Caroline Cornel, heir to the throne of the South Kingdom, marched down the corridor to her brother's room furiously.

She slammed the door open and glared at Tristan, who was gleefully snoring on his bed, even though it was a few hours past noon.

God, that kid is irresponsible... she thought.

She stood at the edge of his bed and cleared her throar, staring down at him with her arms crossed. Tristan let out a loud snore.

Caroline let out an exasperated sigh and frowned. She rarely showed any sign of emotion and for good reason. She was going to be queen soon and was not allowed to show any sign of weakness. She needed to be intimidating.

If her facade ever wavered... That would be bad for the kingdom. She couldn't afford anything bad happening.

She had trained her entire life for this.

“Tristan!”, she hissed. When he didn't respond, she poked his shoulder. “Tristan, get up goddammit! You have to plan tomorrow's dinner!”, she told him again.

He shot up. “Wha-- Caroline? What are you doing in my room this early? Don't you knock? I have to rest, I have a dinner to plan!”, Tristan complained. Caroline closed her eyes to keep herself from snapping.

“Tristan, it's past noon. If you wanted to rest, you wouldn't have gone out to that fair last night and I wouldn't have had to cover for you at dad.”, she smirked.

“Five more minutes...” , her brother muttered and fell on his pillow with his face.

“You're such a big baby!”, she snorted. Tristan ignored her. “I'll tell dad you went out last night.”, she threatened him casually.

“Yeah, but then the deal will be off and you'll have to do the planning on your own.”, he muttered.

“Not if I tell one of the servants to do it.”, she smirked. "That way, I'll have kept my end of the bargain. I won't be the one to personally tip you off to dad.”, she continued. Tristan groaned.

“Fine, dammit! It's not like I'm gonna be king or something! I'm allowed to have fun. And even if you become queen, you're allowed to have some fun too. Stop being so bossy.”, he rolled his eyes.

“Sweetheart, if I'm going to be queen, I need to be exactly that; bossy.”, she smirked again and walked out of the room, leaving her brother to get dressed for the day.

“You got that from dad...”, Tristan yelled at her drowsily as she left.

I wouldn't take that as a compliment... she thought again.

She then proceeded to go to the throne room. She stood at the corner of the corridor and stared around it, trying to calm her nerves and make her stress vanish.

Remember what dad always says... she closed her eyes tightly. Emotion is weakness.

She took a deep breath, straightened her long, gray dress and walked in the room.

“Caroline.” , Alastor Cornel frowned. She bowed before her father, then looked him in the eye.

“We need to talk.” , she tried to not grit her teeth.

“If this is about your sister--”, he started.

“Sorry to interrupt you, father, but I don't think it's wise to bring her here. Your brother--”, she was interrupted by her dad, the same way he was before.

“Do not mention him.”, Alastor growled. She flinched lightly.

“I can't help it! Keeping her away is the only way to keep her safe from him! He doesn't know her whereabouts, but he will know if you bring her here!”, Caroline protested, to her father's dismay.

“Let me ask you a question, Carol.”, he started. She tried to suppress a frown at the sound of that name. She nodded, instead. “Are you queen?”, she looked down and shook her head.

She would be red of embarrassment, if she wasn't pale of fear.

“Answer me, child! You weren't having trouble talking a few seconds ago!”, he yelled. She flinched again.

“No.”, she muttered, not looking up from the floor.

“What was that?”, he sneered. “Speak clearly and look at me in the eye, when you're addressing me.”, he growled again.

She looked up hesitantly. “I said no. I'm not queen.”

“Are you as experienced as I am?”, he asked her again.

She gulped. “No, father. I'm not.”, she frowned.

“What are you frowning for? What have I told you?”, he snapped. She couldn't suppress herself. She turned paler and started stammering. “Go to your room and don't come out until tomorrow morning. You're not coming out for dinner tonight, either.”, Alastor sneered in disgust.

“Yes, father.”, she croaked.

“I'm doing this for your own good. No good queen shows sign of weakness. Weakness will get the kingdom conquered.”, he glared at her.

“I know, father...”, she gulped.

“Dismissed.”, he smirked and waved his hand to signal her to leave. She started walking away with her head down. “And keep your head up.”, he growled once again. Her head snapped up as she left the room behind, trying to steady her breathing.

Caroline walked in her room, biting her lip so hard it had started to bleed. She sat down at the edge of her bed and looked at her hands, blinking back tears.

Her father scared her. A lot.

But there wasn't anything she could do, was there? He was her father. He was the King.

She was nothing but one of three heirs. She was expendable. Easy to replace.

There was a knock on the door.

“Miss Caroline?”, a sweet voice called.

“Faith! Come on in!”, Coraline snapped out for everything. Her troubles went all away at the sound of her secret girlfriend.

They had been together for a little over two years, and nobody knew of their relationship. Tristan suspected, but they threw him off as well as they could. He had an eye for everything having to do with romance and relationships.

Caroline knew that it wasn't going to work out. She would be queen soon, and she wouldn't be able to be with Faith any longer.

But she just couldn't help herself. She was in love.

The door opened slightly and Faith slid in the room.

"Everything okay?", she smiled worriedly.

That smile melted all her insecurities away. “Yeah...”, Coraline nodded. “Don't worry about it. It will pass.”

“Are you sure? You know you can talk to me, right?”, Faith frowned.

“It's fine, really. And I know. It was just the usual... You know my dad...”, Caroline rolled her eyes. “Besides, you're here now and everything is much better.”, she smirked.

Faith leaned in and Caroline closed the space between them. Faith brushed her girlfriend's hair behind her ear and blushed.

“I have some work to do at the kitchen. I just came to check on you. I guess I'll see you at dinner...”, she sighed and pulled away.

“Oh... I won't be at dinner...", Caroline frowned.

“Your father again?”, her girlfriend furrowed her eyebrows. Caroline nodded slightly. “I'll go give him a piece of my mind...”, Faith grumbled and got up lifting her sleeves.

“Sit down...”, Caroline pulled her back down, next to her. “You'll get yourself killed. Me too, probably...”, she sighed.

“Fine...”, Faith grumbled again. “I really have to go back to the kitchen now, though, so...”, she frowned again.

“Alright... I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then.”, the princess looked down.

“Do you really think I'll leave you to starve to death?”, Faith crossed her arms. Caroline wanted to remind her that one day without food wouldn't kill her, but didn't say anything. “I'll sneak you in some food later.” she smirked. “See you later. Don't forget that you're amazing.” she smiled and pecked Caroline's lips, before leaving the room.

“You too...”, Caroline replied as the door shut. They hadn't really said the "l" word yet, but they both knew it was true. They had their own way of saying it.

She lied down on her back, blushing. Her dad was so going to kill her if he found out... Both her and Faith. She didn't want to get Faith in trouble, but she also couldn't leave her. She felt so selfish...

The longer they kept that up, the harder it would be for them to break up later. Caroline would have to get married to someone royal or of a high rank. No matter how much she loved Faith, they couldn't be together forever.

Sooner or later, she would have to pick a suitor or her father would find out. They had hid well over the past two years, but they couldn't keep it up for much longer. They rarely saw each other these days.

They were both getting busier and busier.

Emotion is weakness. She heard her father's voice in her head.

“Shut up!”, she snapped aloud and buried her face in her palms. There was a light knock on her door.

“Caroline? Are you okay?”, she heard Tristan's voice.

“Uh, yeah! Do you need help with anything?”, she rushed.

“Yep. Can I come in?”, her brother asked.

“Sure...”, she sighed.

Tristan went in and she helped him out with the dinner planning. He was pretty good at it, probably because he went out a lot.

The perks of not being heir to the throne.

Tristan spent a lot of time outside the palace, even though he wasn't really allowed to do so. Caroline always covered up for him and made sure he wasn't caught, but like her relationship with Faith, they couldn't keep that up forever either.

If I ever have children, which I doubt, I will give them all the freedom they want. Going out? Gladly. Marrying for love? Absolutely. she gritted her teeth subconsciously.

“Are you sure you're okay?”, Tristan asked her, disrupting her train of thought.

“What?”, she looked confused for a second, but once she realised it, she put on her emotionless mask again. “Of course I'm okay. Stop asking stupid questions and let's get back to work.”, she waved it off.

“Caroline, you've been staring at that wall for half an hour. I finished up everything.”, her brother frowned.

“Oh! Alright then. I guess I'm just a little nervous about tomorrow, with meeting our sister and all that... Aren't you?”, she lied.

“Nah. What's there to be nervous about? It's like one of these family reunion thingies, where you know all the people are your relatives, but you're not really that sure, because you've never seen them before. It will be the same, only with one person. It's probably much harder for her.”, he shrugged.

“She's your twin, aren't you the least anxious to see if you'll get along?”, she furrowed her eyebrows.

“You're overthinking it. If you stop planning everything and start living in the moment, you'll stop feeling nervous.”, Tristan advised her.

“If you're not nervous and act in the spur of the moment, you make more decisions you're likely to regret.”

“Yeah, but when you're overthinking everything, you take so long to make decisions, that you miss out on life and opportunities.”

“Tristan, you and I both know we have a whole different perception of life.”

“Yeah, I'm ready to live it. You'd rather stay behind and watch it make itself happen.”

“I do make rash decisions! I'm not all rules and I'm not that stuck-up!”, she protested.

“You mean with Faith?”, Tristan narrowed his eyes at her.

She had become an expert on deflecting this question and she did it the same way she always did. “What are you talking about?”, she furrowed her eyebrows and acted confused.

“You're impossible.”, her brother rolled his eyes.

“And you're unbearable.”, she ruffled his hair, smiling.

She rarely smiled, let alone touch people. She had learned the hard way that some people don't like being touched, when she hugged her father for the first and last time as a child.

It had gotten her a good telling off and she had been grounded for a month.

Tristan and Faith were all she had. She wasn't ready to let another person in, especially someone she had never met before.

It would take her a long time to accept her sister in the family. She didn't even know her name yet.

The following day's dinner was going to be awkward. She needed to be prepared.

She had to put on her cold face.