Aristelle

Inspired by The Little Princess

Aristelle is a pretty and diligent girl from Beetrotes Finery Arts School. Aristelle was very sweet, and all the teachers treat her better than their other students.

This is because her father is the current Crown Prince of Country Maitland. She was never named a Princess as the rule of Maitland states that only the first 3 newborns of the Crown Prince will be entitled to a royal status. The other off springs shall be given the title only if the Crown Prince ascends the throne before his first child marries.

This is because after the Crown Prince ascends the throne, he shall have the King status, thus all of his children shall have royal status. If his child marries before he ascends the throne, the child will immediately have the sub Crown Prince Status, thus the fourth child onwards will never be a prince or princess, but will be banished to be a commoner.

Most Crown Princes will never let his oldest child marry till he ascends the throne, so the other children will be entitled to a royal status. This tradition was kept till the 74th King Lionel monarchy. He has his oldest son, Crown Prince Edward, and Prince Edward’s wife, Crown Princess Annette, and their children, Prince John, Prince Talon, Princess Audrey and Janis. Janis was never given the Princess title as she was the fourth child. On King Lionel’s death bed, Prince John begged King Lionel to let him marry a maiden name Juana. He agreed, and the wedding was confirmed, only that King Lionel did not die, but improve his condition instead. The wedding cannot be cancelled, it was too late. Thus, the wedding was a solemn day as Janis was to be banished as a commoner.

Soon after the wedding, unfaithful Prince John ran away with Juana. They were soon stripped of their royal status and after King Lionel passed away, Crown Prince Edward ascended the throne, and Prince Talon became the Crown Prince. It was too late to find Janis to give her back her title. Princess Audrey was soon married to Prince Babushka of Tibet, and she led a very happy life, maintaining close contact with Crown Prince Talon.

Many country affairs and decisions were handled by the Crown Prince, as the king and queen relaxes and guides the Crown Prince and Princess on their roles and help to bring up bring the young Princes and Princesses for their future roles.

Crown Prince Talon took over the country well, and he was determined to find his sister, Janis, to no avail. He soon married Young Miss Mesilla, daughter of Duke Finks, and they led a very happy life, having three sons, Prince Aden, Prince Reith and Prince Cortices. Crown Princess Mesilla was very upset of not having a daughter; so at last, she gave birth to a daughter, Aristelle.

From young, everyone in the palace was warned never to reveal Aristelle’s real status to her, so at the age of four, Aristelle was enrolled to Beetrotes Finery Arts School with 12 maids. She only returns for the weekend, so until the age of 14, she just knew that she has a very rich and loving family, with three handsome older brothers. Crown Prince Talon pampered her a lot, as he was always reminded of his sister, Janis. No commoner knew what the royals looked like, thus Aristelle never guessed that she was a princess.

Aristelle have a very close friend, Joan, which was considered very poor in Beetrotes Finery Arts School. She was once very rich, but after her father died, the head mistress took pity on her and let her stay, but the other teachers often bully her. All the girls in the school have at least 2 maids, but Joan has none.

“Girls of level 2, meeting at conference room at 9pm sharp. Be in your velvet suits.” The sharp voice of Ms Harbor rang in the Night Hall. “Everyone except Joan, you stay back for a punishment.”

“It’s already 8.30pm…” “I’m tired!” “Must we go to that stupid meeting?” “Jane! Get me my velvet suit!” “Yes miss.” “Becky! Bring me my suit now!” “Yes young miss.” Murmurs floated around the Night Hall and shouts to their maids follows.

“It must be me. I did not wear my velvet suit for the last meeting. It is not my fault! We cannot afford a velvet suit made of pure hand sewn crystals!” Joan complained to Aristelle.

“Its okay, Joan, I’ll get daddy to get one for you.” Sweet Aristelle said.

“No! You father has already paid for a year of my schooling! It’s more than enough!” Joan argued.

As the girls flooded to the conference room, Joan went to meet Ms Harbor. Aristelle crept behind, straining to eavesdrop. “Joan, you think that you are so good? You are not even rich! You are a poor maid. You should be doing work at the maid’s dormitory! You still dare to attend the meeting for the fine girls? Lucky for you, Aristelle’s dad paid for you your school fees! You still dare to be so close to Aristelle? She is a prestigious young miss! You are just as good as a servant!” the head mistress ranted. Aristelle had heard enough.

“Why do you have to scold her, Ms Harbor?” she burst in angrily. “Oh, Young Miss Aristelle! I am sorry!” Ms Harbor gave her a low curtsy. “I have your interest in heart!” she kept her head low. The teachers knew of Aristelle’s status too.

Aristelle had always been given the best of everything, but after Crown Prince Talon found out, he was furious. “Aristelle must never suspect that she is of royal blood. You cannot give her advantages! Please give all the girls as much as she got. The expenses will be under me!” With that, all the girls have jewel clad bedrooms, golden bathrooms and sumptuous feast for every meal.

“Greetings to you, young maidens.” Ms Hatch called the start of the assembly. “Where is Miss Aristelle?” she asked, as the meeting was more directed to her. “I will find Miss Aristelle.” One of Aristelle’s maids bowed low. After that Aristelle and Joan was ushered into the conference room, the meeting continued. “The young Prince of our neighboring country, Prince Robeline will arrive at the start of term 4. The whole of term 4 will be used to choosing the perfect BRIDE for Prince Robeline.” At once the hall filled with excited murmurs. “Silence! The reason I called you here, is to inform you, that from tomorrow onwards, there will be official training for the competition.”

The following weeks, all there had been is practice for the girls. Their parents willing fork out as much money as they can, hoping that their daughters can be a Princess. There had been curtsey classes, poise classes, side riding class, piano classes, ballet classes, mannerism classes, self grooming classes, speech classes and graceful classes. These were the basic aspects of a Princess. Out of the 100 girls, 70 of them gave up mid way, complaining that this was too tough for them. Aristelle thought that these was easy, as she was already of royal blood, thus these were instilled in her soul when born.

Prince Robeline is a very handsome young man, the dream of every girl, even Aristelle. Aristelle thought that she would not have the chance as she is just a commoner, while Crown Prince Robeline should be marrying a princess. But too bad, she thought, ‘Our country does not have a princess, only 3 princes whom I did not meet before’. Never would she have thought that her brothers are the princes and herself, the princess.

The Royals of both families were well aware that Prince Robeline is to marry Aristelle, but Crown Prince Talon, Arstielle’s father, wanted Aristelle to prove herself as he is well aware that his daughter, the only Princess of Maitland, will have the finest arts and skills instilled in her. Therefore, Prince Robeline is to choose his own bride, the one that impresses him and the one that he thinks fit for himself.

The competition started during the first week of Winter Term. A whole one month of Winter Term is occupied to select the finest young Miss to marry Prince Robeline. The next two months are for the wedding preparations and the meeting of both sides of parents. The official Royal Wedding will take place on the First of January of the next year.

The first week was curtsey and poise selection by the officials of Prince Robeline country. Out of 30 girls, 10 failed to pass. Aristelle and Joan passed the test with no difficulty, while the rest of the girls passed because their parents paid for many professional to teach them.

Hattie, a particularly snobbish girl, announced: “My parents forked out more than what they had earned for ten years just for my lessons and costumes, I would surly win the competition.”

Other girls started quarrelling, while Joan and Aristelle kept quiet. Finally, Aristelle said, “The Prince will choose whomever he thinks is the best. Please do not quarrel.”

“Oh, shut up, Aristelle. We had never seen your parents before, and we do not know if they are rich. Perhaps they are the poorest parents in here!” Hattie laughed.

“Aristelle and Joan, you are just lucky to pass this round. Your parents have not been giving you lessons, unless you are of royal blood, you will not pass the next round!” Tina scoffed.

However, Prince Robeline was just nearby. He heard all the commotion and took note of the quarrelling girls and the refined and mature Aristelle and Joan. He said nothing and carried on his way.

The next week was for Round two, mannerism, speech, grace and self-grooming competition. Five girls did not pass, while Aristelle and Joan passed it easily.

The third week was for Round 3 and 4. Round 3 was Piano and Ballet competition, and five girls did not pass. During this round, Aristelle and Joan did not perform up to expectations, as the other girls practiced very hard for this, and Aristelle and Joan have received no former lessons and practice. When Aristelle had asked her family before to let her and Joan have some classes, her father and mother smiled and said that they were confident that Aristelle and Joan are naturals, unlike the other girls whom worked their way up.

“The Prince wanted a natural, darling. Just do your best.” Aristelle’s mother told her.

Therefore, Aristelle and Joan did badly compared to the other girls, but Prince Robeline was there, and he told the judges to pass both Aristelle and Joan, as he had overheard that they have no lessons, and this result was already very good.

Round 4 came as a surprise. It was the side-riding and animal care round. Out of 15 girls, only 5 passed as many girls hated animals and only cared about have clean dresses. Aristelle and Joan both loved animals thus they passed this test easily.

The remaining 5 girls were Aristelle, Joan, Tina, Irene and Joyce.

The final week, was left for the final round. The first two days were reserved for preparations of the dance. The second two days were interaction with Prince Robeline. The final night was the Grand Ball. After the Grand Ball, Prince Robeline will announce his chosen bride.

Prince Robeline had interacted with the five girls, and the one he likes most was Aristelle, just as Crown Prince Talon had predicted. He was certain to choose Aristelle as his bride.

However, Aristelle was not that happy. “My grandfather just passed away last week! I am so sad.” She complained to Joan.

Although they were very sad, the Royal family was very happy and couldn’t wait to invite Aristelle back into their family, the Royal Family. The announcement will take place on the night of the Grand Ball.
On the night of the Grand Ball, Prince Robeline danced with Aristelle the most, and Prince Robert, Prince Robeline’s brother, was there too. He had taken a fancy of Joan, and wanted to marry her. Prince Robeline’s bride needed such thorough choosing because he will be the future Crown Prince, while his other brothers can marry whoever is fit.

That night, Prince Robeline announced that he wanted to marry Aristelle, and suddenly, the Royal Family announced that Aristelle was their daughter the fourth child, the Princess of Maitland.

On the First of January, the Royal Wedding took place in Prince Robeline’s country, with the Wedding of both Prince Robeline and Princess Aristelle, and Prince Robert and Joan.

On the same day, Crown Prince Talon will ascend the throne to become King Talon and Aristelle’s brother, Prince Aden will become the Crown Prince.

On that day, Joan’s widowed mother was present, and she was none other than Janice, King Talon’s sister! It was such a happy day for everyone, and Aristelle and Joan became form Best Friends, to cousins, to sisters.

~THE END~