A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!

"Call me Percy."

Did he think that was hard to do? Annabeth had been getting tired of having to say "Your Majesty" all the time anyways. Besides she had younger twin brothers worth twice the trouble. There were no jokes and pranks she couldn't handle.

"Sure...Percy." She said with a wide grin.

The Eldoris king didn't seem disappointed that she took to calling him his nickname so easily.

"It's the first time," he said slowly.

Annabeth cocked her head to one side. Did he mean that it was the first time to call him by his nickname?

"The first time that you actually smiled sincerely for once."

Huh. So he had seen through the innocent looks she had been giving. Well, she supposed that would make sense. He was a king who had lived many years in the palace. What hadn't he seen?

In the end, King Perseus agreed to the experiment and Annabeth personally wrote a letter to Lady McLean to invite her as lady-in-waiting. The king would figure out the route that the crown prince of Tynan would take to Eldoris and construct a scenario where Lady McLean would meet with Prince Jason before any of them could meet with Alana.

In the reply to Annabeth's letter, Lady McLean agreed. The position of lady-in-waiting to the queen was a high honor. Annabeth sent a silent word of apology for this lady who was now unwittingly involved in this web of entrapment.

Marquis Thomas Dare strode in his office, displeased that his spies were sending information on the relationship between the King of Eldoris and the eldest Kiran princess. He had always thought that he would be the father-in-law of the Eldoris King one day. Eventually Thomas' grandchildren would be sitting on the throne, starting a new era in Eldoris. He reveled in that thought for fifteen years until the arrival of the Kiran princess.

"You see? After you became a knight, the king has never put you in his eyes ever!" He raged against his daughter.

Rachel's face was stony. "And if I hadn't become a knight, I would have never been able to remain so close to Percy. Have you ever seen him let another woman get close to him?"

That was true. No matter how many daughters of noble families were brought to him, Percy had tacitly refused or dodged their matchmaking requests. It had been rumored that the king had planned on taking Sir Rachel who had been serving faithfully at his side as queen.

Of course, Rachel knew that it was her own father who had been the main source of those rumors. Percy had never publicly or privately acknowledged those rumors to her, merely making use of those rumors to temporarily block some of the more zealous women. Rachel had never asked about the truth of those rumors to Percy, fearing his answer.

Then the word spread that the king was taking the princess of Kiran as his bride.

Who hadn't heard of Princess Alana who had flawlessly golden hair the color of sunlight and blue eyes that mirrored the sky? The news was like a bolt of lightning from nowhere that Rachel couldn't even process. But it turned out that Kiran had played some tricks and had sent an unknown princess instead.

Rachel had been insulted on Percy's behalf. How dare the Kirans be so rude? Even if Rachel wasn't marrying Percy, she at least wanted him to have the best that he deserved.

But the princess they sent, though frail, was just as attractive in both her outside appearance and personality. Even the tutors Percy had sent had been vocal in their praise of her academics.

Now Rachel didn't know how to feel. The future queen had never been rude to her and had even expressed her sincere admiration for Rachel's talents in swordsmanship. Had Princess Annabeth insulted her, perhaps Rachel could have used this to invoke empathy on Percy's behalf, seeing that she had been by Percy's side for so long. However, the princess' conduct was impeccable.

Most likely since it was a political marriage, Percy had no choice. Rachel could understand that. Being a monarch was no easy feat with all the duties and responsibilities laden on the crown.

But Rachel couldn't help but feel jealous when she saw Percy treating the Kiran princess so affectionately. She had thought that she was the only one who could receive such tender actions. Everyone around her had said so as she was only woman Percy had allowed to approach so close to him. It was only now that Rachel realized how foolish of a dream that was. She had been living a world of lies. One could not force their feelings onto another.

Rachel headed to her bedroom. Paintings that had been personally created by her filled one wall. It had been a long time since she had painted.

There was a portrait of Percy from a memory of him when he was merely a prince. Rachel gingerly stroked the brushstrokes that comprised his cheeks. She didn't notice that a lone tear was rolling down her own cheek.

Marquis Dare went back to striding in his office. His plans were falling apart. His eyes landed on the papers on his desk. Wasn't the future queen going to look for ladies-in-waiting?

Yes, he could have Rachel be picked there. Men were often fond of beauty, but they preferred beauty with talent. The more a man gazes at a rose, the faster the rose wilts. Then, wouldn't he switch to something fresher?

But Marquis Dare was wrong about viewing women as roses. He had forgotten that roses didn't simply wilt when the flower was finished budding. The stems and leaves were still there, and even if winter washed away the petals, spring would come to bud new flowers. Not to mention that even the most delicate of roses had thorns.

The rose in question was Annabeth who had managed to finagle a pair of linen pants and shirt from the royal seamstresses. While she couldn't wear them outside of her private quarters and give the Eldoris staff a heart attack, she did wear them for some light yoga.

"What...are you doing?"

Annabeth didn't want to get up from her downward dog position. But it would be rude to talk to a sovereign while peeping from such an awkward pose so she pulled herself together.

"Yoga. Is there something I could help you with, Your Majesty?"

Despite getting permission to call him Percy, there was something like a barrier in her mind that if she did call him that, then she would truly accept her role here as the future queen of a country. But Annabeth was only viewing this as a temporary spell of insanity or something. Maybe she overworked herself too much, fainted, and then knocked her head and was now in a coma. If only everything in this world didn't feel so damn real, Annabeth would have thought that this was the case.

The Eldoris king glanced over her loose clothes but made no comment. Instead he sat down as Lucy hurriedly poured him some tea. Sir Grover had turned his face sideways so he was not facing her. Strange.

Annabeth hadn't realized that when she was in the downward dog position, her shirt had fallen down, exposing her stomach. Sir Grover had turned away for fear that the king would be unhappy.

"What is yoga?"

Seeing that he had no intention of leaving, Annabeth got up and washed her hands. She was just finishing up her yoga anyway.

"Just some light exercise to strengthen my muscles. It's not tiring so don't worry. I wish that I could learn how to use a sword though. It would be nice to learn some self-defense."

"That could be arranged."

Annabeth's eyes lit up. "Really? I can do that?"

She had thought that the king wouldn't be happy that a queen would know how to use a sword given the strict protocols in this world. But then again, there were female knights like Sir Rachel and even Princess Alana had fought on the battlefield. After all, what was taekwondo against swords and arrows?

"Why not? It'll be good for you to learn how to defend yourself."

The king looked at Annabeth's enthusiasm. So this was what she liked. He had sent a sapphire and pearl hairpin with matching earrings to the princess earlier but received a report that her reaction was rather lukewarm compared to how other noble ladies might react when getting such an expensive jewelry set. Still, she seemed to like the earrings more over the hairpin so the king noted her preference down.

"I'll have the best swordsman in the kingdom teach you." He found himself promising to those expectant gray eyes. "If you want, we can go take a look in the armory to see if there's any suitable swords."

Annabeth's grey eyes sparkled with pleasure while Lucy shifted her feet. Princess, shouldn't one be more happy about receiving that hairpin the king took great pains to acquire? That hairpin was being auctioned off when the king bid for it right underneath the nose of the snobbiest noble Lady Ceto in Eldoris.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot. What did you come here for?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"To tell you how your experiment went."

Now that their wedding was edging closer, many delegates from other countries were on their journey into Eldoris. The representatives from Tynan were no different. The county governed by Count McLean happened to be near the border of Tynan and Eldoris.

There were some ruffians located in the county that had dared to stir up some trouble. Conveniently, these rough people were stirring up trouble when both the Tynan representatives and Lady McLean happened to be near the scene. But Lady McLean was not the sort of gentle lily that needed rescuing.

"You said she was in the midst of beating up the gangsters when Prince Jason happened upon them?" Annabeth asked, incredulous. "And she thought the prince was part of the gangsters and was nearly about to beat him up as well?"

Then she let out a laugh. Holy shit, this new lady-in-waiting was far more interesting than she thought. Thank goodness, she was worried whether the lady-in-waiting she had chosen would be fussy about strict rules and protocols.

Fortunately, the prince proved his identity and wasn't even insulted that Lady McLean had misunderstood him. He had even invited her to travel with his delegation for safety as they rode onwards to the Eldoris palace.

"I wonder for whose safety it is, his or hers?" Annabeth said, amused.

Regardless, the little nudge in the direction of a different fate was set. It was now up to the actions of the prince and Lady McLean to see if feelings were returned.

There were only five more days until the wedding. Annabeth wondered what would the expression of Princess Alana be like when she saw another woman beside one of the men who was supposed to be simping for her?

"What is a simp?" The Eldoris king asked. "Is that a Kiran saying?"

Apparently Annabeth had said her thoughts out loud. Oops. She was usually good about keeping her speech in style with the manuscripts, but she was starting to become a little too comfortable around the king.

A little while later, the king paused in the middle of his work, frustrated that the letters were beginning to swim in circles or jump off the page. Needing a break, the king asked Sir Grover a question.

"If my understanding of a simp is correct, do you think Rachel is a simp for me? Or at the very least, I would say the Kiran princess is most definitely not a simp for me?"

"Your Majesty...I don't dare answer that question."

The sound of the ink pen scratching on paper continued before pausing once more. The king looked up and grinned.

"Hey Grover, would you be considered a simp for that new gardener called Miss Juniper?"

"...please don't tease me anymore, Your Majesty."

A/N: Some light comedy this chapter. Next chapter we'll have Annabeth meet face to face with possibly the most dangerous antagonist inside Eldoris, and of course, some classic pampering :P

For future reference, the first even remotely slightly spicy moment is around chapter 17 and the first truly spicy moment in chapters 30+ and more to come after that. Slow burn :P

To guest who asked about writing one-shots: Most of the plots that I think about are just too big for one shots. I like story and world-building! I've written two short PJO stories though.

As always, thank you all for your support! See you next chapter!

Edit: Ugh, I'm so mad at Google Docs today. I wrote two chapters today and they didn't auto-save :0 and got deleted while I was working on them. Tragic. Press F to pay thy respects. T.T