Cinderella's POV 

When I reached the gates, I gave my reins to the stable boy. I removed my cloak and a servant took it for me. 

Now, about the palace...

The palace is really tall. Apparently, the builders wanted to emphasize that the palace is tall place, and the people inside ruled over the kingdom. Yeah. We get the point. Kind of redundant there. 

I noticed I wasn't the only one who has just arrived, and went right inside the open doors (which I noticed were extremely tall. Is there going to be an extremely tall lady over twenty feet attending this evening?).

 I headed to the ballroom and blended well with everyone. I walked around slowly, watching the ladies around the ballroom. It wasn't the meet-the-prince-then-leave line (like the Disney version). It was a ball for goodness' sake. Which meant, people were walking around, eating, talking or dancing.

Now then, why am I here? I just told you in the previous chapter to see my best friend, Arthur. Prince Arthur, might I add. I also hoped to find my brother who worked at the palace as a servant. I spotted Prince Edward dancing with another girl who was clearly not my stepsister. He looked bored. 

"Hello, pretty lady," a voice called to me gently. I turned around and smiled to see my brother Charles holding a tray full of drinks.

"Hello, kind sir," I said, playing along.

"Care for a drink, miss? It's non-alcoholic."

"No, thank you, I'm fine." What? You thought I was all sassy and everything? Hey, I know my social graces.

"Are you doing okay, sis?" He whispered. 

"Don't worry about me, Charles. I'm doing fine. How is your work?"

"The prince I serve is exceedingly kind and pays me more than enough. Can't say the same about his brother, though."

"Who is your master?" 

"The older prince, Prince Arthur. The same person who locked lips with you when you were six. He is tall and wears black and white clothing for this evening. I need to go, see you later." 

"Bye, Charles," I whispered before he left. Yeah, I kissed little Prince Arthur when he was seven, got a problem with that? It was an accident anyways, the classic someone-fell-on-someone-else-and-voila!-they-kiss situation. 

I walked around, avoiding my stepfamily and Prince Edward, but sooner or later, either one of them would find out.

Three minutes later, I went into the open garden and looked up at the night sky. No stars. You thought this was a nice fairytale? Well, too bad, because this isn't one. The palace behind me is too bright to see any stars.

"Finally. Fresh air." I smiled and felt the wind brush past me. 

"May I join you?" I looked to the side, and my eyes went up to meet the dark eyes of a tall gentleman. He had long black hair that was tied at the back with a simple small black ribbon. He held a glass of wine and he was a good several inches taller than me. He wore a white collared shirt, a plain black cravat, a black vest, a white jacket, and a pair of black boots. 

Well, guess Arthur found me. 

"Go right ahead, sir," I answered, scooting to the side little. "I'm not in control here. You can do what you please." He stood slightly closer but acknowledged my personal space. Someone give this guy a perfect score for not crowding in my personal space!

"Thank you."

"Heh, although I would be a little interested if I said no," I added mischievously. He broke into a kind a smile.

"Well, I'm just a person, like you, miss," he said, lifting his glass to his lips. "If you told me to leave, I would be gone. I don't intend to annoy anyone."

"And I'm not the type to tell people to leave," I said, cordially. "Besides, it's been a long time since we've seen each other right, your highness?" 

"It has, Cinderella." I sensed him step closer to me, and slip his free arm around my waist. "Far...too...long." He leaned down to kiss my forehead. 

"Stop being a tease, or being shy, or whatever you're being right now," I scolded, putting my hands around his neck, making him bend down to reach my lips. It was the common, light kiss. 

We broke away, and Arthur pulled me closer to him. 

"Hey, I'm sorry for not visiting like I said I would..." I apologized quietly. He smiled down at me. 

"It's all right. I heard from Charles why you stopped coming to see me. Your parents and baby sister passed away, and you have a stepfamily to serve," he said, anger darkening his voice slightly. 

"Then let's spend some time to make up the time that was lost  right?" I whispered, coming in close to a make out session with him. I was hoping to ease out the anger in his voice and quickly succeeded. 

(Author-chan here. Let's just ignore Cinderella and Arthur kissing.) 

Just some information from me, Arthur and I have gone through the stage of kissing. My brother tricked us (Charles is older than Arthur) into reading this weird, adult book. We were eight and nine at the time...and well...we decided to kiss (remember, our first kiss was back when we were six and seven). 

Then, we learned pretty quickly about the "birds and the bees." Our parents would tease us whenever we were together, and Charles wouldn't stop laughing at the fact we had actually read the book. 

Later on, I found out something pretty cute: Arthur is adorable when he blushes.