Brea was walking through the stables, it was her calming place. She was briefly disturbed when she heard the sound of the carriage arriving to be parked for the day.
She watched as the carriage driver left the carriage to free the horses and return them to the stables.
The carriage driver returned mere moments later, with an unusual letter present in his hand.
Brea's eyes glimmered seeing that letter. She left whatever it was she had been doing and she approached the carriage driver.
"Good evening." she smiled as he turned to face her.
"Oh Lady Brea, I did not know you were here, good evening." he replied smiling.
"Do not mind me, I was just watching the horses as I usually do." she smiled.
"I see, would you like to finally learn how to ride them one day?" he asked, everyone in the manor simply adored Brea, and he would be more than happy to teach her. However, she seemed to only admire those majestic creatures from afar.
"No, no, riding is not for me, I admire them yes, but riding is another thing entirely." she admitted as they both laughed.
"Oh alright, but the day you are finally ready to learn, just say the word and I will be more than delighted to teach you." he smiled.
"Why thank you." she said, her eyes darting to the letter in his hand.
"I see you have a letter, is that for my father?" she asked.
"Yes, it is for Lord Endrick." he replied.
"From who?" he asked.
"From Lord Endron." he replied.
"I see, well I can assist you and take it to my father on your behalf." she said.
"Oh, Lady Brea, I do not know if that would be right, I prefer to deliver it to him myself." he said.
"Oh, but it is late and you must be on your way home, do not strain yourself, let me aid you, my father will understand, especially if it is I that delivers it to him." she said. The reason she was so insistent was because she needed to know the contents of the letter, and this man would go about hearing gossip before he delivered the letter.
"Are you sure Lady Brea?" he asked cautiously, after all, he did not want to be accused of indolence.
"Very sure, let me help you, you have worked extremely hard today." she smiled grabbing the letter not forcefully but equally vigorous.
"Alright Lady Brea if you insist." he said.
"And I do insist." she replied tugging at the letter as he finally released it.
"Thank you, enjoy the rest of your evening." she smiled, she did not even wait for a reply before she stormed off.
She walked through the halls alertly, her steps were precise and quick.
She knocked on the door to her father's office and was met with a 'enter.' She swiftly entered and closed the door behind her.
"Father, Lord Endron has sent you a letter." she said hastily rushing to his desk?
"He has?" Endrick asked surprised as she nodded and handed him the letter.
He tore it open and read through it eagerly.
"What does it say?" she asked eagerly as well.
"It says that the king refused to accept my proposal." Endrick said downcast.
Brea scowled, but it disappeared off her face as soon as it had appeared.
"That is no problem father, I thought that that vile man's bad reputation would be enough to convince him, but it seems otherwise." she said sitting down.
"I am sorry my dear girl, you wanted to be the crown princess." Endrick said softly.
"Oh please father, when one door shuts another one opens." she smiled showing her teeth.
"How do you mean?" he asked.
"Well let me just say that if I cannot be the crown princess, then I will do everything in my ability to make sure that wedding does not hold." she smiled viciously.
"And just how do you intent to do that Brea?" he aske leerily, he had never seen such a malevolent expression on her face before.
"Just leave that to me father, I have my ways. This is a lady's matter and it will be solved accordingly." she reverted back to her sweet nature.
"Oh... alright then, just be careful Brea, especially with that family, they are capable of anything." he warned.
"Well so am I." she smiled.
...
"Angelica, which dress will you be wearing to the castle later this evening?" Angelica heard Dariel call before he even knocked on her bedroom door.
She was silent and narrowed her eyes at the door. Since when was he concerned with what she wore.
"Angelica, can you answer me, I know that you are in there." he added. She sighed, unfortunately she was in here, there was nowhere else she could go to disappear.
"Come in father." she said sounding clearly unhappy.
"You should be grateful that I even knocked, had it been my father at the door he would barge in." he said.
"Father, that would be inappropriate, you are a man, and I a woman, it would be acceptable if mother was the one who barged in here." The underlying meaning in her words being, 'what exactly are you doing here anyway?'.
"Well your mother has gone to the market to find a suitable gift for the king. Now only God knows when she shall return, but when she does, I do not want us to be scrambling around trying to get ready." he said.
"We have to get there on time, it is common courtesy." he said.
"Since when did you care for what I wear?" she asked, his behaviour was starting to feel really strange. Maybe it was his happiness from his new title of duke, regardless, she wished that he would keep his overjoy to himself.
"Since today, we are not just going to any old dinner, this is dinner at the castle, you must look your best and dress appropriately." he lectured.
"And most importantly, you must try to not look like you are forced to be present." he added.
"But this is just my face father, the same way your anger is just your nature." she poked looking innocently.
"You are lucky I am in a good mood, or else you would eat your words."
"I am being serious, this is just my face, except you have another daughter somewhere whom you can change to your liking and take there instead of me, you just have to accept it." she shrugged.
"You always look so temperamental, your icy gaze alone is enough to scare any man." he said.
"And yet the crown prince has agreed to marry me, my face is not the problem." she replied.
"Alright, enough with this needless babbling." She shook her head. "Just show me which dress you intend to wear tonight." he demanded.
She sighed and lazily got up. She walked to her armoire and brought out a gorgeous navy blue gown with embroidered golden streaks beautifying the centermost of the dress. The embroidery was the most striking feature of the dress.
"I have never seen this dress before." Dariel said.
"This is the new dress I collected from Lady Sellie." she replied placing the dress on her bed, there was no point returning it to her armoire, she would soon put it on.
"I see, it is truly a lovely dress, I was sure it had to be a spectacle for the amount of gold coins I paid for it." he said as she was silent.
She certainly was not used to conversing with her father naturally without a hint of aggression. She could not care less for this sudden change she was sure would not last for long, all she wanted was to be alone at the moment.
"Is that all you wanted to see?" she asked.
"Yes, that is all, I guess I will take my leave now." he said, they could both accede that there was nothing else for them to talk about.
Dariel was about to depart when something else came to his attention. He paused and turned around to face her once more.
"What do you intend to do with your hair?" he asked unexpectedly. Had Angelica been someone who showed her emotions, her face would have contorted.
She said nothing to him, only her eyes expressed the words in her silence.
"I am asking because you tend to leave your hair unbrushed, we are going to the home of our in laws, the first impression always counts." he explained seeing the confusion in her eyes.
"Father, I am not a child, definitely, I know that the first impressions matters a lot. You can trust that my hair will be neatly brushed and well packed, I assure you." she said almost irritated.
"Alright then." he said and with that he took his leave.
Angelica spent more time than she had thought watching the door he exited from. She wondered if the overjoy had damaged the way he behaved.