The Prince and I were playing a game before the arrival of France. We were throwing a ball back and forth between each other. I caught the ball and spun around back toward Frederick. He clapped. "Throw it back!" He called. I readied my aim and right before I threw it, I heard the Queen.
"What are you boys doing?!" She demanded. I lost my grip on the ball as it went flying back toward Frederick. It knocked past a vase and a flower pot before knocking Frederick in the head. I gasped as the pots shook on their pedestals and ran to keep them from falling over. However Frederick had had the same idea and he got there before I could. Frederick had missed terribly and actually managed to make them hit the floor. Neither of us moved.
"My Queen… I can replace those." I said. "If you wish."
"The vase can't be replaced! It was passed down by my family for generations!" She turned to her servants and gave them orders. "I want you to clean up the mess, check Frederick and Gilbert for injuries, and I want you to summon their whipping boys." I cringed. Damn it! I know I'm not getting hit but at least Fritz would have handled it better. Speaking of Fritz…
"My Queen?" I asked, looking over at her. She looked at me, displeasure on her face. Her servants got to work on cleaning up the broken shards.
"What is it Gilbert?"
"Where's Fritz?"
"The King of Prussia is busy in his office. I do not think you would like me to disrupt him about broken furniture." I blushed. Yes. Definitely not. I know Fritz is going to hear about this anyway but it would be better not to disrupt anything he was doing. "You two should be getting ready for the ball! The French men will be here in no time at all and all you boys can think about is playing ball in the house! You two should very well know better!" Her servants started looking us over for wounds, having the shards discarded by a passing servant.
"Mom! I'm sorry!" Frederick whined. I rolled my eyes at him.
"Don't whine Frederick." I told him. The Queen tutted at me.
"At least he seems apologetic." I fell silent. She wants me to look apologetic. I sighed.
"I'm sorry Your Majesty." I told her, not whining like Frederick but getting my point across just the same. Or tried to anyway. Her servants left. I knew exactly what they were doing, they were still one order to go. "I think you need not have them summoned." She ignored me.
"Frederick, try to behave yourself. The French are a delicate kind. Not like the others your Father has you interact with. Remember to be kind and gentle toward the French Princess. She will be delicate and poised like all proper princesses. She has to impress you and your Father, the King of Prussia. It is your Father's decision who you will be marrying." I smirked at Frederick. Again the Queen was reminding him how to behave. I was just expected to be on my best behavior. My smirk fell off when I noticed her servants were back with Baldur and Timo. The Queen noticed and walked over to them. I watched her slap them, hard. She looked at us. "I hope you two remember to behave yourselves today. Today is a very important day for all of us. Baldur and Timo will be around." She said before her face became as gentle as it ever was. As if none of these events had happened. Like the vase and flower pot were still there. "Now. Please go to the entrance hall. You will be expected there by the King, before he gets there." She said before turning and walking away.
"… It could have been worse?" Frederick asked, looking at me when were alone again. I nodded.
"It could have been Fritz who saw us break the vase." He paled. "What?"
"Dad. I forgot!"
"Afraid he's going to hear of this?" I asked. He nodded. "Well don't. Know that the King will be informed by either their absence or the Queen. We have to do as we've been told Frederick. Follow me." I said. I turned and headed for the entrance hall of the castle.
We stood there for thirty minutes before Fritz finally came down to join us. I smiled at him. He smiled back but with one look of our clothes, he quickly began to straighten them, trying to remove the wrinkles. He talked to us about how the French see more importance in the display of clothes than anything else and personality came second when deciding if a person is their type. He finished right before the Queen appeared. She smiled.
"Ah. Glad to see you're already here Frederick." She said, smiling at the King. "I would like a word about your sons later." I heard her whisper. Fritz clearly ignored her but when she said 'sons' was when he showed interest.
"What is it Elisabeth?" She gave him a look.
"I said later Frederick. Their going to be here any minute." She replied. He gave her a dirty look as she straightened her dress and looked toward the door. Fritz smiled again when he noticed I was looking at him. I blushed and turned to look at the door instead. The doors opened as Henry came inside.
"Their here Your Majesty." He said, bowing to Fritz. Fritz nodded.
"Thank you Henry." Henry stepped aside as France pretended to hold open the doors… until he saw me. He grinned before running up to me.
"Mon ami! So happy to see you! How have you been? Gotten into any trouble lately? I know I have!" I didn't know either to groan or laugh.
"Really? What did you do?" I asked.
"Something that pissed off my King. I didn't mean to!" He whined. "How could I know that the pretty girl was his niece?!" I couldn't help but chuckle.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.
"Well I saw her dancing in the most graceful way I've seen since the 1400s and she was magnifique! She was beautiful! I thought she was just a peasant girl of course, the way she was dressed. So I walked right up to her and I puckered my lips and smack! I gave her a big wonderful kiss! You can guess how the rest went down." He said as his royalty finally reached the door.
"Next time think before you kiss a girl, Francis." I told him. His King cleared his throat and Francis quickly went back, giving me a wink. I gave him a mischievous grin before giving an angelic smile since the royalty were arriving now.
Everyone greeted each other and soon we were going into the ball room to dance. I staid by France. We danced the first time just to get it out of the way. It was customary after all. After that France and I separated to go have more dancing.
I danced with the Queen of France and Princess Louise Marie. After that I managed to score a dance with Queen Elisabeth, my Queen. I had only two dances left to go before I am allowed to quit. Then I can just do it for fun! So I headed off to find two ladies who weren't dancing. I found Francis flirting with a Prussian instead.
"How do you like your Prussians?" I asked France. He jumped before turning around.
"Gilbert! Hello! I was just talking to this nice lady over here. Eh… Gilbert. I have a problem."
"What is it?" I asked, worried.
"Where is the Prussian court? I heard you didn't have one." The girl giggled and I frowned.
"That is your problem? Fritz doesn't deem it necessary to have a stupid court." He gasped.
"The court is the life of the palace! How could you not have one? It is always necessary to have a court!"
"What is the difference between a court and staff?"
"All the beautiful parties! Everything is different! I'll teach you all about court life at my place! If my princess marries your prince, then I can also teach you secrets of the court life. It is all so wonderful." He seemed like he was trying to prevent himself from crying because I didn't know about a court.
"Fine. You can teach me about court. Maybe I might try to convince Fritz to get one. God knows he needs more parties in his life. He's a fun guy but sometimes he is serious about stuff. Not that that's a bad thing of course."
"Where are the snacks mon ami? All this dancing has made me hungry. I've only danced with twenty three women and I've still got twenty seven to go." I scoffed at him.
"How exactly do you plan to dance with that many women? Are you trying to date them?"
"Yes. At least I know how to get a lady. You wouldn't even know the first thing about it."
"You would be right." He rose a brow, confused I was letting him win that argument so easily. I smirked at him. "The first thing to know about getting a lady is to know you want one in the first place!" He paled.
"You don't mean that, do you mon ami?"
"I'm not interested in dating. All I want to do is have fun. You and Spain are weird like that." He staid quiet for a minute.
"Where are the sweets?" Oh yeah!
"Follow me." He smiled.
"How do you plan on sneaking out?"
"No need." I replied. France pointed at the guards.
"What about them?"
"Their new here. Watch this." I walked toward the exit and they looked at me.
"Can I help you?" One of them asked.
"No thank you, I'm just showing him the way to the restroom." I replied. They nodded and left us alone as we left the ballroom. I walked France into the room with the food. He smiled before walking around to see all the sweets.
"I don't know which one to try first!" He cheered, look around at all of them.
"Grab a plate and pick one each. We'll go to the garden. No guards or servants will be there." He nodded and picked up a few plates, putting two of everything on the plates.
"Gilbert, come help me carry them." I hurried over and took the plates he handed me and soon we were done collecting food. "Okay we're going to the garden. Which way is it?" I nodded and led him to the garden. I had been right, no servants or guards were there… but we weren't alone.
"Francis? What are you…" I looked to see Princess Louise. "Are you sneaking snacks again?"
"But of course. It was Gilbert's idea! Yell at him!" He cried, pointing at me. "Not me!"
"Actually you two seem to be working together." Prince Frederick said. Princess Louise smiled.
"I think they are."
"Please don't tell King Louis!" Francis begged. "He already yelled at me this morning!"
"Put the sweets back." Princess Louise ordered. "As I recall, Father said not a toe out of line. I would consider this a toe out of line." I chuckled.
"Being threatened by a girl, Francis?" I taunted.
"Well you might as well be in the same boat with Francis." Frederick said. "Put the sweets back guys. You can snack down later. The Queen of Prussia will know if any are missing. She counted them herself. I saw her early this morning doing it." I smirked at him.
"Not really Frederick. You were the one who made those things fall over. I would have done just fine if it wasn't for you." Princess Louise frowned at me.
"Watch your tongue. This is your future King you're talking to."
"Yeah! What she said!"
"Fine. I'll put the sweets back." I replied. "Not because you're telling me to but because I know I will have time to try them later." I turned around to take them back but France snatched them away. I turned back to look at him.
"It's too late. I've already touched them. We have to eat them. It would be improper to put it back." He replied. Princess Louise sighed, shaking her head. She turned to Prince Frederick.
"Take me back to the ball. I wish to dance more." Prince Frederick smiled and bowed.
"Yes my lady." He offered his arm and she accepted. They walked out of the garden and back into the castle. France started to eat the sweets. I declined from trying them because I knew better. I was just following Francis' lead.
Soon France had finished and was looking for somewhere to dump his plates. I snatched them and headed inside. You don't just dump your trash on the grounds. I threw them into my trashcan before rushing France back to the ballroom. We were immediately approached by Fritz.
"Where have you two been? It's almost time for lunch and you need to have finished your dancing Gilbert." I frowned before pointing at France.
"It's his fault! He was being picky about where he used the restroom!" I told him. He rose a brow, turning to France.
"Is that true?" Fritz took a look at him. "Why does there seem to be cream on your upper lip?" France gasped, quickly wiping his face as Louis approached. I leaned closer to France.
"Hurry the hell up! Your King is coming!" France looked and quickly turned away. King Louis stopped next to Fritz, looking at Fritz.
"Might I ask what's going on Frederick?" France turned back around and bowed.
"Your Majesty."
"They were having a problem with finding a proper restroom." Louis looked at us, before his eyes landed on Francis. Francis stopped bowing. I put myself between him and them, bowing lowly to them before quickly standing up.
"I'm sorry to say, but shouldn't both the handsome Kings be dancing? There are plenty of ladies out there, just dying to meet you two."
"Oui!" France replied. I elbowed him in the gut to make him shut up. They gave us suspicious looks before leaving. When they were gone, we sighed in relief. "That went well." France said. "Why did you hit me? That hurt!"
"Because you idiot! You should have cleaned up before you came in here! Now Fritz knows everything! Which means Louis knows everything, if Louise hasn't already told him and it's your fault if you get into trouble. You should be more like me. Think everything through before you act."
"You don't always do that! Only on the battlefield or making mischief."
"That's what I'm talking about now shut up before anyone hears you."
"I was following your lead, Prussia."
"No I was following your lead!" He sighed.
"What now?"
"If you're clean, then go dance. I shall do the same." I replied, before heading off to go find two girls to dance with.
I had just finished my fifth dance when everyone was informed it was time for lunch. I staid as far behind as I could. Well that was until Fritz saw me hanging back and he decided to come see me. My day was just getting worse and worse.
"Gilbert, are you not going to eat with us? Or have you already had something to eat?"
"No Your Majesty Fritz. I've just had breakfast."
"And what about your friend? Is Louis right?"
"Right about Francis? What about Francis?"
"Well Francis had whipped cream on his face. It was stuck to his facial hair."
"So you think France had whipped cream?" I asked. "Why would he do that?"
"I suppose we won't know unless Elisabeth says something. You know she is always complaining about the smallest of any details." That's what I'm afraid of. Perhaps I should just be honest.
"Your Majesty Fritz? If I say something would you promise to keep it to yourself?" I asked as we stepped into the dining hall. Elisabeth was approaching us, because she was clearly wanting to speak with King Fritz.
"I could promise to keep the fact that I got it from you a secret." I smiled weakly.
"Well I suppose you'll find out sooner or later."
"Frederick!" Elisabeth said. "Someone-" Fritz held up his hand.
"I am talking to Gilbert right at the moment." He said flatly. "Continue." He ordered me as we sat down.
"Make her go away." I pleaded. He turned to her.
"Go get me a plate of food would you?" He ordered. She huffed before going to do as she was asked. "What is it?" He demanded. He was getting tired of waiting.
"France and I came to the kitchens yes. I didn't eat anything though." He's smart, he'll figure it out.
"Louis is right."
"Don't tell anyone! I just thought it better to be honest than to get yelled at for lying, which I didn't do! France will hate me if you tell Louis. So don't!" I demanded. He gave me a look. I gulped, looking away immediately.
"Gilbert, I would suggest you lose the attitude right now."
"Yes, of course, Your Majesty Fritz." I replied. "I'm sorry." I sat up straight when I noticed a full plate being put before me. One was also placed in front of Fritz. Elisabeth was back and when she sat down, her servant put a plate in front of her.
"Would you kindly go get us some drinks too?" Elisabeth asked. The servant bowed before going to do as told. "Frederick, someone had some of my treats before the banquet." She complained. "I want you to find out who."
"I took them!" I defended before Fritz could say anything. She gave me a look before turning to Fritz.
"Frederick, that reminds me. I need to have a word with you about your sons." Fritz looked at her.
"What ever it is, I'm sure it can wait." She frowned.
"Everything can wait when it's you we're dealing with."
"We have guests right now."
"I know that but can I not have a private word with you Frederick?" Fritz face darkened.
"I said not right now. Learn to listen. Why don't you go talk with Queen Maria?" He replied. She stood with her plate and left. Clearly that had been Fritz dismissing her. "I thought you said you didn't take them?"
"I… well… not really. I didn't eat them I just helped put them on the plate and it is improper to put back something you have already touched and so… yeah." I replied, beginning to eat my lunch. Abelard sat next to me, where the Queen had sat first.
"Good. I'm happy you're trying some of the healthy foods too." He said.
"Why not? Actually, I didn't get this plate by myself. Queen Elisabeth got it for me." I replied as her servant brought me a beer before giving Fritz his beer. Then they left.
When I finished my plate I got more food before finishing that. I got one of every dessert and when I had finished that, it was time to go back to the ballroom one more time. I danced with some of the French girls this time.
In the end, I'd had twelve dances and now it was time to see the French leave. I stood next to Fritz, the Prince, and the Queen as we said our goodbyes. France had clearly been told on by his Princess Louise. I felt bad for him. Poor guy.
"Can I have that word with you now Frederick?" Elisabeth asked as Henry closed the door as he was the one to lead them out of the palace. Fritz looked at her.
"Yes I have time and the guests are gone. Gilbert, Frederick, go to your rooms to change into something more comfortable and then continue through the rest of your day. Follow me so we can have some privacy." Fritz said to Elisabeth. We obeyed the King.