You need my help

"What sort of madness is going on in there?" chuckled Ian, he thought everything was just very humorous. It was not every day that his best companion was victimized by a seriously intimidating man.

On the contrary Ian's chief guard did not seem to find the entire situation humorous one bit. He had an extremely serious scowl on his face.

"I do not see why you are laughing, what is going on in there is complete insanity." his chief guard said. "I told you, that is why I hate it when you come here. This is no place for you." he added.

"Oh please Easton, do not start with your prejudice." frowned Ian. "You know what, if you are going to keep on standing there with that look on your face it is better you go and help the others."

"Is that a suggestion?" 

"No, it is a command, go." ordered Ian, his tone stern. His guard sighed and frowned.

"Fine..." Easton replied, he left to carry out his orders.

Ian sighed to himself and shook his head. He looked up at the sky, it was still snowing. Although he was not wearing a coat, he did not feel cold. He was used to this type of weather.

As Ian was engrossed in his own thoughts he could not notice the pair of innocently blue piercing eyes that had been watching him behind a corner.

Angelica knew that this was her chance to speak to him. She would never find such a perfect moment to do this again. However, she was very wary. If this man was in an awful mood, she had a feeling that she would be punished. 

Although this man had the reputation for being the most generous and kind man in the kingdom, but Angelica she doubted his generosity. For all she knew it might all be a farce for the royals to save face in front of the people. 

She did not trust men... they all had one secret or another. Regardless of how she felt, there was no more time to stand around, his guard might return at any minute.

But she could not just approach him, he would be doubtful of her. What she needed was for him to come to her. Her mind rushed through several ideas then finally landed on one.

"Three... two... one" she counted down before letting out a bone-chilling scream.

Ian heard the terrifying scream of a woman come from the corner. He did not even think he rushed to help the poor woman who had let out such a frightening scream.

"Miss... are you alright? Is everything alr—" Ian stopped confused. Instead of seeing a terrible scene unfolding before his eyes, he saw a slender young woman standing afar off, with the hood of a black cloak covering her head and a cloth of some sort laid on her right arm.

"Good evening your highness... Crown Prince Ian." greeted Angelica. Her soft yet serious voice rang out amidst his confusion.

"Good... evening... miss...?" he replied, even though he was confused it did not mean that he had to disregard being courteous.

"You must be wondering who I am."

"Is it that obvious?" asked Ian sarcastically.

"My name is Angelica Riverthans, daughter of Viscount Dariel and Viscountess Ohara." a look of familiarity flashed in his eyes before reverting to confusion.

"I see... so you are the daughter of the infamous Viscount Dariel." Ian replied in recognition of the name mentioned. "I never knew that he had a daughter, I always thought that he had a son." he added.

"If only I had been that lucky." sneered Angelica.

"To what do I owe your unexpected presence?" he asked carefully. "Not to mention your fascinating entrance."

Angelica could sense sarcasm in his voice including an undertone of warning. It caused her to feel uneasy, although she did not allow it show. 

This man was very dangerous, and she knew it, but she needed his help.

"Your highness, that is not the question to be asking." 

"Oh? It is now?" Ian asked contemplating whether to subdue this strange woman or not.

"Yes, the question you should be asking is how you need my help." she said.

"Oh, excuse me, I have only just met you. Why would I need your help in any way?" chuckled Ian, this was just ridiculous, this strange woman appeared and began to speak absolute nonsense.

"You laugh when the assistance I can offer you will be very helpful to you." Angelica declared.

Ian burst into laughter, she was seriously deranged if she thought that he would listen to her nonsense.

"Alright, I believe that is enough of your jesting. Go home, a young woman like you should not be out at this time." he said.

"If you send me away you will regret it." her voice piercing. The way she spoke was different from a few moments ago. Now she spoke with urgency and solemnity that caused him to be more attentive.

"Look here, Lady Angelica... it was nice to officially meet you. However, what makes you think that you can just trick me and say complete gibberish." 

"Let us not be ignorant, your father is not a man of honest reputation, it would not be wrong to assume that his family the same." said Ian as Angelica frowned.

"Nevertheless, out of respect for our first meeting, I would not like to push your father's reputation on you, this is becoming difficult with your claims that I need your help." he said.

"Last month your father declared that you need a wife before your twenty fifth birthday. Correct me if I am wrong, but I assume you only have three months before you turn twenty five."

"Should I applaud you for stating the obvious Lady Angelica?" he asked sarcastically arms folded.

"No, you should applaud me for bringing you a simple solution." she replied ignoring his sarcasm.

"It is no secret that you have no suitable women in mind." she said. "As a matter of fact you clearly only have three options." she stated confidently. Ian remained silent partly due to how surprised he was by how much she knew of his life and how confident she spoke.

"The first one is to get married to a foreign princess for the sake of peaceful diplomatic relations."