It's the morning of the gala, and the Styles residence has been awake for hours organizing everything for this evening's big event. The kingdom is buzzing with excitement over attending the gala in hopes of meeting their future queen. Harry, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled with what today would bring. He was nervous. He doesn't have any intent on finding his future queen tonight, and for that reason, he was worried about what his parents would think. He didn't want to disappoint them. Although deep down inside he knew he already had, he just didn't know how.
The king and queen wanted to have a big family brunch to go over the final details of tonight's gala. Harry wasn't looking forward to it, mainly because it meant an hour of sitting through his parents lecturing him on his future duties as a king and the expectations he would need to uphold. Today, of all days, Harry really wasn't looking forward to an uncomfortable brunch with his overbearing parents.
"G'morning darling! I trust you slept well." The queen said, while sipping her morning cup of tea. She normally had 3-4 cups in the morning to keep her awake. She needed all the caffeine she could get because most nights she was kept awake due to the king's loud snoring. "Your father and I were just discussing the matters of tonight's guest-list. Come and join us. Mary'll fetch you a plate for my handsome boy," she said, kissing her son on the cheek.
"Muuum!" Harry said, annoyed. "I'm going to be king in one month, and you still treat me like I'm a little boy."
"Well, you know you'll always be my little boy, honey. Even when you're well into your forties," she explained lovingly.
Harry sat down at the table next to his mother.
His father chuckled next to him. "You know you're going to do the same thing to your kids. Sooner than you think."
Harry gave a half smile. He looked down to his feet as Mary put a plate of poached eggs with toast and fruit on the side and a glass of orange juice on the table. Mary was the queen's best friend in the castle. She usually came to her whenever she needed to vent about the last thing her husband did to annoy her. Mary was very loyal to the family, so it's nice not having to worry about her spreading what is said in confidence, like gossip, throughout the kingdom.
His mother noticed Harry's sudden change in behaviour. Her smile faded.
Since Harry was their only child, Alexandria was very protective over him, and whenever something was wrong, she knew, sometimes even before Harry did.
She reached out to touch Harry's hand on the table and asked, "Harry, is everything alright, dear?"
"Yeah...fine...m'fine." Harry looked up at his mother through his eyelashes and tilted his head up as he gave her a reassuring, fake smile.
She squeezed his hand lovingly. "Are you excited for tonight? The guest-list is full of lovely girls I think you'll be quite fond of," Alexandria said, excitement in her voice.
Harry looked at her, eyebrows raised, mouth open, as if he were about to say something, when his father interrupted him.
"Yes! I had a look at the list myself and your mother practically invited the whole goddamn kingdom..." He muttered the last part under his breath.
She gave him a glare and said, "well we need options Thomas! If you think finding our son the perfect wife is going to be easy—" She took a breath. "Someone who is absolutely and completely deserving of Harry... I would invite the whole continent if need be!"
"Alright! Alright! Fine." Thomas dropped it and went back to reading the paper.
Alexandria smiled at Harry with excitement in her eyes about tonight. She's been like this all week, so Harry'll be glad when tonight's over and things can go back to normal. That is, if they don't find a future bride. Fingers crossed
The rest of the day went by pretty fast. It felt like the more Harry wished it was the next morning, where he had already lived tonight, so he wouldn't have to do it in a few hours time, the faster time went by.
The night he dreaded had arrived.
Harry was wearing a black velvety tailcoat with a nice patterned greenish-blue vest and a white collar. He was wearing matching trousers and black leather shoes. The castle was radiant and sparkling due to the lights hitting the expensive jewelry hanging around the necks and off the ears of the guests in the ballroom, as well as the gorgeous sparkly gowns all the eligible debutantes were wearing. The lovely music of the orchestra rang through the halls of the castle as the guests arrived and mingled.
It finally came time for Harry to make his grand entrance. First, the king and queen made their entrance as they walked up to the grand balcony of the ballroom. They greeted their guests before they announced their son.
"Welcome. We want to thank each and every one of you for coming here tonight to help us commence our son's journey in leading our kingdom by bringing your beautiful, lovely daughters to meet our wonderful boy and make the perfect match this kingdom deserves as the reigning king and queen," said Alexandria.
"With that being said, please give a warm welcome to your future king, and future husband of one of you lucky ladies, Prince Harry Styles of Southern Lincolnshire!" The king announced.
That was his queue.
Harry was never comfortable being the centre of attention; however, he was very good at public speaking. He knew the right things to say to anyone at any time. He can put out fires within the kingdom—figuratively, of course—within minutes of being brought to his attention. He also had a way of captivating the crowd with his words and presence. It was like whoever listened to him would be put in some sort of trance, and they would feel at peace as long as they kept listening to his voice. That is what is going to make him a suitable king for his kingdom.
Harry plastered a pretend smile on his face as he stepped through the curtain to greet everyone. "Good evening. I'm looking forward to getting to know each and every one of you on a more personal level tonight. Please help yourselves to some of our refreshments and appetizers provided by our wonderful chef, Henry. I better see some of you on the dance floor!" He said, with a smile and a chuckle. The crowd laughed with him. He waved to the guests and made his way back through the curtain and down to the main floor of the ballroom.
Now he just needs to mingle for a few hours with the people his mom'll introduce him to, and then he can come up with an excuse of how he had one too many glasses of wine and champagne and is feeling woozy and needs to lie down. Simple.
"Harry darling! Come meet Penelope!" His mother called him from a distance. Great. Let it begin.
As Harry made his way over to his mother and the debutante, he snatched a glass of champagne from one of the waiter's trays who was passing by, chugged it, and set it down on the next available tray, just before he reached his mother and Penelope. His mother saw, however, and gave him a disapproving look as she nudged towards Penelope, warning him not to behave like that in front of the guests, especially the debutantes.
"Penelope, I would like to introduce you to my son, Harry." She smiled at Penelope while gesturing towards her son. "Harry, this here is Pen—"
"Penelope Gilbert! Some call me Pen, others call me Nelly... Bu—But you can call me whatever your heart desires!" Penelope blurted out while shoving her hand in front of Harry so he could properly greet her.
He took her gloved hand gently and brought it up to his lips. "Pleased to make your acquaintance... Miss Gilbert." He said with a smile.
"Penelope here comes from the family of Benjamin and Prudence Gilbert. The couple who own the coal mines of our lovely Linolnshire." Alexandria said with a smile. It wasn't a genuine one; Harry could tell that was what she was interested in—for the benefit of our kingdom, of course—but he knew she was trying to push Miss. Gilbert on him for this reason. "I'll leave you two alone while you get to know each other a bit more." With that, she walked away and left the two of them alone.
Harry turned to the side and waved his hand in front of them, looking at Penelope. "After you."
They spoke for what felt like hours—which in reality was only 30 minutes—and Penelope went on and on about how it was her dream to become a princess and how all of her friends were going to be jealous. After that, Harry got pretty annoyed and cut their conversation off by saying, "It was lovely to meet you, but I'm afraid it looks like they're serving the wrong appetizers. I need to go and fix that before my mother and father get wind of this; otherwise, they'll make a huge scene and it will cause all this unnecessary drama. Sorry again, love, but duty calls!" Before she could say anything, he walked past her, straight to the kitchen doors. Once he knew he was out of sight, he made a loop and circled back to the corner by the grand staircase in front of the main ballroom doors.
He leaned against the railing as a waiter passed by with more champagne, offering him some. And who was he to deny? His mother did raise him to be polite. As he took a sip of the sparkling beverage, he scanned the room, hoping to spot his parents, mainly his mother, before they spotted him.
And that's when he saw him.