Chapter 19: Old Friends Hear The News

In a small town in the outskirts of the Kingdom of Edalelia, bordering the Kingdom of Glear, a troupe of artistic entertainers were settling in an inn when one of them was checking their online social networks and exclaimed out loud.

"Gasp! It says that the Crown Prince of Glear is getting married to some girl from a Baron(ess) Family!" said a teenage girl as she covered her mouth and spoke to her friend next to her.

"Really? How lucky it is to marry into royalty! What does she look like?" responded her friend.

"You are not going to believe this, but isn't this the same photo that we took together once, like, last year with… Beauty?!" said the first girl as she stood rooted to the floor but quickly recovered and expanded the hologram function of her device so her friend could see as well.

"Huh?!? But… I thought that our leader and her were still an item? When did they break up? Last I heard, leader said he was going to visit her after we finished our latest project within two months."

"Yeah, but wait… what about Beast? If our leader doesn't know that is one thing, but if Beast doesn't know… what is going to happen?"

Both girls seemed to tremble at the thought. While gulping, the first girl asks, "Sh-should we tell them?"

"Do-don't be crazy! Telling Beast is one catastrophe, but won't this break our leader's heart if he finds out-?"

"-Guys!! Big news!! Beast just found out that Beauty is getting married! Um, I suggest that we stay far away from Beast's temper tantrum happening right now. The room, Beast is in, is in ruins," came a shout from another friend rushing into the room panting.

"Crap! We are in trouble! Where is our leader?" said the second girl.

"He went to town to get a few last minute items with Darian assisting. I don't think he knows about this," said the third girl.

"What are we going to do? Only Darian and Beauty can calm Beast down and what about our leader? Who could cheer him up?"

The three girls grew silent as they were in deep thought, then sighed at their bleak future.

"Perhaps we should focus on one crisis at a time and focus on Beast for now…"

The three girls agreed and went to where they would find Beast roaring in anger.

**********

Soon after the news broke, there were waves heading onto Elizabella's personal page. Walliams had always taken her pictures since they were young and he regularly posted on her personal page along with her finished jewelry products that she was planning on selling later. Overall, her page was run by Walliams while Josaf oversaw everything he posted. The page was only five months old, thus it didn't have much of her old pictures.

It mostly had finished prop outfits that she would use for her school productions and other props she would use. In all essence, her page was more of an artistic school page with the occasional picture of herself that Walliams had secretly taken of her. Elizabella herself never had time to even look at her personal page as her head was always busy coming up with new and grander productions for school.

So she didn't pay attention to what was happening at that very moment on her page. That didn't mean that her liaisons had no idea what was happening.

"Josaf, these people seriously have no lives! All they are doing is just coming over to our Lady's page leaving comments after comments!" said Walliams begrudgingly as he read through the comments while Josaf looked over him and read through the comments as well.

"It seems to me that they are evenly divided over her upcoming marriage, including the news; though they seem to have been bought by the Royal Family since they are only reporting facts and not opinions," replied Josaf as they went through the comments. "It will only get worse before it can get better. There will always be doubters until she can prove herself to be the better choice."

Walliams frowned. "But, she was practically raised to be the next Queen of Edalelia by Granny Queen herself! Who would be better at this than her?"

"Remember that our Lady is hiding her true identity in order to escape any of her family's enemies," said Josaf as he gave a thoughtful expression. "In fact, I believe hiding in the Royal Palace will definitely be safer than quietly hiding with her aunt."

"I had been under the impression that she left Granny Queen's side so she wouldn't need to pick from her grandsons. Why would our Lady suddenly get married to a Prince and be happy about it when she doesn't even know anything about him? I get that this is all arranged, but I fear for her future happiness…"

Josaf felt his face twitch at Walliams comment and suddenly felt nervous.

"Perhaps we should make sure that her marriage to this Prince will be a happy union," said Josaf as he felt a looming dread overcasting him and their future. "Otherwise, we have much to fear…"

Elizabella walked gracefully to find that both Walliams and Josaf were entertained with the large screen and scrolling down to what looked like comments.

"What are you two doing?" she asked as they both turned to look at her and bowed.

"My Lady, we were going through the comments that were left by the public on your page, after your engagement was announced," Josaf replied respectfully as he noticed that she was not wearing her fake glasses and giving a neutral face.

"I had thought they would have announced this much earlier. Looks like my peaceful days are over now," said Elizabella as she came closer to read some of the comments.

"My Lady, what are your thoughts on why they are rushing this marriage?" asked Josaf while she contemplated for a moment.

"I can only say that something must have spooked the King for him to suddenly do this. I just hope it isn't anything too bad. Possibly failing health and they don't want to take any chances…" she paused as she saw on a different window, The Royal Palace Of Glear home page, announcing the Crown Prince's marriage. "Is that the picture that they used for me?"

"Yes, this is the one that they have circulated as your aunt had given them this last month when they had checked up on the family. Is anything wrong with this picture?" asked Josaf as he felt a chill in the air and saw that Elizabella's face was beginning to darken, making him freeze on the spot while Walliams wanted to jump into a shadow and escape.

"Although this picture is in black and white, it still shows me when I looked like that! My hair has changed since then, but people from my past will take one look and know it is me. What is the point of hiding if we are just going to show the world this picture? It is the same as having a sign that says 'I am right here! Come and find me!'"

"My Lady, please rest assured! This picture was taken with friends in your father's estate. Not many people would know the background since all one sees is plants and would assume this is a garden or somewhere outside. There are no noticeable landmarks and although your hair color has changed, in a black and white photo it would still look very similar. No one would think it is you since everyone back home knows about your sense of fashion and with this lighting, your dress looks like a plain white dress. People will be none the wiser," reasoned Josaf as the two males felt that their breathing became less painful, making them sigh in relief while Elizabella thought of his words and continued to look at the picture.

"You are right. Not many people have been able to stroll through father's gardens and each year it has a different theme. It no longer looks like that so no one could even verify to check. Right, tell your brother-in-law to make sure that they keep my whereabouts a secret. Tell them that I am still mourning on my father's family land. No one would bother me that way."

"Yes, my Lady. I do have an inquiry that has left me pondering over this marriage… is it wise to not tell the Queen of Edalelia?" asked Josaf cautiously while she looked up at the ceiling.

"If you are worried about her being angry and retaliating, you can put your fears to rest there. She would not wage war for something so petty like me marrying another prince. It isn't like there was any prior agreement for that. Anyways, I will personally write to her and have Walliams send it to her while he drops off his baby brother. I am sure that she will understand once I explain to her that I didn't know about it until recently," said Elizabella as she stared at the picture on the screen as she turned to leave. "I will start on that letter right away. You two carry on with what you were doing."

"Yes, my Lady," both replied in unison with their head bowed.

Elizabella made it to the door when she stopped to look at the picture on the screen and sighed to herself. She walked back to her room in deep thought.

"It looks like there are a couple more people that I must inform. How could I ever forget their companionship with me? It is very sad to lose people like this…" thought Elizabella to herself with a deep sigh. "Just hope that they take it well…"