Harumi: Tu opinión vale tanto como las del que más lee fics, yo la aprecio mucho, me alegro que te haya gustado mi fic, lo escribí en inglés porque necesitaba ejercitarlo un poco y para que una amiga que no habla castellano pudiera leerlo también. No creo que lo pase al español por ahora, ya que ni siquiera lo he terminado en inglés, quizás en un futuro lo haga, pero eso es muuuuuy lejano. Yo también adoro esta pareja, y no he encontrado ni UN fic de ellos. Si sabes de alguno, please mandame la url de donde pueda bajarlos. Gracias por tu review!

Chapter 05

"William! What are you doing here?" She asked, very surprised, he smiled and took her hand to kiss it. Hilda bore it but wanted to clean her hand as soon as possible, Fler felt the uneasiness of her elder sister and went to the rescue.

"Sir William, what a surprise, we didn't expect you tonight" Fler said, offering her hand to receive the same respect, William kissed her hand too and smiled to his future sister in law.

"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise, 'cause I wanted to invite all of you to dinner at my castle this time" He said very politely, both girls stared at each other and gracefully accepted, but Hilda wasn't too pleased at all.

Both girls went downstairs with William, their father was waiting for them and greeted his future son in law, Sigfried and Mime were watching the scene, they needed to talk to Hilda, so Sigfried decided to take matters in his hands.

Hilda saw his guardian approaching, she knew that both men didn't like each other, so she excuse herself for a minute and intercepted Sigfried half way.

"Princess, I need to tell you what I have found about him" He said, glaring at William once in a while, William was about to go and take his fiancée away from Sigfried, but didn't dare because of the king was talking to him right now.

"I can't talk with you right now, we're going to have dinner at William's castle tonight" She said, a little concerned. Sigfried nodded and was thoughtful for a while before answering.

"That's the perfect moment to try to dissolve the engagement, Mime and Bud went to his castle today and found he has some businesses that made William invest too much, and now he is running out of money to go on, that's why he wants to marry you, you could make him show all of you the proof" Sigfried said, Hilda was surprised, she wouldn't have dreamt of finding something wrong about him, but she smiled and thanked Sigfried.

Sigfried smiled and nodded, Mime was with him in a moment and greeted Hilda too, she smiled to him and went back where her father, William and Fler were waiting.

"Is anything wrong, my dear?" Royce asked.

"No, father, it's all right, let's go" She said very calmly, then took William's arm, but not before taking a look at Sigfried, who smiled in return.

When they arrived, some servants came in a rush to take their coats and capes, in the case of the men, then they were led to the dinning room, which was beautifully arranged for the occasion.

William helped Hilda to sit at his side, while Royce did the same with Fler, Hilda was acting polite with William but no more than that, Fler was her cheery self like always, but this time didn't speak about the future marriage between her sister and William, a thing that felt strange for Royce. The food was delicious and they ate in peace.

Hilda wanted to talk to her father alone when they still were in the castle, she had decided to tell his father that she didn't want the marriage. So, when they served the dessert, Hilda excused herself for a moment and touched Royce's shoulder, he understood and excused himself too.

Hilda took her father to the garden and when she was sure they were completely alone, she made him sit on a

bench.

"Dad, I wanted to talk about William since I thought it better, I hope you won't interrupt me and let me finish before you get angry, ok?" She said, very serious, Royce nodded, a little puzzled about his daughter's request. Hilda took a breath before starting.

"Well, first of all... I tried, father, but I couldn't find myself attracted to William, I can't stand him touching my hand or even less kissing it, I don't feel comfortable when we're alone, plus I don't want to be alone with him, so I decided that I couldn't spend the rest of my life with a man I don't love. I don't want to marry him, so please, let me call the engagement off" She said, in a very convincing way. Royce was shocked, Hilda wasn't like that, she respected the things she promised always.

"Hilda, you can't do this to me or our kingdom, have you ever thought the way all the people will see us? They won't trust our word anymore!" He said, standing up, Hilda sighed, she knew her father was going to say something like that.

"And have you ever thought about MY happiness? I think not. For your information I found that William is not the best person to be the king, he's too greedy, he only wants to marry me because he needs my status and wealth, he has some businesses going on that requested all his fortune, and what would happen if anything went wrong? Well, he would have ME!" Hilda said, very angry. Royce was frowning, he didn't know about it, but Hilda was a very responsible person, that's why she would be an excellent queen someday.

"All, right, all right, I'm sorry, you are right, I thought you were happy, I didn't want you to be sad anymore, so if this doesn't make you happy, I'll talk with William and I'll ask him for some explanations" He said, smiling, Hilda smiled brightly and jumped to embrace him. He embraced her too and then both went back to the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hilda and Royce got in the main hall again, she was smiling at her father, she knew now how much he really loved her and Fler, Royce gave back the smile and then went very serious, both approached William, he was talking with his brother Philip, both men acknowledged them with courtesy.

"William, can we talk in private?" Royce asked, the young man was surprised at first and looked for a second at Hilda, she stared at him too, but her eyes were like ice, it made him a little nervous.

"Of course, please, follow me" He said, Royce nodded and gave Hilda's hand a pat, then he left. Fler got near her sister and was asking with a look what the hell was happening.

Hilda excuse herself to Philip and took Fler to the garden, it was the safer place to talk. Both girls walked for a while in silence, then sat down on the grass.

"Ok, what's happening? Father had a strange look in his eyes...What did you tell him?"

"Well... He let me call off the engagement and I'm still in one piece!" Hilda said overjoyed. Fler laughed and embraced her tightly.

"I'm soooo happy for you! That's very good news, I can't wait to tell Hagen and Sigfried! You know, I didn't like him at all, andHagenthinks he is an idiot too"

"Sigfried thinks he's a jerk . You should heard the way he expresses himself, is so funny!" Hilda said laughing, Fler nodded, she almost could see Sigfried trying to freeze William and then Hagen frying him.

Philip, who had followed the girls, was shocked, his brother's plan was going to be so very spoiled, those weren't good news, their wealth and position would be ruined, the king would have to have an excellent excuse to call off the engagement... What did he know?

He chose to retired before the princesses discovered him and came back to the palace, and went straight to his brother's bedroom, he would wait there for the surely bad news.

Royce and William went to the library, William invited Royce to take a sit, he himself sat down behind his desk.

"Well, what's that so important you needed to talk about"

Royce stared at him thoughtfully, making him even more nervous. "I was told that your interest in my daughter is not only for 'love', if not just purely political interests. I got informed about some 'businesses' you've got, but it wouldn't worry me if those wouldn't have required ALL your wealth, I cannot let my daughter be just used as a financial back up for you, if you are that greedy, you couldn't be a good king. Besides, Hilda confessed me she can't love you either, so, you won't marry her any time soon. You really disappointed me"

William was livid, it couldn't be, how the hell the king knew about his businesses! He needed to restore the king's trust again and fast.

"Can I defend myself of all this accusations, please? First, I do love your daughter, second, this businesses didn't take all my wealth, your majesty, I don't know who told you that, but he's wrong, you can't call off the engagement now, we're three weeks away from it!" William said, trying to convince the king.

"If you're not lying to me, then show me the documents about those businesses, if it is all right, then I will apologise for not trusting in you... but you won't marry my daughter anyway, she doesn't want to, I won't force her in any way"

William now was paler, but extracted the documents out of the case and gave them to Royce, he took them and started reading them, the amount of money was considerable, but it didn't seem to have taken all of William's wealth. But the king didn't know that the rest had been spent long ago and it was a way to gain all back.

"Alright, sorry for not trusting you at all, but my decision is the same, I'm sorry, but your heart will have to search for another girl" With that said, Royce gave back the documents and retired. William was shocked, this couldn't be happening, he was so close to be a prince! This must be someone's doings... and Sigfried was the one the man was thinking right now, and his fury was at the verge of blowing off in any moment soon.

Royce went in search of his daughters and then the three of them departed from William's place. Hilda wanted to know what had happened, but decided to wait till they were at home.

Late that night, Hilda was in her bed, her father had told them all about his conversation with William, and Hilda was so very pleased with the result. She didn't have to marry him now and she felt a great relief in her chest. But now, she needed to make Sigfried confessed his feelings for her, if he had any, and that would be the most difficult part of her plan from now on...