AN. Thank you guys SO much for the reviews! You have no idea how much they mean to me! Every time I get a review, I would just jump out of my chair, and just hop around in pure glee! Of course, it has the side effect of scaring my parents and thinking that I'm insane, but it's all good!! Anyway, I have good news! I think I'm going to try to update once a week from now on. Since I have so much time when I finish all my homework at the library at school without any distractions, I'll have much more free time for writing the next chapter without my parents nagging at my back to finish my homework! Isn't that great? You lucky kids.. Ahahaha.. Anyway.. here's Adrian's chapter 2! (Oh yes, by the way, sometimes, the bold and italicize thing doesn't work, so don't mind it when it looks kind of weird.)

I suppose I should tell you what my life has been like to give you a better picture of my handsome self (snigger). Oh gods, I think I'm starting to sound like my father. I hope not. Anyhow, after my mother had disappeared, my father wasted no time in finding a new wife.

Of course, I had no idea that my father was looking for a wife since I was still in mourning over my mother. I had immerged myself in my studies, determined to make mother proud. So imagine my surprise when a year later, I went to the throne room for the customary morning greetings for my father to find that a strange woman was sitting in my mother's throne, wearing my mother's crown, sitting next to my father as if she had every right to be there.

I was so surprised that I had just stared at her dumbly for a few seconds before I noticed my father was calling my name for what seemed to be quite some time. Looking back on it now, I find it quite humorous. The edited and short script of our conversation:

Father: Adrian, this is your new mother and queen.

Me: Umm.. No she's not.

Father: Excuse me?

Me: -blink- (says slowly so that he could understand) Mother died, remember? And this is not she.

Father: I know that she died.

Me: Then she's not my mother or my queen.

Father: I know that! She's your new mother.

Me: Why? Did mother get reincarnated or something?

Father: -grits teeth- I remarried, you dolt.

Me: To Mother's reincarnation?

Father: (almost yelling) I REMARRIED ANOTHER WOMAN!!

Me: Oh.

Father: And you have a new brother.

Me: Did Mother get pregnant before she died?

Father: No.

Me: (with wide eyes) Was it you who got pregnant, then? (pause) (eyes his stomach dubiously) Funny, I didn't notice..

Father: He's her (points wildly at the woman) son! She's the one that got pregnant!!

Me: Who's the father?

Father: (yells with angry pink spots on his cheeks) ME!!

Me: Are you sure?

I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the conversation. I admit I was a rather thickheaded, but adorable child. But Queen Isabella (my new mother and queen ¡Vsnigger-) detested me. I didn't know if it was because I doubted the child's father or what, but she definitely didn't like me.

Now, I think she doesn't like me because she wants her own son to be the king, and not me, and she hated the sight of me because I was a constant reminder of my father's previous woman/wife. Now that I'm thinking of it, she hated looking me in the eyes because my eyes were the exact replicas of my mother's or so everyone tells me.

Luckily, her son, Prince Cade, is a good lad with a pure and honest heart, if not a little bit gullible at a young age. He is younger than me by six years, and we are still good comrades today although he still can't get over the habit of apologizing on behalf of his mother's sharp and scornful words.

I had always secretly wondered how such a good kid could come out of two horrible people like my father and his mother, but I guess as they say in maths ¡V two negatives make a positive. Two wrongs make a right. How interesting.

My closest friend is a son of a duke, Lord Trent. How he became a friend of mine still remains a mystery to me. We are almost opposites. Where I loved the outdoors, there is nothing Trent likes to do more than to remain in the library on a brilliant, sunny day. Honestly, he can be such a bore. But I can grudgingly see why we still stay close friends. While he is a bit of a bookworm, he has a sharp wit and a sarcastic humor that often gets me through the long, excruciatingly boring meetings that my father insists I come and endure.

The three of us grew up together: Trent taught Cade and me the joy of learning, I taught Trent and Cade the thrill of being outdoors, while Trent and I thoroughly corrupted Cade with ideas of pranks and practical jokes. Good times, good times..

But recently, Queen Isabella had somehow convinced Father to allow Cade to the meetings. I feel sympathetic to Cade, really, I do.. But I can't help but feel amusement and childish satisfaction when I see him squirming in his seat in boredom instead of taunting Trent and I through the windows by making faces at us.

However, lately the topics of the meetings are too close to home in my tastes. My father, Queen Isabella, and the rest of the council are discussing the matters of my bride. Or rather, my father and the council are discussing the matters of my bride since Queen Isabella couldn't care less unless it's some way to make me miserable.

For example, she had summoned the worst women for candidates for my future wife. There was that Princess from some foreign country whose name I can't even pronounce. From the moment she laid her eyes on me, she had immediately clung on to my arm. Everywhere I went, she went, and as I dragged her around the kingdom, she would babble shrilly in my ear. At first, she had attempted to string together broken sentences of English with difficulty. After an hour or so, she had given up and started jabbering in dizzying speeds in her own language. We had tremendous difficulty in trying to get rid of her, seeing how my father eyed her greedily because her kingdom was a vast and rich one. But finally, with help from Trent, we convinced him that she would make a bad queen since she cannot communicate with our people. What was even more difficult was getting the princess to leave. Finally, my father just married her off to some hapless and unfortunate noble, ensuring that our kingdom would at least have an ally with her country. Heavens, that particular.. creature was awful.

Another woman Queen Isabella summoned was Princess Bernadette. Alas, there is no way to soften her description, so I'll just say it out right and simply: the woman is a slut. When the royal family was there to meet her and her entourage, we were stunned. She had sashayed into the hall and had given me a coy smile before giving me a low curtsy, deliberately giving me a view. I had stared down at her in shock, but that quickly turned into disgust as I hissed out of the corner of my mouth to Trent to cover Cade's eyes. I still remember clearly young Cade's expression. It was torn between horror, disgust, and rabid fascination. Her scanty, revealing clothing wouldn't have looked out of place on a courtesan, but she was a princess, for Heaven's sake! During her whole visit, she had tried to get into my bed and had attempted to seduce me. After the first week, her eyes started to roam as she successfully stringed along many foolish men although she had never completely given up on me. Trent and I were horrified that she didn't have a limit as long as the men are rich and had status. For heaven's sake, she even attempted to seduce Cade! Poor lad, he must have been scarred for life. Luckily, Trent was near at the time, and he had saved him. So it was with great relief when Father himself announced she wouldn't be adequate for a queen. Too true. It might be a bit of a problem if a hoard of abandoned children were discovered to be the results of one of her many flings.

And so the list went on for horrible candidates for my princess. There was one that had kept singing and dancing. Nonstop. From the moment she danced out of her carriage, singing a joyous high soprano that was slightly off-key, to when she had waltzed out of our palace, singing a tragic opera. Then there was that one princess that had put on so much rouge and make-up that I couldn't even tell what her natural coloring and real skin looked like. When Trent, Cade, and I saw her from far away, we all thought that she looked beautiful. But as she walked nearer to us, our horror mounted as we resisted the urge to back away or lean back. We were surprised that she wasn't slightly off balanced by all the make-up she had on. There had to be at least three layers of make-up that was as deep as the whites of Queen Isabella's fingernail. The worst thing about it was that like the foreign princess, she insisted on cutting off my arm circulation, and she had the shrillest voice and giggles. She would also sometimes talk baby talk to me. Here's an excerpt from one of our many 'conversations'.

Me: -grimacing- Good morning, Princess Cordelia. ¡Vsmall head dip-

Princess Cordelia: -glomp- OH ADRIAN!! How was widdle Adry's night? I hope it wasn't too lonely without me.

-flutters eyelashes-

Me: -clothes ruffled from the slight breeze her long fake eyelashes had started- No. I was fine. Perfectly fine and content. No, in fact, I was more than fine. I was peachy. Perfectly peachy. ¡Vnods- Absolutely fine and peachy.

Princess Cordelia: -blinks- OH, HOW FUNNY! ¡Vshrill giggle- ¡Vsqueezes tighter on my arm- (coos) Widdle Ardy is just so funny! -pinches my cheek harder and harder with every word she says-

Me: (under my breath) Glad you think so, Grandma.

Princess Cordelia: What was that?

Me: Nothing.

So I guess you would have gathered by now that being around her was not only bad for my eardrums, but also bad for my arm and my cheeks. Of course, Trent and Cade had laughed cruelly at my rough treatment at first, but after seeing my cheeks red and swollen and equally red and sore arm, they had taken pity on me and had informed me of "urgent, private matters" that needed to be tended to immediately whenever Princess Cordelia was glomping me.

"Yes, or no?" an impatient voice broke into my thoughts.

Oh crap, I had been drifting off in my thoughts in one of those meetings again.

Blinking slowly, I met the eyes of Advisor Hilton. My gray eyes were cool and collected as they began to casually drift to Trent to get a hint of what I should say.

"PRINCE ADRIAN!" he snapped irritably, "I would appreciate if your attention stayed on me! Now, yes or no?!"

My eyes flickered to Trent so that Hilton couldn't see me as I stalled for more time, "Well," I drawled contemplatively, "That depends,"

Hilton was visibly gritting his teeth in annoyance as he groaned. "A simple agreement to our proposal, or a refusal. That's it. Now choose." He said in a clear voice as if speaking to an exceptionally slow child.

That's interesting. He usually only gets to that tone of voice after ten minutes of talking to me and getting nowhere in our conversation. Hmm.. He must have repeated the question for quite some time before I noticed him.

"Now hear me out. Clearly this is a choice that mustn't be hastily decided, am I correct?" I spoke with self-assuredness as I casually sought out Trent again as my eyes made eye contact with the rest of the council. But before my eyes landed on him, Hilton interrupted again.

"Yes, yes," he waved impatiently, "So yes or no?"

I frowned, "Well there surely lots of other options to consider, don't you agree?" I'm just hoping that he'll restate what I'm supposed to be agreeing or refusing to. I remember the first and only time I asked someone to repeat something at the council. After the meeting, Father took me aside and lectured at me for a whole two aggravating and excruciatingly long hours about the importance of staying on top of things and that a proper prince should never have to ask to listen to something for a second time. Needless to say, I was nearly asleep on my feet by the time he was done, and I never dared to ask anyone to repeat a question ever since.

"Yes there are many other options, but since you've nearly rejected them all, this might present to be a possibility," he finally answered.

I contemplated his words thoughtfully. If I rejected the other options, then there is a chance that this one is an adequate decision. My eyes flickered to Tristan to help my decision before landing on Hilton again. I caught a head movement, but I couldn't tell whether it was a vehement nod or a shake of his head.

Taking a deep breath, I stared at him in the eyes, "I accept the proposal."

My heart sank at the reactions.

Hilton gaped at me in disbelief as the other people in the council gawked at me with incredulity with the exception of Trent and Cade who had buried their heads in their hands.

What have I done?

Hilton coughed and clear his throat again as he choked, "I'll see to the preparations,"

And with that, he stumbled out of his chair.

The rest of the people at the council had regained their bearings. I was even more disheartened by the gleeful and triumphant smile that lighted upon Queen Isabella's face the moment the gawking expression left. Most of the other people were staring at me with pitying glances and looked at me if I was to drop dead any minute.

WHAT THE HELL DID I AGREE TO?!

Finally, when the meeting was adjourned, and the other people dispersed, Trent and Cade came upon me with a furious look on their faces and dragged me off.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" Trent roared when we were in an abandoned room. Cade was looking at me with an expression mixed with fear, worry, apprehension, exasperation, and anger.

Not good. Not good at all.

"I didn't know what he was talking about!" I said in my defense with desperation.

Trent glared at me with anger sparking in his amber eyes, "How many times did I tell you to pay attention to meetings!" he gritted out.

A cold feeling settled over my heart. In his eyes, behind the anger was fear. Fear for me.

"What did I agree to?" I inquired somberly with worry.

Trent started pacing, muttering to himself angrily. I caught some of the words, "damn.. stupid.. idiotic.. imbecile.. don't know what.. dolt.."

Somehow I don't think he's very happy with me. I turned to Cade for help.

"You agreed to rescue Princess Aurora from Mount. Eternal."

AN. So what did you think of the chapter?! -grins- Also, I'm afraid that Adrian will be waking up Rory later. Like.. two or three chapter later. Sorry. I want to give you guys a better idea of his character first before I do anything. I also need to do some other stuff with Cade which I think will happen in the next chapter. Then, the next chapters will be the stuff that happens on his 'mission'. Mwahaha.. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to review! And in return, I'll probably update next week! ;)