Above is the El Escorial ♥

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The Royal Palace was huge. I couldn't tell if it was bigger than ours but it certainly did look completely different. Ours was on top of a hill and had luxurious gardens surrounding it but here the palace was completely white and the courtyard was made of concrete. There was no gardens which was a little upsetting until I entered the palace. While ours was more modernized and full of royal colours, this palace looked like the biggest splash of colours and pattern I have ever seen. It was like the most expensive baroque rug was taken and used as wallpaper. The throne room itself had golden statues of lions, which didn't make sense to me. Spain had no lions.

The maids and butlers were so pleasant, even if I couldn't understand half of what they were saying. Alejandro translated most of what everyone told me, but I didn't necessarily get into any conversations except with him so it was mostly okay. Besides I knew the basics of the language and it wasn't as if I was going to get into 'what is the meaning of life?' conversations with any Spanish people.

Except Alejandro. We had a debate about the human race's purpose and whether or not we were better at construction or destruction. In our fit of agreeing and disagreeing we both realized that we were fluent in French and thus we began to mix our languages so bad that if one of our parents caught wind of it, they would be disappointed. Being bilingual was fantastic, but being that way with someone else was even better.

"Sum up the human race in three words," we were now in the palace's dining room, happily eating at the palace food. After getting comfortable with the place and meeting the staff, I no longer felt the need to fuss over my food.

"Stupid. Advancing. Supressing," he answered my question, face contorted in though.

"That's sombre," I commented with a shake of my head.

"Eh. True though," he shrugged his shoulders before thinking. "Alright. Do you think reality is what we can see or what we are able to see? Like is our mind's tricking us to see something or conceiving ideas that aren't true and that there are people who are able to see the true world but they are the people we perceive to be mentally ill because they are the minority?" he's been throwing questions like this at me for the entirety of the day and each time my mind gets frozen. I had never thought of things like this.

"Bloody hell," was my response which he laughed hysterically at. "What?"

"Sorry. You have the most British responses I have ever heard," he commented.

"Born and raised," I shrugged, feasting on the Spanish cuisine. It was delightful.

"If I'm correct then you have siblings?"

"Two brothers. Their twins and absolutely infuriating. They create the craziest schemes and I usually have to clean up their mess," I groaned.

"I wish I had siblings, but my birth was heavy on my mother and she couldn't conceive after it. I'm the miracle heir, my father calls it," he said calmly, as if he accepted that part of his life. Which meant that he wasn't looking for pity or sympathy.

"My parents aimed for two children," I explained and he laughed amusingly.

"But ended with three. That must've been shocking, but difficult on the royal line." I nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah. With the twins is Cornelius the second heir and Bartholomew the third, but when you look at their personalities it would've been better if they were swapped. It really is that split second of destiny," I had learned that Alejandro was crowned prince when he was only ten years old, carrying the burden of that profession for so long it was integrated into his very soul. He didn't have a childhood like I had, but of course he was much more knowledgeable because of it. I wasn't very wise, but he was a genius.

Also, he might become King quite soon. With him it is different than my situation. With me they were waiting until I was old and mature enough to take on the role of Queen, but with him it was his Father's decision to continue ruling. The King was now considering retirement.

"Do you even have crowns?" I found myself asking.

"Only the ceremonial crown for the crowning of King. Other than that, we don't have crowns," this was a strange thing to me, because I was raised by two people who permanently wore such centrepieces on their heads. To be honest, I was kind of excited for that part.

Dinner finished off nicely but it was too early to retire yet so he showed me to the ballroom. It was absolutely gorgeous and the moonlight illuminating through the coloured glass above made it even more beautiful.

"Care for a dance, My Princess?" Alejandro questioned me, kneeling before me with his hand raised. I smiled and accepted it, feeling comfortable with his man. I now understood why my father liked him so much.

There wasn't music as we danced, and it was a little strange because I was still wearing only my jersey, pants and sneakers while he was wearing a tuxedo. He hadn't taken any care to my appearance, so it went smoothly. When I met the King and Queen of Spain at the state ceremony in two weeks, then that would have to change.

"You're a good dancer," he commented, gently swaying with me in his arms.

"Taught by the best," I smiled and he returned it.

"Can you also dance like this in heels?" I shrugged my head to the side and chuckled nervously. "Because we're dancing at the state ceremony," I shook my head with a smile.

"I'll maybe need a practice round," I admitted nervously.

"That will be no problem, My Princess,"

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"This is absolutely astonishing!" I commented, walking around the beauty that is the El Escorial. It was the previous royal residence, and the historical attribute to the building revealed the elegance of it even more. There wasn't too much furniture but the murals were something I could stare at for hours. The Prince and I were disguised as commoners, as were our bodyguards following us from a distance. We had already seen the Roman aqueduct earlier which was something to marvel at. It was fifteen kilometres long and still well preserved after so many hundreds of years. "This globe is amazing," I couldn't help but marvel at the centrepiece within the library. Alejandro was searching some of my questions up on the internet, since I doubted that he could ever be a walking statistic.

"The building is four-hundred and thirty-three years old," my mouth gaped.

"And it's not dying yet? This is amazing," the place was huge but we visited each wing of the palace. I knew Alejandro was maybe growing bored of all my commentaries and need to learn of its history, but I was so in my happy mood that I didn't even noticed. Besides, he looked happy.

"We should go get some cuisine," he offered at the end of the day, taking me to a restaurant.

"I want to try churros," I told him, making sure my hat was low and keeping my identity hidden. He laughed at my boldness.

"Maybe not so late in the day. We'll get it at another site," he sounded amused, leading me to a fancy looking place. I could see the sun starting to set and realized how late it was getting.

"Will we make it back to the palace?" I questioned, knowing that we drove an hour to get here form the palace.

"I didn't think you would enjoy it here so much. The plan is that we eat dinner here and then we'll drive back and immediately retire. Does that sound okay to you?" I nodded, enjoying the smell of the place he took me to. It was a luxurious place and our outfits weren't really appropriate, but it didn't matter to us in the least. We were having fun and if we were outed here, then it would be fine really since we didn't plan on going anywhere afterwards.

"So local Spaniard, what should I get?" I questioned him, our figures sitting at the back of the restaurant.

"Try the croquetas," he answered, pointing to a dish on the menu. "It is the perfect local dish," I nodded and that was what I ordered. While we ate Alejandro told me the history of the San Fermín festival and how it came to be. Even after I heard it I still thought they were crazy. Deliberately running with bulls? Injuries were inevitable and yet these people called it a sport. They weren't right in the mind.

Especially not their Prince.

"And why are you going to take part?" I questioned, enjoying the Spanish dish that I didn't know I needed in my life until now.

"It's comradeship. If the Prince takes part then it will only go to show the positive energy that the event sponsors. Also, I will be running for a goal," he told me, taking bites of his own food. Because this wasn't the palace we weren't as formal as we were brought up to be.

"A goal? What? To impress all your fan girls?" I asked sarcastically, not feeling as awkward around him as when I first met him. I could now tease him without getting on his nerves.

"Something like that," he chuckled, joking around. I looked around the restaurant, the diversity in people shocking. It was tourist time because of the festival, but to see so many nationalities together warmed my heart. I hoped that one day when I ruled, then I will be able to connect my country like this. I'm hoping to learn what people thought of the kingdom from another country, so that I can put forth the ideals and delete the discrimination.

Well, that is my dream anyway.

"Oh, I have been meaning to ask you but I felt it would be to be too weird if I asked you when I just met you," he stated, tasting at his drink before continuing. "A few weeks ago when you were 'outed' to the world, it wasn't under the best circumstances. You were really injured, and you're still wearing that brace. Are you okay to be here?" he asked, worry settled on his face. It made me almost feel giddy that he would worry like that for me. I nodded.

"Yeah, my feet and hands healed up last week but my fracture is still taunting me. I can at least use cutlery now, but it stings really bad," I admitted, indicating to my covered arm.

"Do you need it checked out?" I shook my head.

"If it gets any worse I'll let you know," he nodded, trusting my intuition.

"So what actually happened? Every news article said something different," I sighed a bit in annoyance. I didn't want to talk about this, but I guess the more I talk about it, the more I come to terms with it.

"My boyfriend of three years cheated on me and I found out through my brothers' private investigator. I saw photos of them. I wasn't... in my right mind. So I hurt myself. Not deliberately, though. I went to confront him but I was stupid when I did it and didn't realize how bad I was hurting myself. I confronted him but he kept trying to dodge the question, so I punched him. He tried to fight back," Alejandro's brows furrowed deeply.

"Did he hurt you?"

"Physically? No. Emotionally? I'm still getting over that," I shook my head in annoyance. How long would it be before Caleb's actions leave me? How long will it be before I am free of him? "He was invited to the palace to sort everything out, but he made it worse. He blames me for everything,"

"How is that possible? You are the sweetest girl I've ever met," I blushed at his comment.

"He says that I practically pressured him to continue dating me because I loved him. He didn't want to 'hurt' me. Too late for that, though," I had never disliked anyone as much as Caleb before in my life.

"But you broke up, right?" I nodded in affirmation.

"There's no way I'm clinging to someone who hurts me so much,"

"Did he know you were the Princess?" amusingly, I shook my head.

"No. He looked so embarrassed when he learned about it, though," teaches him. I hope that Anna also leaves his sorry excuse, even if I didn't like her just as much.

"Well, if I was your boyfriend, then I would treat you like the empress of the universe if I could. You deserve every piece of happiness that can come to you. You are a wonderful person with a great personality. He's a gilipollas," I nearly snorted up my drink at his comment. Wow, I had not expect that from the Prince. Still, I began to hilariously chuckle and he soon joined me. This was a man who's company I didn't mind one bit.

"So, are you ready to go home?" he asked me, and I had to think for a second of where he was talking about. He must mean the Spanish palace. I nodded, excited to leave the public experience to return to my glorified solitude where my sense of security was resting well. Luckily no one had recognized either of us.

In the car back, Alejandro brought up another topic.

"So what happened to your purple hair?"

"I don't even want to talk about it," he laughed at my tone, clearly seeing my irritation with the subject of my hair.

"I liked it purple," he admitted.

"Don't worry, you're not the only one,"