༻✦༺Kim Ye-Rim as Louise Frankland༻✦༺

༻✦༺T H E  V E I L E D༻✦༺

Louise tapped her index finger on the silver, metallic tray impatiently. Her grip on the dishware tightened by every passing second as she firmly pressed her head against the creamy wall. She bent to her left, trying to peek at a very occupied Alexander, engulfed in heavy piles of papers and stationary. 

His pitch black hair was tangled all over his forehead, covering his feline eyes and his hand squeezed on his temple to somehow compensate for the burden he felt heavy on himself.

Louise was constantly debating.

Should she barge in like a confident woman and demand Alexander to have some evening tea with her?

Or should she knock, offer him some refreshments and then politely leave?

Louise glanced back at Alexander, her heart speedily thumping against her ribs.

To her, he was of essence beyond belief.

He was ethereal.

Her savior.

Only she could see the tender hearted and loving man behind his frozen facade.

His desires and yearns that he had sunk deep in his heart.

His selflessness that nobody could ever realize.

The human in him who was deemed unworthy.

If only people could notice....

Louise extensively inhaled, she couldn't even bring the courage to look him in the eye, talking to him was a whole other challenge and she was no dare devil.

Her hand plucked up the white, floral patterned cup of herbal tea, balancing it perfectly on a matching porcelain saucer. 

She set it on the floor by his door.

She wasn't going to knock, she wasn't going to make him notice her, Louise swiftly turned her back and strode away.

She could  live all her life by praising and admiring him behind closed doors.

He shouldn't get a whiff of her, he should just forget she still existed.

Louise kept her feet steady, her pace so slow that not even the click of her heels could be heard, her head hung down and her inner cheek bit firmly in her teeth.

She was a coward after all.

"Good evening."

Louise's feet became rooted to the ground, her eyes enlarged and her palms tightly clutched the tray in her hand.

She couldn't contemplate if she should rotate and face the source of the heavy, manly voice that rang through the hallway.

Or just run.

As fast as she can.

Out of the palace, the city, the whole empire.

Louise gradually spun around, her brows knit together in anxiety, the color of her skin shifting to different shades.

From beet red to complete pale. 

The glass tableware on her tray clanked with each other, due to her quivering hands, creating an unflattering noise.

"If you're thinking of selling the jewels on your neck to earn a bit of cash so you could start a new life outside the empire, I suggest changing your priorities."

Alexander leaned by the door frame, his arm folded by his chest and his eyes keenly scanning the peterfied Louise.

Crap.

If anything, Alexander's wits have always added to his charm, but this time it felt like every bit of it would drag Louise straight to her coffin.

"I-uh-um....t-tea."

She stammered, her mouth opening for a few fleeting seconds to muster out understandable words and then closing after her failed efforts.

Perhaps she should opt for sign language, pretend to be mute.

At least that eliminates for herself all the talking she has to do.

"Why is it on the floor and not in my hands?"

Alexander questioned, switching his attention to the warm drink sitting by the door.

Louise clenched her bottom lip uneasily, her thoughts flew to all the galaxies and dimensions living in her mind in a hunt for any reasonable excuse.

"I-it'll be in your h-hands when you pick it u-up."

Alexander squinted his lids, his lips split and gave Louise a wide gawk.
He rolled his orbs, scoffing in the process.

"You know that's not what I meant."

He inched towards her, his arms now by his side.

"You are allowed to enter my room and look me in the eye, I don't bite."

Louise walked backwards simultaneously.

She highly doubted that at the moment.

Alexander paused in his tracks, he studied her panicked and nervous state intently and sighed.

"I don't like you-"

"I know."

Louise cut him off, willingly covering her face with her uneven brunette strands.

She shifted her gaze around the hallway, to anywhere but Alexander.

Her body fidgeted, scratching the back of her neck with her free hand.

"I know you never liked me-"

"How long are you going to keep this up then?"

Alexander's brows downcast and his fists tightened in result of the hefty tension that now surrounded the air.

He moved towards her rapidly this time, his feet accidentally kicked over the cup of tea lying on the ground, spilling its content all over.

Louise watched the brownish liquid drenching the crimson carpet and Alexander's polished black boots progressing towards her.

She felt a flash of irritation, anger plunged through her veins.

The tip of her fingers turned white from the amount of strength she used to grip the tray in her hand.

"My apologies for not being a professional at something I can't control to begin with."

Her stuttering tongue had disappeared with her nerve racking state.

 Louise whipped her head around and marched steadily before breaking into a dash.

She charged for the exit in haste, the herbal tea in the remaining two cups in the tray splashed right and left, tainting her pink ruffled dress, she completely lost her composure.

Louise didn't care, not anymore.

The kaleidoscope of memories and thoughts rushed, wild in her brain.

She blinked back the tears that threatened to spill out, 

she didn't know if she should be mad or let go of hope altogether.

Her ears sung from the echoes of Alexander's shouts, calling out her name, asking her to stop.

But Lousie ran.

Away from all the pain.

Away from him.

She laid her hand on the cold wall to even out her breathing as she gently dropped the tray on the wooden flooring.

Her sweaty palms ceaselessly wiped off the tears that immediately settled on her puffed cheeks and her lids closed to conceal her bloodshot eyes.

She felt suffocated in these four walls, in this Palace.

She felt horribly lonely and low-grade.

With no one to share her secrets with and no one to mend her broken spirit, she lived day after day blanketing herself in a cloak of invisibility.

For her it would have been a lot easier, if she survived like a dust particle in the air, only visible when the sunlight beams in and disappears into the shadows of the night.

Only visible when all her misery ends, and disappears when the dark times come looming in. 

"I said get out!"

Louise straightened herself, masking her features from pain to curiosity, which she was. 

The familiar feminine voice made her roam her head around trying to locate it's origin.

She resolved her eyes on an irked Gabriella, pushing and shoving Prince Theodore out of her room with all her might.

Her curly locks budged in all directions, a stream of prespiration twinkled, as it strolled down her cheeks.

"Have you no self-respect? He didn't even choose you yet here you are wooing over him."

Prince Theodore spoke as he stood unhinged, Ella's smacks and punches having no effect on his muscular physique.

 "Oh, that's rich coming from someone like you."

Ella replied, this time trying to slam the door of her room shut, with her frail back.

She would have succeeded, though, if Prince Theodore's elbow wasn't forcefully stuck in the doorway, refraining Ella from fulfilling her purpose.

"I'm serious, for me it's always you."

Louise was positioned in the corner, still as a log. 

Her mouth drifted open in awe.

She knew Prince Theodore had a thing for Ella, it was hard not to know of course.

Partly because he was found near Ella more often than anyone else.

And especially because Princess Irene's tantrums had only flared every since the interaction between the commoner girl and him increased.

Louise wasn't present on the day of the tournament hence she was unaware of all the chaos that went on during it.

She had only tried to make sense of something about Ella breaking all rules by participating in the competition because it was "All-men" and some faint details of her stealing Prince Theodore from Princess Irene.

Louise wanted to know more, but that was as much information as she could comprehend from all the yelling Princess Irene did after she returned from the contest.

Her dainty, soft hands grabbed the now half-filled beverage, the herbal tea, the sticky hazel liquid dripped from the brim, leaving a nasty smudge on the cup's surface.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. 

Prince Theodore and Ella were now halted in their actions and stared at Louise with an equally confused expression.

Her mouth tugged upwards, forming a suggestive smile.

They probably didn't know their childish bicker game had an audience. 

Fools, palace whispers travels faster than light. 

It was truly amusing to catch Ella in her blushed and embarrassed state.

Prince Theodore on the other hand seemed rather..... unbothered.

Louise waved the mug in front of Ella's face and placed it on the table beside her room.

"For you."

She uttered before quickly, leaving the duo to their almost quarrel.

Louise had poured some hot drink for Ella and Princess Irene since she knew of the punishment they had received at the hands of Alexander. 

The little cozy snack was meant to relax them since he could be very harsh at times.

She was only suppose to prepare it for the two girls, 

The third cup of tea,

she had unconsciously prepared for Alexander and she probably didn't even know why.

Louise had always cared for him like that... senselessly, 

her thoughts always pinned at him no matter how hard she tried to divert them.

Her feet wandered to the royal quarters, carrying the last remaining beverage for her friend, carefully holding it in her bare hands, cautiously making her way to her final destination.

The Princess's room.

The thought of Princess Irene leisurely chugging down the homely tea made her cheer up.

"Emmet... do you believe in destiny?"

Louise hesitated taking another step forward as Princess Irene's feeble murmurs, churned through her ears. 

She peeked through the narrow space in the door.

The room was glimmering with gold and sparkle, but in that moment, everything to her was a blurr.

She could only see Princess Irene and Prince Emmet, moving in close proximity. 

Prince Emmet's hand caressed her jaw.

His eyes deeply bored into hers and his other veiny hand secured a certain flower.

A white lily.

Louise was numb.

The well known feeling of distress and heartbreak overtook her.

She pinched her skin, trying to pull herself back into her long lost senses.

The tear drops that she had previously rubbed off her cheeks warned to linger in her eyes again.

She kept huffing, her vain attempts to normalize her flustered self.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Louise knew who it was,standing behind her.

Always turning up to scold her wherever she went.

Alexander.

She contemplated throwing the little cup in her hand, letting it shatter into millions like her weakly mended heart. 

The mask, she so carefully crafted, started to slip away. Threatening to reveal the bitter truth.

She refused to face him yet again and chanted prayers in her heart for everything to just end.

Alexander huffed, breathless, his hands started to move, trying to mimic the words he tried to speak at frist.

"I don't like you-

He cut himself short, adjusting his shirt.

I don't like you doing this to yourself."

He stated.

Louise shook her head to the sentence she dreaded to hear, the sentence she didn't let him complete the last time they chatted.

"I know you never liked me-

Her hands slipped through her hair..

-being so timid and introverted regarding how I actually feel."

Alexander's eyes followed Louise's, he flinched at the scene playing right in front of him.

Princess Irene and Prince Emmet, holding on to each other so intimately.

"What's stopping you Louise? When will you learn to be true to yourself?"

He spat, snatching her wrist as he dragged closer to the spot where they sat;  where they held the other with love in their eyes. 

A mourn escaped Louise's lips.

"Today you will tell him, you will tell Prince Emmett that's him you really love."

His brows furrowed in rage, 

"How long are you going to keep this up-

Alexander tapped his feet in annoyance.

-How long are you going to pretend to like me, trying to fool everyone else?"

Louise was a sobbing mess. 

Her eyelashes wet and her skin reddened from all the sniffing.

She tried pulling back her wrist with all her strength, but failed awfully in response.

Alexander drew back his hand, letting her go. 

A pang of guilt flashed through his eyes as he watched Louise in such a sorrowful condition. 

Even he did not have the heart to force her like this.

"Forgive me." 

He muttered.

He and Louise had been good friends for some time now, she had known him the longest and understood him the most just as did he.

He slid on the floor along with Louise who was shivering with occasional hiccups. 

Their backs were planted on the wall and their knees pulled close to their faces.

He glanced at her, fetching out a napkin from his pocket.

"You call me your saviour because I have never failed to aid you in your ridiculous mission."

Alexander shifted his gaze to the roof, his fingers grasping the bridge of his nose.

"Your mission of substituting your real love interest, with me."

Louise seized the napkin from Alexander's hands, bowling her nose into it.

She stared at Princess Irene and Prince Emmet through the door, they were engaged in a heart-to-heart exchange, talking endlessly.

It had always "rained" woman for Prince Emmett, 

wherever he went,

wherever he looked.

And Louise was no exception.

She had loved him secretly for years, 

but concealed it like a turtle retreating into his shell, for she could never, in her wildest dreams, ever betray her friend like that.

She could never be that somebody, that villian, 

who would sneak Princess Irene's happiness away from her.

Louise knew Princess Irene would come around him some day,

she would yield to the pure love Prince Emmett holds for her, 

because no one on earth could possibly resist him.

Louise herself couldn't.

Prince Emmett loved Princess Irene with all his being.

Snuggling her close to his chest under his "umbrella",

 Lucky, wasn't she?

"My apologies for not being a professional at something I can't control to begin with."

She glimpsed at Alexander, her hands patted her dress in order to remove the creases that now adorned on it as she stood on her feet again. 

Slightly closing the door to Princess Irene's chambers, like she was closing a book or finishing a chapter, struggling with everything in her to start anew.

She placed the now cold cup of tea by her door,

 just as she did with Alexander's.

Her lips folded into a small smile as she looked at him.

"Im happy-

Louise was ready,

-if they are"

to live as she always lived.

Veiled.

Author's Note:

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Keep your eyes open,

your senses crystal,

look for them,

the hints, 

the clues,

that I have concealed and blended within the words,

for everything, 

is not what it seems.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

The chapter is dedicated to @Cloudsanddawn, my friend and editor who has helped me tons with my story.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Our Prince Emmett is stuck in a little ladies harem, lol.

Our boy is a ladies man.