The Queen We Hate

Chapter 1

Many years before…

The padding of her feet as she ran down the hallway, holding tufts of her pale green dress up so that it didn’t hit the floor below her, sounded as she quickly headed towards the throne room. No matter how many years she had lived in the palace, she seemed to always manage to get up a little later than she should have, making her late every single day for the same things.

“Naminé!” her mother scorned, grabbing her wrist as soon as the door’s to the throne room burst open. “Finally, you’re here! The next time you’re late I’m going to…”

Her mother’s words drifted from her ears as she was pulled closely behind, out the entrance of the castle and towards the cathedral; nothing like a good ol’ prayer in the morning and confession to a priest to start off your day.

“Are you listening to me?!”

“I couldn’t hear you over the clanging of their armor,” Naminé defended, lifting her finger to point at the guards around her. “It’s very distracting.”

“The only thing distracting is your own mind! Goodness, if I have another child I hope to God they end up being more respectful!” The corner of her eye twitched for a moment as she glanced over at her daughter, followed by a brief sigh and a roll of her eyes. “As I was saying, the knighting of the Dukes’ sons are today.”

“How interesting…”

“One of them is betrothed to the Duchess Olette. I know you fancy her quite a bit.”

“Have they met?”

“Not yet I believe, but I heard he’s quite dashing.” The Queen’s voice lowered as they entered the cathedral, her lips curving upward as she smiled politely towards the priest. She quickly leaned over, trying her best to keep her voice down to a whisper, “you should ask her about him, hm? You know she loves to chat.”

“I will, Mama.”

“Such a good daughter I’ve raised.”

-x

Getting married never seemed all too exciting to Naminé. Maybe it was because all the women in her court always talked about how dreadful it was. Living a life expecting nothing but to have children and knowing of your husband’s mistress as you sat alone in your empty house. Of course, that didn’t apply for all marriages, but it applied for most.

Naminé had never heard of her father, the King, having a mistress, but kings were supposedly the ones who had multiple mistresses. That’s what she was told anyways. Naminé didn’t think she could deal with her husband, who she hadn’t wanted to deal with to begin with, being with another woman. If she was forced to live with him forever she would at least want his royalty.

Olette, on the other hand, seemed nothing but excited.

“I hope he’s charming!” she giggled, picking up her porcelain cup and taking a small sip. “I’ve always wanted a man who could sweep me off my feet.”

“Well, he shouldn’t need to, considering he gets you no matter what,” a woman by the name of Aerith added. “It would be nice though.”

“Very nice,” Naminé agreed, not sure whether to be bored or vaguely interested in the conversation. Aerith had already married twice, the first to a man named Zack who died in battle, and the second to a man named Cloud, the head of the royal guard. Olette was getting married…

…and Naminé was a lonely princess. Oh joy. Not that she wanted to get married or anything, but she felt that if she waited too long she’d get stuck with all the leftovers that the other princesses didn’t want. After all, there are only so many princes in the world and most girls got betrothed at birth.

“I think I saw him once when he stayed at the king’s school to train to be a knight,” Aerith pondered. “I think I told Cloud, ‘that boy will be quite handsome one day’. Yes, I think I did.”

“Oh, don’t play with me!” Olette laughed again, reaching her hand up to cover her mouth. “You know I don’t get to see him til dinner!”

“Such a long wait, Duchess Olette,” a new voice added. The three heads turned, seeing the Queen standing by the entrance with her hand on her hips. “Naminé is going to have to wait forever is she keeps missing her lessons! I’ll never get her ready at this rate! Come m’dear, I’m not letting you miss out today!”

The three girls stood, giving the Queen a quick curtsey.

“It is forever when you’re excited, my Queen.”

“I think anything involving men is exciting to a young girl’s heart,” Naminé added, causing one last giggle before she left the room.

As soon as the door closed behind her Olette leaned over, giving Aerith a nudge in her side, “I think she’s just jealous.”

-x

“You don’t seem ready to learn today,” Merlin grumbled after another failed attempt of getting Naminé to pay attention. He ran his finger along the edge of his long gray beard, his beady eyes staring down at the girl who was only acting like she was reading.

“I’m sorry I just seem to have a wandering mind.”

“I believe you always have a wandering mind.”

“Well, more so today. A… friend of mine is meeting her betrothed. She’s got me rather excited about it. I don’t even get to go to the ceremony to see him knighted. I would have liked to have been there when she met him.”

“If you don’t hurry with your studies you won’t make it to dinner. Then you shall never meet him. “

“You’re so cruel!”

“I’m the teacher of princesses. I believe cruelty is not in my nature.”

-x

Usually, she would have been preparing for dinner by now, but today was a different day. Today, she had felt like sitting in the garden. She had felt like getting ready earlier so that she would have time to wander. Most days, if anything, she was running late. Today it seemed like nothing was happening fast enough.

Her garden always was relaxing. Even on the chilliest days it wrapped her in warmth she couldn’t receive anywhere else. It was a place that she was able to take care of by herself, a creation of her own work and time.

Maybe if she hadn’t gone in her garden that day things might have turned out differently for her. Maybe if it had been a normal day like every other day, she would have saved herself a lot of hardships later on in life. But it hadn’t been a normal day where she ended up spending extra time in lessons and forever picking out what she wanted to wear, and because of a small change of events something happened that probably shouldn’t have happened.

Not that she’d ever regret it happening.

“What a beautiful garden,” a voice rang out from behind her, “it’s so tranquil. I feel like all my worries of today have been washed away.”

“As do I,” Naminé whispered, not turning her gaze to look behind her. “Thank you for complimenting my garden.”

“You must be very talented.”

“When you never leave your house you learn some tricks.”

“My apologies, Princess, I didn’t know I was in the presence of royalty.” She turned around, seeing he bowed down slightly behind her. “Forgive me for acting like you were any person. I should have recognized you at once.”

“Don’t be foolish. I was facing the other way,” Naminé scolded, turning her head towards the side as she inspected him carefully. He was dressed in refined clothing, the colors too hard to distinguish in the dark, with a sword kept against his waste. “You don’t have to keep bowing, Sir.”

He tilted his chin up so she could see his face, his lips turning up into a small smile. “Yes, Princess.”

If it had been a normal day she wouldn’t have had that fluttering in her stomach when he called her princess and smiled so sincerely at her. She wouldn’t have seen the way the moonlight trickled across his face and danced across his blonde locks as he stood there in front of her… but she did.

“I’m Roxas. Well, Sir Roxas now.”

“Congratulations,” she whispered, her mouth having trouble forming any kind of complete thought. If she had gone to the ceremony to see the new Knights she would have been able to see him sooner.

Stupid lessons.

“I shall be heading off to dinner now. I would ask to escort you, but I wouldn’t want to you get into any trouble on my account. I hope you understand.”

“Of course,” Naminé nodded, standing up from the stone bench she’d been seated on. “I am happy to have met you,” she curtsied, keeping her eyes on him as he bowed towards her again.

“And an honor to have met you. I guess I shall be seeing you at dinner from now on. Hopefully more so if I am lucky enough.”

With that he left, the sound of his voice still singing in her ears as she slowly watched him disappear.

The garden no longer felt warm.

-x

In case you’re wondering. Knights would dine with the king, queen, and court (mainly the princess and her court though). So yeah :)

Sorry it took me so long to update! I’ve been extremely sick and exams are coming up

Excuses excuses I know

This chapter wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it’d be. Just kind of a set up to get the thing going I guess.

Please review!