Chapter Seven

By the Book

"Your Highness!"

Imogen paused in the middle of the hallway, sighing. She turned around. "Hello."

Dariele Fortescue's mouth was stretched tightly in a smile, but her cold eyes bore into her. "I was hoping to run into you."

"Is something wrong?"

Dariele smirked. "Can I not seek out our crown princess for a simple discussion? How is the Selection coming along? Have there been any… mishaps, yet?"

"Everything's been going fine." Imogen refused to smile back. "This will be discussed at the meeting this week, anyway, so unless you need anything else…"

She made a tsk noise. "Always so unfriendly, Your Highness. The rest of your Selection may not be so smooth-sailing if you keep up that attitude."

Imogen's hands balled into fists.

"Of course," Dariele continued, "I imagine that is why your previous relationship—"

"Do you need anything, Lady Fortescue?"

For the first time in their encounter, Dariele's eyes flashed, betraying a hint of the anger simmering beneath. "I do." Before Imogen could feel any sense of triumph, Dariele smiled like she knew something Imogen didn't. Like she had already won. "After the Selected's class, you will be going on another date, and I am here to deliver the assignment."

Which meant that Dariele herself had chosen who her date was going to be. With the way Dariele was smirking at her, she knew she wasn't going to enjoy this. Especially not if the orders came from Dariele's mouth.

Imogen knew that the Council was supposed to decide her dates, as part of the Selection tradition. But more than anything, she wanted to wipe the smirk off of Dariele's face.

"That's too bad, then, because I already have a date during that time," she said casually. "I'm afraid I can't entertain your request."

Dariele scoffed. "A date? Who could possibly—"

"Sir Elias Newton," she blurted out.

It was the first name that came to mind. He had sat next to her in the first history class, after all. She hadn't attended any of the classes since, but Elias had been tolerable when they had sat together.

Most importantly, judging by the shade of purple that Dariele was suddenly sporting, he would not have been chosen by Dariele in a million years.

"The teacher?" Dariele's lips curled in disdain. "Really? Your father—"

The rest of her words faded out of earshot as Imogen turned on her heels and ran. She physically sprinted across the hall and down the stairs. She knew Dariele would never run after her in the palace.

Not her most dignified moment, but she could only stand Dariele Fortescue for so long. And her pompous son.

She did have a point, though. Her father would not be pleased to hear that she was disrespecting Council members again. Maybe she should follow through with her excuse of a date.

Banishing worries about her father to the back of her mind—it was one date, not the end of the world, hopefully she would be fine—she made her way to the Henrietta Library, where she hoped class would let up soon.

As she stood by the classroom, waiting, Imogen found herself wishing she hadn't successfully gotten Officer Ortega to leave her alone for the day. Usually, the escort guards weren't necessary indoors, except for important functions, but Officer Ortega took her job seriously. Especially on Wednesdays. For some reason, her bodyguard detested Wednesdays.

She wouldn't have minded the company as she waited, the only nearby presence being a quiet guard at the edge of the hallway that almost melted into the wallpaper. It was almost a blessing when the door opened, and voices trailed out.

"…help you, if you want. Ooh, we should have study sessions!"

"I just don't know how we're supposed to write about the structure—"

James Zheng's mouth formed a small 'o' as he saw Imogen outside the door. "Your Highness," he said, half-bowing hastily—inadvertently blocking everyone else's path out of the classroom. Still, as the people behind James caught sight of her, they all quickly hushed up too. Elias was just behind him, and his eyes lit up as her gaze fell on him.

"Good morning, gentlemen," she greeted, keeping the boredom out of her voice. "I hope your class was productive. Sir Elias, can you stay behind for a moment?"

Elias blinked twice. "Of course." Exchanging a concerned—yet slightly excited, it looked like—glance with James, he stepped to the side as the rest of the men passed. Aegon Westfall shot Imogen a wink, while Emory Merrell avoided looking directly at her.

Once the hallway was empty, Elias turned to her expectantly, and she realized she had overlooked something. Without the Council planning her dates for her, what was she meant to do? She might as well make the most of what might be her only free date of the Selection and do something enjoyable.

The answer was right in front of her.

"Do you like reading, Sir Elias?"

He nodded.

She smiled. "Perfect. Follow me."

He obliged, falling in step behind her as they crossed over to the Henrietta Library's closed doors. However, as she pushed the door open, he lingered behind with wide and reverent eyes. "Wait. Are we... Is this allowed?"

"Of course. You're with me."

"Well, yeah, but..." He stared at the tall doors, clearly awestruck. "On the tour, Rosemary said the library was out-of-bounds for the Selected."

"It's okay. If I'm with you, you can go anywhere." She gestured inside. "To be honest, if you want to come here alone, you have my permission, too," she added. The restrictions on the Selected were just a formality.

"Really?"

"Really," she confirmed. "Just... Let the hallway guard know." She winced. "And make sure not to break or steal anything?"

He breathed out. "I would never. It's such a beautiful space."

Imogen had a feeling Elias was going to be spending a lot less time in the Men's Room from now on. "So, Sir Newton, what do you like to read?" she asked as they walked into the library.

He almost didn't seem to hear her, his eyes snapping back to her a second too late after taking in every inch of the library's shelves. "Everything! Especially the classics." He paused. "Maybe not everything. Especially not twenty-first-century paranormal romance."

Imogen wasn't sure how to respond to that. "You'll be happy to know that we don't have a lot of twenty-first-century, uh, paranormal romance in here."

"That's a relief." He sighed. "Every time I see them in my students' hands, I feel the overwhelming urge to politely recommend much more educational works—"

"Don't you teach elementary school students?" she couldn't help but interrupt. What were the kids in Calgary reading these days?

His dark brown eyes brightened. "You remembered?"

That hadn't been her point, but he looked so excited that she didn't have the heart to ask him what kinds of students he was teaching. "I did. So you must have a lot of patience to spend so much time with kids."

He laughed at that. "Definitely. I love my students, but it gets tiring. Still, it's so rewarding to see their improvement over time, and they're a lot of fun!" His hands waved around excitedly as he spoke, no longer focused on the spines lining the shelves.

"Have you been teaching for a long time?" He wasn't much older than her, if she remembered correctly, so surely he couldn't have taught long.

"I only started teaching recently, actually. I hope to teach at a high school one day, but for now, I work at an elementary school in Airdrie." Elias's eyes suddenly widened as something on one of the nearby shelves caught his attention. "Oh, is that Shakespeare?"

She trailed after him as he made his way over and picked up a book. "Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play?"

Imogen wasn't the most well-read, and suddenly next to someone who was so clearly an academic, she felt flustered. "I've only seen a few of them," she admitted. That had been a while ago, and the details were fuzzy, so she didn't remember much about the plays. "I don't know if I have a favorite, but I liked Macbeth."

"Ooh, the Scottish play." Elias glanced thoughtfully at the shelf. "Have you had the chance to see Much Ado About Nothing?" She shook her head. "It's my favorite; I really recommend seeing it sometime in the future." He showed her the book. "Early Modern English takes some time to get used to, but… You could read it if you want. It's great! Just a fun read, for when you feel like it."

Her mouth fell open as she took the book from his hands. "Oh." Realistically, she knew it would probably sit on her desk for months until she made time for it, and reading Shakespeare wasn't at the top of her priorities right now. Nonetheless, the gesture was sweet. "Thank you. You could find something to read, too, if you want."

Elias was happy to hear that, as he immediately made his way to the next shelf and began browsing the titles. She followed him, listening to him talk about any familiar books that he came across. Soon, he was carrying a small pile of three books, with titles that Imogen didn't recognize.

"I think this is enough to last me a week," he said, grinning and pushing his glasses up his nose. "Thank you! This library is incredible."

"I can't take credit for it," she corrected. "My ancestors built it."

"True, but it's thanks to you that I'm here," he pointed out, and she couldn't refute that. "Should we head back now, Your Highness?"

Imogen gulped, realizing that she would have to leave the safe sunlight of her library and face the music. As much as Elias had just enjoyed their "date," she knew it wasn't supposed to happen in the first place. "Yes. Let's go."

They went their separate ways at the entrance to the Selected wing, Elias to his room and Imogen to her family's sections of the palace. Renee was waiting outside of her door when she got back, clutching a basket of what looked like blankets. "Your Highness," she greeted, dipping her head.

"Is something the matter, Renee?"

She could only think of one reason why Renee might be waiting for her outside.

"Well… sort of." Renee frowned. "His Majesty requested that you meet him in his office as soon as possible."

"Why did you reject the date?"

Theodore was pacing back and forth behind his mahogany desk, but he paused to give Imogen a stern look. "The nobles have the right to organize your outings with the Selected," he continued, his voice thick with frustration. "My Selection, my father's, and the ones that came before: we all played by the guidelines given by the Council. What was going through your head when you said no to Dariele Fortescue?"

"You know I don't like Lady Fortescue—"Imogen began, but she was cut off quickly.

"Imogen, you have responsibilities." Theodore sighed. "As the heir to the throne, you have to put our personal feelings aside when necessary. You know this."

She knew. She had always known. But as she was about to concede and call it a day, she realized that the entire Selection was her doing just that. They had forced her into doing something she didn't want to; couldn't she have the slightest bit of freedom to do what she wanted within it? The entire process would probably be a lot less painful if she could find some sort of enjoyment out of it, but despite the sushi and seafood, that wouldn't be possible if she had to follow all of the Fortescues' orders.

It was time to put her persuasive skills to the test.

"I want the freedom to choose my own dates," she said. Before he could interrupt her, she said hurriedly, "It's my Selection, after all. How am I supposed to form genuine connections with the men if the Council oversees everything?"

He shook his head. "The Council's role is more important than you realize. Among many other things, they ensure that the events are appropriate and appeasing to the public—"

"Shouldn't I be having a more active role in this? As the heir to the throne?"

She expected a sharp rebuke, but instead, he looked at her carefully, something unreadable in his eyes.

And then, he sighed.

"I will allow you to choose some of your dates." But before she could rejoice at this unexpected change of heart, he looked away. "On the condition that you plan and organize them yourself."

Planning dates?

She didn't know the first thing about romantic outings or activities—that had all been done by August, in the past, and she wanted to avoid anything remotely similar to him. Besides, between her duties to the country and the other dates, where would she find the time to plan dates in detail? There were projects she had intended on overseeing later that year, as well as other aspects of regional legislation that she needed to look more into, and everything else that her full-time job as the crown princess entailed. He had given her less work this week, but she didn't know how long that would last.

"But I'll have less time for my other duties," she protested.

"That's fine, for the time being. Finding a husband is your most important responsibility right now."

That didn't sound good. Her duties as the crown princess to the country went far beyond dating around to find their future king. "Who will take over my duties, then?"

"I'm sure they can be split somehow between Eden and the Council."

Her jaw clenched as she stared him in the eye. "They're part of my job." Not Eden's, not the Council's, not anybody who wasn't the heir to the throne. She was the most qualified individual, and as much as she trusted her sister, she didn't want anybody else to take charge of her hard work.

"So is the Selection." He looked confused. "I'm trying to help you, Imogen. I thought you wanted to choose your own dates."

That was true. But she didn't see why her role as the crown princess had to be diminished in other areas for her ridiculously-fabricated love life. Maybe it would be good to have fewer duties and take a break. But she hadn't done that ever since she was born, and she certainly didn't want to rest now only to use that additional time for the Selection.

She didn't know if she had imagined it, but his eyes seemed to soften for a moment. "Look, it's good to see you taking initiative in the Selection. But if you want this kind of freedom, you have to invest more time and effort into the Selection accordingly."

After a long silence, her jaw unclenched.

"Fine."

"Then, I'll organize a quick meeting to let the other heads of house know." Theodore's eyes narrowed. "They aren't going to be very happy to hear this."

She had expected that. But she figured she would be able to handle the consequences of this one decision. "I'll let them organize my other dates," she said hurriedly. "They will still have some control over the process."

Theodore made a noncommittal grunt. "Do you know what this means? All other Council-related Selection traditions will have to be respected. We cannot afford the anger that may arise if we shirk any others. The choosing of the Elite, the estate tours, and all other traditions must continue as normal."

She knew. As the crown princess, she had always known it was her duty to follow through. Because as much as she pettily disliked the Council, she ultimately had to play by their rules, or risk angering a room of people with a lot of power.

Swallowing the complaints that she knew she couldn't voice, she nodded. "I understand."

Hello! I hope you're all doing well and having a great Saturday/Sunday.

As you may be able to tell already, I'm judging how often I feature the boys on quality over quantity (and also just my gut feelings), which is why we saw Elias again so soon. Don't worry: if you feel like someone hasn't gotten enough screentime, there's plenty to come! It's all in my outline, and it'll all unfold eventually ;)

This chapter is a bit later than my usual update time, because, uh, I got into a new kpop group and wrote about 1.5k analyzing a recent performance instead of working on this update. Heh. It's also on the shorter side, but there's plenty of different things happening next chapter ;)

Let me know how you felt about the date with Elias! What do you think about Imogen and her father's decision at the end? Are you looking forward to seeing some Imogen-planned dates?

Until next time!

—Rysa