“Mum, please, no!” I said and grabbed the sheets as she threatened to roll out from under me, holding a very suspicious letter with the royal seal in her hands while the maid who brought the letter scooted out of the room faster than ever before.

“Honey, first you ask me to stay in a tavern for half the night, and then you don´t tell me that you are going to marry the king? What has gotten into you?” She asked, slightly worried about me.

“Mum, I don’t want to talk about it.” I muttered, still drunken on sleep.

“He is 42, and you look like ten!” She exclaimed unhappily.

“Jokes on him, I´m 211 years old, so it is actually him who is five times younger.” I stated and finally gave up on trying to pin her down beneath me.

“Still, you don’t even love him.” That was right. There were absolutely no feelings between the king and me, but marriages out of convenience weren’t exactly uncommon. The king´s sixth daughter for example was already betrothed to another man´s son after all.

“Mum, do I need to tell you that you married someone you didn´t like as well?” I asked.

“But I was forced to!” She nearly burst out in anger and barely stopped short of shouting at me.

“Yeah, and I am doing the same thing to the king now. We are marrying on my terms, not on his. It is only a ceremony, mum. No invisible bond will form between us or so.” I stated carefully and hoped that I wasn’t hurting her feelings.

“Why? Why? I don’t understand it. You will fall into a coma in a few weeks and decide to marry someone during that time?” She said, tears slowly coming out of her eyes.

“He won´t be able to attack you afterwards, even though he will know that you supported me.” I gently wiped these tears away and looked at her beautiful eyes with admiration. They were incredibly honest and so caring, something I rarely saw outside hers.

“You are doing this for me?” No, not only for her, but she was certainly part of the reason.

“Partly. I´m securing a position here that will last as long as I am alive, which means waking up comfortably in two hundred years.” I claimed

“You won´t be queen once he dies anymore.” She said, which was correct, if I wasn’t already working on solving that issue.

“Mum, it is going to be fine. You only have to give me your blessing and it will solve everything.” I claimed.

“I´m not going to let my daughter marry out of convenience.” She said, angering me somewhat.

“MUM! … Sorry … This isn´t out of convenience, but out of necessity. It is only a matter of time until the king finds out what we did and then, this house of cards will come crumbling down on our heads.” I said, entirely sure it will happen. The question was just when.

“I …” She muttered, but still couldn’t decide at all.

“Mum, it is just a ring on my finger, a single night with him and that’s it. Nothing more.” I claimed and smiled brightly.

“Is this really what you want? To stop being a White and become a Worchester?” Was that her problem? Why didn´t she say so sooner, because that’s definitely not what I wanted to achieve.

“That’s just a name. You will forever be my family, no matter what.” I claimed and hugged her tightly.

“Fine, you have my blessing.” She said and exhaled loudly.

“Thank you …” I muttered and pressed my face into her bosom. It was so warm … so gentle. As she pulled me in her arms, I truly wished this would last forever.

“… but I pick out your wedding dress.” She said, still bitter that this was really going to happen.

“I´ll wear everything you want me to. Make me the most beautiful queen there ever was and will be.” I said and smiled while looking upwards. Somehow, my smile conjured a smile on her face as well, which was all I needed.

After quite some time of hugging each other, we slowly let go of each other and she read the contents of the letter once more.

“In two weeks? Wow, that’s going to be rushed … we need to hurry up a bit.” She said and prepared everything to reply to the letter while I still lay on the bed.

“Mum … will you be my maid of honour?” I asked slowly.

“If you are fine without a hen party…” I just wanted her by my side. I didn´t care about all these traditions after all.

“I am.” I said and smiled brightly. Shortly afterwards, I dressed again in my usual clothing and joined Mary in drawing up a reply to the king’s proposal. It was a definite yes, as long as the church of life would hold the ceremony and would be allowed to set up the marriage contract together with me. There was no way he would decline.

After going over her extravagant handwriting two times, I folded the letter and handed it to a waiting-maid.

“Please, wrap this up nicely and deliver it to the king with the utmost priority.” The maid nodded swiftly, carefully took the letter out of my hands and walked out of the room strangely happy. She even hummed a bit before she closed the door behind her gently.

“The servants are happy for you. Being married to the king is a guarantee for a smooth life.” Mary commented, even though she wasn’t happy at all about it. “Let´s go get a wedding dress for you, shall we?”

I nodded happily, but in reality, I was despairing.