Ch02.1: Princess Angelica's Quarters

"Now remember Alexander , NEVER look at the princess in the eye for a longer time! Always bear that in mind."

Alexander smirked as if this rule wouldn't have been told to him if the princess had behaved.

Alexander was permitted to enter the princess' quarters and he gave a slight bow to the princess whose face was covered with a dark veil like a German princess would. Her attire was filled with velvet and red fruschia tone with golden laces.

This was his first time lecturing a princess whom he had never met before. In his eyes she was beautiful like any other woman he had met. She let out her hand and he took it and pecked on it.

However, the woman did not say a word like she did with any other lecturers. He found this odd.

"Your Grace, I am Alexander Hamilton, your teacher. It is a true privelege to lecture someone of your repute. But does my presence importune you in any other way? Seeing as you refuse to grace me with your notouriously angelic voice..."

But little did he know it was Eliza who stood before him.

Now let's go back to 20 minutes ago...

~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~

"Alexander Hamilton or not, I shall deal with no lecturer!" Angelica argued.

Eliza took some thought to Angie's wants, and got a crazy, risky idea.

"Angie? Don't you want to take a saunter outside the palace gates?"

"Outside? But what about the lectures?..." Angelica hesitantly reminded Eliza. "I can take your place, and..." Eliza trailed off when Angelica scoffed at the idea, unsure of what Eliza's intentions were.

"It's just that...I might be betrothed to this Alexander Hamilton. So I thought if I could just have a look at him firsthand..." Eliza explained her situation.

Therefore, Angelica and Eliza switched places to explore each other's lives for once. Angelica played as Elizabeth Schuyler, while Eliza played the role of Angelica's in order to help Angelica enjoy the experience of exploring outside the palace.

From wher Angelica was, she was riding a horse, but not only did she wear a veil to cover her face, she also wore Eliza's attire from this morning when they met and chit-chatted. Rose was walking Eliza's horse in order to exit the palace gates until they were halted by a knight.

"Who and from which house?" the knight commanded for an answer.

"Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Philip Schuyler" Rose answered. After a while of studying her face, fortunately he let them pass the gates.

When they were further away from the palace, Angelica noticed how sore Rose's feet may have looked, so she lended her a hand to ride on the horse with her. Rose accepted with hesitation and got on behind the princess.

"Your Grace, I think you should've stopped Lady Eliza..." Rose whispered.

"Shhhh....Rose...Call me "Your Grace" and you might get us in trouble..." Angie pressed her lips with her index finger, whispering back.

~~~~~END of Flashback~~~~~~

Back in the princess quarters (Eliza pov)

When Alexander Hamilton turned his back on me to get his books settled, I looked up and sadly could not see his face when all I could see was the back side of the formal attire he was wearing.

Hamilton cleared his throat and asked me questions of being a lady in the process of this lecture afterwards. I could not answer since she did not know it, so he reviewed and spoke the answer. All that talk, I could not listen much to with the pain on her ankle swelling.

"As a daughter, one must obey their father and their spouse after their conjugal ties, and their sons once death eventually parts them. These are the rules of how women must live in their shadows...rules that have been passed down from generation to generation."

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https://youtu.be/pJwKiWUuF6I

Eliza- "SHADOW?!"

The word "shadow" caught my attention and pissed me off deep down. This became my first impression on him. He's like any other men who think less of women values...Unbelievable! I knew I should've listened to Peggy's advice and lent her this marriage! No- to someone else!

Hamilton noticed how much I have been tilting my head to avoid eye contact. Thinking I was trying to play innocent, he scoffed at the idea.

"Can you please stop it? Or...must I marvel at the arresting beauty which sent the entire royal institute into a frenzy?" he commanded in a nice way...

He put down his book and walked towards me. He almost lifted took off my entire veil. What. The. Hell? Such manners he has! I'm starting to see CLEARLY why Angelica hates being with tutors...

"But alas, neither a calf nor any other scandalous exposure would make me sway," Angelica's future husband spoke with confidence.

I scoffed once more, appalled and disgusted by his actions.

Well, a handsome face I had to admit, but then I saw a lipstick mark on his neck. Yup, just like any other man... I thought.

"If a princess so spuriously flaunts her beauty like a cheap ornament on scale, does it not make her no different than a lowly brothel woman? I shall no longer tolerate with such puerile attempts to taunt your lectureres" Alexander continued.

"And with that in mind...we conclude today's lectures" he teased with a sigh.

He let go of the veil and turned his back on me once more. I kind of heard him silently giggling. My hands gripped onto my skirt with fists from me being furious of this attitude.

'Fine. If he wanted to play this game, let's see how different he is from any "scandalous" people.' I thought to myself.

"Lift my veil," I commanded, but by immitating Angelica's tone. Hamilton paused, appalled by how unaffected I was by his scolding.

"I said 'lift my veil'" I commanded once more.

And when he lifted my veil slowly, I felt the heat of his hands, which warmed my cheeks. But I could not let that get to me. So I tried to put the thoughts away and think of his unfair attitude instead to make the warmth go away.

After he did the job, I just lifted my skirt up to my calves and saw how stupid he looked when he looked away and cleared his throat.

"They're bruises as you can see..." I corrected him. Hamilton looked back to my direction, surprised by what I identified, and showed this concern in his eyes as he saw how clearly these bruises had shown on my calves and ankle.

I let out a sigh, showing my disappointment in his previous judgement of my actions, and let go of my skirt.

"Not harming the body our parents blessed us with is a basis of filial pity. So, I can only beg your pardon for subjecting you to such unseemly sights," I continued mimmicing Angelica's accent once more.

He looked ashamed to judge me so quickly.

"However, Hamilton...did. i. just. hear "other scandalous exposure"? And pray tell me what were you looking forward to? To see me rid myself of my undergarnments so that you could take a peek? Or perhaps...hmmm....a tender mark on that neck of yours?" I taunted him.

This man before me was confused and checked side by side of his neck and found a smudge of red on his fingertips from his right side of his neck. Hah! I gave him the taste of his own medicine. Who's in the spotlight now! haha

"I trust that for someone who freely meanders about with rogue marks on his neck, such "puerile attempts to taunt" me would not at all be unconscionable? ALSO, it is the sacred walls that you...walk in right? Seeing such lewd behavior of my lecturers would be unacceptable! Sir Hamilton...women may walk in a man's shadow, but what woman would trust and rely on such puerile and spurious men?"

Hamilton cleared his throat and did not look at me in the eye once more, and I gave him a stern look to indicate where I was getting at.

This concludes our lecture for the day.

Ch02.02: Back to 3rd pov

Alexander exited the room.

Alexander looked back at the door to "Princess Angelica" quarters. In honesty, he was impressed by her bravery to stand up for herself. And yes, he knew to acknowledge women hardships, as he was not the kind of man to lay around hopeless like drunk men would.

~Meanwhile...

"What? He sent a missive?" King Henry VI asked his ambassador.

"Yes, Sire...but what will you do about it," the messenger asked with worries.

Although the king and Lord Philip were brothers, the king did not fully trust working together with Lord Philip much because of how ruthless he can be sometimes. So as will be shown below, he did not trust the idea of letting his brother know of his ill condition.

"Your Majesty! Lord Schuyler seeks your presence!" another ambassador announced.

"Quickly, take my physician away. Hurry!" the king ordered, and his ambassador and physician left the room.

The king dusted off his clothing and sat on his throne. He fixed his hair and crown to make himself presentable and look like he's in "good" condition. When he was done, he called Lord Schuyler to enter the throneroom.

...

The King of England- Henry vi- and his brother, Lord Philip, talked politics, and then laughed about their children moments. ***I just don't feel like writing about politics rn***

"She's trying to ride a horse?! Haha, Elizabeth shows as much vim as my daughter. We have been blessed with such amazing daughters!" King Henry vi laughed with jubilation.

"We sure have, Your Highness," Lord Philip grinned and couldn't agree more.

"Also, I have heard of your decision to marry off your daughter to Lord Hamilton's younger son, Alexander," the King said.

"Indeed, Your Highness. Let's just say...there have been some....changes....between my clan and Lord Hamilton's, so I believe that the only way to get along with them is...a marriage. A bond that would unite both houses," Eliza's Father explained.

"I see..." the king replied. The king narrowed his eyes.

While the king and the lord were sharing their affairs, "Princess" Eliza was drinking a cup of alcohol because of how Alexander claimed to have accepted the role of women "being their men's shadow".

"Psst! Lady Elizabeth! I have bad news! Princess Angelica's brother is headed here!" Eunice urgently announced, her hands shaking from the nerves.

"Wait!- What?!"

5 minutes later, the prince - Angelica's younger brother - was heading toward his sister's room and Eunice opened the doors for him and let him pass by.

The prince saw his sister's back side facing him.

"Angelica, it's me," the prince announced. When the woman turned her head towards him, his face lit up to see her again.

Eliza came out of nowhere, BACK IN HER REGULAR CLOTHING, and greeted the prince.

"Dear brother, I haven't seen you in ages," Angelica exclaimed and gave her sibling a hug.

"It's only been like a few months. Anyway, I was told of the deliberation about the royal son-in-law at the council...." the prince trailed off. "Sorry, it's just that ever since Mother passed away, and if you leave to marry off with someone, what will that make of me?" he continued, pleading his sister to stay.

Angelica became serious afterwards, trying all that she could to not concern him: "It is my duty, dear one. And also did i not tell you to ever show your weakness in anyone's presence?" Eliza looked at Angelica who put a serious tone to her words. There was sadness in Eliza's eyes and she cleared her throat to remind Angelica to soften her tone.

Angelica then came towards her brother and held his hands. She wanted him to know that whoever may afflict in his way, he will have to gleam with resolve. The prince was young, and if her father were to perish, the prince would have to reign at such a very young age.

"I apologize...I guess I must've let that cloud my judgement. I will take my leave then..." the prince calmly said, showed sadness in his eyes and looked down at the ground.

Eliza and Angelica were sad they he felt devastated. And though Angelica wanted to tell him how much she feels the same way as he did, she put the thought aside when they needed to put their act together.

After the prince left, Eliza decided to ask Angelica of her first time outside the palace. Although she expected a positive answer, Angelica talked about how difficult it was breathing all that dust.

"But tell me, how was this spouse of yours?" Angelica spoke with excitement, putting her thoughts of being out there aside. Eliza sighed heavily because she was disappointed in him.

"What's wrong? Was it one of those scornful pettifoggers always speaking in tongues?"

"Hmmm, well he rather looked like a wastrel with impudence to spare," Eliza answered.

"Wastrel?"

"The kind of libertine who would meandor about with rogue marks on his neck..." Eliza continued with disgust, and not surprised by the kind of man any woman would have to marry.

"Well, you never know? There might be more to him than you realize, Eliza. And did he....you know.......lift your veil like I told other lecturers to?" Angelica teased.

"N-no! I-I...h-he lifted my veil at his own will..." Eliza lied.

"Well, then this would be great news"

"Huh?"

"Since he saw your angelic face, I'll let you and your prospective spouse mingle at your will," Angelica decided.

"ANGIE!"

Ch02.03: At the training grounds

At the castle grounds, there was a training area for knights to practice fighting swords, arrows, and other military affairs.

One of them was an officer named Tench Tilghman who was training his former apprentice: Charles Lee. who was willing to fight with double blades while his mentor fought with only one sword.

Charles jumped and striked Tilghman's sword with his right and managed to make Tilghman back up. Tilghman took a few steps back to avoid getting cut by Charles.

Tilghman managed to strike back from behind his opponent, crossing swords with one another. Tilghman crossed his sword over one of Charles' blades and managed to get it off of Charle's grip, leaving the man with one sword left.

When they crossed swords once more, each man pushed harder against each other with their swords with all their might. Tilghman decided to push Tench away and let go of the tiresome grip. When Charles took this action by surprise, it didn't leave him time to think when Tilghman ran towards him and hit his sword to the ground. Charles unknowingly lost his sword and admitted defeat.

Alexander's clapping caught the attention of two competitors, applauding them for their performance.

"Isn't it too much pressure on those shoulders?" Alexander asked with a smile.

"Thanks for the concern. Where's Church?" Tilghman asked.

"He's out there drinking, and I may need your help on that one..."