CHAPTER 29

Princess Carolynn Schreave

Saturday, the 11th of January

"Jenna," I say, looking at my reflection in the mirror, "Could you tell Nyson that we're going on a date today."

"Today?" Jenna asks, obviously concerned, "I believe that the gentlemen have an etiquette class today. It seemed rather important, the way that Lady Van Der Witts was speaking."

"You talk to her?" I ask, trying to keep the incredulous look off my face. I just didn't think of all the people in the palace, Pearl would seek out my maid to engage in conversation with.

Jenna visibly tries to avoid wincing, "Yes, she likes to keep me informed of the selected's schedule."

"So why don't you tell me their schedule?"

"I figured you had more important things to think about, Your Highness." Jenna answers. That's probably just a euphemism for her saying that she doubted I would care about that type of stuff. And she's right, I don't need detailed reports on etiquette classes.

"Fair enough," I respond, turning to look at her. "So, what exactly is the extremely important thing that they're doing today?"

Jenna takes a deep breath, "The importance of selecting flower arrangements and their location around the palace."

"You're joking."

"No, Your Highness," she answers.

At this I finally laugh, "Does she not know that there are people who are paid to do that? I don't think my Dad is in charge of deciding what flowers are put around the palace."

"I'm not sure if His Majesty is or not," Jenna answers. "Still, Lady Van Der Witts seemed to think it was of the utmost importance."

I bite my lip for a second, "How mad do you think she'll be if Nyson doesn't attend?" I don't want to get him in trouble, but this is a ridiculous lesson about flowers. If it was something more reasonable like...even paintings, I would drop it, but no one on earth really needs to know the meanings behind flowers.

"Lady Van Der Witts seems to take her classes for the gentlemen very seriously," Jenna says in a non-answer.

"You really think so?" I ask.

Jenna nods, "It's certainly...a passion of her's."

I frown. I really don't want to postpone my date any longer than I have to, but causing Pearl to be angry at Nyson might not be the kindest thing I could do. "I guess it's wrong for me to take Nyson out of this lesson for a date, even if it is about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"If you would like to Your Highness, there is nothing that she could do about it," Jenna answers.

Jenna's right. I could do whatever I wanted, really. I'm the crown princess. Nyson however, is not, and I doubt that Pearl would hesitate to make Nyson do a private lesson or something equally as embarrassing so that he doesn't miss out on his education.

That probably wouldn't be very nice of me, and I'm really trying to be a nice person.

"I guess it would be better for Nyson to sit through the flower lecture, and I can go on a date with him after," I concede, pouting only slightly.

"If that's what you want to do, Your Highness."

"It's not what I want to do, it's the right thing to do. How long is this lesson supposed to last for?"

"Four hours,"

"Hours? Like… two hundred and forty minutes of talking about flowers? That can't be. Maybe she said forty minutes."

"I can ask, Your Highness, but I believe she said hours." Jenna responds.

"Great. That really puts a damper on my day. Any chance any of the ones left are allergic to pollen?"

"I don't know of any."

Shame. I guess it would be rather rude to disregard Nyson's date just because I didn't feel like waiting around all day. Actually, I probably don't have to wait around all day. I could go sit in a boring and useless lesson about flowers that'll I'll never need to know in the rest of my life. Yay.

"Jenna, tell Pearl that I'm going to be attending her lecture," I say.

"...you are?" Jenna's voice is full of disbelief.

"Yes. I am," I frown, "Also tell her to make sure that there's no dirt. I hate dirt."

"Your Highness, I think that would be rather hard. I mean, flowers do need dirt to grow…"

"So you really think that she's going to be using live flowers? This is the same woman, who on national television nonetheless, got the botanical gardens to do a showcase of potted plants."

Jenna gulps, "I didn't watch the show."

I wave my hand, "Trust me, she's not using real flowers." There's no way. And if she's not using real flowers, then there's absolutely no reason why there has to be dirt. It's not like picked flowers need nutrients or anything. They're super dead.

"Okay. I'll alert Lady Van Der Witts that you will be attending her lesson, and to make sure that there is no dirt in the room." Jenna pauses, "Do you still want to go on a date with Nyson later?"

"Yes, of course."

"What activity do you have in mind, so he can prepare?"

"Shopping. Mom owes me a new ti...something," I answer, changing my words quickly at the end. I don't want Jenna to feel self-conscious about my wealth and her lack thereof. Or, at least I think her lack of money. I never really asked what her family did.

Still, Jenna blanches, "Your Highness, are you sure that's a good idea? For a date with Mr. Avery?"

"Why wouldn't it be."

"He's a 7, Your Highness. It might not make for the most...pleasant atmosphere."

I have to refrain from rolling my eyes at that. "Don't be classist Jenna. Just because he's a 7 doesn't automatically make him poor. Besides, it's not like he's going to be getting anything. I'm just bringing him along for the company."

Perhaps sensing that it's better not to challenge me right now, Jenna nods. "If you say so. I'll make sure to tell him. I believe the lecture begins in an hour."

"What about lunch?"

"I'm not aware of what her plan was. Maybe she is providing snacks in the parlor."

"Parlor? I hope this doesn't ruin the furniture. Anyway, thank you." I say, dismissing her and turning back to my reflection in the mirror.

When I walk into the parlor overrun in flowers, it's with the air of someone returning from exile. I had been on dates with some of the guys, eliminating four, but other than that, and after my run-in with Divesh, I hadn't actively sought out any of their company.

"Your Highness," Nishav said, bowing his head. "You've...ah, come to watch?"

"Well, I don't know a lot about flowers." I offer up.

"I doubt any of us will know much after this," Nishav mutters under his breath.

"I don't know, it could be fun," Bas says, obviously overhearing him. "What? You don't think sitting through a four hour discussion on the meanings of flowers won't teach you anything?"

"Maybe if it was taught by a qualified teacher."

"Is there really any qualification you can get in flowers?" Bas says, seeming to seriously consider the question. "Like is it a college degree?"

"I didn't hear about one," Nathaniel says.

"Yeah, it's not a thing," I pipe up.

"I've never been to a college," Nyson adds.

Nishav shrugs.

Bas looks towards Divesh, being the only one who didn't answer. "How about you?"

"Oh...yeah, I don't know, I don't think it's a degree. It might be though. I'm not really an expert on this stuff." Divesh says, rambling.

Bas turns back to Nishav, "See, it's not like you can be qualified to teach about flowers. Besides, who even decides the meanings of flowers?"

Nishav sighs, "I guarantee you if there even was a qualification, Lady Van Der Witts certainly would not have earned it."

He's not wrong. I know the hiring for my selection was a rush job, but Pearl Van Der Witts is barely qualified to teach elementary school kids how to write properly in cursive, there's no way that elaborate lessons are within her skill set. I don't know if any of them had learned anything within the selection that can be attributed to her. At least Nyson stopped looking at the ground when he talked, but if I'm being honest, I think that was more Lindsay's doing. And she wasn't even on the payroll to teach the selected.

Ironic isn't it.

"Well, not much can we do about this now?" I say, though I could probably do something. I just didn't feel like it.

"Nope," Bas adds, agreeing with me.

"Fabulous," Nishav intones, leaning back in his seat, one leg crossed over the other.

Bas turns and tries to nudge Divesh into conversation, even though it's clear he's distracted. Or nervous. I can't really tell with him. Nathaniel and Nyson occasionally interject something, but other than that no one says anything. Certainly not me. I was starting to wish that I had spent the day doing literally anything else as the minutes ticked by waiting for Pearl to arrive.

Finally, a fashionable fifteen minutes late, Pearl waltzes into the room, directing a few butlers to push several carts filled with flowers after her. "Oh, you're all here," she says, seeming surprised.

"Yup," Bas says, giving a little wave. That's actually a bit adorable.

"Surprising," she says, giving Bas a tight smile. "Well, if you're all ready, we can begin then. We have a lot to get through today, so I would appreciate if it was absolutely silent," she adds, acting as if we are all middle school children. This might be the first time in my life that someone not related to me told me to be quiet. The whole thing is rather amusing. Must be how it feels like to go to normal school, and live a normal life. Boring.

The whole presentation is so dense that I almost want to leave. I actually consider excusing myself and never coming back, or having Jenna bring a note saying that I'm needed urgently. That's unfair though, and I'm trying to be kinder towards my selected. I got the feeling that for my sake, Pearl was trying to speed the lecture up. She probably would have droned on for much longer if I didn't make exaggerated movements of checking the time on my phone.

The whole thing amounts to two and three quarters of an hour. Much longer than I personally wanted to spend talking about flowers, but from the rest of the boy's faces, I get the impression that they're relieved. The other lessons must be so much longer.

"So," Nishav asks Bas, from the doorframe, "Did you actually learn anything in that convoluted thing she called a lesson?"

Bas pauses, "Red flowers...mean love?" he offers hesitantly.

"That's what I thought," Nishav answers. I duck my head to cover my laugh before anyone gets upset.

I dawdle in the hall till the room emptied out, waiting for Nyson to come out. "Okay, are you ready to go?" I ask Nyson, smiling slightly.

"Sure, um, where are we going? My butler didn't say"

"To look at some jewelry," I say, trying to phrase the sentence Purchase another tiara in the least self-absorbed way possible. "Perhaps for some gifts." He just doesn't need to know who the gifts are for. Everything will be fine.

"Cool," Nyson nods, looking down at his shirt for a second, "Can I go in this?"

I cringe a little at the plaid pattern on his shirt, but I'm not in the mood to make someone feel bad about their outfit. Shocker. "Yeah, I like that shirt," I say, nodding my head.

"Thanks." Nyson clears his throat, "Your dress is really nice, Carrie...can I still call you that?" he asks.

"Yeah, go ahead. I don't mind," I say, giving a little laugh. "And, Thanks, I like my dress too. That's why I picked it."

Nyson clearly doesn't know what to say to that, so instead he looks to the side, "What do you think of the flowers?"

"They're nice." I say, shrugging. "Honestly, that might have been the biggest waste of time I've ever had, and I've sat in a lot of budget meetings." I walk him towards the front of the palace, where the limousine was waiting for us. Jenna had probably passed the message along that I was going on a date.

"What are budget meetings like?" Nyson asks, holding the door open for me. I slide into it. "Are they bad?"

I shrug, parsing my words carefully. "It's nothing that couldn't be conveyed in an email. Personally I think it's to stoke the egos of our financial analysts. Make them feel good about themselves." I answer truthfully. They would probably be much more interesting if any of the financial analysts had even a sliver of personality, but I'm trying my best to be kinder. So I don't mention that particular piece of information to Nyson.

"Oh, is it...complicated?" he asks.

I scrunch my nose, "What do you mean complicated?"

"Looking at the budgets," Nyson say, blushing.

"You don't need to be an expert on budgets, if that's what you're wondering. There are people whose job is to make sure that you know these things, but yes. I guess it is complicated." I shake my head slightly, "Why do you ask?"

Nyson gives me a small grin, "I'm not the best at mathematics. Or economics. Or anything that ends in -ics really."

"How do you feel about Chemistry?" I ask, in an effort to lighten the mood. Nyson is looking rather concerned about my reaction, as if I would be upset that he's not the best at math. If I was looking to hire an employee, then I probably would be. But I'm not looking for one. I don't need someone to do my job for me. That's why I'm here.

"I hate it. I was never really the best in school," Nyson admits.

"Well," I say, taking a deep breath, "You wouldn't have to do anything like that anyway, if you marry me. My father doesn't attend any of those meetings."

That doesn't mean you can be a complete idiot though. You need at least some complex understanding of the way finances work, of how each decision would affect the outcome. Each advisor pushes their own agenda, and you need to realize that. Even if Nyson isn't the mathematical prodigy of the era, I need to make sure that he can at least handle himself.

Ah well. Those thoughts are too deep for me to worry about today.

Today is dedicated to getting my new tiara.

"Oh, I thought His Majesty did," Nyson replies, looking somewhat mollified. His eyes at least lose their overcastness.

"Nope. Not those ones anyway." I answer. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, Math on a weekend is not my cup of tea."

"Me neither."

"I assumed."

Nyson finally laughs at that, throwing his head back. "I'm just curious honestly. I didn't mean for it to come off like that. So, how is life going...Carrie."

"Life is going…" I was going to say good, but at the last moment I change my mind. "As well as can be expected. It's stressful being in a selection."

"Yeah...I would think so. It must be hard, having to date everyone. I barely had one girlfriend before I came here, and now I'm in a serious relationship."

"Serious relationship...that's one way to describe it." I interject, cutting him off. I don't really like the sound of that word combination. It makes everything seem too permanent.

"It must be harder for you. You have to deal with all of us." Nyson finishes, sounding fairly competent for once.

"Well, you're not all as bad as I thought you would be."

"You thought we would be bad?" Nyson asks, feigning -I hope- sadness.

"I don't want to answer that."

Nyson smiles, "Fair enough," he clears his throat, "Well, do you still think that now? I would like to think that we've grown on you."

"Yeah, you definitely have," I agree, the words coming easier than I thought they would. It's not wrong. I'm much happier now then I thought I would be when I first started my selection. These guys aren't all horrible, a few notable exceptions aside. The ones left I all...actually like. That's weird to consider. How far we've come from me barely tolerating them to occasionally seeking out their company without having to be forced and/or bribed.

And I'm actually going to marry one of these guys. I have to, it's not like I can back out, but still. I'm going to marry one of them and not spend the rest of my life in misery. I don't know who yet, who I like the best, but honestly, any of them would provide me with a comfortable life. A life with someone whose company I would enjoy.

"I'm happy about that," Nyson adds, ducking his head. "It would be pretty sad to find out that you...strongly dislike me...us."

"I don't like a lot of people," I say, looking at Nyson, "And nobody in the palace right now falls into that category. Well," I amend, "None of the selected. I don't like plenty of the employees, but we keep that under cover."

"It'll be better when you're Queen though, right?" Nyson asks, "You can only have people that you like working in the palace."

I shrug, "I guess, for the people I directly act with, but I don't approve of everyone who gets hired by the palace. That would be way too much work."

"Still," Nyson presses, "Would that be better?"

"Sure," I finally agree, sensing that he wants a direct answer out of me. He actually seems to care about my happiness. Lovely.

The car stops in front of a large jewelry store, where I'm greeted by a man in a pressed suit. The owner I would assume, most people don't decide to have some lowly sales assistant help the Crown Princess. Nyson trails behind me as I make my way into the large store, with different pieces of jewelry in each glass box.

"What do you think of that one?" I ask, pointing to a necklace, "It could be converted into a tiara."

Nyson looks out of place, "It's...nice?"

"You don't sound like you believe that," I say, turning towards him.

"I don't really know much about jewelry. No one in my family ever really had the money to buy something like this. It looks nice, if that's what you're wondering, but I can't really judge off anything else," Nyson explains, looking embarrassed, obviously wondering if I would judge him based on his family's wealth.

I mean, I would. He's not wrong...but I'm polite enough not to do it to his face. Besides, I'm not an idiot. I know that not everyone is as rich as me, very few people are, if we're counting. I'm not going to disregard Nyson for being middle class.

"Hmm," I hum, looking back down, "You're right, it does look pretty. Can I try that on?" I ask the man, lifting my hair so he can fasten the necklace around my neck.

By the time we finish our shopping Nyson looks as if he's going to die from boredom. I get the feeling that he stopped paying attention to the descriptions of the jewelry pieces about ten minutes after we got there, and had just been nodding his head at random intervals ever since. I don't blame him for that. I'm sure it can get tedious when the jewelry isn't for yourself. I can't imagine having to standby and watch someone else shop. I would probably start crying.

"Thank you for coming with me," I say to him. "I appreciated it, even if you weren't entertained by the day."

"No, no. I thought it was really...interesting," Nyson manages to get out.

I give him a small smile, "No you didn't. You can tell me that."

"Okay," Nyson agrees, raising his eyebrows. "I was pretty bored, but I'm happy that you got jewelry that you like and that I got to spend the day with you," Nyson finishes, laughing at himself.

"Thank you for your honesty."

"You are completely welcome."

When we get to the palace, my mother is waiting for me, after greeting Nyson she turns to me, "Did you send a email to the Angeles Tea Society?"

I laugh a little at the name, just as I had every time when I was writing a note to congratulate them on achieving the best tea collection in Angeles, "Yeah, I did. I sent it out on Thursday."

Mom shakes her head, "I thought that was what this was about. They sent you an invitation to see if you want to come to one of their gatherings to sample the tea," she says, walking towards her office.

I wrinkle my nose, "As fun as that sounds, I'm going to have to pass."

Mom nods, "I thought you would say that too. I don't want to go either, and I feel bad sending your father. Do you think your uncle would agree to it?"

I shrug, "I think he'll do whatever you tell him to do."

Mom laughs, "Probably. Don't tell him I told you this, but he's not exactly the brightest one out of the family."

"I know, Mom, I know."

She shakes her head, smiling, "Do you think you could go with Quinn to ask him about it? She's dropping off some forms from the Governor's office. I feel like it's better to do it in person rather than on a phone call where there's an end call option."

"Like, do you mean now?" Mom nods, "Well, I guess I don't have anything else to do. Sure, why not?" I say, in an effort to follow through on my new year's resolutions. So what if it's the weekend. This will take maybe an hour at the most, and that's assuming there's traffic.

"Perfect."

Aunt Quinn is waiting for us by Mom's office. "Farrah," she says, "If you're going to make him do this, today is definitely a good day to suggest the idea. You remember Faye right?" Mom nods, I, on the other hand, have no idea what she;'s talking about. "She's visiting. He'll agree if only to avoid embarrassment."

"Who's Faye?" I ask, since neither of them seemed to realize I was completely lost.

"Faye Zhao," Mom explains, "She was in your Uncle's selection."

"Oh," I say. "Was she eliminated?"

"No, he married her." Quinn laughs. "Yes, she came in fourth, I believe. Definitely before the final ceremony."

I nod. Talking to an ex-selected...that's not a half-bad way to figure out how to go about these eliminations, now that I actually want to somewhat protect the selected's feelings. It's probably an invasion of privacy, and probably would reopen some old wounds, but Faye, that's what her name was, would get over it. She did once.

"Can I talk to her?"

Quinn shrugs, looking unbothered, "If you want. I don't see any reason why not."

"Okay," I say, pasting a smile on my face, "I'm ready to go."

Quinn exchanges a look with Mom, "I know," Mom says, "I expected a lot more grumbling too."

"Hey, I can hear you!" I protest, feeling like a child.

I follow Quinn into a black town car, parked towards the side of the palace. It's a nice car, much less elaborate than then the ones I use, with a lot less trinkets to play with, but for some reason, I don't mind that much. Maybe because I had already bought a normal citizen's month's salary worth of jewelry earlier. I have to be modest somehow

I've never understood why my extended family chose to live in such a humble house. A mere two stories, with only four bathrooms and not even a home cinema. If you had access to the royal trust fund, one would think that you would buy a mansion. Not a house befitting a doctor or some other humble profession.

The atmosphere inside the house is awkward to say the least. Uncle Luke is sitting one one side of the L-shaped sofa, looking uncomfortable, while this Faye woman sat on the other end. They were obviously both waiting for Quinn to come back.

"Carrie," my uncle says, looking relieved, "What are you doing here?"

"I have a favor to ask of you," I start, "Could you go to this event for me. It's next week, it's not that big of a deal."

He looks so relieved to have another topic of conversation that he doesn't even bother to ask for any more information. "Sure, anything."

"You haven't even heard what day it's on," Faye pipes up, her voice sounding rather soothing.

"Seriously," Quinn agrees. "Don't you need to check your schedule?"

Luke shakes his head, "I'm sure it's fine. Absolutely fine. I can clear my schedule, I don't do anything important anyway." He's going to be a lot less happy to have not checked his schedule when he gets the email with the details in a few days.

"I'm sure you do," Faye tells him.

"Maybe. I don't know." Luke says. "Is there anything else?"

"Oh Faye," Quinn says to her, "Carrie wanted to talk to you about something before we go to the art gallery. What was it about again?"

I just shake my head, not wanting to be embarrassed. "Uh, yeah. I did. Come," I say, gesturing for Faye to follow me down the hall to a room in the back of the house. I don't really know what it's used for, I think Garnet plays video games here.

"Your Highness?" Faye asks. If she's confused she's not showing it on her face.

"Okay, I know this is going to sound really weird, but can you tell me about when you were eliminated from the selection?"

Faye pasues, obviously taken by surprise. After taking a deep breath, she smiles. "Of course, if you want. I don't think about it much. Old memories and all that. I'm in a relationship now. I've moved on. Everyone has."

"Right, Right." I clear my throat, "But how was it? When you were eliminated, I mean?"

Faye laughs a little, "I was...crushed. I thought he liked me, your uncle. I had started to paint a future but that never happened. It was heartbreaking, to say the least."

"Did you see it coming?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"Sometimes, looking back, it's obvious that he liked others far more than he liked me. Sometimes I wonder if he kept me around out of pity. I don't think he ever saw me as a serious contender, anyway. I didn't know that then, though. I was oblivious, hopeful. It was a shock, when he told me I was going home. I cried all the way home, on the plane. The poor flight attendant didn't know what to do with me."

"Oh." I hope none of my selected spent the plane ride home crying. Crying because of me and my actions. I want them to like me, but that seems a little much.

"My home life then, was in shambles as well. I wouldn't give His Highness all the credit for that," Faye amends, in an effort to make me feel better.

"I...guess that's a good thing?" I shake my head, "But, what would have made it better?"

Faye shrugs, "Rejection, no matter what, always stings. Not much can be done about that. At the end of the day, it's your choice. Don't let others' reactions influence what you would like to do. I can't imagine that I nor your uncle would be much happier if we had ended up married."

"So you think I can't do anything to make sure that my selected don't spend the entire plane ride home crying?" I ask, hoping that she has some idea to give me.

"Just...make sure to say that there's nothing wrong with them, even if there was." Faye giggles a little at her own joke. "It helps, if you don't feel like you're being insulted on top of it."

"Did you feel like you were being insulted?" I question, praying for the opposite.

"I was too sad to be angry. It wasn't as if I blamed myself, or anyone really. I was just sad."

I nod my head. How many of my selected had I insulted when I sent them home? Most probably on purpose. Even if Faye and Uncle Luke still seem to be cordial around each other, if not uncomfortable, it seems like Luke took some care to protect his selected's feelings. I had done nothing of the sort. Even with Henri, I had insulted him before he left, told him he would never find anyone better than me. I still think that's true, but it was wrong to say.

I can't fix the past, what's done is done.

But I need to eliminate four more of my selected before this ordeal reaches its conclusion.

And I can do my best to make sure that we leave on cordial terms as well.

A/N: Hellooooooo everyone. We have a rather uneventful chapter today, with the exception of Faye, who was from TGOAC. I loved her very much, and I'm very happy that she was able to come back, even if I did do it myself. Details though. So I have officially eliminated all of my throwaways, and we're down to the serious contenders for Carrie's heart. Yeah, fun stuff. Anyway, I'll see you all next time!