"Sorry about running off last night," Armin said. "My mom would have killed me if she saw us together because, you know, you are engaged..."

I knew that the last part was meant in kindness, but it still sent a pang of hurt through my heart. Ignoring it, I smiled as I turned to face him fully. "Yeah, I'm engaged," I expressed somberly, "but quite frankly I wish that sometimes I wasn't. Jean would make the worst husband." Seeing Armin's expression, I added hurriedly, "What? We were matched when we were five!"

Armin laughed, a light sound that I rather enjoyed. "Five?" he spluttered through his giggles, and I couldn't help but begin to giggle along with him. "Even my mom wouldn't have me engaged that early!" he continued.

I cocked my head. "Why would your mother match you?" I asked, absolutely confused. I felt like I had seen him somewhere before, not the party last night, but before that...

Armin shrugged. "My mom is Austria's queen. That makes me the prince of Austria."

I felt my eyes widen as I curtsied quickly. "I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you earlier Lord Prince!" I exclaimed as I felt my cheeks flush. Taking my hand, Armin brought me back to my standing position. "Don't worry about it," he said, smiling. "If you hadn't been sitting in the throne yesterday, I wouldn't have recognized you either."

Armin sighed. "What's it like, being engaged to King Jean of France?"

I scoffed. "Please. He visits the court way too frequently and slobbers all over my cheek whenever he's here."

Armin cocked his head. "He slobbers all over your cheek?" he asked. "How does he do that?"

"When he kisses me."

"Oh."

After that we just stood on the balcony in a comfortable silence. I toyed with the ring that Jean gave me when I was fifteen, a simple diamond ring with an emerald inlaid in the center. I kept it on a chain so I wouldn't lose it, but as I played with the chain, I wondered why my heart never fluttered for anyone. I was sixteen, after all, and usually by this age most teens have fallen in love once.

I looked at Armin. He, too, seemed preoccupied by his thoughts while overlooking the gardens. Turning back to the people lounging in the gardens, I sighed.

Seconds later I heard the rustling of cloth and felt something being draped over my shoulder. "Armin," I said, "you don't have to give me your jacket, you know."

He smiled, his innocent blue eyes boring into mine. "I know that, but I want to; besides, you're shivering like crazy."

When I opened my mouth to protest, I shut it immediately, because I knew that Armin was right. I was shivering like crazy, and it was a nice gesture.

"Thanks," I mumbled, and Armin drew me closer to his body, laughing. I don't know whether his action was intentional or not, but I smiled as he did. For some odd reason, it felt right to be next to him.

"Prince Arlert!" I heard, and Armin and I turned around. A stout woman of about forty was standing in the doorway of the balcony, looking angry as hell. "Prince Arlert, get over here right now, you insolent young man!"

I looked at Armin, and he looked at me. I quickly shrugged his jacket off of my shoulders and gave it back to him. "Thanks again for the jacket, Lord Prince," I said, and he smiled.

"You're quite welcome, Lady Princess. I trust I will see you again soon?" he asked.

I nodded. "The gazebo in the gardens at midnight," I said so that only he could hear. Armin nodded, and with that, he kissed my hand and left to the woman's side.

I watched them go wistfully. 'At least Armin had a woman that always stayed by his side,' I thought, and my heart broke as I realized that my parents were almost never around. All of my birthdays were celebrated in their absence, and my last non-Princess-lesson memory of them was from when I was five, and my father would give me piggyback rides throughout the halls. I saw the ground of the balcony becoming wet, and when I put a hand to my face, I realized that I was crying. Upon that realization, I couldn't stop, and I kneeled in the corner of the balcony and sobbed my heart out.

After about ten minutes, I collected myself. My sobbing had relatively quelled down, and making sure I didn't soak my dress, I walked back into the ballroom. However, the door opened before I even reached it, and a woman dressed in orange stepped out. I stepped back quickly, not quite sure what to make of the person in the dress. I didn't make up my mind until the person wearing it spoke up. "Lady Mikasa told me that I would find you here, Lady Princess," she said. In a slightly preoccupied voice, "Do you not recognize me?"

Looking at the woman, I saw matte brown hair in an elegant side ponytail and a slender face accentuated with thinly-framed glasses. Unable to control sobs once again, I leaned into my former maid's arms. "Oh my God, Hanji!" I practically shouted. "I missed you so much!"

Hanji smiled wistfully. "I know, Alexis. And I missed you too."

I stayed there, sobbing for a minute and then collecting myself, I spoke to Hanji as we wound our way through the crowds in the ballroom.

Hanji had moved to the Italian royal family after her transfer when I was seven, to research some of the odd chemicals found in the royal family's water supply. She met Mikasa and when she heard that Mikasa was to move here with her brother, she demanded to see them into their new environment. "I did it so I could see you and talk to you," she explained. "I knew your parents were away, so I decided to take full use of the opportunity."

I smiled as Hanji talked, realizing just how much I missed to woman who was like a mother to me. When she finished, I gave her a big hug, which she returned.

"I will be staying in the northern wing of the castle for the next two weeks," she said, and I smiled. "That's where my rooms are," I said, and Hanji nodded.

"The Prince of Austria is staying in the wing as well," Hanji commented. "Speaking of him," she added as she saw my blushing, "I saw you two on the balcony together earlier. Would you care explain that?"

I looked at her. "He was nice enough to dance with me last night," I said, "and after I had stepped onto the balcony, he found me and we talked for a while."

"And why did you have his jacket on?"

"He draped it around my shoulders because I was cold. I protested, but he didn't listen."

Hanji nodded. "Oh, it's midnight. I believe you promised someone a meeting now…?"

Realizing that she was right, I thanked Hanji and departed for the gazebo in the gardens. Being very careful not to soil my dress, I stepped on the path in the gardens very delicately. My heels clicking on the paving stones, I reached the gazebo with minimal trouble. Surprisingly, it was devoid of people entirely, except for…

"King Kirstein," I said, curtsying at the man who had a cape draped over his kingly armor.

Jean nodded at me. "I figured I would see you here at some point tonight. Here, I wanted to give you something."

I walked up to the king, knowing better than to refuse him. He looked at the ring around my neck and frowned, Gently removing it from its chain, he placed it on my ring finger. "I want you to keep it there from now on," he said, and I nodded. "It's supposed to be a symbol of our future union, and I won't have you hanging it around your neck.

"Anyways, what I wanted to give you was this." He handed me a small box tied with a ribbon. When I opened it, I saw a cross necklace in the packaging.

Thank you, Lord King. It's very pretty." He smiled as he turned me around to help me put it on. When that was finished, Jean sighed. "I have to ride back to France for family issues. I'll be back in about a month, okay?" I nodded, my mouth slightly dry. "I will see you in a month, Lord King."

He bent down and slobbered all over my cheek again. The he left. When he was out of my line of vision I shuddered, wiped his saliva off of my cheek, and put the ring back on its chain, not wanting it on my finger.

A/N I'm so sorry guys about my less frequent updating with shorter chapters! School's been such a drag and I barely have time to rest, let alone write other parts of this. I promise that I'll get back into the swing of things soon.