The Queen's eyes sparkled.

"Oh? You say you're interested in girls?"

I nodded.

"And does King Evans know about this?" she inquired further.

"Of course not," I sighed.

A large and cunning grin grew across her face as she glared at me with pleasure. Her glare trembled me to the core and I knew that she was up to something not so good.

"You will marry my son," she declared.

I shook my head in frustration. "I won't. I'm going to tell my father of what your son really is and then it's all fixed." I began walking back towards the palace interior, determined that I was going to end it then and there.

"Unless you want me to tell him about your fancies," I stopped in my tracks, "you may inform him about my son."

My world shattered. I turned to face the Queen in rage while she maintained her stoic posture, a wicked smirk on her face.

"You won't do that," Catherine said.

"Oh Princess, I promise I will," the Queen laughed. "All I ask is for Jane to marry my son. Is it that big of a deal?"

I was speechless. How could she blackmail me using my own insecurities? How could she stoop to such an extent?

"How can you destroy her life for the sake of your son's?" Catherine yelled. "How can you be so selfish?"

"Oh dear, you'll understand once you're a mother yourself," Rosa said sweetly. "No girl in her conscious mind would ever marry my son. Not even a maid, and if she did, it would all be for his money. While Princess Jane, she has always had enough of wealth, or rather more than what we have in Netherlands. It's quite profitable to get my son married to her."

Walking up to me, she said, "You made your mistake by slipping out your tongue and revealing your dirty little secret. Now I'll use it for my benefit and ensure that you marry my son. You should be happy that I'm ready to marry my son to a wretch like you, who seems to have interest in women." Saying which, she walked off inside the palace, leaving me broken from the inside.

"Why would you say that?" Catherine asked turning me around. "How could you've revealed such an information to her?"

"I-I don't know," I trembled with fear. "I-I just thought m-maybe if-I-"

Catherine embraced me as I stopped stuttering. She gently rubbed my back and tried to calm me down.

"Don't bother," she said. "We'll find a way out of it."

"But how?" I asked.

She thought for a while. After which, her eyes sparkled with an idea.

"What if instead of informing King Evans about him," she indicated towards the silly man who was now trying to pull up some grass, "we'd rather show it to him."

"But how do we do that?"

"All we need to do is to make him do something foolhardy and that would be more than enough," she answered. "But we need to take care of Rosa or she'll ruin our plans."

"So what should we do about her?" I asked getting impatient.

"I'll distract her while you may do something convincing."

"But what?" I asked further. Catherine wrinkled her nose in frustration.

"Use your brain!" she poked my temple as she made her way inside the palace, leaving me alone to deal with Henry. Thankfully, Steve came to my aid.

"Are you alright?" he asked looking at Henry.

"As good as I can be after you know what. Just help me take him inside." Steve nodded as he pulled up Henry from the ground and the three of us made our way into the palace.

Once we entered the dining hall, I watched as Catherine gave me a knowing look and began to approach Rosa. Now was the moment, I had to convince father that Henry was not meant for me.

As I and Henry approached the podium together with Steve left at the entrance, I watched as Catherine and Rosa together made their way to the balcony of the hall. This was the moment, I had to do it.

As soon as they were out of sight, I quickly ran my gaze on my surrounding. We were a few steps away from the podium and would reach there any second. I rummaged my brain and quickly saw the solution.

A maid was carrying several glasses filled with drinks and beverages. As she neared us, I waited for her to get close to Henry. Once she did, I brought out my hand on the tray carrying the drinks and tilted them on Henry.

The beverages spilled out on Henry, draining his clothes entirely. Many of the guests, including father and King Frederick stopped and glanced at the now wet Prince Henry. I could see rage flash across the Prince's eyes once the maid began apologizing.

Instantly, Henry gave a loud bellowing scream at the maid, startling everyone around. He caught her long braid and smacked her face across another guest's. The room broke into chaos as Henry began landing punches and swats at the poor maiden who lay below him on the ground.

Father and King Frederick stood up, a look of shock spread across their faces. This was it. The plan had worked.

Looking at the maid, I felt apologetic to her, but I promised myself that I would aid her and provide her with anything she required once this was done with.

The two Kings hurried towards us as two soldiers pulled away the now fuming Henry. The maid was lying on the ground, with puffed eyes and a bleeding nose. Thankfully it was nothing serious.

Bending down, I helped the maid up and gestured for Mabel. Once she arrived, I voiced my thoughts about the wellness of maid as she and a couple other maids took her away.

"HENRY!" King Frederick bellowed. "What was that?"

"She-she-she bad!" Henry indicated towards the retreating figure of the maid. "She drink!" He then indicated to his wet robes.

I looked at father who was staring at Henry with concerned eyes. His gaze turned at me and he gave me a confident smile. What was that for?

"It does not mean you can get violent, that too in front of these many guests," the King said looking at the others.

He turned towards father and apologized. "King Evans, I apologize on behalf of my son's behaviour. I know he shouldn't have-"

Father placed his palm against the King's shoulder. "King Frederick, don't ashame me with your apology. It was an accident, let's leave it in the past."

What? Leave it in the past? Had he not seen the golden behaviour of his to be son-in-law? Why was he not speaking anything against this marriage?

Queen Rosa and Catherine emerged through the crowd on the scene. The Queen, realising that her son had caused the commotion, considering the way her son was sobbing, she quickly said, "King Evans, pardon my son for any of his immature acts. He often gets on his nerves." Turning towards me, she smiled. "But of course not for our dear Jane. Am I right Henry?"

He looked at me and smiled childishly. I grunted, disgusted at his silly demeanor. Anyone assembled could easily comprehend the reality of Henry, but I could not understand why my father had decided to see otherwise.

-------------------

Soon the meet came to an end and all the assembled guests began to leave the hall. The royal families waited for the longest and by the time we did leave, very few guests were present.

Once the goodbyes with the Netherlands's and other royal families had been done, and we were out of the earshot of anyone else, I decided to talk with father.

Blocking his path, I looked him into the eyes. He stared at me blankly, as if he was least concerned about me.

"Father, can't you see through it?" I asked. "Can't you see who Henry really is? He's not normal! He's mindless! And you want me to marry him?"

"Yes," he responded.

I was left agape. He must have spelled it wrong, I believed.

"What?" I muttered.

Father nodded, with a disappointed look in his eyes. "For someone like you, you deserve no one better than Henry."

Word Count: 1400 Words