In the end, Lubna and Nadim went to the Duke's chambers to say that the princess was far to worn out to attend the dinner.

She then spent the next few days tactically avoiding Oliver Cosson or anyone of much importance in the court, trying to figure out with her friends what exactly it is that was being hidden from her.

Yet they didn't find a single clue and apparently, there were some things even one of Nadim's lady friends did not know about.

So Afsana decided to approach the one other person that could have any information on the King and Queen, their own son.

Prince Francis was already waiting for her in the courtyard of the Louvre, his nurse holding the tennis bat that had been custom made for his chubby little hands.
He'd been dressed in brown overalls and was tugging at the hem.

"Prince Francis." Afsana bowed to the boy.

He instantly bowed back, muttering a soft greeting.

Afsana dismissed the nurse, knowing they wouldn't be able to openly speak if she hung around and then kneeled in front of him.

"What would you like to play?" Afsana smiled, hoping to chip away some of his nerves with a game.

"I wanted to play tennis but-" Francis paused, looking up at her with blue eyes and the swiftly looking at the ground.

"But?" She said. "You can tell me."

"You won't get mad?" He asked.

"Wallahi. That means I swear to God back home." She assured him.

"Well, I heard that you're awful at playing tennis. A-a-and I can't tell you who told me." Francis said.

Had it been anyone else she may have gotten rather a bit annoyed, but coming from such an angelic child the observation made her burst into laughter. In fact, she was laughing so much she had to sit on the grass and hold onto of Francis's hands for support.

"Well whoever it was, they weren't wrong." Afsana said, having finished laughing. "Perhaps you could teach me, your majesty?"

Francis blew her a full blown smile, putting on display his gap filled baby teeth and nodded in agreement.

Getting herself off the grass, she grabbed a bat and followed all of her suitor's instructions carefully.
Once the lessons began, all his shyness disappeared and got replaced with what was a rather bossy boy. Francis was constantly pointing her mistakes out and ordering her to move about, but by the end of two hours she had grasped the basics.

All in all, she didn't mind being bossed about. If anything she found it amusing and it reminded her of the time spent with Akbar back home.

"P-prince Francis, I am exhausted, may I take a break?" She rasped, wiping sweat off her forehead.

Though his own cheeks were red as tomatoes, he kept up a pretense of resilience and kept his gladness at her request a secret.

"Fine, but only because you're tired. Not me." He said firmly.

Letting the skirt of her dress pool around her legs, Afsana dropped to the ground and rested her head on the trimmed green grass. Francis joined sat beside her with criss crossed legs across from her neck.

"Did you have fun?" She asked.

He grinned and nodded. "Yes, I am going to tell mother about today in my letter. And I am going to tell her that I want you to be my wife. "

That last statement made her laugh. "Don't you think you're rushing?"

"No, I like you. You're not like other girls, they're so boring." Francis said. "They play with dolls and just want to dance, you're fun."

The sincerity in his words was refreshing after the careful dialect she'd shared with all the other foreigners.

And she couldn't deny that for the first time since her arrival she had fun, with a child nonetheless. But that alone wasn't enough reason for her to marry him, which then reminded why she'd decided to spend time with him in the first place.

"Did your mother say anything about our marriage?" She asked.

"She told me I had to come to Paris to meet you," He said. "And that I had to be a good boy or you'd pick Louis. You won't pick him will you? Please?"

His earnest look made her heart squeeze.

Little did he know that he had nothing to worry about, Afsana had doubts about marrying Francis but Louis had completely been blacklisted.

"Oh I would never dream of it. I find him quite insufferable."

"Is that so?" The response was not in the childish voice she was expecting, it was a manly one instead.

A voice that these days seemed follow her everywhere.

Mounting off his horse, a white stallion, Louis walked towards the prince and princess.

Afsana raised herself from the ground, her cheeks on fire with embarassment. She scolded herself for caring, she had only stated the truth.

Just then, Francis's nurse came outside.

"Princess Afsana, I must take the Prince for his Latin classes." The nurse said.

She nodded, then looked down at Francis. "I shall see you soon, your majesty. Now make sure you behave and complete your lessons very well."

"I promise I shall." He said. "May I kiss you before I leave?"

The request was innocent enough, so she lowered herself to the boy and turned a cheek towards him, smiling encouragingly. He gave her a quick peck and ran off with his nurse.

Louis simply watched the boy leave along with her and did not speak.

When Afsana turned to him finally, his green eyes were filled with mirth and hands playing with the reigns of the horse.

"You make a lovely couple." Louis said. "Will I be invited to the wedding despite being insuferrable?"

"Erm, about that, well I erm." She could think of anything to say.

Louis merely raised a brow and he walked forward, pulling his horse with him.

"It's funny how I'm the insufferable one yet you are the one that constantly thwarts in my path." He said.

His face bore a smile but there seemed to be no humor in the way he said those words. His animal companion began to nibble on grass when they finally stopped a metre away from the rajkumari.

"Excuse me? May i remind you that I was here first, Count Blois." She said.

"I'm not referring to this moment, but rather the previous days when you insisted on attaching yourself to me, something that I found insufferable." He stated, green eyes now gone a bit colder.

Afsana grabbed some fabric of her dress and fisted her hands in it. They were so close that the temptation to harm him in some physical way was seeping through her body.

"I can hardly get to know you without spending time with you." She said, defiantly. "And if you were so bothered by my presence, you could've said so."

Louis jaw ticked, the movements of his hands on the reins speading up.

The rajkumari had always been taught to be careful with her words, especially in front of men for they could lose their temper easily. But she didn't care for such advise then and she did not care now. No man could get away with insulting her.

Minutes seemed to roll by as they stood face to face on the courtyard. Man to woman. Princess to Count. Muslim to Catholic. Navarian to Mughal.

Louis then wrapped the reins tighter on his hands and began to slowly retreat back, his horse following, but did not drop the eye contact.

Still within earshot, he spoke again.

"I would've thought someone of your status would've been able to pick up the signs. Clearly I was wrong."