Declared as his

Chapter 9

Calla POV

The letter became fewer and then non-existent. Even our phone calls where put a stop to. He was never the one to answer the phone, even though he kept the phone I was dialing in his room on his bedside table. They he wasn’t home or that he couldn’t come to the phone. It was late at night, why wouldn’t he be at home? He never had a problem taking my calls. After six months of this, I had enough and asked Madam Chari if I could please leave. Her answer was direct and not what I wanted to hear at all. ‘You can’t just leave because you are feeling a little neglected. What are you going to do once you’re married? If he gets to busy will you pack your things and run away? A lady does not go back on her promises. Other than that, he has paid your school and online course expenses. He has also been paying for the entire houses staff for two and a half years. Not to mention all your clothes, shoes, jewels and stylists. Don’t you think you owe him.’ It’s not like I asked for all of this, I said no and then he convinced me. I stopped with the self pity for a while, but after another six months and him missing my birthday I really had enough and if I didn’t get answers I was jumping in the lake and swimming to freedom. I talked to Madam Chari again I told her about not hearing from him in a year, how he missed my birthday and how he was even avoiding my phone calls. After I got a mouth full of how I wasn’t allowed to use the phone she told me she would call and ask if I could leave. The answer was short and very uninformative. ‘He said you have to stay.’ that was it. My big answer for not hearing from him for a year. In that moment I decided that I was over it, this was an arranged marriage and with that there is no promise of romance. I will continue my training for this last year and I will go to him as promised. If he wishes to marry me I will marry him, because I did in fact promise him that I will marry him and if he doesn’t want to marry me then that is good to. It will be his decision and I will not have to worry about all the money he had spend on me. I threw myself into my training, noticing I’ve been behaving very badly and unladylike by complaining and worrying about things that are out of my control.

6 months later.

“Ma’am can I have a moment?” I stopped playing the piano and looked up at Madam Chari. She was standing by the door waiting for my reply.

“Of course you may.” I closed the lid of the piano and got up fixing my dresses skirt.

“How can I help you, Madam?” I asked her copying the smile she was showing me.

“As you know one of the rules I taught you was to be well informed on all topic.”

“Yes, I have finished all the books we had available here. I ensure you that I’m very well informed on most topics.” I told her to ensure her of my progress.

“That is very good, but one topic you might need to brush up on is current events. I know that you have been shielded away from the outside world, but I feel that for the last 6 months here you should probably start catching up, which is why I will be supplying you weekly with magazines and newspapers. Starting today.” She seemed weird like she was unsure, probably because it was frowned upon.

“I think that is a wonderful idea, I don’t want any conversation to lack due to me not knowing the information.” I agreed with her adding a smile to make sure that she could see I was fine with all of this.

“Very well, I’ll leave them on your bed. After you’ve done your work out you can read them. Let me know if you wish to push dinner time up.” It was an odd thing to hear, the only time we ever moved anything up was when King Kalon died.

“That won’t be necessary I will have dinner at the usual time, thank you Madam Chari.” I excused her and made my way to the gym. After finishing my school work working out replaced it on the schedule. My personal trainer was already waiting for me. She is a tiny girl, but she is very strong.

“I’ll be ready in a second, Madam Chari just had a word with me. She was acting quit strange, but I could just be reading into things.” I went to get dressed and the next two hours was spend sweating. I was glad when it was over and I could retire to my room for a well deserved bath. With my bath I can enjoy the magazine. It will be quite a treat. I draw myself a bath and threw in all the scented goodies that lined it. I placed the magazine on the small table next to the bath that I usually put my bathrobe on. I then got in and relaxed for a moment, having my muscles soak. I don’t have to much time so I reached for the magazine and froze. On the cover was Marcus with a beautiful blonde girl with piercing blue eyes. His arm was around her body holding her close to him. The title was playboy king. My heart broke in that instance. I knew that the romance had flared out and he wasn’t as crazy about me as he use to be, but I never thought that he would be with someone else. I should have I guess since he hid me away so that I wouldn’t meet anyone, but I couldn’t have him locked away. He was to important to disappear for a couple of years. I flipped to the article as fast as I could and I was bombarded with photos of him with a bunch of different women. Some where he was kissing them and some where he was holding their hands. I felt the tears running down my face as I read about his long string of ex lovers. Apparently this all started about a year ago around the time Madam Chari had called him for me. I understand now why he was never available to take my calls. The article even mentions me as the long forgotten fiance. There was a knock at my bathroom door.

“Yes?” I asked from inside which is rude since I shouldn’t yell from one room to another, but I was still in the bath and my face is full of tears.

“Would you like me to lay out your outfit for dinner?” I took a breath to steady my voice. I can’t have her hearing that I was crying.

“Yes, thank you. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” I told her, I quickly washed my face and got out of the bath. I put on my bathrobe and then went to the mirror I wiped away the steam from it. I looked at myself and I must say I didn’t look to bad, my eyes were a bit red, but it will clear up soon enough. I walked into the room with a smile on my face, holding my head high. I walked to my beauty table and started with my hair and make-up. Covering up any feelings I might have about the situation. I walked to med to see a Boho floral black maxi dress with a v-neck. I put it on and it looked amazing on me, it’s soft material complementing my figure. I paired it with a nude heel that matched the flowers. I took a last look in the mirror and smiled at myself to see if it look real and genuine. Then I went down stairs for dinner on time as always. I didn’t falter once even though I knew that all of them probably know about Marcus and they all feel bad for me. I made idle conversation and did as I was taught. As I was done eating I got up, which meant everyone was done. I then went to bed where I could finally really cry about this. I thought that I’ve convinced myself that this was just an arranged marriage, that there was no feelings involved. Then this shouldn’t have hurt me so much, but it did. At least I have 6 months to get use to this. I won’t make a scene about this when I get back there. I won’t have him make me feel like I need him. I’ll be his wife on paper and that is it.

I’m bubbling with excitement, in one week I will return to civilization. I can’t wait. I get to converse with other people, people I haven’t seen for four years straight. I can also see my parents again and own a phone even though I can’t really do anything with the phone. It’s not like I have friends that I can have a conversation with and I’m not allowed to post or like anything on social media. I could make new friends I can’t imagine that I’ll be to busy for that. My friends could come with me to the beauty salon and we could have tea. This is going to be great. I get to live life again without lessons and constant hounding. We’re going to do a farewell party tonight and Madam Chari said it could be a proper party since everyone gets to leave not just me. I’m incharge of the party so I made it a dance party. I want to jump around and be silly for one night. I want to be 18 for one night before I need to be the proper fiance of the King. I even get to dress in anything I want. I got to order it online. I chose a mini black fringe glitter dress. It’s vintage but I can’t wait to dance and have my dress dance right along with me. It’s going to be a magical time.