Suddenly, Queen found himself unable to meet with Fie. He was now the center of attention, what with marrying the woman recognized as the kingdom’s queen, but he did not let it go to his head. He still had to become a brave knight and find a way to provide for his and Fie’s life together. Thus he proceeded to calmly go about his training as he steadily checked off every item on the wedding preparation task list.
He met with King Roy once during the wedding preparations. His relationship with the king was very complicated as, by marrying Fie, he now had the authority to meet with a man no mere squire could ever dream of talking to. Also, in being a knight, Queen hoped to pledge his support to the king, whose sword skills he admired. And then, to top it all off, Roy was now also Queen’s (sort of) rival in love.
All this was enough to set Queen on edge, but Roy only gave Queen a smile that was as gentle as could be as they stood before each other. “I’m afraid I caused her terrible harm,” the king said. “It is perhaps not my place to say this, but please—make her happy for me.”
It was with this that Queen knew Roy truly regretted his actions and only wanted the best for Fie from now on. What happened in the past must have been a big misunderstanding or miscommunication—maybe a simple one, maybe a complex one, but either way, had it not happened, Queen would never have been lucky enough to meet Fie. Therefore, Queen decided to cherish this moment.
“I will,” he said.
And yet, despite his resolution, for some reason he couldn’t see her any more. As busy as she was, most of their meetings were arranged by her, and those invitations had all dried up. Furthermore, while he had heard she was occupied with planning the wedding, as far as he knew, all the prep work was done. Besides, it struck him as odd that she hadn’t invited him to help.
The wedding was now only three weeks away and rapidly approaching. So why had she abruptly cut him off? Maybe, he thought with horror, she regretted asking him to marry her. He wasn’t even a full knight yet, and on top of that, the whole kingdom loved having her as their queen. Besides, her relationship with the king wasn’t that bad either. It would make sense that she wanted to call off the wedding. After all, King Roy was already an incredibly brave knight, not to mention handsome, tall, and far more politically powerful than Queen. Queen couldn’t think of a single way in which he had the edge over Roy. His anxiety grew worse with every passing moment.
The other squires saw Queen looking depressed and decided to offer their expert analysis on the situation.
“Maybe she’s getting cold feet,” one of them said.
“You really think she’s the kind of person to get cold feet about anything?” said another.
In the end, none of them came up with satisfactory answers.
It was now two weeks since Queen had last seen Fie, and only one week remained before their wedding. Preparations were well underway for Fie to step down and be granted to Queen. Oddly, nothing seemed to be going wrong, apart from Fie not letting Queen see her. Even the other participants in the planning process hadn’t noticed any particular issues. From an objective perspective, their wedding looked like it would come off without a hitch—so what was going on?
The day came for their clothes fitting, and the maids came to help Queen prepare. Considering the formality of the ceremony, he had quite a bit of his own prep work to do. Although he refused help in the dressing itself, he allowed them to work their magic to ensure his shirt was free of wrinkles, choose the accessories for him to wear on the day of the wedding, and apply a light coat of makeup on his face for the first time in his life.
“We put in an order to a kingdom in the southeast to acquire this for you,” a maid told him, holding up a pot of powder that matched his skin tone.
“O-Okay...” he said.
The maids were having a grand old time as they applied the powder to his face. These maids were the same ones who served Fie, which meant they knew quite a lot about him already. He felt like he was at one of those family gatherings wherein his most distant relatives spent the entire time talking about him in elaborate detail.
“We understand that marriage is a sensitive topic for most gentlemen,” the maid went on, “but you must never, ever cheat on her if you know what’s good for you.”
“I would never,” Queen said. (And if anything, now Queen was the one worried about that! He knew she wasn’t the type to cheat, but if she ever did come across a new man, she’d probably just dump Queen outright.)
Also, why didn’t she want to speak to him? And—this was his biggest concern—why didn’t anyone else act like something was wrong? This was giving him a constant headache as the wedding approached. All he heard of her was that she was preparing for the wedding. But what in the world could she be doing up to the day before the ceremony? And without Queen, no less!
After dutifully finishing another day of training, he returned to his dorm room, his thoughts gloomy. I don’t understand what she’s thinking...
Then he noticed a piece of paper wedged in his door. His eyes grew wide as he saw the words “To Queen” written on it. That’s Fie’s handwriting! Frantically, he unfolded the paper and read:
Dear Mr. Queen Dober, the promising squire I’ve spent so many lovely days with,
I challenge you to a duel. I will meet you tonight at the designated location.
Yours,
Heath
He was supposed to be engaged to her, not engaged in battle with her! Nope, he thought. I really don’t understand what she’s thinking. (And really, could anyone blame him?)