Chapter 40: Chapter XVIII Connections-1

The Royal Palace was huge. I couldn't tell if it was bigger than ours but it certainly did look completely different. Ours was on top of a hill and had luxurious gardens surrounding it but here the palace was completely white and the courtyard was made of concrete. There was no gardens which was a little upsetting until I entered the palace. While ours was more modernized and full of royal colours, this palace looked like the biggest splash of colours and pattern I have ever seen. It was like the most expensive baroque rug was taken and used as wallpaper. The throne room itself had golden statues of lions, which didn't make sense to me. Spain had no lions. The maids and butlers were so pleasant, even if I couldn't understand half of what they were saying. Alejandro translated most of what everyone told me, but I didn't necessarily get into any conversations except with him so it was mostly okay. Besides I knew the basics of the language and it wasn't as if I was going to get into 'what is the meaning of life?' conversations with any Spanish people. Except Alejandro. We had a debate about the human race's purpose and whether or not we were better at construction or destruction. In our fit of agreeing and disagreeing we both realized that we were fluent in French and thus we began to mix our languages so bad that if one of our parents caught wind of it, they would be disappointed. Being bilingual was fantastic, but being that way with someone else was even better. "Sum up the human race in three words," we were now in the palace's dining room, happily eating at the palace food. After getting comfortable with the place and meeting the staff, I no longer felt the need to fuss over my food. "Stupid. Advancing. Supressing," he answered my question, face contorted in though. "That's sombre," I commented with a shake of my head. "Eh. True though," he shrugged his shoulders before thinking. "Alright. Do you think reality is what we can see or what we are able to see? Like is our mind's tricking us to see something or conceiving ideas that aren't true and that there are people who are able to see the true world but they are the people we perceive to be mentally ill because they are the minority?" he's been throwing questions like this at me for the entirety of the day and each time my mind gets frozen. I had never thought of things like this. "Bloody hell," was my response which he laughed hysterically at. "What?" "Sorry. You have the most British responses I have ever heard," he commented. "Born and raised," I shrugged, feasting on the Spanish cuisine. It was delightful. "If I'm correct then you have siblings?" "Two brothers. Their twins and absolutely infuriating. They create the craziest schemes and I usually have to clean up their mess," I groaned. "I wish I had siblings, but my birth was heavy on my mother and she couldn't conceive after it. I'm the miracle heir, my father calls it," he said calmly, as if he accepted that part of his life. Which meant that he wasn't looking for pity or sympathy. "My parents aimed for two children," I explained and he laughed amusingly. "But ended with three. That must've been shocking, but difficult on the royal line." I nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. With the twins is Cornelius the second heir and Bartholomew the third, but when you look at their personalities it would've been better if they were swapped. It really is that split second of destiny," I had learned that Alejandro was crowned prince when he was only ten years old, carrying the burden of that profession for so long it was integrated into his very soul. He didn't have a childhood like I had, but of course he was much more knowledgeable because of it. I wasn't very wise, but he was a genius. Also, he might become King quite soon. With him it is different than my situation. With me they were waiting until I was old and mature enough to take on the role of Queen, but with him it was his Father's decision to continue ruling. The King was now considering retirement. "Do you even have crowns?" I found myself asking. "Only the ceremonial crown for the crowning of King. Other than that, we don't have crowns," this was a strange thing to me, because I was raised by two people who permanently wore such centrepieces on their heads. To be honest, I was kind of excited for that part. Dinner finished off nicely but it was too early to retire yet so he showed me to the ballroom. It was absolutely gorgeous and the moonlight illuminating through the coloured glass above made it even more beautiful. "Care for a dance, My Princess?" Alejandro questioned me, kneeling before me with his hand raised. I smiled and accepted it, feeling comfortable with his man. I now understood why my father liked him so much. There wasn't music as we danced, and it was a little strange because I was still wearing only my jersey, pants and sneakers while he was wearing a tuxedo. He hadn't taken any care to my appearance, so it went smoothly. When I met the King and Queen of Spain at the state ceremony in two weeks, then that would have to change. "You're a good dancer," he commented, gently swaying with me in his arms. "Taught by the best," I smiled and he returned it. "Can you also dance like this in heels?" I shrugged my head to the side and chuckled nervously. "Because we're dancing at the state ceremony," I shook my head with a smile. "I'll maybe need a practice round," I admitted nervously. "That will be no problem, My Princess," ♕♥ ♕♥ ♕ "This is absolutely astonishing!" I commented, walking around the beauty that is the El Escorial. It was the previous royal residence, and the historical attribute to the building revealed the elegance of it even more. There wasn't too much furniture but the murals were something I could stare at for hours. The Prince and I were disguised as commoners, as were our bodyguards following us from a distance. We had already seen the Roman aqueduct earlier which was something to marvel at. It was fifteen kilometres long and still well preserved after so many hundreds of years. "This globe is amazing," I couldn't help but marvel at the centrepiece within the library. Alejandro was searching some of my questions up on the internet, since I doubted that he could ever be a walking statistic. "The building is four-hundred and thirty-three years old," my mouth gaped. "And it's not dying yet? This is amazing," the place was huge but we visited each wing of the palace. I knew Alejandro was maybe growing bored of all my commentaries and need to learn of its history, but I was so in my happy mood that I didn't even noticed. Besides, he looked happy. "We should go get some cuisine," he offered at the end of the day, taking me to a restaurant.