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Maud waits patiently in the carriage, a whole two minutes after they have stopped. She closed the curtains a long time ago, and covered herself up completely with the veil. The sounds from outside the vehicle are loud and scary, she can hear murmurs and soldiers talking loudly. She knows that she's supposed to wait here until Adelio comes to open the door for her, but whatever she'll be facing on the other side of these doors makes her more and more anxious by the minute.

The fact that Adelio has to come with her is just another way men control women these days. It used to be different in the past, where women could even rule if they wanted to, and serve in the army. The centuries old first female ruler of this kingdom is the only evidence of such a time. But now, married women should be accompanied by their husbands, and unmarried women by their fathers or brothers. Maud is a married woman now, so she is expected to only be seen with one man by her side and absolutely nobody or nothing else. Not alone, always with him. That's the life of a woman here. Maud wishes that it was different. If only there was a woman in a high position of power right now, someone who wasn't just the wife of a king or prince, or the sister of one, but actually one. How amazing would that be?

"His highness is coming now"

Maud hears her maid whisper to her from the outside. Penny left the carriage through the west door immediately when they arrived. She's supposed to open the carriage door for her when Adelio stands in front of it. Maud can hear her husband's heavy footsteps and she holds her breath, fixes her dress and her hair and veil to absolute perfection. This is what she needs to be. Perfect, perfect in front of her new father in law and sisters in law. The royals and nobles that will inevitably be standing by the main entrance of the Red Lion palace. And a part of her feels happy that she is received this way, and not through the back door like she was last time. But another part of her isn't too overjoyed, as she knows it's only because of her husband's status that she is allowed to be let in so publicly.

Of course, on a personal level, the people standing outside her carriage are more interested in her than they are in the prince. She's their new crown princess after all, and nobody has seen her face before.

The door opens with a loud squeak. Maud stands up from her seat in the carriage and heads for the opening, a bright light shining through. The curtains swing by the impact, and suddenly everything is dead silent. They are all looking at her, Maud knows it. And to see her for the first time, to hear her for the first time, everybody has gone quiet. But all she sees is Adelio, as his handsome face peeks through the carriage, and his hand is reached out for her to take. He looks like he always does, serious and cold. But Maud swears that she can see something else on his face too. Like something is bothering the prince. Nervousness, or perhaps annoyance?

Maud accepts his outreached hand and takes a firm grip around it to steady herself. She doesn't want to fall out of a carriage on her first official day as crown princess, now does she? Adelio is strong and reliable, his hand doesn't waver and it feels reassuring to put her pink high heeled shoe on the carriage step and peek outside. Her dress falls perfectly down her figure, and her veil stays in place, barely hiding Maud's thoroughly brushed and fixed brown hair. Maud bites her lip in concentration, as she gracefully gets down from the carriage with everybody's eyes on her. She doesn't dare to look up and see them, afraid of puking or fainting at the sight of them.

Once she has reached the ground, Maud expects Adelio's grip to waver. She forgot her place as a wife, always expected to lean on her husband. Adelio doesn't let go. His grip barely loosens but it can't be noticed from the crowd. The princess breathes out shakily, and basks in the surprising freshness of the Red Lion palace air. Outside in the countryside and even in the capital, the air is pressingly hot this time of year. Maud has experienced that over the last few weeks. But here, surrounded by hundreds of trees and dozens of fountains, the palace is refreshingly breezy and the air isn't as dry as it is on the outside. Carefully letting her eyes wander from one thing to another, Maud and Adelio make their way up the wide marble staircase of this huge palace.

This is the main entrance, with one extremely large door at the very top of the wide staircase. Servants stand by the edges of the stairs, and guards in a row all the way up. On the bottom of the staircase there is a white stone road, which leads all around the front palace courtyard, around flashy gardens, fountains, statues and eventually, the giant main gate. The palace itself is a whitish yellow stone building, round and fancy and perfectly polished. Parts of it are built out of glass, but most parts are either stone or nothing. To keep the heat from pressing into the buildings, most doorways are without actual doors, and many windows without glass. There are several open air balconies too, and random sculptured holes in the walls to let the breeze through. Maud likes how wonderfully the architecture reflects on the environment. It's so very different from her own home country and its standard architecture.

The trumpets sound, as they take step after step. Even the trumpets sound different from the ones Maud is relatively used to. Her pink dress makes her shine under the sun, and look even more beautiful than she usually is. The perfect white pearls surrounding the dress are the main reason for its bright aura. Maud isn't exactly sure what she looks like to these people, but when she subtly glances at the maids faces, all she does see is amazement, curiosity or awe. It boosts her confidence, and makes her feel just a little less nervous. If the maids like her, surely the royal family will at least tolerate her. Right? Besides, it's only the female members of the court that she should worry about. The king and the officials only care about her looks and obedience, they'll like her either way as long as she acts properly and keeps her mouth shut. The female part of the court includes the ladies and the princesses, as long as they like her she'll be fine.

She'll be fine...

"We will greet my father first, then my sisters in age order"

Maud is surprised to hear Adelio whisper to her, whilst still keeping a stone face. She gives him a hum of acknowledgment and continues walking. The three princesses of these kingdoms, in age order, are standing on the top of these stairs together with their father. Maud wonders what they look like, or what they'll think of her. She is curious about everything. Their walk up the stairs seems endless, until suddenly they are standing there. Right in front of him, the king. Maud breathes in deeply through her nose to calm herself.

He looks sick.

Maud doesn't know what she was expecting, but he looks sick. Old and pale, dark rings under his eyes and wrinkles all over. He doesn't look like a grandfather, not really, but definitely a man at a late stage of life. He tries to stand upright but still crouches a bit, his posture bad. Maud can see his knees shake, just a little bit, and already knows that it must be painful for him to walk and stand. That's how it was for her father. Her adoptive father, if you will. But even though he is old, and shorter than his son, the king is still an intimidating sight. His dark eyes stare down at Maud, assessing her, practically reading her soul and judging every molecule of her being. Maud lowers her gaze. Adelio speaks up first.

"Father, we are home"

He bows before continuing, and Maud is quick to follow him. She's not a beat too late, senses on overdrive. Maud won't make a single mistake, not now and not ever. An immense pressure falls down on her shoulders as Adelio speaks.

"My trip was a successful one. I've brought home my wife, our crown princess"

Adelio isn't speaking very loudly, but his voice travels far because everyone else is silent. You could hear a pin drop, Maud thinks, as she watches the king's eyes fall back to her from his son. She knows that everybody is watching. They can see her beautiful dress, the expensive pearls that surround it, her brown hair under the fancy white veil and her impeccable posture. That's all she'll allow them to see. Nothing else is important. What she looks like, and how she acts, that's all that matters. And if that's all that matters, it's easy to fool them all. Including Adelio, including this king. Maud bows gracefully to her new king, knowing that from now on she belongs to this kingdom and no other. Just like Adelio said.

"Your majesty"

Maud's greeting is all she's going to say to him. That's what's expected of her. That is the only proper thing to say. The king eyes her for one more moment, waiting for her to make a mistake by saying something else. But Maud keeps her cool, staring at him with a kind and obedient look in her eye. She doesn't falter, barely dares to blink. Eventually the king gives up, and she has passed his initial test. He flashes a smile, putting everyone at ease.

"Welcome to the royal family, princess Margaret"

They continue on to the next royal not long after that. Maud gets ready to face her first princess, ever. Currently fourth highest in the palace, head princess Alisiah, stands proudly next to her father. After the king, Adelio and now Margaret, she is the fourth most important and highly placed person in the kingdom. That's what earns her the title head princess, which is a title given to acknowledge the power of the first princess of the kingdom. A prince might always become the heir, but the first princess can rest assured, she'll be given a title too. Still, as crown princess Margaret knows that she's now above her. But that won't change anything. It won't change her nerves, it won't change how superior the princess seems to be, and it won't change the fact that Alisiah is raised princess and Maud is most definitely not.

At first sight, Maud is in awe of her sister-in-law's beauty. She is dressed in a red long gown with beautiful golden stitching, forming the pattern of a graceful bird. As head princess, she wears the colors of the kingdom. She also wears a light black veil over her hair, intertwined with her simple and yet extraordinarily beautiful golden tiara, decorated with five shining rubies. Her face is similar to Adelio's, but with a slightly more feminine twist. She has long beautiful eyelashes, a unique yet gorgeous nose, sharp jaw and beautiful dark brown eyes. Maud tries to read the emotions in her eyes, and thankfully finds a more neutral expression, a huge improvement from the hateful or judging one she was expecting.

"Sister, this is my wife princess Margaret"

Maud knows how the hierarchy goes. Even though she wants to bow first, feeling inferior in front of this shockingly wonderful princess, she waits for Alisiah to do it. That's how it's supposed to go. You bow first if you are lower in rank. Maids courtesy to ladies of the court, noble ladies curtsy to princesses, princesses curtsy to crown princesses and crown princesses curtsy to queens. Not that there is a queen in this kingdom. Maud won't mention it though. It's not like she has a living mother, either.

Once Alisiah has bowed, Maud does the same. Adelio doesn't. Unless significantly lower in rank, men don't bow to women. Especially not royal men. A prince, for example, wouldn't bow to Maud as crown princes, if there was one here. If that's unfair, Maud doesn't really care. She's here to survive, not to complain.

"Greetings, Your highness"

They continue on to the next princess. Adelio has three sisters, and the two younger ones are only one year apart. They are often forgotten at court, as a woman without a title like 'head princess' or 'crown princess', is only important for political marriage and nothing else. But Maud is still in awe of their discipline, beauty and poise. The second oldest one is wearing a gentle pastel green dress with a similar veil to Maud's, with small little diamonds stitched into the fabric. She is slightly shorter than the other two princesses, and is the only one with a warm smile occasionally twitching on her face. Maud is relieved at that. If she's smiling so genuinely, it must mean that she likes her, right?

"This is my sister, Aadhya. Aadhya, this is my wife Margaret"

They greet each other just like they did with Alisiah. It's not long until the youngest princess is right in front of them. At seventeen years old, she's the only minor left in the family, but she still towers over both of her older sisters. The youngest seems the most serious, perhaps still bad at hiding her expression. She doesn't look mean, but she does look quite fierce, which probably isn't so good for her as a woman. Maud still appreciates her show of self-expression. She is dressed in a light blue dress, and a part of Maud feels like it's a show of support from where she is from, the Blue Knight kingdom. She is tall and has more masculine features than the rest of them, oddly reminding Maud of Adelio himself.

They have an uncanny resemblance. It makes Maud think.

"Aamu, this is my wife Margaret"

Adelio repeats the same mantra as he did last time. Maud desperately tries to memorize the faces of her sisters-in-law. She'll be living in the same wing of the palace with them from now on, after all. Hopefully they'll get along. Once the introductions are finished, they start moving towards the huge doors of the palace. Adelio leans down to her ear to whisper.

"You did great"

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