“Today is the day!”

　　I was jolted awake by Anne’s booming voice and a moment later she pulled open the curtains, allowing the bright sunlight to enter my room and particularly blind me. I flinched away, turning over to my front as I buried my face into the soft pillow.

　　“Wake up, princess! We have much to do!”

　　“5 more minutes…” I muttered, not wanting to get off my bed since I knew what was awaiting me today. I was going to officially get married to three alphas today, the long awaited wedding was finally happening.

　　Anne pulled onto my bed covers, tugging it off me. I turned my head to glare at her. “Let’s go Princess! It’s time to get ready!”

　　I let out a groan and pushed myself up into a seated position. “Why are you more excited for this than I am?” I asked her, sleep heavy in my voice.

　　“That’s because I adore weddings! Especially ones that are held by royalty or noblemen, everything is just so elegant and extravagant.”

　　“You sound rather superficial, my dear Anne. And here I thought you were going to say that you appreciate the concept of marriage.” I said, moving towards the edge of the bed.

　　“Of course I do! But it is rare for members of royalty or noblemen’s weddings to be anything other than arranged marriages or marriage of convenience.” Anne said as she helped me get out of my nightwear. “Ah, but I’m not talking about you, Princess Cordelia. I understand your circumstances after all.”

　　“Do you not think that those who agree to arrange marriages have similar circumstances?” I asked, even though this was a strange topic to divulge in such an early morning, I was truly curious as to what Anne would say.

　　She paused for a moment to think about my question carefully. “I am not going to say that I understand any sacrifices people make to secure security, power or even wealth but you are different, princess.”

　　“Are you just saying that because you are my lady-in-waiting?”

　　“No, no, I am loyal to you but not to the point where I see only good in your actions. “All I am saying is that, there has never been any instance where an omega is crowned the next heir… I feel honoured to see history being written right before my eyes,” she smiled.

　　“History…” I mumbled. “Historians will not write of me.” I told her in a hushed voice.

　　“This is a vital time for our kingdom, princess. Of course the historians will speak of you and your reign!”

　　“You are too optimistic, Anne. Even if they speak of me, I doubt they will have anything nice to say.” I said.

　　“Now, now, it is your wedding day, princess! You are one step closer to your goal. I would think you would be happier…”

　　Whatever Anne had said was the truth and no matter how much I told myself that I was one step closer to my goal of sitting on that throne, of becoming empress as my father had intended, the reality that things will not get easier was still present. There will still be people who would oppose my ruling, oppose my second gender and when that happens, would I be written off from history?

　　“Happy…” I sighed.

　　“Princess?” Anne called out when I remained seated on my bed, deep in thought about the impending future. I could not pinpoint whether I was afraid of it or just merely nervous. Either way, I had to keep reminding myself to stay alert, no matter how nice everyone would seem on the outside, no matter how supportive they would act. “Princess!” Anne called out loudly, causing me to snap my attention to her.

　　“Yes?”

　　“I thought you were going to fall back asleep.” she sighed. “Let’s get you ready for your big day. I’ve run you a nice and warm bath to calm your wedding jitters.” She said, gesturing for me to hear over to the bathroom.

　　“Thank you, Anne,” I said, walking over.

　　“Once you are done, the others will come to help you get dressed with me.” I nodded absentmindedly at her words. She continued on talking, telling me about the itinerary for today from what time we were going to have breakfast to what time we had to be at the grand hall for the ceremony but halfway through it, I zoned out.

　　It was really happening, I was going to get married. As I was preoccupied with my own thoughts, Anne and the others who came after did all the work to get me ready. They were all chattering amongst each other, all? sharing the same level of enthusiasm as Anne did about the wedding and for a moment I found myself envying their carefreeness.

　　I was not only getting married today, I was initially selling my freedom away to fulfil someone else’s wishes. My father had been estranged from me. It took me to come so close to the end to finally reason this and it was truly laughable. I wanted to blame the wedding nerves for thinking these thoughts but would I truly be happy after getting the throne? Would I have the sense of fulfilment even though danger lies within every corner?

　　“Princess?” Anne’s voice interrupted my overthinking and for once, I was grateful she did. “We are done.”

　　I looked up at my reflection in the mirror, dressed in my wedding attire. An ornate white dress, the top had subtle embroidery of our family crest, of the water lily and the shirt flowed out, not so outrageous that it would be hard for me to walk, but just enough to emit elegance.

　　My light hair was styled into a braided bun, strands of hair falling from the side of my face to give depth and honestly, this hairstyle made me appear to be much more mature than I would usually look. The makeup they did was subtle as well, pink rouge on my lips and cheeks and a light shade of coloured powder painted my eyelids.

　　“Do you like it, princess?” one of them asked nervously. I realised that I have been silent for far too long.

　　“All of you did a wonderful job, thank you.” I politely said, yearning light cheers from them and they beamed at me and at each other.

　　Staring back at myself in the mirror only solidified the fact that I could not run away from this now, I had to go through with the wedding and go through with all the promises and agreements I have made. No backing out, only moving forward.

　　“Anne, could you call Gideon here?” I said suddenly.

　　The girls exchanged glances amongst themselves before turning to look at Anne.

　　“Lord Gideon?” she blinked questioningly as though there was another Gideon in the palace.

　　“Yes. I would like to speak to him, urgently.”

　　“Oh! Of course!” Anne said as she quickly gestured to the rest to head to the front door. Once I was alone in my room, I let out a sigh of relief that I did not have to act prim and proper in front of them.

　　Asking for Gideon would help me with two things, getting some alone time right now and also the fact that Gideon’s presence had a comforting effect on me. He was the closest I had for a father figure and I wanted him to tell me that everything was going to be okay, even if he had to lie to my face. Even before a minute had passed, there was a knock on my door.

　　I went towards it, surprised that Anne and Gideon had arrived to my room so quickly when I was certain that Gideon was supposedly at the grand hall making his final checks for the venue and decoration along with my mother.

　　I pulled the door open. “That was fast, Anne.” I said only to stop speaking instantly. I looked at the figure in front of me, smiling politely at me with her hands clasped in front of her.

　　“Good morning, Cordelia. You look absolutely stunning in your wedding dress.” She said, the smile on her face looked as though it did not belong. “I’m glad that I caught you in a good time since it would seem to me that you are done changing. Would you spare a few minutes to talk?”

　　I knew that the logical thing was to refuse her or tell her that I would prefer to speak to her at a location with more eye witnesses but strangely my body was not following my orders as I sidestepped away from the door to let her in.

　　“Come in.” I said, voice stiff.

　　“Thank you, dear.” She said as she entered. I paused for a moment, wondering if I should leave the door open and close it shut.

　　But at that point, my mind was already swirling with hundreds of questions. Why was she here? What did she want? Was she alone? But I knew that I was not going to get any answers if I just stood by the front door. I nudged the door shut and turned to look at her, watching her as she looked around my room as though she was looking for something.

　　“To what do I owe this pleasure, Lady Marie?”