Chapter Text
"Simon Duxbury of Aldovia?" Melissa thought out loud as she scanned the papers her boss just gave her.
"No, it's count Duxbury of Aldovia, he likes people to always be reminded of his status" the boss corrected.
Melissa rolled her eyes.
She already disliked this Simon guy.
"All right... and what am I supposed to do? Interview him?"
"Precisely"
Melissa looked up from the papers and frowned.
"Why though? He doesn't strike me as a particularly interesting guy. What am I supposed to ask him?"
Her boss raised her arms exasperated.
"Oh I don't know Melissa, why don't you ask him about the weather? Or about his favourite winter activities maybe?"
Melissa didn't find that funny. Her boss was making fun of her as always and of course she gave her some useless task like that to torment her.
"Count Duxbury is very ambitious and as you well know, the king of Aldovia has died last year"
"And?"
The boss rolled her eyes.
"And I'm more than sure that he will fight tooth and nail for the throne"
Melissa frowned again.
"Wait, I thought Aldovia already had a crown prince... Richard II if I'm not mistaken"
The woman snorted.
"Richard II is indeed the heir! But you see, the count is quite famous for not playing fair and he is also known to be very jealous of the prince, a perfect mix for a perfect scandal and a perfect article for our journal!"
Her boss seemed really excited and Melissa had nothing to say about her logic.
What could have been better than an evil count plotting to steal the prince's throne? It sounded a lot like a fairy tale.
"All right, I'll leave for Aldovia then, just the time for me to..."
"You are going to leave tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes, prince Richard has just returned to Aldovia so the coronation could happen by any time now"
Melissa stifled a sigh.
Her boss pointed a finger at her.
"And the more information you get the better"
-
-
It was still dark when Melissa arrived at the airport.
She had packed a few things. She didn't think she would have stayed in Aldovia for too long and to be honest, she was quite sure there wouldn't have been any scandal.
Simon... count Duxbury was probably just some snobbish and pampered man... no one worth to be interested in and besides that she felt more like a writer not a journalist. Her true interest had always been in writing stories and being creative, she was not particularly found of scandals or anything like that.
Melissa's dream had always been to be a famous and well loved writer and had been secretly working on a novel in her free time even though she hadn't been able to think of an interesting plot yet.
It wasn't easy for her to properly concentrate on writing because her boss was way too demanding of her. She only expected her to write articles about fashion or scandals, all things that didn't interest her in the slightest and that helped killing her creativity.
What she loved were romantic stories and happily ever afters although all her real life relationships never had any.
Melissa ended up spending the whole flight thinking about her novel but as always nothing good came from it.
Once she finally landed in Aldovia she took care of leaving her luggage at the hotel she booked and then was accompanied by car to the royal castle.
It was a nice little trip through the snowy mountains and in a few minutes Melissa could see a sumptuous castle that stood out in the distance.
She was amazed, it looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale and thought that maybe the trip wouldn't have been completely useless. She would have gathered a lot of great ideas for her novel by visiting such a beautiful place.
Melissa got out the car and looked around, there were people busy welcoming journalists and arranging objects and Christmas decorations on the facade of the building. She assumed they worked in the castle and approached one of them.
"Uhm good morning" she started.
A man put down a box and looked at her.
"I'm here to see the royal family..." she started.
"You know I'm a journalist..." she gave him an awkward smile.
"May I help you?" a voice spoke from behind her.
Melissa turned around and looked at a well dressed woman with a stern look on her face which made her feel uneasy.
"Uh... good morning, I'm Melissa..."
"Ah! Another journalist? I've already met a lot of people like you and I already let them know that we don't release interviews!"
"No I'm..."
Then she had an idea. We're to say she was a journalist they would have immediately kicked her out of the place but what if she said that she was a writer?
"I'm not a journalist, I'm a writer" she said with all the conviction she could muster.
The woman frowned.
"A writer?"
"Yes, you see, I would like to write about the royal family of Aldovia as in a book so I decided to have a trip here to look around this place myself and maybe have a quick talk with its members"
"You intend to write about the royal family?"
"Exactly"
The woman looked at her still a bit reluctant. Melissa began to fear that she would have kicked her out.
"And you aren't working for anyone, like a journal or a tabloid magazine?"
Melissa took a deep breath.
"No, it's just me"
The woman frowned and after a few more seconds of considering she finally motioned for her to follow.
"Come with me miss Melissa" she said.
Melissa followed her inside. The castle inside was beautiful. The spacious rooms, the long corridors with ancient armours and old pictures, the rich furniture, the big windows... it really looked like it came out of a fairy tale.
"It's impressive" she said to herself.
She was so distracted by the things around her that she didn't even realize she he had lost sight of her guide but she was quickly returned to reality when she bumped into someone who was walking in the opposite direction.
She staggered backwards and narrowly avoided hitting one of the armors behind her.
"Ow! Look where you are going!" a man yelled at her.
Melissa was still a bit lost but looked at him.
"Sorry..." she stuttered.
The man was staring down at her with an expression that was anything but friendly.
Melissa immediately thought he was cute and then wondered who he was.
"You should be more careful walking around like that!" he kept grumbling as he smoothed the folds of his fancy suit.
Melissa shook her head and regained her focus.
"I said I was sorry" she replied.
"Of course you are..." he wore a mischievous smirk on his face and was talking to her in a sarcastic tone Melissa didn't like.
Who did he think he was?
"Listen, I apologized, if you don't want to accept my apology then it's your problem and now excuse me but I have something important to do"
She didn't even wait for the man to reply, she just turned her back on him and walked away.
A few steps later she realised she didn't know where she was, that place was huge.
"Uhm actually..." she turned around to face the mysterious man again and ask for directions but he was gone.
Melissa grunted, just her usual bad luck. She didn't need any help from that guy anyway.
She walked through a hallway until she finally met with the woman.
"Ah! Here you are!" she said.
"Sorry I got lost and..."
"Of course now follow me please!"
Melissa did as she was told but her mind went back to that man.
Who was he? He worked at the castle? No, he was way too well dressed to be a simple servant.
She thought about asking the woman about him but she suddenly stopped nearby a wooden door.
"Here we are" the woman said.
"Where?" Melissa asked a little confused.
"To see the queen"
"The queen?" she felt her heart flutter a bit.
"Queen Helena"
"Wait..."
The woman didn't pay attention to her and just knocked, a voice from the inside let them in and when the door opened another woman appeared in front of them.
"Your majesty, this person would like to have a word with you"
Melissa had the sudden urge to flee.
"Uh... I..."
The queen approached her with a smile on her face and eyes filled with curios glee.
"She is a writer and she intends to write a novel about Aldovia and the royal family" the woman explained.
"Exactly" Melissa nodded not knowing what else to do.
"Oh, a novel? And what is it going to be about exactly?" the queen looked way too interested but Melissa didn't expect to get that far and now she was out of words.
"I... uh... I don't know yet, I'm just here to observe your daily lives and collect ideas for now"
The queen stared at her a little too long for her liking. It was over, they would have kicked her out and her boss would have definitely fired her.
The queen smiled.
"Well, I'm open to any form of art and creativity so I'm more than happy to have someone here who isn't just looking for scandals" she said.
Melissa just nodded feeling incredibly guilty.
"I have always been interested in Aldovia and its monarchy"
That was a lie, she barely knew Aldovia even existed before that trip.
"I love writing and I think this place is perfect for inspiration, it looks like a fairy tale here"
That was the truth at least.
Melissa bowed respectfully.
"I won't disturb you or interfere with any of your important duties your majesty, I'll just observe and take notes on your lifestyle if you'll allow it"
The queen nodded.
"Of course! I'll be more than happy to have you as my guest here in the castle"
Melissa looked at her in disbelief.
"In the castle? Your majesty there's no need to..."
"It's fine, we have plenty of guest rooms anyway, you are no trouble at all!"
Melissa was out of words, that was such an unexpected outcome! She was about to retort and say that she would have agreed to stay at the hotel but the queen had already ordered the stern woman to escort her to a guest room.
In the end she just thanked her and after a final little clumsy bow she walked out the room.
"Well, the queen has welcomed you at the castle. I'll show you your room, follow me miss Melissa"
"Thank you very much..."
"Mrs.Averill" the woman answered.
"Thank you mrs Averill"
Melissa followed the woman to a sumptuous bedroom and mentally took notes on the furniture and the general vibe of the place for her novel then she mentally slapped herself, she must have not forget why she was there.
She sighed.
"Is everything all right?" Averill asked from behind her.
"Uhm yeah I was just thinking about my luggage, it's still in the hotel" she said.
"It's no problem, I'll send someone to bring it here"
Well that was a great service.
Her head was spinning like crazy.
That whole situation felt unreal but at least she was into the castle, she would have written that stupid article for her boss and would have gone straight back home.