Chapter Text
Small footsteps made by the sound of boots walked down the stone paved street, the boy wearing them was almost visibly trembling, the paper in his hands was being squeezed by his fist, sweat ran down his face slowly like it could feel his dread. God he didn’t want to do this, he was only doing this to provide for his family, for his mom, and for his sister but besides that there was no excitement for the upcoming event. The castle in the center of the kingdom became closer to view. The boy gulped down the gathered spit in his mouth, he could do this right? All he needed was a little bit of confidence.
Oh and maybe some survival skills,
That would probably help too.
He approached the guards at the castle's entrance, they looked down as they noticed him. One spoke up in a gruff, low voice.
“What brings you to the castle?” The guard said, he and the other one that was parallel with him put their spears together in an X formation automatically so the boy didn't try anything funny. He wasn't going to though, hell, he didn't want to be here in the first place, he bounced on his heels a little bit before he answered the guard's question.
“I'm, uhm, here regarding the guard position” He answered, slowly uncrunching the paper in his right fist and showed it to the guard to reveal the flyer that was given to him. The guard inspected it to see the royal stamp that was put on every flyer sent out by the court to make sure it was actually from them. He nodded slowly at the information.
“Right? Mind providing me some things before I let you inside?” He interrogated, the boy looked down at his boots before nodding yes to his question.
“Okay, first name?”
“Dipper”
“Last?”
“Pines”
“Peasant or noble?”
“...Peasant” Dipper mumbled, clearly not proud of saying so, why did he have to ask that? Couldn't he tell that he was with the messy brown hair with bangs that almost fell in his eyes, the messenger cap, and the dried mud along the ends of his pants and boots. Most nobles didn't get dirty or do their own work unless they were his Grunkles; they were the only nobles he knew that still did their own work but besides them, he didn't know any noble that didn't just have a servant to do the dirty work.
“Current occupation” The guard continued with no problem not realizing his thoughts.
“Farmer”
“Mhm, I assume you haven't committed any crimes”
“No Sir”
“Right, you may pass, the training room is the 4th door on the left” The guard surrendered begrudgingly as the other guard went back into normal position with the spear and so did he as they switched their spear to the other hand and opened up the doubled-doored entrance to the castle. Dipper bowed respectfully to the guards before taking a deep breath and walking inside.
The castle was obviously beautiful inside, decorated with white brick walls and gold accents around the grand hall. From the hallway where he walked he could hear chatter from other rooms through the door. It could've been some of the maids discussing their duties for today and their assignments for today.
And yet just a little farther was the knight training room,
His hand reached for the handle and slowly twisted it open and went inside quietly like he was a mouse trying to go undetected.
~
It was a hard week for Dipper, having to work out with the little strength he had and get used to carrying a spear or a sword and knowing what to do if someone was a threat to the castle. The head guard when he first got there did a little rant on how they protect the castle and the royal family with their lives.
Yeah right! There's no way Dipper was going to do that, at the first sign of danger he'll bolt out of there so fast that they wouldn't even see him leave.
Even with that state of mind, he somehow forced himself to get through the training, all of his hard work leading to today, the day to become an official knight.
He stood outside the room, other knights that were in training with him waiting to be called into the throne room. Unlike him, a lot of them were excited and almost honored to be here to be among such class and elegance. Dipper wanted to snort at the way some guys were almost fangirling over this moment, as if they were the only ones getting dubbed by the queen. Dipper zoned out for a while until the noble with a list (who he didn't bother to know their name) called for him to go inside. Other knights in waiting watched him go in, for some reason, even though he didn't care about this. He felt his stomach twisting into knots, he felt sweat drop down from his forehead like his helmet was making him warm, well the entire outfit was really but the feeling definitely amped up the sweatiness to him. He kneeled down once he was in front of the thrones, putting a hand over his heart. The queen herself stood in front of him with a sword in her left hand, Queen Maureen. Everyone admired her with her charming personality yet she maintained just the right amount of poise for a queen. Dipper saw her black hair was greying at her age and the subtle wrinkles on her face from the stress of being a busy lady combined with the coldness in her blue eyes. Dipper averted his eyes as if it was going to be a disrespect to the Queen that he was looking at her, Queen Maureen looked down at the knight she barely knew that was in front of her.
“Arise Sir Dipper,” Queen Maureen addressed and so he rose back up to his feet and lifted up his head, his legs felt a little shaky as she clenched and unclenched his fist once again. “Do you swear loyalty to the kingdom of Piedmont and to always be chivalrous and put your life on the line for the people of this kingdom including loved ones?” She asked, but she said it in a way where it sounded like she really didn't care after rehearsing and repeating it so many times.
Dipper answered a yes as she asked more things but his eyes drifted, not to the king himself but to the girl in the lowest throne, she had white hair that faded to grey but it had a blueish tint to it. It separated her from the raven haired King and Queen very well, her hair only went down a little bit past her shoulders. She had blue eyes as well but they took on a more gentle look to them and a gleam of a kind soul inside. She had freckles spread across her cheeks and a plain, simple smile on her face as she watched from her throne; head leaning on the palm of her hand and legs crossed from under her intricate yellow dress.
Wow…that's what the princess looks like?
God what was he thinking? That was literally the Princess and plus he doesn't care about some snobby family who were above everyone else supposedly.
“...Then, Sois chevalier, au nom de Dieu” Dipper was so zoned out he didn't even realize the Queen finished off with a French saying he didn't know of, she put the flat edge of the sword and placed it gently onto each his shoulders as the Queen gave a small nod of approval and removed the sword from him. Dipper bowed down to her.
“Thank you, it will be an honor serving you,” Dipper was saying to mostly be respectful and grateful and not like he was only doing this because it definitely pays better than being a farmer. He stood back up to his full height and walked away from the throne room, he looked back once and saw the Princess looking at him. She gave Dipper a polite wave and he slowly raised a hand to wave back before looking away and walking out the throne room.
~
After all the new knights got dubbed to officially become a knight and start more advanced training, the Princess retreated to her room and sat down at her vanity as she pushed her hair into the front and grabbed her hairbrush and weaved the bristles through her silky hair. Focusing on the movement of the hairbrush with her eyes tracking it while lightly humming to herself absentmindedly while performing selfcare.
“Winter!!!!! Princess Winter!!!!” Winter jolted at hearing the yelling all the way through her bedroom door before recognizing that the voice belonged to her Lady in Waiting–Jessica–who was clearly looking around for her. Winter sighed to herself while looking at herself in the mirror and she tossed her hair back behind her and stepped out of her room and closed it behind her. Winter spotted Jessica when she looked up from her shoes and walked over to Jessica with practiced grace and gave her a polite wave.
“You scared me with all your screaming, I’m pretty sure the kingdom over could’ve heard you,” Winter greeted with a playful stern look.
“Good morning to you too Princess,” Jessica answered, putting her hands on her hips with a smirk at Winter’s comment. “Just needed to tell you that the King and Queen request your presence.”
“Seriously? What could they possibly want?”
“Wanting you with a suitor maybe? I don’t know, and it's not like they would tell me,” Jessica did her best to answer but she shrugged at the end.
“It better not be a suitor set up already, I mean I’m only sixteen and they already want someone I can have offspring with,” Winter ranted as she gestured up into the air and then swung her arms back down at her sides. “Well, I’ll get going to see them, where are they now?”
“Living area Princess, now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be helping the handmaidens with laundry,” Jessica answered as she bowed sarcastically before she walked away, Winter laughed under her breath at the sarcastic bow before she walked down the stairs and her feet led to the living area. Winter entered and saw her parents sitting a respectable distance away from each other as Maureen’s eyes locked onto her daughter's entry as she put out a hand and gestured to her to sit down on a couch that was an arm’s length away from the couch. Winter went over and tucked her dress inward to herself as she sat down.
“You wanted to see me?” Winter started off, she looked over at her parents who looked apathetic when their eyes met hers. It made the ends of her hair stand up at the look, did she do something wrong? Why did they call her down here?
“Yes, we need to discuss a matter of importance with you” Queen Maureen addressed before looking over at King Jared she shared the glance and looked to Winter.
“Me and your mother are going on a voyage for at least a month, maybe more but that’s what's planned out presently,” Jared paused before getting to his next point. “During this time, we will have you in temporary power over all the kingdom to take our place. We expect nothing less than perfection as our current replacement and future heir to the throne.” There was a brief moment of silence between the three, Winter looked at them with a perplexed look. She felt the saliva in her mouth travel down her tight throat before speaking.
“Wow…that's…a long time” Winter began, it felt like she didn't blink for a long time when she looked at them, her warm blue eyes darting to their cold and reserved ones.
“Indeed, but we entrust that you'll be able to handle it” Maureen answered, sounding like her words were practiced before formally talking with Winter. There was no hesitation in her tone, no room for argument; it just is what it is.
“I will- I will perform only my best for the kingdom, and for both of you” Winter responded, trying to leave her voice as emotionless as they achieved, but she couldn't, she did care so it wasn't as easy.
“Perfect, now, me and your father must get packing. You may resume your duties for today.” They then stood up in sync and walked away from the sitting room. Leaving Winter to sit there, the clock in the background ticked with purpose, counting down the hours, the minutes, the seconds until the inevitability of the King and Queen soon leaving for their voyage. Winter finally let herself sigh, putting her dolled up face into her hands.
“This…
This is going to be quite stressful isn't it?”