Chapter 1: On her 18th birthday
The sound of laughing and giggling echoes through the late winter evening, chasing away the gloomy season of coldness.
"It is almost time for bed children, why don't all of you come here and I shall tell you a bedtime story?" called Alexandria, the king's mother, to her four little princesses grandchildren.
They came running toward her and sat close to their grandmother, eagerly waiting for tonight's bedtime story.
The four princesses were the heir of King Lionel and Queen Helena of the Hemsford empire, a peaceful and vast empire that surrounded by fruitful soil with river flowing which guaranteed to sustained enough food supply for the people and in economy trades.
The girls were very close with their grandmother who would always gentle and love telling them bedtime stories.
"Today's story will be ghost story, right grandma?" said Lily, the second princess. She is the most active among the princesses and sometimes her action can be a little bit boyish. Her hair was the shortest among the girls, which only a few inches pass her shoulder.
"No, don't grandma; I don't think it is suitable for us children. Isabella and Kathleen wouldn't dare to sleep tonight if it is a ghost story", said Anne, the eldest princess, objecting Lily's suggestion. Physically, Anne and Lily were almost look like a twin for they share their father's dark hair and fair skin tone color.
"Chickening out now are we Anne" asked Lily with a smirk on her face.
"I'm not"
"Oh yes you are"
"No I don't!"
"Hush now you two, please stop arguing, and yes Anne is right Lily, ghost stories are not suitable for a bedtime story, especially for children as all of you" said their grandmother, stopping the sisters' bickering.
Lily pouted her pinkish lips while Anne let out a sigh of relief.
"What kind of story should I tell you girls today?" asked the King's mother to the other two princesses who had remained silent the whole time, Isabella and Kathleen.
"What do you want, Kath?' asked Isabella to her little sister Kathleen who was a year young than her.
"How about a beautiful princess story?" answered Kathleen with her blue glimmering eyes looking at her sister Isabella who shared the same features as her, blue eyes and light brown hair, which they got from their mother the Queen.
"Alright, it is decided then, tonight's story will be a beautiful princess story" said Alexandria, before the girls start another round of asking and bickering to each other.
"Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, there live a girl named Kathleen" she started her story.
That was on a cold winter in one of the many chambers of Hemsford Empire, thirteen years ago.
Many years passed and now the princesses had ground up beautifully. Princess Kathleen, the youngest, will officially become an adult for today's she reaches her eighteenth birthday.
The first rays of sunrise woke Kathleen on the morning of her 18th birthday, slanting through the window and falling across her lovely face.
It was a beautiful spring morning. Getting out of her bed, she walks toward the nearest window from her bed and opened it wide to let the morning fresh breeze into her bedroom chamber.
She could see flowers blooming beautifully with different colors in the lawn, with bees buzzing around it. Colorful butterflies flew in couples, and birds chirping a lovely song on the apple tree nearby.
Far at the end of the lawn, on top of the morning dew flowers bushes, she saw two feathers moving steadily. Knowing it was the guards on their morning patrol, she burst to laugh frantically while trying to catch her breath.
She always found it hilarious every time the guards passed by the bushes, with the flowers covering their head to toe from her view, only the feather which was on top of the guards' helmet can be seen, it makes it look like the two feather magically walking by itself.
She hurriedly walks to the door when she heard her maid calling for her from the other side of her bedroom door.
Smiling widely as she always does, Lucy, her personal maid, brought in her breakfast and placed it on the nearby table at the corner of her room.
"Good morning and happy blessed birthday Princess Kathleen. Wishing you in good health always and more lovely through time" said Lucy, wishing the princess while bowing respectfully.
"Thank you Lucy for your wishes, please rise"
Beaming with a smile on her face, Lucy raises her head and asked, "Her highness must be very excited for today's celebration, wasn't it?"
"Indeed I am" she replied with a soft smile on her face. A little worried flashed in her eyes for second, which hadn't caught by the maid.
It is true that the king will be hosting a banquet to celebrate his youngest daughter's birthday. In the same time, he had other ulterior motive. The king was hoping for his four princesses to find a suitor for themselves.
The four female heirs hold the future of this kingdom, and it worried the king that his four princesses hadn't married yet. They were either too young or not interested in marriage.
The king had sent invitations to all the neighboring countries, hoping that there will be a lot of royal bachelor to turn up for the occasion. By inviting a lot of young and unmarried men to tonight's celebration, chances for the princess to find a suitable suitor will be higher.
This is what troubled Kathleen; she hadn't had any thought of getting married yet, she felt that it is too early for her. There's so many for her to do and to learn, and also places waiting for her to explore.
But what Kathleen and the other princesses didn't know was, there's a gruesome reason for why the king was worried for his unmarried princesses, and had been actively searching for a suitor who's willing to marry and protect his heirs.
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