Cascore's Note: Wow. Over 100 reviews. I'm gonna be honest, I never thought I would have a story that would ever hit 100 reviews. Thank you all so much for your continued support; I truly appreciate every single review you guys send me. I can only hope that my story continues in a fashion that urges more of you to press that button at the bottom and leave a few words, whether they're meant to support or criticize, anything is appreciated. So please, read on, and as always, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 16: "The Arrangement"

"So have you told her yet Sarasa?" Peasley asked the old king as the pair strolled down one of the many castle hallways. The paths were dark, for it was after hours and most of the palace was dimmed down in favor of allowing its inhabitants to rest peacefully. Only a few guards stood watch that night, most having already departed for their quarters, allowing Peasley and Sarasa to chat with a relative amount of privacy.

"I haven't," Sarasa muttered in response, quickly clearing his throat uncomfortably shortly afterward. "She still doesn't know."

"Tsk tsk King Sarasa, what's taking so long?" Peasley asked with a chuckle, causing the king to look away and grumble to himself quietly. "You've had eleven years to let her know. She's going to have to find out sometime."

"I know Peasley," Sarasa mumbled with a slight hint of irritation just before giving an exasperated sigh. "It's not that easy for me to tell Daisy something like this though. The girl's bull-headed and telling her about the arrangement certainly won't be a smooth experience."

"Then perhaps I should fill her in myself," Peasley offered as he slowly brought the pair to a stop just a few feet away from a bedroom door that had two guards looking after it. "She seems to have warmed up to me a bit. And besides, if she does get upset, she can't plausibly take it out on me now can she?" he added with a chuckle, much to the displeasure of Sarasa, though he knew that the statement was true; it may have been easy for Daisy to act harsh towards her father, but she proved to at least have the courtesy to feign politeness in the face of her hosts. Besides, she was smart enough to figure out where to place blame, and in this scenario it certainly wasn't Peasley's fault.

Sarasa stood back as Peasley approached the door, making sure to pass a friendly greeting to the guards as he did so, and knocked on it rather softly several times. Unconsciously sidestepping his way over to the wall in some kind of attempt to conceal himself, Sarasa observed as the door opened up and Peasley put on a bright smile.

"I hope I haven't disturbed you Princess," Peasley spoke up, glad to see that Daisy hadn't yet changed out of her dress for the night.

"You haven't," Daisy responded with a rather forced smile, but good enough to pass as genuine in the eyes of Peasley. Even though she'd spent basically the entire day with the young man, Daisy never could get herself to completely warm up to Peasley. Sure, he was a pretty decent guy and he always had something interesting to talk about, but his overconfident disposition felt grating at best and there was just something about him that kept Daisy from fully trusting him as an individual. Of course, she never gave off any signs to let him know that he put her off quite a bit simply for the sake of being polite. Keeping up the act was beginning to challenge her though, for she was really beginning to get sick of seeing him so often during her day. "Do you need me for something?"

"I've just come by to ask if you would like to accompany me for a night on the town," Peasley informed with a subtle flip of his hair that only served to deter Daisy from wanting to agree to come along. "There's a Starbeans Cafe nearby if you're interested. We can sit down and have a chat over some coffee or hot cocoa and learn a bit more about each other."

Daisy thought she already knew enough about Peasley as it was; she'd just spent roughly ten hours with him after all, and all the while he just seemed to go on and on about himself. Of course, his stories were mostly interesting, but did she really want to sit through even more possible rambling about himself just for the sake of being polite? That certainly wasn't how she wanted to end her night.

Hm. Her father was standing nearby though, she just knew it. She didn't have to see him to know that he was silently observing and secretly praying that his daughter would say yes. And that weekend, well, it was basically for him after all, and Daisy would do what her father wished of her if only to prove that she could take her obligations seriously. And unfortunately, making friends with Peasley was an obligation.

"I'd love to join you Peasley, it sounds like fun," Daisy lied through her teeth in as pleasant a voice as she could muster. "I just need to freshen up a bit first." And by "freshen up," she meant take a seat and mentally prepare herself for the experience to come.

With a cheerful nod and the shared plan to meet in the main hallway once they were both ready, Peasley departed to rejoin Daisy's father and continue their walk down the hallways. Daisy soon closed the door to her room and let out a sigh that she'd been holding in since she discovered that Peasley was paying her a visit.

Dropping herself onto a stool that rested in front of a vanity and next to a window overlooking the town, Daisy decided she may as well brush her hair a bit so she could at least look like she was touching up her appearance. Staring out of the window as she groomed her hair, she discovered that the rain had actually come to a stop for the first time since she arrive in the kingdom, allowing quite the conveniently perfect window of opportunity to leave the castle and head over to the popular cafe.

In the back of her mind, Daisy wished that the rain would pick up once again, and with great force at that. She wanted the clouds in the sky to favor her just this once and bring on a downpour of torrential magnitude that would give Daisy a reason to want to stay indoors.

But, of course, that didn't happen. As a matter of fact, things looked to be clearing up outside of that bedroom window; Daisy was even able to spot a star or two beyond the thinning cloud cover. Why the weather had to wait until just then to start getting better Daisy would never know, but she guessed that it didn't really matter in the end anyway. If it did continue to rain, Peasley probably would have just picked a location within the castle to talk... Probably even in Daisy's own room... And that would certainly feel comfortable...

Perhaps it was a good thing that the rain had stopped. At least at the cafe there would be other things Daisy could focus on if Peasley got to rambling again. People watching, reading the large menu behind the counter, staring out the window, all while giving the prince the satisfaction of having an ear to talk at... Being able to multitask was a great thing.

Well, there wasn't much point in sitting around any longer. Daisy already had something of a game plan to survive the outing and was in the right mental state to bear it all; nothing left to do at that point but get up and make her way out to the rendezvous point where Peasley would greet her with one of his dazzling smiles and proceed to chatter as he led the way out to Starbeans Cafe. It wouldn't be until the pair arrived at their destination that Daisy realized it may have been a good idea to at least change into some casual clothes, but when one entered a public establishment of any kind with Prince Peasley at their side, it really didn't matter what they were wearing, they would be stared at and bombarded with greetings regardless.

It was pretty amazing to think how much Daisy disliked being in Peasley's company as she observed his interactions with all of those people. Smiles and friendly conversation, personal comments that proved that Peasley remembered everyone he spoke with ("How's little Freddy doing?", "I'd love to hear you play the flute again sometime."), he backed up the claim of being the most social individual in all of the kingdom, and it was nice to see that he actually bothered to remember everyone. But Daisy was willing to bet that not a single one of those people spent ten straight hours with the boy... That amount of time would have been enough to warrant the act avoiding him as much as possible.

"What can I get you tonight 'Princely'?" the cashier asked once Peasley and Daisy approached.

He had a nickname that melded his title and his real name together flawlessly...how cute...and oddly sickening.

"I'm feeling like a Teehee Blend tonight," Peasley answered with a smile. "If you could throw in a few extra Hee Beans, that would be great."

"Anything for you Princely," the cashier responded before taking a glance over at Daisy, just barely missing her slight cringe in response to the nickname. "And who's your lovely lady friend tonight?"

"Lovely lady friend"? Why did it feel so weird to be called that?

"This is Princess Daisy," Peasley informed as Daisy gave a small curtsy, nearly forgetting her manners for a moment. "She's visiting from Sarasaland for the weekend."

Something in his voice sounded incredibly suggestive as he spoke and the cashier reacted in a suspiciously corresponding way. The Beanish man behind the counter gave Daisy an odd look as a smile occupied his face.

"Well, it's certainly a pleasure to finally get to meet you Princess," he spoke up, prompting a raised eyebrow from Daisy in return. What did he mean by that? Was he waiting for the day he would see her with his own eyes or something? God, what the heck was going on here; everything suddenly felt so suspicious.

Only serving to heighten Daisy's curiosity, Peasley soon shook his head at the cashier with a knowing smile on his face. "She doesn't know yet," he said simply, the words appearing to click with the cashier as if they were speaking in some kind of code.

Uh...what didn't Daisy know exactly?

"Oh, I see... Well Your Highness, what drink can I brew up for you tonight?" the cashier asked. Suddenly remembering that she was there to order a beverage, Daisy glanced up at the overhead menu behind the employee and picked out the first selection she saw.

"I guess I'll take the Hoolumbian," Daisy ordered before quickly returning her mind to the suspicious exchange that took place just moments ago. Before she could ask though, Peasley dropped several coins on the counter, insisting that the cashier keep the change, and whisked Daisy away to a window-side table. Being the gentleman he was, Peasley made sure to pull out Daisy's seat for her before sitting on his own on the other side of the table. And the moment he was settled...he flipped his hair yet again.

Why did he always have to do that...? Ah whatever, that wasn't important. At that moment, Daisy's goal was to decipher the exchange of words that took place only moments ago.

"What-"

"So Princess..." Peasley cut Daisy off with a rather quiet voice, not noticing that she was just about to speak. "Tell me...what do you think of the life you lead?"

"Uh...what do you mean?" Daisy asked, furrowing her eyebrows slightly in confusion.

Peasley leaned forward over the table slightly, resting his elbow on the edge as he held his chin and appeared to contemplate something rather deeply. As he did this, Daisy noticed that this was the first time all day that Peasley actually wasn't smiling, something she would have sworn was impossible for him by that point. His face was sternly straight and, after several seconds, he finally spoke up once again.

"You see Princess, the way I view it...being royalty...it's all just one big game," he said with a sincerely serious tone, another first for him that day. "Everything in our lives is done for business and business alone. We're like pieces on a chess board, and every move and decision we make is always going to have its positives and its negatives. For our entire lives, we're always working toward one goal: to have the strongest, most stable kingdom we can possibly manage.

"As a part of this game, certain arrangements must be made to ensure the best interests of allied kingdoms," Peasley continued, maintaining his solemn voice as Daisy intently paid attention to what he was saying. "Arrangements can be anything from friendly visits, like the one you're on right now, to much grander occasions...like...marriages."

Daisy's heart immediately sank the moment Peasley uttered that last word. She felt that she knew...she finally knew what the real point of that entire visit was. Before she jumped to any conclusions though, she let Peasley finish what he was saying, holding her breath and praying that he wouldn't utter what she thought he was about to impart next. But, of course, her prayers were left unanswered.

"I'm still amazed that Sarasa never told you this," Peasley pressed on with a small sigh, "But when you were three and I was five, your father and my mother had a discussion one day and decided that, in the interest of the bond between our two kingdoms, you and I...should be wed once we reached the proper age."

...

That was it. Daisy was going to do such illegal things to that man that the law would disallow her to be the future queen despite her heritage.

What in the hell was Sarasa thinking!? Planned marriage? Planned...marriage!? No no no no no no no, marriage was not something that you planned for your three year old daughter! Picnics...were planned! Nights out with friends...were planned! Pep rallies that nobody ever liked to attend at school...were planned! A ceremony that decided who your daughter was going to spend the rest of her entire life with as an involved couple before she was even old enough to know what a boy was...?

That. Was not. PLANNED!!

So it was perfectly understandable when Daisy abruptly stood from her seat and stormed out of the cafe without a single word, leaving Peasley behind to hope beyond hope that Sarasa would be able to escape his daughter's wrath with all limbs and organs still attached and properly functioning. The king was certainly in for a surprise once Daisy found his room.

...Well, if she could find his room.

It wasn't until Daisy spent several minutes wandering almost aimlessly that she realized that she never did pay attention to the layout of the large castle; she only knew the locations of her own room, the main hallway, the conference room, and the game room. There were at least half a dozen other hallways that she didn't even know existed until she stalked the castle that night, and wondering where she even was throughout her search didn't help at all to keep her fury burning brightly within her.

Where the hell was this guy? Ugh, that whole search was getting ridiculous. Thankfully Daisy managed to stumble upon a guard that was keeping watch over one of the hallways and, upon asking where King Sarasa's room was, he was able to point her in the right direction. With a quick thanks, Daisy headed off immediately, down one hallway, taking a right at the next, straight through all the way to the west wing of the castle, up another hallway, the second door on the right. Finally...

As she knocked on the door as loudly as she could, Daisy hoped that her father would feel grateful when he saw her. If it weren't for her ten minutes of speed walking all over the place she would still have enough energy to properly kick his ass for the news that was just imparted to her; by now she would settle for simply chewing him out and refusing to go through with the marriage.

Sarasa seemed to know exactly what to expect as he opened his bedroom door. He didn't hesitate in swinging the door fully open and looking dead into his furious daughter's eyes.

"I take it Peasley's informed you-"

"Yes he did," Daisy cut her father off with quite the acidic tone, unconsciously clenching her fists into tight balls as she spoke. "What? Were you too scared to eventually tell me after eleven years that Peasley was scheduled to be my future husband? Are you really that much of a coward?"

"That's enough Daisy-"

"Oh...no! You are not about to tell me what's 'enough'!" Daisy hissed as she took a bold step toward her father, closing the gap between the two considerably as she was forced to arch her neck upward to continue looking him in the eye. "I'm willing to do certain things just for you Dad, because you're my father and, believe it or not, I do have some respect for you," she continued, causing nearby guards to turn away uncomfortably, preferring to ignore the scene. "But I am not – not – about to let you, or anyone else, decide something that's as important – as sacred – as who I'm going to marry for me. That is a decision that I will make when I'm ready to make it!"

"No it isn't Daisy," Sarasa retorted simply, bringing a look of incredulous disbelief to Daisy's face.

Did he really just say that choosing who she would marry wasn't something that Daisy would do on her own? Oh she just couldn't wait to hear what he had to say to support that.

"I simply can't run the risk of you choosing a suitor that doesn't meet the needs required to run our kingdom," Sarasa explained, keeping his voice on a steadily standard level. "I never anticipated your urge to want to attend public school, but now that you've opted to leave the castle until you're done with school, I know that the decision I've made is the right one. You'll never find a suitable prince amongst commoners."

"Why is everything business to you!?" Daisy shouted in her anger as the brief description of royal life that Peasley gave not long ago proved to be true. "Did you ever once think how I might feel about Peasley!? I don't even like the guy; I can hardly stand being around him-"

"That's merely a secondary concern," Sarasa cut her off coldly, still keeping his same tone of voice. "Peasley has everything we need to keep the kingdom running smoothly when I'm gone. He has diplomatic and executive experience, which Sarasaland will most definitely need, especially considering that you've chosen to completely shirk your formal education in favor of living like a 'normal girl'."

"Don't you ever think with your heart instead of your head?" Daisy asked with a slightly smaller voice, having taken a step back from her father over the course of his talking. Listening to him go on, the memory of Daisy's mother managed to seep into her mind and succeeded in dragging her from an adrenaline high to a sobered emotional low. "This is exactly the reason why Mom is dead now."

The mention of Sarasa's late wife seemed to pierce the king like a dagger; he certainly wasn't expected Daisy to bring that dismal point up, especially considering it happened so long ago... He didn't even know that his daughter remembered the event at all.

"Your mother was ill..." Sarasa muttered defensively. "She was sick for weeks, it was only a matter of time-"

"Mom wasn't sick!" Daisy yelled in a mixture of sorrow, anger, and disappointment that her father never comprehended what happened to his deceased queen. "God Dad, I didn't think that even you could be so ignorant-"

"I will hear no more on the issue," Sarasa interrupted, opting to ignore whatever his daughter was just about to say and end the entire conversation then and there. "Your marriage to Peasley is set and I would appreciate your return to your room so we may both get some decent rest tonight."

Without another word, Sarasa stepped back and closed the door to his room, shutting his daughter out in the dim, cold hallway. A pair of the nearby guards that were previously trying their hardest to thoroughly ignore the situation cautiously stepped in front of the door, directly before the utterly silent (and incredibly intimidating) princess that seemed unable to move from the spot as all sorts of thoughts swarmed her mind. Neither guard thought it would be a good idea to simply ignore her however, and, soon, one of them riled up the courage to step forward and offer the princess an escort back to her room.

"No thanks..." Daisy muttered in response, hesitating several seconds as she turned to leave but left her gaze firmly on the door. "I apologize for the commotion," she soon added before finally setting her feet in motion.

In retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea to accept the escort. Daisy's head was so clouded with thoughts of anger and sorrow, she easily could have walked all over the castle several times without ever finding her room. It was just so infuriating to think about everything...

Daisy didn't know if her father was feigning ignorance or if he honestly didn't know, but the truth behind her mother's death couldn't be hidden from her; she watched the woman die with her own eyes for crying out loud.

At the age of three, evidently around the same time Sarasa arranged Daisy's marriage, Daisy managed to walk in on her mother in her bedroom just as she took a swig of some kind of drink from a rather small vial. Of course, at that age, Daisy had no idea what could possibly be in the small container, leaving her to think that her mother simply took a small drink.

As she remembered, Daisy's mother acted rather oddly that night. The young princess bounded over to her mom's bedside and struggled to climb up and join her in bed. She felt rather lonely that night after all, for her father was away at the time...probably visiting the Beanbean Kingdom to take care of some "business"...and Daisy wanted to sleep with someone by her side after spending virtually the entire day alone.

Her mother... She looked so pathetic that night... It was no wonder she was so easily able to lead everyone to believe she was sick; she hadn't eaten for days and was hardly able to sleep that entire week, causing her to look utterly dilapidated as a result. It hurt Daisy to see her mother in such a condition. And that night, the dying queen imparted her final words to her daughter. Words that would stick in Daisy's mind forever.

"Daisy...my little girl..." the queen said with a weak voice as her daughter snuggled up against her comfortably, looking into her eyes as she spoke. "...You know I love you, right? I always have and I always will..."

"I love you too Mom," Daisy responded. It was odd, Daisy never did follow in the vein of most children; she never called her parents "Mommy" and "Daddy". That fact was neither here nor there however as she recounted the words that her mother imparted to her.

"Love is a very important thing Daisy..." the queen continued, attempting to put a smile on her face, though any kind of movement appeared to pain her as she lied there and spoke. "Without it...you would see that it's very hard to find anything worth living for... We all live because we love something...whether it's life or it's our country or it's our husband or wife...but when we realize that we find it hard to love anything anymore...we find it hard to live at all.

"Honey, when you grow up and get married...make sure it's to someone special, okay? Make sure that the person you marry is someone that you love with all your heart, and that it's someone that loves you just as much...someone that will make you happy and that is willing to do anything just to see you smile... Just promise...that you don't end up like me."

Like her... Like a woman that was forced into a planned marriage herself. Like a queen that poisoned herself, took her own vacant life, because the love she thought she felt for her husband was neither true nor returned at all. She was trapped in a life she didn't want; powerless in the shadow of her king, living as a mere figurehead while others made all the serious decisions, having every material thing in the world she could possibly ask for, yet nothing to hold on to on an emotional level that gave her a feeling of purpose...

But...she had Daisy. Wasn't her daughter enough...? Wasn't the love she felt for her child enough to warrant an attempt at life...? Or did the years of neglect she suffered before Daisy came to be create such a hollow shell out of her that she just couldn't stand it anymore?

Either way, that was a fate that Daisy herself hoped to never meet.

As she finally came upon her bedroom and promptly dropped herself onto her bed, Daisy resolved to try her hardest to deny her father his wish to have her married to Peasley against her will. She would deny him and she would deny the obligations set upon her that came with being a member of the royal family. Daisy would do everything in her power to live her life the way she saw fit, and nothing would get in her way.

Her father would see to it that she didn't have such an easy time doing so however. Even if it meant taking away Daisy's right to the throne once her time to ascend had come.