Hey guys so I realized that if I don't want to speed through the years, I'm going to have to change the characters' ages. Sorry about the confusion, I won't go back and change the ages in the chapter that I mentioned them, but instead here is an updated list of the characters' ages at the beginning of this chapter.

Raia : 18

Elias : 15

Issadora : 15

Kile : 20

Kye : 12

Aliya : 9

Also, I don't understand why the spacing is out of whack and all glued together, when I'm writing there's a clear space in between every paragraph and dialogue, so I'm not too sure why it's doing that.

Another thing, I've been having a bit of writer's block lately so I'm sorry for the late update and I wanted to get a chapter out before school so I didn't really have much time to proofread this, so bear with me.

"Your Highness?"

I woke up with a jolt. "What? What's going on?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Your Highness, I thought you were already awake, I just wanted to deliver this new dress to you." replied my maid, Mira.

I didn't usually have a maid in my room, I didn't feel it to be necessary. I could do everything myself, no use in making someone else do it. Except for when I had to get all dressed up for important events, when I was sick and when I wanted to talk to a friend (as I have befriended many of the maids over the years).

"Mira, it's ok, no need to apologize, I've just been a little jumpy lately. And please just call me Raia."

"Right, sorry, Raia." she said smiling.

"So, this new dress."

"Yes, would you like to see it?"

"Yes I'm very curious!"

Mira opened the garment bag revealing a beautiful deep purple ball gown with off the shoulder sheer puffy (but not too puffy) long sleeves, it came in at the bodice, which was a corset floral lace bodice, although it was a ball gown, the skirt wasn't huge, it was moderate, just how I liked it. The dress was absolutely beautiful.

"Oh my, Mira. It's stunning. You've really outdone yourself! Wow!" I exclaimed, completely taken aback by the craftsmanship, the materials, everything about this dress was wonderful.

Mira blushed, "Thank you, Your Highness. You will look lovely wearing it, there's no doubt."

"Ok I don't think I look at this budget any longer, the numbers are all jumbling together!" I exclaimed, exasperated.

"No worries, why don't we take a break. Not think of the budget for a little bit." Stavros replied.

"Hey Stavros, this might be a little personal and I know you don't particularly like talking about yourself but…" I trailed off.

"Don't worry, what did you want to know?" he replied.

"Well… I've always wondered why Dad calls you Stavros, I mean, isn't that your last name?"

"Yes, it is my last name. To be honest, I'm not really sure why your father calls me Stavros, maybe it's because your grandfather, King Clarkson, always called me by that as well, so your father grew up associating the name Stavros with myself."

"Huh, ok. Come to think of it, I don't even think I know what your first name is."

He chuckled, "I don't see how you would, you as well, have only ever heard your father call me Stavros. It's Eris, my name."

"Oh wow, Eris, that's a beautiful name. I like that. I'm going to call you by that now, if that's ok."

"Of course it is, I haven't heard someone say my name in a long time, so it'll be nice."

"If you don't like being called Stavros, why don't you just tell people to call you Eris?" I questioned.

"Honestly Raia, it doesn't really matter to me either way, I just meant that it'll be nice to hear my name again, no underlying meaning."

"Oh ok… We should probably get back to these budgets, huh?" I replied, looked down at the daunting numbers and began reading and evaluating once more.

I was given the day off today, I wasn't to speak or think about work. Although, it's kind of hard to not think about something that entirely envelops your life, but I'd try. Dad wanted me to have a break, especially after the rather strenuous month that I've had.

Issadora was lounging on my bed as I sorted through the clothes I didn't think I'd wear again.

"Did you want these?" I asked, holding about a pair of black skinny jeans.

"Hmmm, no I don't think so," she replied, "Why'd you get them in the first place? I thought you didn't like skinny jeans."

"Yeah I don't so I'm not really sure why I have them, but oh well." I laid them down on my giveaway pile, I figured that someone would find them useful so might as well donate them.

I came out of my closet holding a darker red off the shoulder satin dress, "What do you think of this one? Should I keep it? I don't know, some people say redheads don't look good in red and others say that they do. What do you think?"

Issadora popped her head up, "You know I'm a visual person, you're going to have to put it on for me to give you my opinion. Plus that's super general, pretty sure it depends on the red of your hair and the red of the dress."

"Hmm, true. Ok, one sec. I'll put it on."

I put the dress on pretty easily, but could not reach the zipper. "Issy! Can you zip this for me?"

"Coming, coming," she said, "Wait for me to leave first before you turn around, I want to be able to get the full effect."

I let out a chuckle, waited for her to leave and walked out of my closet.

"Sooo, what do we think?" I asked, did a mock twirl and noticed that there was someone at the doorway. I stopped at the doorway and noticed that it was Kile standing there, he looked stunned.

I blushed the colour of my dress, "Oh, um I," I don't know why I was so embarrassed, it's not like I didn't wear ball gowns the majority of the time.

"Hey, Raia, um, you look-" he said, stumbling over his words, "-amazing, just… wow"

"Ok calm down there buddy," Issadora commented, "But yes, you look amazing Raia, I don't know who told you red doesn't look good on redheads, I think it actually really compliments you and brings out the fierceness of the red from your hair."

"Um- thanks guys," I responded awkwardly.

"So, what'd you need Kile?" Issadora questioned, with a smile on her face.

"Oh, um, well I kind of forget now. Huh."

"Interesting," Issadora replied.

When Kile left, Issadora turned to me and said, "Um, excuse me, what was that all about?!" she exclaimed.

"What? What was what about?"

"Oh my gosh, how can you not see?!"

"See what?!"

"You and Kile! What was that tension?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Issadora, we're just friends. I don't know what you think you saw or what you picked up on, but we're friends, I've known him since birth."

"Then why did you blush?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, there was no blush."

"Mm-hmm, sure. He is cute though, just saying"

I smiled at that last remark and she started laughing. The thing about my sister's laugh is that it's incredibly contagious, once she starts laughing, I can't help but laugh with her. And so, we both laughed, a lot. It honestly felt nice to laugh like this again.

Today was a good day, I don't think anything could bring me down today. The plan/project I'd been working on for education was getting approved, we figured out that in order to help out the more underfunded provinces, we needed to just get more funding to be evenly distributed across all provinces, although some provinces were doing just fine, we decided it would be put in a sort of 'safe' so to speak for times when they were short or they were in a bit of a crisis themselves.

I was really proud of that, especially since it had been my idea, Eris, Dad, Brice and Sir Victor, Sir Harvey and other advisors helped me devise the report and the budget. I was so happy, it felt so good to be helping my people. I had the honour of announcing it on the Report next Friday. That was the part that made me really nervous and stressed me out the most, I always got really stressed whenever I had to give oral presentations or I had to speak in front of large groups of people. So speaking in front of the entire nation was incredibly nerve-racking, to say the least.

Although it was less than a week away, I was still really stressed. So I sat down at my piano, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to play violin or piano. And which piece I was in the mood for today. After a few minutes of contemplation, I decided to play violin, it'd been awhile since I last played. But what did I want to play?

I took the violin out of its case, tightened my bow, rosined it, put on my shoulder rest and brought it up to my shoulder, put my fingers on the correct string, brought my bow up and began playing Tchaikovsky's violin concerto, in D major. I loved this piece so much, I was able to fully lose myself in it. Although it sounded amazing with other instruments as well, I found that it was equally wonderful played all by itself.

As soon as I started playing piano with Mom, I just fell in love with music. I wanted to know everything about it, wanted to play every piece, every instrument. I used to play all the time, any chance I got, I'd be at the piano or playing the violin. Later on I learned how to play guitar, I enjoyed the guitar but there was something about piano and violin that just spoke to me.

I played the last note, opened my eyes to find Mom and Dad holding onto each other at my doorway, both wiping tears from their eyes.

"Oh Raia, I hope you never stop playing music," Mom remarked.

"Don't worry about that Mom, they'll have to tear me apart from my violin and my piano in order for that to happen. I don't see myself ever stopping."

"Good, it would be a damn shame. I just wish more people could enjoy your playing, it truly is absolutely incredible," Dad commented.

"Yeah, for some reason the thought of playing music in front of a bunch of people scares me less than speaking on the Report this Friday," I reflected.

"I used to get nervous for Reports all the time when I was your age, trust me, it gets better once you've done them many times. But, when you are nervous just try to forget that you're addressing the nation," Dad paused, thought for a second, then continued, "As you said, you'd feel more comfortable if you were playing piano or violin instead of speaking, right?"

I nodded.

"Hm, so before you start your speech, try and imagine yourself playing piano or violin, doesn't really matter, whichever one you're most comfortable. Find that familiarity, that way, the stress of the speech will hopefully dissipate."

"Wow, yeah, that sounds like a great idea! I'll try that on Friday. Thanks Daddy." I gave him a hug.

"Anytime sweetheart, anytime."

It was Friday evening, the Report was in two hours. It's not like I had never done public speaking, given presentations or talked on the Report before, but this was different, I was addressing the public, anyone and everyone who had a tv and cared to watch the Report. Every night before bed I would practice my speech over and over again until I had committed it to memory. That way, I wouldn't have any slip-ups, or at least it would reduce them. My Dad's tip had helped me a lot, it helped me feel more calm and I didn't talk as fast and the shaking was kept to a minimum. That's what I needed to control the most, the shaking. Silvia would always tell me that, "No leader shakes when addressing their people, it's a sign of weakness!", that didn't help matters. The problem is, I couldn't just put my hands behind my back or hide them on the podium, since not only did my hands shake, but my whole body too. The more people there are, the more I tremble, smaller groups of people, only my hands shake. Although I was speaking to virtually no one, it was the fact that I knew I was talking to millions of people that freaked me out.

A couple minutes to go, I made my way to my spot on the floor and grasped the podium when I got there. Taking deep breaths I focused on my speech and everything I wanted to say. I looked around the studio, where Eris, Dad and Mom all gave me thumbs up and big smiles. I could do this.

"3, 2, 1, we're live!" that was my queue.

"Good evening Illéa….." I delivered my speech pretty well, there were a couple little mix-ups/errors, due to nerves, but other than that it was really good. I had gotten my message across and said every point I wanted to make.

Tonight, Mom and Dad were hosting their annual spring banquet/ball, meaning that there would be a lot of people, lots of dancing, lots of drinking, lots of eating and just overall a good time. The majority of the federations would come, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Russia, China, etc. Luckily I was fluent in French, Spanish and Italian, the other languages I knew and could speak alright and was mostly able to understand, but my strong suit were definitely the love languages.

I knew it would be a long night so I decided to take a nap after lunch, to refuel and prepare myself for the night's festivities.

"Raia?"

I opened an eye and rolled over to see who it was, it was Aliya and Issadora.

I sat up and asked, "What's up guys?"

"Well," started Issadora, "we were wondering…"

Aliya continued, "if we could all get ready together for tonight!"

I smiled at Aliya's enthusiasm, "Yeah sure, but it doesn't start for many more hours."

"Um, Raia, I think you've been asleep for much longer than you think, it starts in like 1-2 hours."

Oh geez, had I really been asleep for that long? "Alright, but I think Mom might want to come with us."

The three of us all knocked on Mom and Dad's bedroom door, Dad asked with his brow furrowed, "Yes?"

"We were wondering if Mom was here?" Issadora asked, peering through the door.

"I think she just got out of the shower- America? - The girls want to speak to you."

Mom came to the door with just her robe on, perfect!

"So, Mom, we have a proposition for you," I started.

"I'm listening."

"Let's all get ready in the Women's room, do each other's hair, makeup and help pick out jewellery, dresses, shoes and all that!" Issadora exclaimed.

Mom chuckled and replied, "I'd love to, just let me grab my things."

一一

I was braiding Mom's hair while Issadora was pinning down Aliya's.

"So, Mom, what are we thinking?" I asked, wrapping her two braids into a bun at the back of her head. And handed her the mirror.

"I love it honey! It's very pretty, when'd you get so good with hair?"

"Poor Mira would let me do different hairstyles with her hair, she says she loved it, but I'm not so sure," I replied laughing at the last part.

"Ok I give up, Raia, I need help, her little baby hairs won't stay down!"

Issadora had given Aliya a simple braid that started at the right side of her head and went all the way to the other side, but the braid left some hairs astray.

"Alright, let me see here," I decided it would be best to redo half of it since there was no point in putting a million bobby pins.

"Soo, Mom, do you have any good stories?" asked Issy

Mom chuckled, "I definitely have some of those. When Raia was around 2 years old, she was always running around and exploring. I remember this one time Mary was looking after her and somehow you escaped her and began exploring the Palace. Raia definitely gave everyone a heart attack, including Dad and I. We looked all over, until we found her in the garden laughing as she chased butterflies, sniffed the flowers, watched the birds and the squirrels. She looked so happy and so interested in everything outside. From that point on we always took you to the garden, happy that it was as much your favourite place as Dad and I's."

I smiled, I didn't remember that happening, of course, it was many many years ago, but I do always remember loving the garden and feeling at peace there.

"From that point on though, everyone was super vigilant around Raia to make sure she couldn't escape from their watch again, she truly was quite the adventurous little toddler."

"Aww cute, what about me? Any good stories about me?" Issy asked.

"Of course, let me think… Issadora you were always very interested in whatever other people were doing and it would always much rather do that instead of what you were stuck with. You were about 4 years old, I think, Elias was being read to by Dad and you were playing with some of your dolls. You quickly got bored of that and demanded that it was your turn to read and when Dad told you to wait your turn, you got really angry and snatched the book out of his hands and ran away."

We all broke into a fit of laughter, I could totally see Issy doing that, she was always very bossy and didn't like it when things didn't go her way.

Mom continued to share more hilarious and cute stories about the three of us until we had all finished getting ready.

一一

I was sitting at our table alone, everyone was dancing except Issadora was talking to her good friend Princess Rosa from the Italian federation, Aliya had gone to bed a couple of hours ago (despite wanting to stay longer) and Elias and Kye had snuck away to their rooms.

However, my aloneness didn't last very long…

"Your Highness, may I have this dance?" asked Claude, Prince of France.

I smiled, "Sure Claude."

I'd known Claude my whole life as well, he was about the same age as I was so whenever his family came to visit, he and I would always pal around with each other.

Once the song had finished, he bowed and I curtsied, I turned around to leave, but he grabbed my arm, "Wait, oh, sorry, I didn't mean to grab you like that, I just wanted to know if maybe we could chat?" he said, in a thick french accent.

"Yeah sure, here we can go outside, get away from all the noise from the party."

Once we had made it to a bench in the garden he began, "Raia, I didn't get to say this earlier but you look absolutely stunning."

I blushed, "Oh thanks," I said looking down at my hands, "You're not so bad yourself Claude."

He chuckled, "Merci. So what I wanted to ask you was, well, I was wondering if you could come to France sometime soon. I really miss you and would love to spend more time with you outside from parties and meetings and such."

"Wow, yeah that sounds amazing, it's been awhile since I was last there, I'd definitely have to ask my parents and I'm not sure if they'd be okay with it, but I'd love to!"

Claude seemed to visibly relax and we talked for the remainder of the evening outside, we both talked about how nervous we were to take the crown someday and were hoping it wouldn't be anytime soon. It was really nice to talk to someone who understood and who related to what I was feeling.