"Good morning, Miss Halle."
The young woman groaned slightly as she awoke from her deep sleep, and her eyes fluttered open to see who it was who had spoken her name. A maid had woken her up bright and early this morning, and she crossed the room to open the curtains to allow a beam of bright sunlight to pour in. Halle squinted her brown eyes as they attempted to adjust to the sudden change in brightness, and she sat up slowly.
Halle elicited one big yawn as she stretched her arms upwards. "Good morning..."
"Please excuse my intrusion." The maid quickly bowed to Halle apologetically, then stood back up straight as she looked her directly in the eyes. "I am to assist you in getting ready for today's party."
"Oh...that's right. There's a party today," Halle thought to herself as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes.
She had been rather looking forward to this party tonight, after all. It was probably the only party she had ever truly looked forward to in her entire life, given her obvious distaste for them. Being stuck here in Dres Van disrupted Halle's daily routine, and it was starting to get to her a little, as much as she did enjoy getting to know Jan and Prince Joshua.
She would go to work almost every day of the week, and she would also have lunch with Prince Roberto whenever he had a spare moment, and they would often go do something together and chat for awhile to catch up.
However, now that she had been in Dres Van for nearly two weeks now, she had barely been able to see that idiot at all! She was excited that he came to see her yesterday, so she was looking forward to spending some more time with him tonight at the party. Despite him being a rather obnoxious and annoying person, Halle just couldn't help but let that idiot get under her skin, and she found herself missing the chatty man child's presence after being away for so long. She missed Altaria, and she missed getting to see her best friend...
Halle shot up quickly and clambered out of bed as the maid spoke to her once more. "Would you care to shower first?"
"Oh, yes." Halle spoke thoughtlessly as she ran her fingers through her greasy hair. Gross... She definitely needed to take a shower this morning.
As Halle climbed into the shower and turned on the water, she began playing the events from the night before in her head, trying to make sense of what happened.
Last night...
"What's wrong?" Prince Joshua's eyebrows knitted together as he stared at Halle curiously, and he bent down to pick up the papers she had dropped.
"Oh, no... Thank you." Halle shook her head to snap out of it as she accepted the stack of papers Prince Joshua held out to her.
"This way you won't need to have any reservations about leaving here." Prince Joshua pointed to the papers she was holding: her permit to leave the kingdom.
Reservations...?
Halle's eyes flickered to the floor as she tried to hide her disappointment. "Okay..."
Prince Joshua looked slightly annoyed that she responded so hesitantly. "What is it?" His mouth fell open a little in shock as he snapped his eyes wide open. "Are you displeased with how long it took? Because this was as fast as..."
"Oh, no! That's not it at all!" Halle frantically waved her hands in front of her face in defense, cutting Prince Joshua off mid-sentence. "I was just thinking how you must have pulled a lot of strings for me..." She stared down at her feet in embarrassment, rubbing her arm comfortingly as she forced herself to look back up at him. "Was this the reason you didn't come straight out to the courtyard with us?"
Halle tried to blink back her shock from seeing Prince Joshua's face suddenly get so red so fast, and the prince turned his head away in embarrassment.
"Well, yeah..." Prince Joshua quickly regained his composure as he turned back to look at her with a gentle smile on his face. "I-I know you don't really want to see me any more, so... If you could just wait one more day..." The prince awkwardly reached behind his head, trying to hide his embarrassment.
Halle lost all ability to speak, and she smiled back at him weakly. She wouldn't see him anymore...?
What was wrong with her? Originally, she wanted to be out of here as soon as possible, but now...
The corners of Halle's lips suddenly twitched up into a cute smirk as she suddenly found courage to speak welling up within herself. "Don't want to see you any more? Oh please, Prince Joshua." She brushed passed him on her way back to her room, playfully shoving his arm a little. "You are just fine. Don't worry about a thing."
Prince Joshua turned to watch her go with a look of amazement on his face, and he found his hand resting on the spot on his arm where she had just touched him. He couldn't help but smile a little as she disappeared into the darkness of the hallway, and he turned around himself to go as well.
"What a strange, troublesome woman..."
Halle stepped out of the shower and towel-dried her hair, then quickly threw on a bath robe as she tried to make sense of last night in her head. Why was Prince Joshua acting so...weird?
Ah, well... Perhaps she would never know.
Halle stepped out of the bathroom to find the maid from before holding up a dress to present to her, and she had a little smile on her face. "I have your dress here ready for you to put on."
Halle gawked at the gorgeous dress the maid had handed to her. It was simple in design with a plunging neckline, and it was the darkest shade of black to ever be crafted into fabric. A glittery royal blue sash and a pair of black arm-length gloves came with it, and overall the dress was stunning and looked incredibly expensive.
...was it really okay for her to wear something like this?
Halle found herself just staring at the dress, and the maid curiously peered at her face. "Is everything satisfactory?"
"O-oh, yes!" Halle snapped out of her trance quickly, and she clutched the dress close to her heart. "It's stunning..."
The dress was exactly her size too, oddly enough. Maybe Prince Roberto had this dress picked out for her? After all, he did know her dress size and preferred style after all the parties and social events they went to together over the past five years...
Halle stood still as the maids dressed her, and then she sat down in a chair to have her makeup done. She felt the same way now as she did when she went to that party at Nobel Michel just a few weeks ago. Dressed in this dress, and looking like this... Halle really did feel like a princess. Even if it was just for a day.
She felt as if she was looking at a completely different person as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. One maid did her hair, while another strung a beautiful diamond necklace around her neck. Halle stood transfixed as her reflection stared back at her. She never knew she could look like this...
She looked even more beautiful in this dress compared to the one she wore to Nobel Michel Castle.
"We are finished." One of the maids addressed Halle with a slight nod as they all motioned to leave the room. "If you could please wait here, Jan will be with you shortly."
"Okay." Halle simply nodded in response, feeling oddly obedient for a change.
The maids then left, and Halle had barely let out a breath and sat down in her chair when a sudden knock echoed from the door.
"That must be Jan..." Halle thought to herself as she fixed her gaze on the door. "Come in." She called to the door, permitting the person who knocked entrance.
The door swung open, and Prince Roberto walked inside dressed in a black suit with a cream tie. He shrieked girlishly at the sight of Halle, which immediately had her blushing furiously. "Halle, you look so cute! I could just eat you up..."
"Shut up, you idiot!" Halle quickly slapped her hand over his mouth, trying to cover her embarrassment. "Don't say things like that here! Actually, don't say them at all!" She loudly reprimanded him as she saw another person walk in her room out of the corner of her eye.
Dressed in a grey suit of similar style to Prince Roberto's, Prince Wilfred smiled at the two before him and shook his head, not surprised to see this at all. He was starting to get used to Prince Roberto and Halle's odd friendship, even though he had just met the woman just a few weeks before. "You look lovely, Halle."
Halle blinked her eyes at the blonde-haired prince, finding herself a little embarrassed from the sudden compliment. "Th-thanks..."
Prince Roberto took Halle's gloved hand in his, and he twirled her around in a circle. "So he does have good taste after all... Don't you think so, Wilfred?"
"Yeah." Prince Wilfred simply nodded, keeping his response short and dry, disinterested, even.
"Who has good taste?" Halle cocked her head to the side in confusion as she looked to Prince Roberto for help, raising one of her eyebrows.
Prince Roberto laughed a little. "Josh, of course." He smiled all-knowingly at his best friend, purposely trying to make her blush, and succeeding. "Apparently, he picked out that dress for you."
"He did...?" Halle's face flushed ever so slightly as she rested her hands on her stomach, looking down at the dress she was wearing.
Prince Joshua bought this beautiful dress for her...? She thought Prince Roberto did!
Prince Wilfred smiled softly at the look on Halle's face. "The cut and color suit you very well."
Prince Roberto shook his head, and his smile never left his face even for a second. "Josh always seemed to dislike anything like that, though..."
Halle's chest tightened at Prince Roberto's words. Prince Joshua took the time to choose her dress, even though he doesn't like to...? What a sweet guy...
Well, once you got past that super thick idiot exterior, that is.
A soft knock came from the door, and Jan stepped inside the room. His eyes immediately fell on both Princes Roberto and Wilfred. "Oh, I see Your Highnesses are here as well."
"Yes." Prince Roberto kept a casual smile on his face as he slyly swung an arm around Halle's shoulders, ignoring her verbal protests and the scowl on her face. "We thought we must say good morning to the beautiful princess."
Jan didn't seem to find anything strange in this behavior, and his eyes crinkled slightly from the bright smile on his face. "We have a little more time before the party starts. What would you like to do? I can bring you a little something to eat up to your rooms if you would like."
Prince Roberto turned his attention up to the clock on the wall. "Oh, so that's the time..." He pressed a finger to his lips before he turned to Jan with a smile. "Yeah, that sounds good."
"I'll have some scrambled eggs and fresh bread." Prince Wilfred nodded to Jan with no trace of emotion on his face, as usual.
"Understood." Jan bowed a little in understanding, and he started to leave the room with the two princes as Halle suddenly called out to him.
"Oh, Jan!" Halle outstretched her hand to stop him, and the butler paused and turned to look at her. "Where is Prince Joshua this morning?"
"His Highness is currently working." Jan smiled at her gently as he answered her innocent question.
Prince Roberto spun around at the sound of that. "He got angry at us earlier, saying that he's now behind in his work because of us." He laughed a little as he recalled being reprimanded by the purple-haired prince on his way to see Halle this morning.
Halle's shoulders slumped a little in disappointment. "Oh...he's working."
Jan's face fell slightly at seeing the lady so glum, and he bowed apologetically to Prince Roberto. "I apologize for my master's rudeness..."
Prince Roberto smiled kindly to the butler, patting him gently on the shoulder. "It's alright, I'm used to it. And we did turn up unexpectedly last night..."
"Thank you, Your Highness. Halle." Jan bowed to both Halle and Prince Roberto before turning to leave. "Please wait here and I shall bring you something to eat shortly."
Halle felt somewhat disappointed as she watched Jan leave. Seeing as Prince Joshua went to all that trouble to pick the dress out for her even though he was behind on work, she had wanted to show him how it looked and thank him properly...
Halle felt as if she just had to something here, and she couldn't wait any longer. Prince Joshua was probably busy, and he'd probably yell at her for bothering him, but she really did want to thank him...
Halle took a step forward to leave, and a voice from behind her stopped her in her tracks.
"Are you off to see Prince Joshua?"
"Wha..." Halle spun around to only be greeted by Prince Wilfred smiling softly at her. She didn't even see him there before. "Yes. I thought I should thank him for the dress..."
Prince Wilfred turned the corners of his mouth up into a little smile as he looked down at her. "That's good."
Halle found herself staring at his smile as he spoke. She noticed it yesterday when they found the kitten, but Prince Wilfred had a really nice smile, even though he rarely seemed to use it. And for some reason, that brought Prince Joshua's face to mind. She found herself wondering if Prince Joshua was actually a kind person like Prince Wilfred... He had to be after all the nice things he had done for her, right? That would most certainly explain the dress, and him pulling strings to get her a permit to leave Dres Van so fast...
Prince Wilfred seemed to notice her being lost in thought, and he smiled curiously as he observed her. "He must have it bad if he is able to pick out such a perfect dress for you."
Halle's eyes snapped wide open, and she blinked at Prince Wilfred quizzically. "What...?"
Prince Wilfred's eyes wavered a little at her question. "Never mind... It's none of my business." His words cut off sharply, and a smile came to his face once more. "That is something you will need to answer for yourself." He then turned away from her, leaving a very confused Halle behind.
Halle awkwardly ran her fingers through her bangs, trying to make sense of what he just said. "For myself...? What could that possibly..."
Prince Wilfred paused and turned back to look at her once more. "Perhaps it was not my place to say anything...but think of it as a thank you for the beautiful visage you have shown me."
Halle blinked at Prince Wilfred repeatedly in shock. Did he just say that she looked beautiful...?
As she watched him walk away, his voice echoed through the corridor. "I was made to come here, and I felt reluctant to join in... But yesterday with the kitten, and after seeing you today..." He glanced back, smiling with his entire face. "...it hasn't been too bad a visit after all."
Halle stood there watching him go, only growing more and more confused by the second. Ugh, she couldn't let herself get distracted now! She needed to go and find Prince Joshua and thank him for the dress!
And having that in mind, she started off down the corridor in search for Prince Joshua's office.
First update since the new year! Sorry it's been a little over a week...I've been a bit busy. But, I busted out this chapter today after feeling motivated from reading a really nice review, and I'm super pumped! I'm having a blast writing both this story and my Metro PD fanfiction, and this is a really nice break from my Pokemon fanfiction I'm always writing.
Well, read, review, and enjoy!