Chapter 20: Chapter 20

"Wine drunk?" I questioned. "You want to get wine drunk with me in the middle of the afternoon?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Why the hell not?" I playfully glared at him and rolled my eyes. Roman was undoubtedly an interesting character. He seemed to have a careless attitude of things, which made me think differently about him. I am so used to the seriousness and formal conversations that a silly sentence like he just said caught me off guard.

"There are a million reasons why that would be a terrible idea, but maybe I'll consider it another day," I said with a smirk playing on my lips as I walked past him. Roman caught up to me and walked along my side.

"Now that you don't have your parole officer isn't around, I just thought that you'd want to-"

"Which one are you talking about?" He pressed his finger on his chin and looked to the ceiling while he laughed.

"Both. However, I think I'm emphasizing the Emperor. He must be the worst." He said.

"I honestly can't tell you who is worse. The Emperor treats me like a child, and King Heart is unhealthily obsessed with me." Roman tucked his top lip in and gave me a slight glance.

"What are the millions of reasons?" He asked me.

"What?"

"You said that there were a million reasons not to get drunk in the afternoon. I would love to hear them." Not actually having a million reasons, I licked my lips to stall from answering. "That is what I thought." I laughed at him and softly nudged his arm.

"I don't have a million... but maybe one," I said. " I'm worried that your father will find us both passed out on the floor." Roman just tossed my reason to the side. "What? It would be a horrible first impression of me."

"Princess, you don't pass out from getting wine drunk. I mean, if you want that, I have plenty of vodka upstairs-"

"Roman!" I stopped him from continuing. "We are not getting drunk!" He rose his arms up in defense.

"Fine..fine!" He exclaimed. "Not today.." We made our way out of the wine cellar and back up the stairs. "Speaking of alcohol...would you like to come to a party tonight?" I furrowed my brows at him.

"A party? Aren't you supposed to keep me hidden?" I questioned.

"There will be no regular citizens attending, only people that live in the castle. You can have full trust in our people here. While you were still asleep, we informed everyone in the castle about your situation."

"How do you know that they won't say anything?" I asked, anxiety beginning to build up in my chest.

"Just trust me. My father only has the most trustworthy friends and staff in this castle and that goes to his parties."

"Are parties just that common here? What is this party for anyways?" I asked.

"Yes, parties are quite common. Sometimes they have no reason behind them, but today marks my father's 30th year as king. It is one of our most fun parties if I say so myself." Roman made sure to shoot a wink at me with the last remark. As we now aimlessly walked, I debated on whether or not to go. "You can say no."

I thought into it a little more but found myself curious about these parties of his. "Okay, I'll go." He celebrated by raising his fist.

"Yes!" He whispered excitedly. "I promise that you won't regret it."

"You mean... only if I'm extremely intoxicated?" I butt in, looking ver to him. Roman scoffed and shook his head.

"You can drink all of the alcohol you want, Princess. I'm not going to stop you."

"You're funny," I said half-heartedly. "Also, what would I wear?"

"Something hot." I nearly came to a full stop.

"Excuse me...hot?" I questioned him. He looked at me like I was silly for not understanding. "What would that look like exactly?" Roman's lip lifted into a smirk, keeping his eyes on me.

"Princess, I know that this is the only time I have ever seen you in something other than a ball gown, but you have never worn anything hot before?" I shook my head innocently.

"I would have been dead if I were caught in something that reveals more than my knees."

"Well, tonight we are going to change that."