AnotidaMandemwa

[WSA 2024 Entry]
Everyone is playing a regal game. Everyone except Lucia (who probably should).

After her father faced accusations of trying to seize the throne from his father and king, he was exiled along with his family. They were no longer royalty, but his wife would not have it. She was friends with the queen of Vershia and used that to her advantage. Her two older daughters were the right age to marry the two princes, and she would make that happen come what may.

That became a problem when the oldest daughter was ignored by the crown prince, who formed a friendship with the youngest of the girls. There was still hope; Lucia could become the future queen. But Lucia was not groomed for this role. She did not want to live for the type of marriage she could snag. She did not want to take the man who had been planned for her sister.

But that’s the thing with plans, isn’t it? She never planned to fall in love with the man, and there she was: an unwilling participant in the regal games. Would she capture the crown? How would everything affect her relationship with her sister? Was there ever pleasing her mother?

Regal Games

Lucia watched as her father reached to put his hand in front of the open door. A delicate feminine hand came out of the car and gracefully fluttered into his palm. A leg covered by white skirts dotted with diamonds came out of the car. The foot that had diamond-crusted heeled pumps gently stepped on the tared ground.

Her father grasped the hand firmly and the woman in the car put force on it and used it to pull herself out of the car and into the warm rays of the sun. Once out of the car and visible to the crowd behind the barricades, everyone could see how beautiful she looked. They cheered with joy. They were seeing the bride of Prince Alexander John Easton of Vershia. The second son of the king but the first to get married.

Caroline blushed and Lucia smiled. There she was, the blushing bride. Or maybe she was just flushed. Who cared? Caroline looked beautiful.

"Assemble," Princess Danielle said her lips barely moving and Adela smiled at her gratefully.

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