Belle en het Beest: Scrap 1

It was a topic that arrived to their dining table.

On one cold night of late autumn, ten years ago.

"When would you marry and let your father steps down from the throne, Your Highness?"

Her hand movement stopped midair from putting her spoonful of stew into her mouth when her brain finished processing his sentence. Blue eyes stared wide at the green haired man, and the act was copied by the man sitting on the farthest end of the table—her father, His Royal Majesty the King. It was him who replied to the question.

"What brought upon this topic?"

"Well, Brother... don't you agree that it's high time to hold a marriage for her?" The man who asked, the King's younger brother, spoke. "The Princess had come to a standard age for royalties like her to find a husband, yet I never saw or even heard stories of her getting close with any of our young noblemen."

"We don't have to necessarily follow common traditions of marrying at young age, like other kingdoms," her father countered. "Beside, I don't want her to become the possession of another man yet. I'm not ready to see a man other than me smother her with affections."

The Princess smiled funnily, but then she heard her uncle heaving a deep sigh.

"I can understand that you love your child dearly, Brother, and you're highly protective of her, since the death of your Queen."

Both the King and his daughter twitched at the mention of their deceased, precious mother figure of their little family.

"But there are marriage proposals coming from princes and noblemen of other kingdoms seeking for her hand in marriage. Heck, even our own gentlemen are wondering if they could have the chance to succeed you in leading this land."

His Majesty the King laughed lighty. "Are there that many? Wouldn't expect my little tomboy princess to be that desirable."

The same amusement was shared by the younger brother, judging from the proud smile he had on his face. "Only stories of her unrivaled beauty reached the ears of those who wished to marry her, apparently, and never the tales of how adept she was at fencing." He dropped the smile and continued on with the serious topic they had. "I would like you to see at those proposals, Brother, as soon as possible, and choose. Then we can announce an engagement had been established between the princess and the fortunate man, so to put our people at ease that the position of the next king had been secured."

"I would look at them, but I won't be the one to choose one among so many," The King shifted his gaze to the Princess, smiling understandingly as he continued, "because I'm not the one who will spend the rest of their life loving the 'fortunate man', see?"

Her uncle gave her a look that said something along the line 'please do make your decision of your future husband as soon as possible or else it'll be the end of the world for me'. Her only response to it was a gentle smile before she once again indulged herself with the rest of her stew.

.
.
.

"These... are all the proposals?"

Both the King and the Princess had their mouth opened wide in agape at the sight of stacks set before them. They were albums, filing the profiles and most recent pictures of the proposals.

The King took the one from the topmost pile and read them aloud, "Prince of Britannia, Childebert VI. Youngest son of the current King of Britannia. Second in line to the throne..." shock was clearly shown on his expression. "Even one from such big kingdom sought for the Princess? Egads!"

"Yes, that's why I urge you to choose."

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