After 3 months of persistent letters from the Ascot duchy, father finally scheduled a play date for me and the twins... Under Dean's supervision of course.
I was glad to see Dean in high spirits and we've gotten along well since my birthday, perhaps my parents said something to comfort him and cheer him up. He's been a lot closer to father as well. But he's become even more protective than before, which is probably by my father's influence...
"Dean," I called with a knock on his door, I hear his footsteps rush to the door as he suddenly opened the door then jumped to hug me. "Sister!" He greeted cheerfully.
"Oh! Why, aren't you extra excited today," I laughed, stroking his head gently, putting him down and dusting myself off.
"Of course! I get to see sister after so long!" He smiled. Dean could only visit the palace for a day every month which wasn't ideal but at least we see each other even for a long while.
"Dean... I saw you yesterday... You arrived yesterday..." I rolled my eyes and pulled at his ear. He only laughed before he replied "But it feels like forever!" He hugged again. He's so clingy...
"Are you excited for the twins' arrival?" I asked, taking his hand and walking to the gardens, as he let go of my hand and walked a step behind me.
"... Sister, if you had to choose a side, would you choose me or the twins?" He asked with a grin, not answering my initial question.
"Yours, of course, why?" I asked, the moment I said that I started to get a bad feeling.
"No reason!" He said cheerily skipping to the gardens ahead of me.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea bringing baby snakes into the white dragons' nest..." I mumbled to myself.
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The twins who prepared day and night for the play date, were practically jumping off the walls.
"You look like you're going to war..." Their father commented with a laugh as he straightened their bow ties.
"What made you think we weren't?" The twins asked seriously.
"... I see your point," he said kneeling down putting a hand on their shoulders, looking at them seriously.
"I'll do my best to keep the beast away, but I can't make any promises that we'll make it out alive if your plans go sideways," he said with a grim expression.
"Don't worry, father! Just do your best! And we'll handle the rest," they said, looking at each other with a mischievous grin.
"That's my boys, your mother would be proud," their father combed their hair to the side.
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"Lilian, the day of the storm has come..." Victor said with a grave expression.
"You can't let those snakes get through your defenses, Lilian! Think of our innocent Dean!" He screamed, shaking Lilian by the shoulders.
"I cannot guarantee that I will not succumb to the charms of those adorable twins, but I will be as strong as I can, for Dean!" they then firmly gripped each others' hand like comrades going to war.
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"Ready, Ren?" I asked my brother before the doors to the throne room opened, looking up at father who stood like a cold ice sculpture.
"Of course. How about you, father? Do you remember your part?" Renèe asked as our father raised a brow.
"Who do you think raised you?" He asked as we smiled happily, if this plan worked, we could have the permanent privilege of seeing the princess, if it failed though...
Our father nodded to the servants, signaling that we were ready to be announced, then they opened the doors, announcing our arrival.
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There they are... The Queen and the dragon, sitting on their thrones, looking down at us. The king was intimidating as always, especially when it concerned his one and only daughter, he could be a real monster.
So the only way to the princess would be through the Queen. It's no secret they both favor Dean Sterling for the princess, but the queen specifically is soft hearted and wouldn't turn us away without reason, and if she sees we are compatible with the princess she, like most other noble ladies would like to see us interact more.
We all bowed in respect to the king and queen. "We thank the king and queen of Sterling, for granting us such a gift!" We said happily in unison.
We saw the queen struggling to hold back her praise for our cuteness. As we thought, the queen is vulnerable to our display of cuteness! A weakness that must be exploited.
"We have a gift for you!" I said, getting a box with matching gemstone necklaces shaped like two foxes inside, as I did so Renèe began his facade.
"Hey! I want to give it to them!" Renèe complained, trying to take the necklaces away from me, trying to pull away the box.
"Stop pulling!" I whined as the two of us bickered lightly before looking up at our father.
"Father!" we called in unison as he sighed, taking the box away then knelt down to present it himself.
"That's not fair!" we complained as we went by his side and knelt anyway with a huff.
"My, the twins are... So..." Queen Lilian was falling for our trap, but achieving her praise would only be step one.
"Irritating?" the king continued. As I inwardly sighed, he was trying to cover for his wife and it was effective...
"My apologies for their behavior, your majesties," our father apologized, his eyes silently meeting ours as if to mock us...
"Ren started it first," I mumbled and looked at Renèe.
"Only cause you wouldn't give me the box," he replied in a whisper loud enough for the king and queen to hear.
"There's no doubt that your sons take after Bellatrix not only in looks but also in talent. Our daughter has been extremely pleased with your gifts, and so, in return, you may have a private audience with both the prince and princess..." complimented Victor, begrudgingly.
"The children will be playing in Snow's garden outside, we'll be having tea upstairs, Liam," smiled Lilian sweetly.
"Sierra will escort the twins," added Victor as we saw a brunette maid, amethyst cat eyes glowing in the shadows, stepping forward once her name was mentioned, her features were cold and sharp. We heard that Sierra was Snow's personal maid so she's also fairly protective over the princess.
"This way, young masters," Sierra said, her voice ice cold with a hint of respect. Though she didn't like us she had good manners and that was well appreciated, but we could easily sense the hostility in her stare. She's Snow's personal maid after all.
We arrived to the gardens and saw Dean playing tag with Snow, she stopped for a moment then waved at us to greet us. When she suddenly stopped her brother also looked at our direction with a visible glare.
"Snow? What ever are you doing?" I asked confused, only low ranking noble girls ever played in the dirt like that. It's considered unsightly. Snow being a princess we mostly expected her to sit and have tea, maybe take a walk, even sing but not play tag...
"I'm guessing you two have never seen a lady play outside because it's 'unsightly'?" She asked with a giggle. I looked at Ren and he looked at me with the same expression. 'How did she know?' Were we so obvious about it?
"Your expressions give it away. You're probably thinking 'how did she know?' but never mind that, come with me!" She said, excitedly pulling me and Ren to her side.
"Gotcha, Reinel! You're it!" The princess said, running away. I stood there stunned for a moment, looking at Ren who already started running away from me, Dean and the princess doing the same.
"Come on, Rei! Don't you hate losing?" Renèe asked me as I nodded with determination. Snapping out of my stupor, I take a breath 'Just like a competition. I can do this,' I thought to myself.
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Reinel quickly broke into a sprint trying to tag Renèe who was the closest. Dean positioned himself a good distance behind Reinel with a sly smile, making sure to keep quiet so Reinel wouldn't know he was following close behind as Snow positioned herself behind Renèe with a grin.
Renèe tried to dodge Reinel clumsily, but Snow had pushed him into Reinel with a laugh. "Tag!" Reinel laughed.
"Wha-- No fair! Snow pushed me!" Renèe complained, Rei laughed and was about to run off when he heard a sudden "Switch!" Dean shouted, throwing a ball into the air.
Snow volleyed the ball upwards to the twins' confusion. "Don't let the ball hit the ground or you lose!" She laughed as Reinel quickly adapted and volleyed the ball up.
Renèe gawked for a little while, confused, but chased after the ball nonetheless and tried to keep it from touching the ground.
"Take it down, Dean!" Snow shouted as Dean jumped up and hit the ball downwards.
Renèe scrambled to the ball and volleyed it upwards just in time as Reinel ran towards his brother "They're teaming up against us! Quick! Pass me the ball!" Reinel quickly figured out what was happening.
"Not so fast, Rei!" Snow said playfully, knocking the ball down from Renèe's hands, once the winner was determined, Reinel figured that they must be switching the game.
"Switch!" Snow shouted as Rei and Ren nodded to one another, correct in their hunch, they focused to catch up with the next game.
"Let's see who can tag this fox," She laughed, pointing to herself and running away as the three boys rushed to tag her. Almost immediately, Dean pushed Rei aside to keep him from helping Ren. Another hunch the twins had is that no matter if it were a team game or free for all, Dean would do anything to make sure Snow wins.
"Not so fast, Renèe," she smiled stopping abruptly, ducking from his tag and running in the opposite direction.
"Get her, Rei!" Renèe screamed in excitement, chasing close behind. Though Reinel struggled to block her way because Dean was making sure that he wouldn't do that peacefully. But despite that, Reinel was able to brush her arm.
"I got you!" Reinel laughed, breathless, panting, and extremely dehydrated. Everyone was red in the face and sweating from all those sports and games.
"Alright, alright, break time!" Snow called cheerily. The twins were tired, confused, but they were having fun, and they've never really had this much fun before.
"Hi, my name's Dean Harith Sterling," huffed out Dean tiredly, giving the twins glasses of water.
"W-we're Renèe and Reinel Ascot-- N-Nice to meet you, prince Dean," Reinel smiled, huffing and panting, Reinel wasn't too much of a sportsman but he always loved a good competition.
"That...Was... fun!" Renèe said, bursting out in laughter. Renèe was a little more active than Reinel in sports but swordsmanship training didn't have this much running in his regiment.
"Wasn't it? I just came up with the idea a few minutes ago," Snow said, drinking water, Dean easily got bored playing one game and them being beasts who had greater stamina than normal humans, Snow thought this as a good idea.
"We've never played outside like this, so we ask for your forgiveness if we weren't exactly in the best shape," Reinel said, laughing lightly Snow just laughed, and nodded. After a few glasses of water, the kids started to play again.
Snow quickly explained the rules of their new game 'What time is it miss fox' the boys quickly got the concept and started happily with Snow stepping away to a nearby tree "What time is it, miss fox?" The three boys called.
"One minute late, two minutes sorry, the time right now... is 3:30!" She screamed back. The three boys took three steps forward and asked again.
"What time is it, miss fox?" the boys screamed in anticipation.
"One minute late, two minutes sorry the time right now... Is when I'm hungry!" She shouted, turning back to tag her prey as the three boys ran around like headlesss, giggling, chickens.
Sometimes pushing and bumping into each other as Snow chased them down.
"Oh, aren't the children just adorable!"
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