Chapter Two Uncomfortably Long Road Trip

As sunlight from the new day encroaches on my slumber I-

Bam!Bam!Bam!

Oh, come on at least let me finish my internal monologue before you pound on my front door!

“I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Walking over to the door and realized I didn’t have any clothes on besides my underwear. Guess I was too tired to remember to change into some decent clothing.

“Come out already we’re don’t got all day!”

Oh! It was Rebecca. And just as I finished my though I heard my mom waking up behind me. Walking up to the side of the bed I open the third and last drawer of our nightstand and take out my clothes. It was the only nice pair of clothes I had and also happened to be the only pieces of clothing I have. It was a basic white button up shirt, pants, belt, and a tattered Jacket that opens at the front with a collar. It was in a bit of a sorry state—the left sleeve was half torn off. The bottom was lined with yellow and so was the collar of it.

Throwing my clothes on quickly I assisted my mother out of bed and opened the door—just as I thought. It was Rebecca standing outside the door arms crossed.

“C’mon let’s go!”

She started to walk back to the horse carriage before us, looking past her, I noticed there was a butler driving the carriage today instead of her, and there were no knights—which is unusual. Walking over to the carriage holding my mom’s hand I guided her into the carriage and sat her down on the leather cushioned seats. However, something this time was different from all the other rides in this exact carriage. Rebecca was for some reason sitting across from us.

“Uhm… hi, Rebecca!” I said, trying to break the tension.

“Listen up!”

“Ok, is there something you wanted to tell me?”

“Yeah, there is actually, the reason we found you another girl so quickly is because she’s a pain in the ass. According to word of mouth she’s beautiful—but definitely not the easiest to get along with. That’s great for you, ain’t it? Everyone can tell that grin of yours is fake.”

I mean she wasn’t wrong; And I am a people pleaser—but could she really be that hard to get along with?

I was under the impression I came across as easy-going, maybe I should change up my personality a bit.

“Anyway—here’s her description, about five foot five, so about five inches taller than you. She has blonde, messy hair purple eyes, and fair skin. Or that’s just what I’ve heard.”

Wow—it sounds like she looks beautiful, but if everything she says is true I’m guessing this won’t be easy. My mom was dozing off looking out her window on the right side of the carriage.

Bringing my gaze back to Rebecca and my mind to the task at hand, I asked a question.

“Sooo—what’s her name?”

“Ask her that when you get there, you have to have something to talk about when you arrive.”

Ok, so it was obvious she was no help, and I also had no idea how long the journey to wherever she was is going to be. Wait why am I even wondering about this? I have Rebecca right in front of me, why don’t I just ask her?

“How long will it be before we get there?”

“About a week, we’ll make a few stops at whatever towns we pass along the way. Hopefully by the end of everyday we’ll be able to find an inn to sleep at, although I highly doubt it.”

It could be worse, what if the trip there was two weeks instead of one? Well, I was still considerably tired so maybe I should try and get some sleep—by the looks of it this is going to be a boring trip.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I’ve been assigned as your… ‘Romance consultant’ or whatever that entails. Basically, they figured that since I was a teenage girl once, I’d know what this certain teenage girl wants.”

“Sounds rough” I said jokingly.

Dismissing her, I leaned my head on the wall near the window, watching the scene of all the shops and people crowding the cobble streets, children running around to play, that scene was soon taken over by a lush green forest.

If I had to describe this past week with one word, it’d be “annoying” It’s annoying because of the fact I had to deal with Rebeccas criticisms and the fact that we never stopped at an inn. For the most part we barely had any food, barely made any stops along the way unlike what was said. And if that wasn’t bad enough, me and my mom barely got any bread while Rebecca got twice the amount me and my mom got. At least the past trips we got to stay at some inns on our way there, even if the trips were longer. Oh yeah, if it was such a short trip then where are we?

“Hey Rebecca, the trip was shorter than it is usually, is there any reason for that?”

Rebecca looking out the window of the carriage turned towards me, her face looking a bit tired.

“Yeah, there is a reason, I guess princess isn’t really the right word to describe her, part of the reason is that she’s the daughter of a noble that nobody likes because he has a hefty price for anyone trying to pass in and out of this kingdom. So, trying to have her agree to marry you is a desperate attempt by the noble and your father.

“Oh yeah by the way what kingdom are we in?”

“We’re still in Venreere”

Oh, ok I see—so the girl isn’t a princess, and we’re still in the same kingdom we started this journey in. I guess I’m no longer fit to marry a princess, or maybe I’ve just run out of options that are nearby, or maybe the rising tension in the surrounding kingdoms is the problem and not so much how close the girls happen to be to me.

“Well, we’re arriving there today, right?”

“Yup, that’s right”

She said, moping a little. Rebecca sounded exhausted, which rubbed me the wrong way considering me and my mom arguably had it worse this whole trip. Moving the curtain out of the way, letting me gain access to the view outside. We were on a bridge passing over a large river, the bridge was constructed out of the cobble. And looking around the surrounding area there was Brightly colored houses with shingled roofs, and a bright blue sky.