I want to fall in love naturally, not try to win it like some game show prize. And I especially don't want someone like a prince... he's probably snooty and only after looks. Every other guy I've met who's rich and famous is like that, so how can he be any different? I've got time to think about it anyway, it's not like I'm going to be kicked out tonight or win either.

I start to undress, throwing the red dress on the floor along with everything else. As I get into the tub, I begin to pull out bobby pins and clips from my hair, throwing them with the other things in the pile. I leave my hair out of the tub, as the woman who did my hair told me to not wash it for a day or two. I close my eyes and just lean back, forgetting about what's going on, and forget what I have to make decisions about.

I breathe in the steam and let it clear out my lungs, making me feel lighter. My heart slows down a little and my head stops hurting. I never knew how good a nice bath was, I always saw it as a strange waste of time. This would be especially relaxing with a good book, but which one? Maybe 1984, or the foundation... maybe even the Dandelion Girl...

Wait, didn't the prince say that was his favorite story? What kind of prince reads banned books anyway? Who knows, my family was somehow able to keep banned books, so why couldn't someone else? Or maybe the royal family doesn't have to follow the rules and can read banned books.

Dang it... somehow my thoughts drifted to the prince again. How is it so hard not to think about something? Especially this. I've mastered not thinking about homework and not stressing over it for ages. I guess I'm more stressed now than ever, and I'll probably need more than a bath to release this stress. I close my eyes and try to relax again, the thirty minutes even ending sooner than I had anticipated. When I get out of the tub, I stay in my towel while Mary and Thea do my makeup and hair.

After not wanting help in the bathroom, I suspect that they understand that I'm not used to others dressing and undressing me, so they let me change in peace. This time, I'm in a simple baby pink dress that sweeps the floor. Its tulle fabric makes the dress feel light and flowy as I strut back and forth in the bathroom. I run my fingers down the bodice of the dress, feeling along the lace flowers on the dress and how they disappear at the waist.

My hair is up in a bun, Mary and Thea even added hair extensions into the bun to make it look bigger. They leave down my outgrown bangs and curl them, making them all go to one side. My makeup is simpler this time, more of my style.

"Alright, now time for the shoes," Thea says as she stands by the doorway of the bathroom, leaning against the frame, "come on, they're out here."

I follow her and see a box on the bed with white wrapping paper coming out of it. When I get in view of the shoes, I can already tell that they are very tall high heels that I probably can't walk in. When I lift them from the paper and get a better look, I can already see the mayhem I would cause walking in them.

"Are you sure? I'm not really the high heel type... can I wear flats?"

"No way! If you don't trip on the shoes, you'd trip on the hem of your dress. I'll help you, we still have twenty minutes until go time, and I'm an expert heel walker," she says with a giggle and a smirk. I only nod and put on the heels, trusting that I'll have some natural ability to walk on stilts.

When I start to take some steps, I feel as if I'm a baby deer who was just born. My legs shake and I fall, landing on the floor with a loud thud and a hurt hip. "This won't work," I simply say as I stand again, staying still this time.

"No, no, just slowly walk, heel toe heel toe, ok?"

I simply nod and follow her instructions, going from heel to toe in painstakingly slow movements. It actually works, although it's completely unnatural, I don't fall and I get from one side of the room to the other.

"Now go a little faster"

I do as Thea says and do the same thing, but faster, only shaking a little bit. After a while, I feel as though I can walk normally, but maybe be a little slower than normal. It seriously feels like a balancing act, whoever thought these were a good idea are surely insane.

"Think you can make it to dinner?" Thea suddenly asks as she sits on the edge of the bed. I nod and keep walking back and forth in my room. "You don't say much do you?" she giggles as she leans back, her arms keeping her propped up.

I stop and look at her, opening my mouth to say something, but then I close it and just awkwardly smile. "Sorry."

"oh no, it's not bad, it's just perfect for our Prince. He likes the type that is shy but really when you get to know them they're the loudest person you know. Anyway, it's time, so head on out, you don't need anything. And we'll be waiting here, so you don't need the keys. Go get them!" Thea says, all really quickly. I just nod and head to the door slowly, going out into the hall to go have dinner with a Prince.

We are all led to the dining hall, where inside is a long table where the Royal family sits at the head. Chairs line either side of the table and place cards sit on each plate. The place cards all have a number on them, which I suspect are for the province numbers.

Thankfully I don't have to walk far, as my place is the last seat on the right. No one sits across from me, but the Charlotte girl sits next to me again. She wears a light blue dress this time, which is sleeveless and is held up by a ribbon around her neck.

When we sit down, she first turns and talks to the girl on her right, the girl from province thirty-three. Even though we're not best friends or anything, it felt weird to see her head turn away from me. I stay quiet and stare down at my plate, wondering if she somehow already doesn't like me; maybe because I'm competition? I sigh and move the place card from my plate, laying it down on the edge of the table.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I hear Charlotte say. Does she not hate me after all?

My head perks up quickly but I try and play it off, "oh, oh nothing, I'm just tired is all."

She nods and turns away again to my dismay. I wish she'd talk to me, even though I don't want to stay here long or anything. She seems like a good friend to have even outside of the castle. Maybe I just have to try harder in befriending her.

I take a deep breath and when I see her turn away from the other girl I try to start up a conversation. "So, Charlotte... um, how do you like the castle so far? I've gotta say that from what I've seen, the architecture and interior design was well thought out and brilliant!" I say all in one breath.

"Wow," she giggles, "I think it's quite beautiful and also very big!"

"Yeah, it is," I nervously reply.

"I wonder what's even in all of these rooms! There really could be anything, even top secret stuff!"

"Well, you aren't wrong. The government has its offices and meeting rooms here too. I'm betting that they'll keep us under tight wraps so that we don't find anything like that. Hopefully, it's not too tight, though, because I want to go see the gardens! Not the big garden, though, a small garden that I saw while we were waiting to go on the report. It's really pretty and uh— sorry I've been rambling on..." I scratch my head nervously and smile, hoping she doesn't notice how socially awkward I am.

"Ooh, is it really that pretty? I just love gardens! Especially flower gardens, they just smell so good! Don't you agree?" She pauses and stares at me, her eyes widening and almost sparkling. I simply nod, "yay, I'm glad you agree! Rosalie was just telling me how her family owns a flower farm! I would love to be a flower farmer, but too bad our castes hold us back, what about you? Where do you come from and what is your dream job?"

Rosalie? Must be the girl sitting next to her. I lean forward to see her and realize that she's been listening in. She has long, straight, jet black hair that I can't see the ends of and messy bangs that cover her eyes slightly. Her facial features are small and her face sharp. She seems small too, maybe even smaller than Charlotte. Her eyes are a rare greenish emerald color and her skin a pale white.

"Well, my mom's a doctor and my dad was an engineer... and, my dream job?" I've never really thought about anything other than what my parents want me to be. But it would be cool to make art and music like Aly and April. "I'm not sure..."

"Hmm, well when you find out, tell me! Hey, Rosalie what would you wanna do if there were no castes?" Charlotte and I turn our gazes toward her.

"Well, I'd really like to be an author or a teacher..." she says in a quiet, but sweet voice.

Charlotte huffs and crosses her arms, "these castes are kind of stupid, huh?"

I giggle but nod, I can see why they might've been put in place after the great western war, but they do more harm than good now.

"Ahem," I hear a man suddenly say loudly from across the room. I look to see the King standing at his seat, looking across the whole table. "Welcome ladies to the palace. I hope your stay here is a pleasant one. Every night dinner will be served at 6 pm sharp, don't be late because if you miss it, then you will have to wait for breakfast. Thank you," the King sits back down and as if on cue, which it probably is, many men and women enter carrying trays of food.

The first thing they set down is a bowl of soup, which looks to be some kind of tomato soup. After we finished that, they brought in a chicken dinner, which was probably the best chicken I've ever had. We then had a salad and finally a dessert of some form of pudding. We are all pretty quiet during the meal, even though everyone was chatting before the meal. Even after, everyone remains pretty quiet, only soft whispers being heard every now and then.

"Alright, every night the royal family will leave first, and then you will be dismissed to your rooms. Please stay in your rooms until breakfast. Now, goodnight ladies," the king says as the three royals stand to exit the room. They decide to walk down my side of the table, so when they pass by I turn in my seat, knocking my place card off of the table.

"Oh crap..." I say under my breath as I try to quickly turn back to pick it up. As I dive out of my seat for it, a hand reaches it before me. When I look up, it's the prince, smiling and holding the card.

"Here you go Adeline, you dropped this," he says kindly as he places the card in my hand. I see the royal family with gloomy faces waiting impatiently for the prince the catch up with them before they disappear out the doors.

When I get back up to my seat, many girls are glaring at me while others look somewhat disappointed. I felt as if I should say sorry, but I didn't exactly do anything wrong. Besides, it's not like I'm actual competition. Just look at me, I am not what a princess usually looks like.

Once we are dismissed I quickly make my way to my room, ushering out my maids as quickly as I could. They changed me into night clothes, but I change out of them, getting into my normal clothes from home.

I quietly sneak out of my room and down the hall, sure to stay on my toes and listen for others. A lot of guards were around, so my little journey took what felt like forever, especially since I didn't know the layout of the castle. But, I made it, to the little garden I had seen before.

As I walk nearer to the garden I hear some rustling sounds, and I decide to keep moving, deducing that it was just the wind. Then I see a head pop up out of nowhere and I freeze. Was this person going to tell on me? "Who are you?" I ask, still frozen in fear of being caught.