To my newest follower ElizaJGrant thank you ♥.

Miguel's POV:

Luckily today I had no lessons to attend so I was tailing Allura and her fiancé all day. She kept looking for me to make sure I approve and close by to validate that she is doing the right thing. I will not lie and say I did not quite enjoy being of service to her, it is very purposeful but thankfully the day is over it is tiring watching romance and not partaking in it.

"I shall see you bright and early tomorrow for a lesson. Shall we met were we last held one?" The guard seems to be glued to her. "Yes that should work perfectly. See you then your highness." I act befitting as many people including her fiancé seem to be looking closely at our interaction. It will be quite difficult staying discrete now more than ever. She leaves going straight for his arm every time she holds him I feel the absence of her touch on my very skin. I must be going insane truly.

"There you are. I have searched all this time for you. Anyway do you plan on having dinner, your brother is having his practice so it will be just us." seems like Samba practiced separately from his usually team today or else I would be dining alone. We head to the dining hall and have dinner. "So how has the Market been since you seem to be dining here more than the other hall?" Him being older really does not show unless he discloses it. "The ladies that made it to Marble Market are quite questionable. They are just ladies but I will admit they rank high so that makes up for it."

When a royal enters their twenty first year then they enter Marble Market. Many seek partners of a forceful but beneficial marriage if one is lucky you find love. The woman have only three years to find a compatible suitor whilst the man have all the time in the world.

As for the woman who do not find a suitor...let us just say they are ranked as curse or have to settle as a mistress if she were to have children they would be consider bastard children. To think my sister will have to face such worries me, I will never allow for her to suffer that fate. "Do you think you will take a wife this very year?" He has not spoken about a lady in particular. "I have all the time in the world besides my mother and father have already a wedding to plan so no."

Allura's POV:

Today was so exhausting I was kept an eye on and the amount of questions I was asked that I lost count of. They asked the questions as though I and the prince have been in love since the dawn of time and that is not the case at all.

After the little argument Lilly had with him, he decided to rush everything by a month and now we will be wed in a month's time. I am afraid it is happening fast and the possibility of an unhappy marriage gets higher and higher each day. I like nothing about him. He is too stern and lacks a sense of things. I do not know how everything will work out. I really hate every minute I am near him he does not even try to seem as though he resents and dreads for Lilly every time he is near me.

The next day
At the Academy

"Have you seen what they wrote. They are literally insulting me say that the prince degraded and it seems as though he hates himself by marrying a woman of my kind." This morning was ruined as soon as I had breakfast and I could vent to no one but him. Aden and his Aunt did not want to discuss this I had overheard the maids gossiping about the matter in the kitchen.

Lilly is sick so I am sure she is not aware of the latest news I am so angered by this how can they have the guts to write such rubbish. "Does not the Royal personal have to approve before such is published this is slander not news." Miguel scans the newspaper looking for the person responsible for the piece. "That piece could have no been approved by any royal. I am sure it is an unknown writer." The palace would not allow slander ever. "The is writer is infact unknown. What a coward." He folds the paper and throws it to the ground. "We need to outplay this author if he or she ever strikes again. We need to make sure it always looks like hatred and not truth." I am glad I have someone to talk to other than family or I would have not survived.

"You need to ask Aden to defend you for this to work out. He must release a statement regarding this in a newspaper. Then you should simply carry on being yourself do not be affected by this. If it does not affect you then you are safe from the rumors of insecurities and it will be like he truly is doing you a favor." Talk to Aden? That sounds so scary I am not that familiar with him. "So what's today's lesson?" I ask as the time remaining is not that much. "A man defending a woman is romance. So you will merely sit by and watch him do the work for once." That sounds easy. We ride back to the stables and place the horse back in.

"Your mother's cake was delicious I never got to thank you properly for the slices of cake you brought me." I have been so focused on my problems that I have slowly started drifting away from my relationships with loved ones, I wonder if it may get worse once I am married off. "You are welcome. I had to fight Tinni she was quite upset that those were not kept for her. She is quite stubborn." He seems to adore her it is quite sweet to see. "You seem to adore your sister very much. She is quite lucky to have you as a brother. I hope that my children will love each other." My siblings and I are close but growing up for years mostly separate locations strained us.

"I am sure you will be a great mother to your children. They will adore you. I can only dream." What could that mean? Is he mocking me jokely? His face looks pale and.. "Allura!" Before I get the chance to inquire about his statement Ruby calls out to me. "I shall see you tomorrow." He seemed far in thought. "Of course see you then Allura." My full name...what is that about? He paces to the opposite direction and I walk off towards Ruby.

We settle in the bed chamber as we think of the opening line of our speeches. "So what are you and Miguel up to these days.?" Her question catches me off gaurd. "Nothing why do you ask?" Are we suspicious in anyway because that will not be good. "The way he is attached to you by the hip and how he looks for you everywhere he goes." She surely must be exaggerating. "Is that not what good friends do when they are close to one another?" I chuckle because if she knew the real reason she would think she were an absolute fool.

"A friend does not look at another friend with passion." Passion what passion. "Have you been reading my romance novels perhaps you are the passionate one." We both laugh. "You and I would never read that it would feed me delusion that I do not need. Thank you very much. Look at how lovesick you are, dreaming of happily ever after." She will always tease me when she has a chance. I love her for that honestly.

Later that day
At Gamming Palace

"I have called you and your sister to address the newspaper that was published." Being in Aden office it is quite what I expected it is dull and dark with a pinch of green here and there but for the most part it is just brown. "How could you allow them to slander my sister in such a way and you approved it?" I let Lilly speak as he seems to listen when she speaks. "I do not ever approve slanders so correct yourself. I do not even know who this writer is. But I can assure you that it will not happen again." He seems so sure and yet he does not even know who did this. "Do not worry Princess Allura after you are wed you shall have children then that will make the rumors of self hatred die down." The dutchess weighs in her input.

How can having children help with these rumors is it another form of romance? I am puzzled I will ask Miguel about it in the morning. "You need to defend my sister you shall not fail her in the ways you failed me. You had better use your power for something useful for once." I am glad she told him for me. I am grateful that she will always come to my aid. "My sister is doing all she can while you do not even seem to try. Please I am begging you your Majesty do what is necessary for the public to be satisfied because if anything goes wrong I will be blamed everything is my responsibility so I pray you intervene." He seems to understand her so well. But she is blind to see that he clearly loves her. "I have heard you Princess. You may leave."

The next day
At the Academy

"Can you please tell me of how romance and having children related to one another?" Miguel's face looks bothered and confused. "What an interesting subject. That we will not discuss." He walks to the lake picking a stone and throwing it in the lake. "Why, if it is romance then surely you can teach me about it right?" I walk up behind him turning him to face me. "You are a man I am sure you know. Tell me we are friends" He blushes he is feeling embarrassed.

"Fine. It is the type of romance that takes place when a man and woman are all alone.." Is he also referring to us too? "So then I can have your child since we are alone together?" He erupts with laughter and I feel embarrassed to have asked. I giggle along since his laugh is contagious. "No. No. Your husband can do that only him." He catches his breath after the laugh. "Oh. So no other man can. I understand." I wonder how he knows of this? "Have you ever done this, you seem to know an awful lot." He wears a cheeky smirk. "When I was on an art travel,woman and intimate romance were a subject. I learned all of that without doing anything."

"But what happens when me and my husband are alone?" He steps forward towering over me. "He will get to touch you and you will also do the same." His gaze is heavy so I keep looking back and forth between him and a tree behind him. "You will get familiar with one another and grow closer and closer...ermm and that is about all." He steps back breaking gaze and then leaving space between us. I feel tense and hot as though I could not breath when he was near me. Thunder booms in the sky. "We should head back now." We climb on to the horse. Suddenly every time I touch him it feels different. As though my flesh is yearning for his. Am I just being foolish and it is in my head it might be. Or maybe I feel unwell.

"I feel rather relieved that I do no have to enter Marble Market in the coming year. I can not imagine myself worrying some much about being chosen." The walks back are always shorter when we are having conversations about things. "Perhaps you would have been eyed by all the men there." I chuckle at the idea. It would never happen. "I doubt that. All my life I lived for the approval of the only man I have known my father. The thought of wanting another man's approval scares me I fear rejection." Not being chosen is my biggest fear. Losing rank that is all a woman seems worth. That and helping a man build his empire. "Sister!" We both turn behind us is Samba running towards us. "Is it true?" He holds me by the arms scaring me. "What are you speaking about? You are scaring me brother. What is the matter?"