out. Linus followed them inside, and the Royals both followed a staff member of the prestigious hotel.

"We're staying in this hotel for the night?" Eliza asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's a whole new level of first date."

Rafe laughed. "I wish," he said. "But unfortunately, no. It's just that the Club we're going to is on the rooftop of this hotel. It's called Rooftop at the Standard. Usually, you need to book a room to have access to it, but they made an exception for us." He winked at her, and the elevator shot up to the top.

"We're VIPs, so don't worry. And it's usually 21+ only." He laughed.

"Oh, good that we're both old enough, right?" she said sarcastically, laughing.

He nodded. "Yeah."

The bouncer let them pass upon seeing their VIP passes and recognizing the Princess. "Your Highness," he said, bowing his head.

They walked in, leaving Linus at the door talking with the other guy. Eliza went directly for the edge of the building, leaning against the railing. Los Angeles lay below them, windows shining in the low evening sun.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked after a while. "You're a bit quiet, this evening."

She nodded. "Yeah, I don't know." she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry. There's just a lot of things going on right now, and I don't know where to put my energy."

He smiled. "You're a superhero," he said. "You can do anything."

"Thanks, but no. I can't."

"What's going on, then? Maybe I can help?"

Just then, a waiter came around with two glasses of champagne. Both took one and Eliza sipped hers. "I don't think I can really tell you," she said. "Well, I can tell you one of the things that are bothering me. It's about New Asia."

"Oh yeah, we saw that," he said. "Kwasi always has his eyes on the news, and he saw that this morning, after you talked to Haruhito. He thought something was wrong, and he looked it up."

"Right. There's nothing we can do here, anyway."

Rafe shook his head. "Hey, you hungry? You shouldn't be drinking that on an empty stomach."

The Princess chuckled. "You're totally right." They headed to the buffet and filled two plates before sitting on couches near outdoor fireplaces. They ate with the plates on their knees and chatted lightly. Rafe tried to help the Princess think of something else.

"So, tell me a little bit about your family? I barely know anything about you, to be honest," she said.

"Hmm, let me see." He paused, rubbing his chin, making a show of thinking about it. "My dad's the King of the South African Nation, but it's complicated."

"Why?"

"Because my mom isn't the Queen. She's my stepmother, and she and her son – my step-brother – hate me more than life itself."

"Oh," Eliza said surprised. Although now to think of it, she had read something about him not being the Queen's son. "But your mother was the late Queen, or…?"

"No. My dad had an affair. He made me Prince because my mom died and he promised her to look after me." He shrugged, biting on a shrimp.

"Huh. Your life must be… complicated."

"Nah," he shrugged. "I just don't like conforming myself to my parents or anyone back home. I learned to do just the things that I want if that's what'll make me happy, you know?"

She chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I get that. I wish I could do the same."

"What makes you happy?" he asked, genuinely curious, and ready to do what he could to make her happy. Because truth be told, he didn't care about the Selection in the beginning. But now? Damn, this girl was something else. He had had his share of pretty lines of girls in the past, but nothing serious. And if he wanted to compete with Tom, Raphael, or even Alek and Caspian, he needed to up his game. And fast.

Eliza took a sip from her champagne and thought. "Right now? I wish my grandmother hadn't told me she was sick and dying. But in general? I guess having a normal life and family would make me happy."

Rafe was silent. He was not expecting that. "Wait. Andromeda is…" he trailed off.

"Yes. But please don't tell anyone. I don't even know why I told you this in the first place. I shouldn't have." She put her plate on the coffee table in front of them and walked to the railing, looking at the other rooftops around them. She didn't even notice the tear going down her cheek. She only noticed when Rafe gently wiped it away with his thumb.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay," he said softly. And without even thinking, he gathered her in his arms and hugged her.

Eliza was surprised at the gesture. No one had really hugged her in a long time. Sure, she had kissed some of them, but hugged? Not one. And it felt really good. She hugged him back and held tightly on to him, crying silently on his white shirt.

After a moment, she let go of him. "Oh, shoot. I'm sorry. I put mascara all over your shirt."

He chuckled and looked down at his shoulder. "That's okay. It's was it's for." He searched her eyes. "Feeling a little better?"

Eliza wiped her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so."

The sky was getting darker, and the fires and fairy lights brighter. The music was louder, too, and he noticed some people going to the small dance floor. He offered her his hand. "You wanna dance?"

Eliza nodded with a smile and quickly grabbed a few champagne gummy bears from a fancy bowl on the table. "I should buy some of those for my room," she said, popping one in her mouth.

Rafe laughed. "No, you'd get drunk just by eating them."

"I would not!"

"Uh, yeah." He chuckled. "You've only had one glass, and a few gummy bears, and you're tipsy."

The music was slow and a little groovy. "That's because you didn't see me take a second glass, Rafe."

"What? Oh crap. Your mom is gonna kill me."

"Why? you asked her if you could take me here?" she asked sarcastically.

"No. But she did come to the Men's Parlor one morning, and told us not to get you drunk under any circumstances."

She sighed, chuckling. "Don't worry, I'm not drunk," she said, popping another champagne gummy bear in her mouth. "I'm just… merry."

"Uh-huh, right," he said smirking. "I think we should head back home."

"Already? But the DJ just started."

"I know a nice place where we can go before heading to the Palace," he said.

"A hotel room?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"No." He gently pulled her away, to the door. "I wouldn't dare take advantage of you in your state, Eliza," he said, smirking. Both laughed, and headed back downstairs, with the elevator. Linus being the third wheel made it hard to do anything or even talk.

"Back home?" Linus asked, once in the car.

"Nah, the beach," Rafe said. "We're just gonna stretch our legs a bit."

"Okay," he said, sighing.

As much as Eliza was a tiny bit tipsy, she didn't talk on the way to the beach. First, because Linus was there, and she didn't want to say anything stupid in front of him. Second, the reality of her day was once again catching up with her.

A few minutes later, they were at the beach. Few people were there, and it seemed like a quiet place to stretch your legs.She changed her shoes and put on the derbies she had taken with her. Then they went on the sand, and Eliza took her shoes off again, holding them in one hand.

They walked in silence for a little while, listening to the waves crashing on the beach. At one point, Rafe also took off his shoes and rolled up his pants.

"You know," she said. "I really needed this evening out, tonight. I don't think I could have done something at the Palace without thinking about… everything."

Rafe smirked. "Glad to be of service, Your Highness," he said.

"Ugh, stop that." She laughed and pushed him playfully.

"Hey!" he said, walking in the wet sand. "No… now the sand is going to stick to my feet!"

"Ha!" Eliza said, pushing him further into the water. But he got a hold of her hand and pulled her with him.

They both ended up with waves lapping at their knees. After playing around for a bit, they walked back on the wet sand of the beach and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She wrapped her free arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

He grinned, but she didn't see that. He may have won himself a few places in the betting game. Who knows?

Hi! sorry, this chapter was kinda all over the place, but I hope you still enjoyed it...

Three more dates, and then Eliza will do some eliminations... Unless Millie gets there before her?

Thanks for all of you who still read, review, and support this story! I may be taking a small break (maybe 1-2 weeks, idk) to figure things out after the first dates are done and a group is eliminated, and I'm already sorry about that. But I really think I need to do that to be able to give you a good second part of the story. So, yeah... (and it'll give some of you time to catch up with the reviews LOL ^^)

Anyway, see you next chapter! ;D can't wait to see what you thought of this one! ;)

ps: and don't forget to check the Aesthetic board on Pineterest!