Chapter 5: Arthur Golden

Three days of peace and quiet before the storm, or is that just an unrealistic dream?

Mia had intentionally pushed the "First contest" or rather first round of selections three days after her announcement with the hope of possibly enjoying three days of solitude. Yet her hopes were instantly dashed because her ever-so-helpful Emily Harper, the best lady-in-waiting in history, had other plans for her.

In fact, Emily Harper had planned for her to meet all her ten suitors individually in the span of three days.

All of the meetings were going to be over a meal, and given that there were ten of them, they would take up all three days of breakfast, lunch, dinner and one of them would have to meet Mia over supper, which was not even a meal that Mia would usually have.

Mia sighed. She wished she had more freedom in this, but it was only right that she gave her suitors some respect and meet with them for at least once, before possibly waving goodbye to some or most of them after the first selection. Mia was hoping she would cut the number of suitors by half after the first round. She was not someone who would waste her time or the time of others.

However, a lovely breakfast or a scrumptious lunch or dinner felt too intimate a setting to meet with a stranger for the first time. Thus, she had chosen the longest table in the castle to dine with her suitors. It was a humongous piece of very sturdy wood that spanned fifty feet. Needless to say, Mia was proud of herself. At that distance, conversation would be kept to the minimum, because some raising of voice would be required to be heard across the table.

Emily had scheduled all the suitors to dine with Mia, in an order that only Emily herself would understand why.

The first in line was Arthur Golden, whose name did not appear in Emily's list of "recommendation" in the first place.

Mia knew instantly why he did not make it to that list when she saw him from across the table. Despite the distance, he did not look any smaller than he should have. He was all for opulence. He was just huge.

Arthur Golden, as his name might have implied, was all dressed up in golden satin and sash. Mia had no idea why he needed to wear a sash for breakfast but he did. He also wore a huge and thick golden belt, probably the king of all belts.

"Good morning, Queen Mia."

He took a deep bow and smiled before sitting down.

Mia forced a smile and sat down. Emily had laid a very elaborate breakfast on the table. There were eggs that were cooked in ten different ways, all nicely presented in small beautifully embellished dishes. There were also different types of bread and pastries. Emily Harper happened to be the best baker in the country as well and she was extremely creative in coming up with new flavours, designs for her baked goods.

There was only a brief awkward silence that lasted for less than a minute when Arthur Golden began an hour long monologue about his royalty. He had descended from a long line of respected monarchy, from a land that was pretty distant from the Kingdom of Pradzia.

He spoke about his ancestors in such great vigour that even though he was barely understood (as Mia was not paying full attention), it was still quite a sight to watch.

He spoke about Mia's beauty at lengths too. It sounded like a well-prepared script.

At the end of it, he said, "Thank you for the lovely breakfast my Queen."

"I have prepared the most beautiful gift for you that I shall let all to see two days from now. I promise you, it is impressive."

Mia nodded. "Indeed."