All was silent for a moment.

Finally, I brushed my skirt, straightened up, and smiled. "RIGHT," I winced, realizing I said that a bit too loudly.

I cleared my throat and tried again at a lower volume. "Well. Your majesties. It was a once in a lifetime honour to meet you both. We best be going home now... To our lowly peasant homes. I'm sure we will never meet again, and you will soon forget us, the Johnston siblings, such that even if we were to run into one another down the line, you would not recognize our faces. If you think you see us in the future, say at one of the many social events you of the upper echelons of society partake in, know it could not be us as we will soon succumb to our own poverty. As such, I hope you pardon my transgressions and not allow us to waste a moment more of your time."

Prince Luther looked at me with an unreadable smile as I not-so-calmly word vomited. "Are you done?" He asked with a hint of humour.

Eden shook his head in disbelief. "Oh Goddess. What transgressions? I left you alone for mere minutes."

"You two must be Briar and Eden Bell," Prince Luther said brightly.

Shoot. Now I've insulted them and got caught lying to their faces. If only I could tell what the older prince was thinking. Just as literally every emotion crosses the younger prince's face, nothing shows on the older one's besides that same empty smile.

"I apologize for not immediately greeting you properly your highnesses," Eden said, bowing from the waist. I lacklustrely did the same. "What brings you to this part of the kingdom?" My brother asked.

"We've actually travelled all of this way to meet you," The Prince said.

"M-me?" Eden asked in disbelief.

"Does our household know you're coming?" I asked in confusion.

The prince looked at us in bafflement. "Of course, we sent word a week prior and received confirmation from the earl."

"They never informed me," Eden said in dismay, "I would have been there to greet you right now, had I known."

"Weird," I said, and then froze in place. "SHIT."

Both princes looked at me in scandalized shock. So he could make another face if you caught him enough off guard.

"Sorry," I nodded to them and turned to Eden. "The house must have been on Eden protocol."

"Eden protocol?" He asked, properly baffled.

"Ok, don't be mad but... when you freaked out for, like, the entire month before your coming of age ceremony, we decided we shouldn't tell you about things too far in advance that would needlessly stress you."

Eden opened his mouth to protest, a look of indignation already crossing his face.

"Listen," I said, cutting him off. "There is no time, we have to MOVE. They are probably scouring the house right now to get you ready."

He freed himself from me and rubbed his temples. "Oh no, this isn't good Briar. I think I now better understand your previous exclamation."

"Yeah, no duh," I agreed. I turned to the Princes with a forced smile. "Kind sirs, it is not my place to ask a favour of royalty... but I do request you please act as if we have never met upon your entrance to our manor."

"Why?" Asked Lucas cluelessly tilting his head.

I gestured around to the town, "Yeah, we did NOT get permission to be out here." I ruffled his soft yellow curls. "But hey, here's a treat. Remember how I said you'd never see Eden run again in your lifetime?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"You are definitely about to see it again."

With that, we SPRINTED back home.

Just as I expected, the servants were running around the gardens, yelling our names. The panic in the air was PALPIBLE. We had to be extra sneaky climbing the outer wall. Within moments of standing in the garden, we were 'found' and the crowds of maids and butlers descended on us in a frenzy. It was terrifying.

We were whisked away to the mansion, in such a rush that I swear at certain parts of the journey, my feet were not touching the ground. I was elaborately dolled up, more extensively than for any tea party or play date I'd been on, and in half the time- meaning the process was painful. Powder was practically punched onto my face and the makeup clouded the air like chalk off of chalkboard brushes being clapped together. I coughed as it entered my lungs. I usually refused to wear this stuff, but today I didn't get an option. It took layers upon layers to hide my tanned skin.

"Isn't this exciting young miss? Real princes are here to visit! You must impress them, you'll never get a chance like this again!" A maid urged me. She gripped my arm, "You know this is important right?"

"YES," I said in irritation, yanking my arm away. they were treating like a child. Oh wait...

Velma paced in front of me. "You remember your manners right?" She asked.

"Yes," I sighed.

"What will you do when you walk in?" She drilled as my hair was abused, torn and tugged into elaborate braids.

Between winces I replied: "I will walk in- OUCH!- I will curtsy deeply and say 'Prince Luther, Prince Lucas, we of the Bell family are ever so pleased by your visit. I do hope later you will allow me to give you a tour of the gardens."

A pink dress with puffed sleeves and white bows was pulled out of the closet. Oh yikes. It's like the Kelly-version of that dress from the Barbie Princess and Pauper movie. Well, the quicker you're into it the quicker you're out of it.

I let the assault continue, Velma reminding me that it wouldn't have hurt so much if we hadn't 'hid' from them when they were searching for us.

Eventually, and not quickly enough, they were finished and we were all sat in the reception room. Eden, myself and our parents on one couch, facing the two princes across the coffee table on the other.

"I'm very sorry for my children's tardiness," our father apologized. "They must have lost track of time playing out in the garden. I really do hope you take up Briar's offer later to take you both on a tour, the gardens are truly the pride of the estate."

"Of course," the older prince said, "Lady Bell, we would be honoured." A response his culture teacher probably also drilled into him. The insincerity was well masked by his princely aura.

"Oh please," I said charmingly, "Lady Bell is my mother's name, call me Briar."

"Yes, Briar then," he nodded.

"Can I call you Briar too?" Asked Lucas excitedly.

"Of course," I beamed.

"Great!" He grinned. There was a moment's pause where Prince Luther looked at him expectantly.

"Lucas, didn't you have something for her?" Luther finally asked.

"Oh right!" The younger prince said, popping up off the couch and walking over. He knelt on one knee. "Briar, have this flower."

"Thanks," I said with a slightly awkward smile.

After too long of a pause, he said; "Right, I'm supposed to say your dress looks pretty now."

Am I being romanced by this child?

I tried to shake it off with jokingly saying, "Then say it."

I could feel my whole family shoot me a look.

"But I did?" Prince Lucas said in perplexment. He turned to his brother. "Right?"

The other Prince looked a little embarrassed. "I suppose... in a way."

"My mistake," I said. Even I had felt bad making fun of this little puppy dog. "I'm glad you just happened to have caught me in my Sunday best, but truly, if only I had known your highnesses were coming, I would have made myself more presentable."

I knew Lucas wouldn't get the sarcasm so I directed it to Luther over his shoulder. The servants standing at attention around the parameter of the room who had worked so hard to Cinderella my hopeless self had no idea that the princes had already seen me prior to the transformation, dirt-stained from alley soccer and with a face eight skin shades darker.

The prince's professional smile cracked for just a second into a smirk at my obvious lie and I crinkled my nose in the delicious conspiracy.

Lucas returned to his seat next to his brother, satisfied with his good work.

"Right well, onto the matter of your visit," father said.

"Yes of course," Luther agreed. "As you know I have recently had my tenth birthday. As is customary, it is now time I start building my inner circle and I'm currently searching for an aide."

Eden tensed, "An aide?"

This was no minor thing. Becoming a prince's aide, especially the first prince's was the greatest honour a young noble boy could receive. You essentially become the right-hand man and best childhood friend of the future king. It was definitely the ultimate resume padder.

Prince Luther nodded, "Yes, I am currently travelling around and meeting possible candidates. After hearing word of the work you did to fix the Brightbell county's tax system, you became a more than qualified prospect."

Lucas grinned, "and I came along this time because I heard there'd be someone my age to play with!"

Aww, what a cute little cinnamon roll.

Wait...

Was that me?

A sense of horror washed over me.

I had grossly miscalculated on my portrayal of a seven-year-old if this is what actual seven-year-olds are like.

From the corner of my eye, I saw my family members dawning on a realization I was hoping they wouldn't.

"You... are Briar's age, Prince Lucas?" Eden asked in disbelief having had just heard me casually throw out terms like 'benign paroxysmal positional vertigo' earlier in the day.

"Yes," He said with a dimple-filled smile. "I'm seven and a half years old!" This toddler is technically older than me.

"... And how is schooling going?" Mother asked kindly, also keying-in that something was amiss.

"My teacher says I'm way ahead! I can already multiply some numbers up to my twos times table!"

Mother and father both glanced at me thoughtfully. Eden had just needlessly announced to our parents the other day at breakfast that I could now multiply and divide fractions and non-integer values. Which I guess hadn't raised any alarms for them back then because they had no idea what a normal seven year old was like either.

Oh boy. I was trying to emulate a typical kid by just keeping a little behind Eden. How was I to know Eden was a MEGA GENIUS in this world? Enough so to be a candidate for being the aide to the first prince? This was hardly my fault, literally the only kid I'd ever met my that was my age was actually a middle-aged Japanese woman.

"Oh, very impressive," mother said weakly.

I had always been able to coast with being the hopeless one by hiding behind Eden's brilliance and it had given me a lot of freedom to do as I pleased with little expectations. I hoped this wasn't going to change anything...