Chapter 5: Suspicions

When I arrived at the palace the next morning, I heard a rumor going around. Apparently Anneliese ran away the night before. I didn't want to believe it, but in a strange way I did. It didn't make sense though. Why would she run away?
Then it hit me, Anneliese didn't want to marry King Dominick, and all she has ever wanted was to be free of the palace. Still, it's not like her to run away, she's not that kind of girl. I knew I had to get to the bottom of this.

…
When I came to the throne room, the ambassador, named Bismark, was pacing the floor.

"This is an outrage! The most grievous insult!" he complained.

The Queen sat at her throne frowning, "I'm sure we'll find her." She says trying to calm herself and the Ambassador.

"I insist we cancel the wedding" he says. "If the princess does not return by the end of the day." He finishes.

"It doesn't make sense though, why would she run away?" I said, trying to get some answers.

"Why don't you look for yourself?" Preminger says, handing me a suspicious looking letter.

I examine the letter carefully. Then I smell the aroma of the letter. Now I knew this letter was fake. It was scented with lilac, not rose. "Lilac?" I said, "Where did you find this?" I questioned the creepy man.

"On the Princess's desk." He said, some-what proudly.

"Perhaps I can help you look for her." I said, trying to see what he would say.

"Why don't you stick to your books, schoolboy!" he says, all evil like. "Won't that be fun?" he said, then added an evil laugh.

"Lilac?" I said to myself, "she never scented her stationary with lilac, it was always rose."

Preminger was now my number one suspect. I figured if I was going to solve this, I had to trick Preminger, but how?

…
I went into town, I looked around. I finally found the shop I was looking for. I walked inside and a rough woman with white hair came up and said,

"Hello sir!" she began, her accent sounded rather funny, but I kept a serious look on my face. "Are you looking for a special gown for a special lady?" I smiled a little, thinking of Anneliese. "I can assure you, you will find only the finest at Madam Carp's."

"Um" I said, "If I may, I would like to speak to one of your seamstresses, Miss Erika."

The lady looked astonished, as if I said some curse word. Gaining her voice again, she said, "Oh, one second, I'll go get her."

I waited in the room filled with dresses, and the one person on my mind the whole time, was Anneliese. Erika came into the room she looked surprised to see me, "Can I speak with you outside for a moment?" I ask.

"Of course!" she said.

We went outside, and before I could say anything, Erika said in excitement, "I don't believe it! The princess sent for me!"

"Oh, uh actually-" she interrupts.

"I'm going to sing at the Castle! Me!"

"Uh, I came because-" she cuts me off again.

"But I'm not ready! I have to rehearse!"

"If I could just-" again, she interrupts.

"I better change my dress! Oh wait, wait am I talking about? I only have one dress! Wait, isn't that why you're here?"

I think I finally got her attention, I didn't want to break her spirit, but I had to, "I'm sorry but no." I began, I looked around just to make sure no one else was listening. "The princess is missing and I need you to help me find her."

"Me? What can I do?" she said confused.

"Pretend to be Anneliese." I said.

"Are you out of your mind?" she gasps.

"Just listen." I said, hoping to regain her attention. "I suspect Preminger, the Queen's advisor, has taken the princess off somewhere so the Royal Wedding will be canceled."

"That's awful." She said, shaking her head.

"If you could just pretend to be the princess, just for a short while, I can trick Preminger into revealing where he's hiding her." I said explaining my

plan.

"Pretend to be Royalty?" she said confused. "I could get thrown in prison! Or worse!" she claimed.

"As can I but…" I didn't want to tell her the real reason why I was doing this, so I looked to the side, searching for something to say.

"She's in real trouble isn't she?"
I

look at her in a sad way and nod.

"A girl like me… count me in!"

We took the carriage and finally arrived at the palace. I took her up to Anneliese's bedroom.

"Would you look at the size of this place!" she said in amazement.
I stared at a picture of Anneliese that also held her mother the Queen, and her cat Serifina. "The likeness is remarkable!" I said comparing the two girls.

"Except for my hair." She said while revealing her dark brown hair that hid under her cape.

"I've thought of that." I said, then I left to go get her a specially-made wig for her.

When I came back Erika sat there waiting. She stood up and came toward me. "Blonde in a box." I said handing her the wig. She fits the wig onto her head. She looked exactly like Anneliese. I smiled.

"Uh, Julian?" she said, breaking my train of thought. "we're missing one teeny tiny detail" she claimed then blew a strand of her dark hair back into place. "I don't a know a thing about being a princess!"

Although what she said was true, I had thought of that, so I said reassuringly, "Leave that to me."