Prince Alaric just looks at me for a long moment. I sit quietly not quite meeting his eyes, not fidgeting, waiting for him to start.
"Tell me, what do you think about this marriage?" His voice is low and deep, a soothing rumble, the sort of voice you could listen too for hours without getting bored. However I am rather too busy trying to come up with a proper response to care much.
"I am of course honored that you chose to marry me, Your Highness. There is not a single girl in the capital who would not be thrilled with this opportunity."
He makes a low hum of acknowledgement before asking, "do you have any requests as far the wedding? You did not have the opportunity to speak earlier, if you do I can get my father to include them." He always did like to at least pretend to be a gentleman.
Well, I couldn't let this perfect opportunity go. I did actually have something I had been pondering on the past few days. "Well there was something I had wanted to ask, though it is not exactly related to the wedding. I had wanted to request that after the wedding when I move to the palace I am able to bring my personal maid Anne along with me. She has been by my side for many years now and I wish to have her with me."
I had thought a lot about this, one of the very very few things I cared about was Anne. The most likely outcome of this was that the wedding never happens. However, if this is one of the longer plots than I need to make sure I don't lose Anne. I might actually go insane if I am forced to live in this palace without her.
Usually these lives last a couple of years, but sometimes they can last closer to a decade. Those ones play out in the format of, they fall in love, the female lead leaves for some reason, they 'move on', she comes back and they realize she was always 'The One'. I am left off to the side, waiting through near endless years of unsubtle pining.
There is also the concern that this is revealing a rather large weakness of mine, making it clear to a man who will eventually want me dead that I care about Anne is potentially putting a large target on her back. However I have never managed to keep her out of my downfall before, no matter how hard I try she always does her best to stand between me and my doom. So, this is not really putting her in any more danger than she is usually in. (It is selfish, but aren't I allowed this one good thing?)
The prince raises his eyebrows slightly, a look of surprise flashing through his blue eyes for just a moment before it's gone. "I can arrange that. I imagine it would be rather daunting to move to an entirely new place with no one familiar around." He gives me a smile then, it doesn't quite reach his eyes. His eyes have not stopped staring this whole time. (How much can he see?)
"Do you have any other requests? In regards to the wedding or after?" He continues.
"I do not." I've gotten married before, weddings really aren't as amazing as they're advertised.
He considers me for another moment, his kind smile never faltering, "all right, if you think of something let me know. Another thing I wanted to address with you is the matter of security. Now that we are engaged you are essentially considered a part of the royal family and this places you in a certain amount of danger. As such we will be providing you with security." He makes a come-hither gesture with two fingers and a familiar head of black hair appears, kneeling by the prince's side. "This is Carrion, head of my black guards. He or one of his subordinates will be the ones to ensure your safety."
Carrion rises from his kneeling position, meeting my eyes with his pitch black ones for just a moment before bowing to me. He is lanky, not as broad shouldered as the prince. He wears dark chainmail and leather, made for quick silent movements. With the crest of the royal family stamped on the vambrace on his right forearm. A golden 10-pointed star with the outline of an eye in the center.
And so I have officially met all of the main characters. This one obviously being tragic backstory.
When a moment has passed and neither of them speak, I greet my new bodyguard(stalker) "Greetings, Sir Carrion. I am certain you will take good care of me." Polite, but empty niceties.
Across from me Prince Alaric leans forward to pick up his forgotten tea cup, bringing my attention back to him. "Do not worry, you will not even notice they are there. I can also assure you they will not intrude on your privacy, they are there for safety only." His tone is reassuring but his words are not. Not being able to tell when they are there is part of issue. I am going to be keeping my curtains closed for the foreseeable future, not that that would be able to stop tragic backstory.
Oh well. Being constantly watched and monitored is not a new thing. I usually end up being stalked by the harem at some point though not usually so soon.