((new cover of an edit on twitter!))

((also, this is a royal au boi!!))

Walking through the bustling market of your town square, you craned your neck to try to find an open place to set up your stall. You sold flowers to support yourself after your parents had died years ago. Today, you had some of your favorite kinds, chrysanthemums, carnations, and orobanches.

Finally, you found a small area tucked around a corner where you could set down your buckets. You greeted the passerby with a smile on your face, even though none of them stopped to buy flowers.

As you stood there for hours in the hot sun, you could feel a sweat working up. But nonetheless, you kept offering flowers to the townspeople. It was sometime in the afternoon when your stomach started growing loudly, and you willed it to stop. You didn't have enough money to buy food yet.

Word of a fancy carriage approaching the kingdom rushed through the people. Of course, the yearly nobles' ball was happening soon, the princes of neighboring kingdoms would be arriving. Suddenly, the glowing white carriage stopped in front of your stand. You gulped, curtsying to the man stepping out of it.

"Hello." He said kindly, and you risked glancing up to see a tan man with deep brown hair and a friendly smile on his face. "You may stand."

"Thank you." You mumbled quietly, still not making eye contact with the prince.

"What is your name?"

"Y/N, sir."

"I'm Prince Mark Fischbach, of Iplier." He introduced himself cordially, and you knew he seemed familiar. Your kingdom and the Iplier kingdom had very good relations. "Could you arrange a bouquet for my fiancée?"

"Of course, Your Highness. Which flowers would you like?"

"Golden, like her hair."

At the pure affection in his voice, you smiled to yourself. You arranged the bouquet of marigolds, yellow chrysanthemums, and a little bit of baby's breath and freesia for some contrast from all the yellows. Finally, you tied it together with a purple ribbon that you had bought years ago and promised to save for a special customer. A prince's fiancée was surely special enough.

"Here you go, Your Highness." You bowed your head as you held the finished product out to him.

"You are very good at this, thank you, Y/N." Prince Mark said approvingly, and gestured one of his servants over. The squirrelly man brought out a small bag and presented it to his master.

The prince opened it, nodded to himself, then set the bag down on the table with a faint jingle. "Your payment, miss. Thank you again."

As he walked away, you peered into the bag and your eyes widened at the many glittering coins inside it. These could sustain you for months!

"Your Highness, I can't accept this!" You called after him, but he was already in the carriage.

With a sigh, you watched it roll away and determined that you'd use the money wisely and never forget that you were indebted to him.

Several days rolled by and the prince's ball was almost upon the kingdom. You woke up the day before, prepared to go flower picking in the meadow behind your house before setting out to the market. However, in the middle of your dressing, a loud series of knocks struck your door. Quickly, you pulled on the rest of your clothes and ran to the front door.

When you opened it, a man accompanied by two Royal Guards met your gaze. "How may I help you?" You asked him politely.

"You have a summons to the court of the King and Queen of Cranken." The palace servant had a nasally voice as he held a piece of paper out to you.

Holding it in your hands, you were embarrassed that you couldn't read what was on it, you were only a peasant. "I'm sorry, may I ask why?"

"You're questioning your rulers?"

"Of course not! I just need to put on my shoes." You rushed the throw on your ragged, worn, too-small leather shoes before joining the men outside.

Startlingly, there was a small carriage waiting outside your house, and you nervously climbed in with the servant. You watched the houses of your village fly by and the impeding stone walls of the castle get even closer. The carriage didn't approach what seemed to be the main entrance, instead it took a sharp turn to a back entrance that appeared to be one of the servant's entryways.

The man led you inside and up to an intimidatingly large set of doors. A guard standing there opened it for you, gesturing you in. The servant left, and you took your first unsure steps in.

You had been led to the throne room, three large thrones set up on the far side. The tallest one held an aging man, the one to his left held a woman of about the same age, and the one on his right had a young man looking quite bored. As you got closer, you realized that this must be the Prince you'd heard about, the one who was just around your age.

Quickly remembering your manners, you curtsied as low as you could and held it for so long your legs stated to shake. But they hadn't released you yet, you needed to be strong.

"As you were." The King said, and you gratefully stood up straight again.

"Thank you." You mumbled.

"For what?" The prince snorted at your words. "For all you know we could've summoned you here to behead you."

"Ethan!" The queen gasped, chastising her son before turning to you with a reassuring smile. "We summoned you here for a completely different reason, Ms. Y/L/N."

"Yes, by recommendation of Prince Mark from Iplier, we are hiring you to make the flower arrangements for the Prince's ball tomorrow." Your king explained as the prince rolled his eyes at the mention of the ball. "Of course you'll be paid handsomely for your labor."

"I would be honored to do so, Your Majesty." You couldn't believe this was happening. Now you were even more in Prince Mark's debt, he had recommended you for the job.

"Good, you'll have tonight to coordinate with the Prince for theme, and tomorrow my servants will get you any supplies necessary for you to have them ready for the ball that begins at 8 at night. Understand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Understand, Ethan?" He said with a pointed look at the uninterested boy.

"Yes, Father." Prince Ethan seemed to be trying his best to not roll his eyes again, but obviously wasn't excited about the idea.

The Queen spoke again with the same pleased smile. "Wonderful. We'll leave you two to it."

With those words, the royal couple took leave of the room, and you made sure to curtsey until the door had firmly closed behind them. Now you were left in the room with Prince Ethan.

"What's your name?" He spoke monotonously, clearly still bored.

"Y/N Y/L/N, Your Highness." You replied quietly.

"Don't bother with that bullshit."

"Pardon?"

"You don't need to address me as 'Your Highness' or any other title like that. Just treat me as you would treat any peasant boy from town."

"Ah, I'm afraid I haven't had much interactions with them." You cleared your throat awkwardly.

"Why not? You're an okay-looking girl, your parents haven't married you off?" The Prince said bluntly as you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. Did he just, almost compliment you?

"People don't want to marry a girl with no parents to pay a dowry."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Thank you." You cleared your throat and changed the heavy subject. "So what theme are you planning the party around?"

"Just, kind of blue, I guess?"

"Is that your favorite color?" You looked up at the prince, noticing his pale blue eyes.

"Yes."

"Blue and silver? Or blue and gold?"

"Which would be easier to do with flowers?"

"Blue and gold."

"Then we'll do blue and silver." He said smugly, opening the door for you, a smile on his face.

"I can make it work." You thought about which flowers you could possibly arrange to tie in with a theme such as that.

"Do you need to write it down?" Prince Ethan asked, noticing your frustrated face as you tried memorizing your ideas.

"I can't read or write. But, I can still use the quill and paper."

He looked on with curiosity as you accepted the notebook and quill from him. Stopping at a small side table in the hall, you quickly started sketching out the flowers you'd need, and the possible combinations for arrangements.

"Do you have a favorite flower?" You asked him, making sure you could attend to his wants.

"Uh, the small blue ones and they're kind of bunched up?" Prince Ethan inadequately described it, and you tried imagining it.

Quickly making a small sketch, you held it out to him. "Like this?"

He nodded, and you smiled, knowing exactly which ones he was talking about. "Those are forget-me-nots. They're a beautiful flower. I can definitely include these in the arrangements."

"Thank you, Y/N."

"You're welcome, Prince Ethan."

He halfheartedly smiled at you before getting the attention of a passing servant. "Show her to her room, please?"

"Oh, I don't need a room, you can just take me back to my house." You quickly tried to argue, but the Prince stopped you with an annoyed look.

"We already have a room set up. Would you really want to insult your king and queen?"

"No!"

"Well then, let Sylvester show you to your room."

You only bowed your head to him in assent, and looked to the young man expectantly. You both left Prince Ethan cordially, and the servant led you down a series of hallways until you got to a small cluster of rooms underneath the kitchen. These must be the servants' quarters. Sylvester stopped at a small room with a small bed and a small window

"Thank you, Sylvester." You offered him a smile, and he kept his stoic appearance, nodding politely at you.

"Our dinner is at 9, after the family has been served. Until then, I was told to give you directions to the gardens in preparation for your assignment." He said, gesturing out of the window of your temporary room. "See that path there? Follow it until you get to a fork in the road. Take the right, and you'll soon be upon a large greenhouse and botanical gardens."

"Thank you."

The man left with a small bow to you, and you sat down on the bed to gather your bearings. You were in the castle. With your own room. And hired to arrange flowers for a ball tomorrow. By recommendation of another prince. Never in a million years would you think something like this would happen to you.