"Ugh, stop fidgeting so much Keira…" Celia complained as she struggled to place the white and purple flower headpiece to Keira's dress in her hair.
Keira tightly shut her eyes in pain and placed her hand on the back of her head as she felt Celia move the headpiece again causing it to tug on her hair. "Ow, I would but, ow, you're pulling on my hair too much."
Celia slightly adjusted the headpiece before dropping her arms down to her sides in defeat as she took a step away from Keira. "Fine, wear it how it is."
Keira gave Celia a glare before turning back to the mirror in front of her and adjusting the headpiece a bit more while she walked away. Once done she stopped and stared at her reflection. In preparation for the Summer Harvest Festival that was about to take place she had a yellow colored headband with red colored stars on it around her head underneath the flower headpiece and was wearing a light green dress with a gold trim around the neck that extended down the center of dress to her waist to a light pink frilly bottom. The ends of her sleeves also had frilly light pink extensions that covered her hands. She tried to smile at how nice she looked but the thought of how she had to get all dressed up while all the commoners simply wore their normal everyday clothes caused her to instead form a smile frown. It was just another burden of being a princess to her.
"What are you so upset about?" Celia asked as she walked back over to her with a long semi-translucent white cloth that draped over Keira's shoulders and watched as she let it slide down her arms.
"Oh it's nothing." Keira sighed as she stood up from her seat on the stool in front of the mirror.
Celia leaned towards her and straightened out the sides of her dress before smiling at her. "You look great.
Keira glanced back at the mirror before facing Celia again and putting on a fake smile. "I do don't I?"
"All those commoners out there celebrating are going to be jealous of you, I'm sure of it." She told her. "They'll especially be jealous of Edwin when they see that he's the lucky one who has control of your heart."
Keira's smile began to recede and was soon replaced with a slightly aggravated look.
"What do you mean he has control of my heart?" She asked in a somewhat harsh manner.
Celia backed away a bit at Keira's sudden anger. "Well he is your current suitor and you haven't shown any signs of hatred towards him…"
Keira continued to give Celia a harsh stare for a moment before lightening up. She knew she had to learn how to keep her emotions under control or else there was a chance she could slip up and say the wrong thing about her current troubles to the wrong person.
"Oh, I'm sorry Celia." Keira apologized. "I'm just a little angry at my father right now that's all. I didn't mean to take any of it out on you."
Celia gave her a friendly smile. "That's alright, I understand."
Keira glanced out the window. "I guess it's time for me to head out huh?"
"Guess so." Celia replied. "Just remember to enjoy yourself."
Keira gave Celia a quick wave before heading over to the door and stepping out of her room into the hall while she stayed behind. Being a servant, Celia had to stay back and remain in the castle during the festival and attend to any business that might come up while Keira and her family was way, yet another thing she couldn't understand. If it was really a festive day then shouldn't everyone get the day off?
As she approached the main entryway of the castle, Keira gently lifted the bottom of her dress and descended the main stairs to meet with her family and Edwin. Her mother was the only one out of the three who was dressed up for the occasion and just like the previous day was wearing a dress that was essentially a larger version of her usual yellow dress. The fact that only wealthy and high class woman and girls had to dress up was just another thing Keira couldn't understand.
"There you are Keira." Her mother greeted with a smile as Keira stepped of the stairs and walked over to her.
"Hello mother, father, Edwin." She greeted with a polite curtsy.
"Keira my dear you look lovely." Her father complemented.
"I couldn't have said better words myself." Edwin remarked causing her to actually blush a little.
"Why thank you." She said.
He extended out his hand to her. "Shall we head out?"
She nodded her head and silently wrapped her arm around his and walked over to his side, telling herself in her head that she was only doing so because she had to though a part of her felt it was more because she wanted to.
"Let us proceed then." Her father remarked.
Her mother grabbed a hold of her father's arm and the two proceeded to walk out of the castle's main entryway while her and Edwin followed closely behind as a few of the castle's guards surrounded the group. As they all neared the large open area in the center of town where the festivities were taking place the crowds of people standing around in wait for them gave cheers for them while a small group of musicians serenaded them. They all walked over to a large wooden stage near the edge of the center that had been built for the occasion and climbed up the small set of stairs beside it. Atop the stage sat a long table covered with a long yellow cloth and four chairs that were all placed on one side reserved for Keira and her family so they could observe the festivities. Her mother took a seat in the chair placed closest to the stairs while her father sat beside her and with Keira next to him and then Edwin on the other side. Once they were seated a few servants came up and poured a small amount of wine into the drinking glasses that had been set on the table beside the plates. Once they stepped off the stage Keira's father took a sip from his glass before standing up and beginning to give a speech to the crowd of commoners that gathered in front of it but Keira was too busy scanning the crowd to pay attention to her father's words. She looked around as more and more people crowded around and soon let out a quiet gasp when she caught sight of Jack. He was standing far out in the back of the crowd and seemed to be paying attention to her father but she soon began to smile when she saw him turn around a bit and caught sight of her, smiling as well.
"I'd also like to take this time to honor my beautiful daughter Keira." Her father announced causing her to quickly shift her attention of to him. "May her latest and most respectable suitor finally be the one that gains her lovely hand in marriage."
Keira became flooded with embarrassment at that comment and she sunk back into her chair as she raised her glass in order to fake appreciation at her father's words. How could he embarrass her like that? She quickly shifted her eyes back over to Jack who gave her a friendly and reassuring smile which partially calmed her down.
"Let the festivities begin!" Her father declared.
The town center soon filled with the sound of cheering and conversation as everyone began to talk and feast amongst each other while others danced in the open center. After a moment more servants came up on the stage and proceeded to serve Keira and her family freshly prepared food. While they ate in silence Keira made sure to keep track of Jack out in the crowd and constantly glanced up and watched him as he moved around the area. She felt a little relieved at the fact that he didn't seem to acknowledge the fact that she was watching her as he walked up to the various stands scattered about the area but she soon felt her heart sink when a young women approached him. She had long flowing blonde hair that began to curl as it fell below her shoulders and had beautiful emerald colored eyes. She was wearing a simple long flowing red dress with a gold belt around her waist that seemed to say that she was fairly high up in society but likely not among the wealthy. Her attractiveness seemed to be apparent to Jack as Keira could she as he began to blush causing the young women to laugh. She talked with him for a moment before grabbing his hand and pulling him out into the crowded dancing area which he should no visible protest to. Keira placed the fork in her hand aside and sunk back into her seat once more.
"Is something wrong Keira?" Edwin asked as he glanced over at her and could see that she was upset.
She quickly sat back up in her seat. "I-I'm fine." She replied just as quickly. She couldn't show the sadness she felt from Jack's actions here, especially in front of her parents.
She felt as her father gave her a little nudge with his elbow.
"You two should go out there and dance." He suggested as she turned to face him. "Let the people go and see who their future rulers will be."
Again Keira began to feel a slight anger at her father's words forming in her heart but quickly formed a smile in place of it. Going out to dance would give her the perfect change to go out and get closer to Jack and his new "friend."
She turned to Edwin. "That sounds like a great idea." She told him as she stood up and held out her hand to him. "Shall we?"
He grabbed her hand and stood up. "Why not."
She quickly dragged him over to the edge of the stage and scurried down the stairs before heading towards the dancing area. When she reached its outer edge she raised her head and quickly searched the area in search of Jack to find that him and his partner were all the way on the other side of the area.
"What are you looking for?" Edwin asked.
"Oh, nothing, nothing." Keira replied a nervously as she faced him. "Shall we dance now?"
"After you." He replied.
Keira nodded her head and placed her arm around him while holding onto his hand while he did the same and the two began to dance out into the crowd. As they got deeper into the pairs of dancers towards Jack many of them stopped and spaced themselves out so they could watch the two danced around with one another. Keira could once again feel as her heartbeat began to once again speed up as her view of Jack got closer and closer with each turn eventually resulting in her feeling as the flowers on her headpiece brushed up against his smooth brown hair causing both pairs to stop.
"I'm sorry." She heard Jack begin as she turned to face him. "We didn't see where… Oh Keira, it's you." He said in a surprised tone before giving a slight bow along with his partner. "Now I'm greatly sorry."
She gave him a smile. "Oh it's alright Jack. We're all just having fun here."
Edwin and Jack's dancing partner looked at the two strangely.
"You know Princess Keira?" The blonde haired girl asked in disbelief.
Edwin looked closely at Jack as if he was trying to recognize him. "Yes, you know this peas… commoner Keira?"
She turned to Edwin. "Yes, this is the farmer who saved my life when I was captured by a group of thieves just about a week ago."
Edwin gave her a look that seemed to tell her he didn't fully believe her while Jack's partner covered her mouth in disbelief.
"You saved Princess Keira?" She asked as she lowered her hands from her mouth.
Jack put on a cocky smile. "Well I don't want to really brag but I sort of did. I heard that she was in trouble and hurried out to find her since I was the only one who knew she was in danger."
Keira put on a smile. "He managed to save me just in time to. My captors were talking about how they were going to kill me. I was so scared but now I'm thankful that Jack was able to save me."
The blonde haired girl placed her hands on Jack's arm. "You're so brave Jack."
"It was nothing really. I just wanted to help her that's all. It was my job at the time." He replied.
They all stood in silence for a moment until Edwin seemed to become uneasy with how Keira and the blonde haired girl stared lovingly at Jack and spoke up.
"Well it was nice to meet you Jack." He said with a quick nod of his head.
The blonde haired girl tugged on Jack's arm. "We should be going now."
He looked over at her and smiled. "I guess so." He turned to Keira and gave a wave as he began to walk away. "I guess I'll see you next time you stop by."
As he walked away Keira cupped her hands over her mouth. Did he really just say that she visits him in front of Edwin? That was certainly something she didn't want anyone to know.
"Well… he seems like a rather… er… nice fellow." Edwin remarked as she looked at him. At least he didn't seem to acknowledge his parting comment.
"He really is." She replied.
"So shall we get back to dancing?" He asked.
She looked around the area to find that she had lost sight of Jack before turning back to Edwin. "Sure."
They wrapped their arms around each other once more and began to make their way back into the crowd of other dancing commoners. All the while Keira's eyes constantly paced back and forth in order to try and once again catch of sight Jack but him and his friend seemed to have vanished. She sighed and focused her attention back on Edwin who appeared to be oblivious to her strange actions which managed to calm her. After a while Edwin let go of her.
"Well I think that's enough for now." He told her.
Keira brushed away a few strands of hair hanging in front of her eyes. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Let's head back over to your parents." He said.
She nodded her head and soon began to trail behind him when suddenly she finally managed to catch sight of Jack standing beside a small alleyway with the blonde haired girl from earlier. The two had her arms wrapped around one another and were staring into each other's eyes while they talked. Keira stopped for a moment and watched them as they stood there unaware of her and then suddenly she felt her heart sink once more when she saw the girl lean into Jack and give him a kiss.
"He… he's already in love with her…?" She thought upsettingly.
He couldn't be thought. If he was in love with someone else then any feelings she could have for him would be pointless since she had no chance with him then. She watched as she pulled away from him and smiled.
"Keira are you alright?" She heard Edwin ask as he approached her.
She continued to stare at Jack in disbelief as her heart began to break apart.
"Keira?" Edwin asked again.
Suddenly in an act that she felt she had no control over Keira felt as her body turned around and wrapped her arms around Edwin's neck before shutting her eyes bring him closer for a kiss. As soon as their lips met Keira opened her eyes and looked over at Jack and then watched as the blonde haired girl let go of him and ran over to another young looking young man and embraced him while Jack seemingly waved goodbye to her. Then when the girl kissed the new gentleman Keira became confused. She felt as time seemed to slow down as her eyes batted back and forth between Edwin whose lips were pressed against hers, the blonde haired girl who was now kissing someone else after just doing the same to Jack, and Jack himself who watched her as she did so without any trouble at all. Then when Jack looked over at her and gave her an approving smile she felt a wave of conflicting emotions surge over her. Just what had happened? She pulled away from Edwin.
"Well… that was pleasant." He remarked as she let go of him. "Keira?"
She looked at him confused as her eyes continued to bounce back between him and Jack.
"Edwin… I… I…" She began to stutter.
"Keira is something wrong?" He asked.
Without another word Keira immediately ran past him headed in the direction of the town entrance and out towards the forest.