Chapter 2 Alexia D'auvergne Bretonne

• My sisters and I were arguing over seats at the table when our mother arrived. Even without knowing about the fight, but already certain of what was happening, she said calmly:
• - Each one in its usual place.
• We looked at each other and sat in our usual seats, without questioning. Of course, we knew we had designated places at the table, but Aime, our younger sister, tried to break the rules whenever my mom or dad wasn't around. Then she would look at them with an innocent face and the guilt was left to me or Pauline, because we were adults and we got involved with the “little one”. I smiled looking at Aime, who was not satisfied with the usual place, next to Mom and facing me.
• Even though my father wasn't there for breakfast, his seat was vacant.
• Here is what Aime asks:
• - If daddy isn't home, why can't I sit in his place?
• - Why not. – my mother said as her coffee was served by our trusted servant, who was laughing silently at the little princess's attitude.
• - If I sit in his place, I won't become the king... I'll continue to be Aime D'Auvergne Bretonne. – she replied.
• - And if it stays in its rightful place, it will also continue to be. So you don't need to change. Mom ended the matter. - How did you sleep, girls? – referred to me and Pauline.
• - Well. replied Pauline.
• - Well... - I said looking at the infinity of food on the table, without much appetite. – Where did Dad go so early?
• - He is organizing some things for tomorrow's race. – she said calmly. – By the way, Andrew and Henry Chevalier will be there… Not as spectators, but as pilots too.
• I felt my heart race immediately inside my chest. How is Andrew Chevalier going to run? Mother: “It's Andrew Chevalier”! How can you say it like that, as if it's not the biggest event in recent years? Perhaps the biggest of my entire life! I stared at her without being able to say a word... Because I was like that: I thought much more than I spoke.
• Pauline purposely bumped her leg against mine and I didn't look at her. He knew exactly what she was thinking: "you will find Andrew."
• - Because? I asked, almost voiceless.
• - Well, girls, Dereck and Kim are having a party at Noriah's castle. Wedding anniversary... - She sighed, as she sweetened her milk and tasted. - If there are those who know how to throw happy parties, believe me, it's these two. They sent the cute ones of the uncrowned princes to bring the invitation personally. Dereck didn't want them to be emailed or anything like that… He found it too formal. After all, we are family, according to them.
• - Are? asked Pauline ironically.
• - Yes we are. My mother looked at her seriously.
• - So how will Alexia marry Andrew if they are from the same family? - Asked Aime.
• My mom stared at me and I felt myself blushing instantly:
• - How can she say that, Mom? - I replied. - Aime, you can't interfere like this in my life. You are still a child. Will you let mom?
• Satini looked at Aime and asked:
• - Where did you get that, daughter?
• - I've heard Alexia telling Pauline that she's going to marry Andrew Chevalier.
• Oh, I was going to kill her when she got up from the table and went to her room. First I would take her hair and take it to the floor... Then I would drag her down the huge hallway of the rooms and...
• - Alexia, take care of what you say around your sister... - Satini looked at Aime. – I don't want you to talk about it again, Aime. Remember that Alexia is Gael's girlfriend... and he would be very upset if he heard that. I think you may have heard wrong.
• - My ear is very good, mother. – replied the youngest princess.
• - And your tongue too. - Pauline observed, laughing.
• - Girls, behave in the presence of the Chevaliers. They will be staying at the castle for a few days...
• Sir, can I pass out now? I felt the blood leave my body and another “kick” from Pauline.
• - Why don't you stay in a hotel? - Asked the eldest.
• - Why stay in a hotel when we have a castle with several rooms available? – Satini said. – It doesn't hurt to repay the hospitality they've always offered us. And after all, as your father says: we are family.
• - Do you think we really have ties to the Chevaliers... Kinship, in this case... We, Estevan's daughters, with the sons of Dereck and Magnus? I asked curiously.
• My mother looked at me for a moment, cautious before replying:
• - In my opinion, no... But your father thinks otherwise. The Chevaliers are all that's left of his family after his grandparents left.
• I followed Andrew Chevalier's life on the internet. In fact, I stalked him...
• - I'm going to ask Andrew and Henry to take a picture with me to post on my social networks . - Said Aime anxiously.
• Yes, Aime D'Auvergne Bretonne, the youngest princess of Alpemburg, at the age of ten, was a digital influencer. I had more followers than my sister, who was the future queen. I didn't even compare her to me, because I had half a dozen followers here and a dozen there. More followed than was followed.
• - I bet they'll take a picture with you, honey. - assured my mother.
• Pauline, my older sister, future queen of Alpemburg, was discreet. He studied as a child in our little kingdom and high school in another country. The College went even further: in the United States. Our parents made a point of maintaining our privacy, trying to keep us out of the spotlight whenever they could. But they couldn't do the same with Aimê, who was born happy for the position of princess she occupied and adored her fame. She posted her daily life on the internet, had many friends and made the castle happier with them on weekends. Aime was life, joy and happiness. It was like a sun that lit up our days, with its intelligence and natural wit. Because she was like this... Our little sister, pure emotion and who filled our hearts with love.
• Pauline and I were always very friendly and talked about everything, even with our age difference: I was eighteen and she was twenty-four. We only drifted apart a little when she went to college in another country. But this distance was only physical, as we still spoke daily by video call or voice. Also, whenever she could, she came home, especially on long holiday weekends.
• Pauline had a busy daily schedule, after all, she would be the future queen of Alpemburg. And it wasn't very easy for her, much less for my parents, as there was some resistance from the court to accept a queen in place of the king, since Alpemburg had never been ruled by a woman before. And not even the fact that my father was a great monarch, as well as my grandfather, made a minority, but a noisy minority, change their minds.
• My mother knew a lot about the feelings that took over my sister with this possible rejection, after all, she went through the same situation in Avalon, when the king, who thought he was his own father, found her incapable of being queen because she was women.
• Until then, all D'Auvergne Bretonne had at least one male child at the head of the kingdom. My grandfather, for example, had two. As my uncle, his older brother, died, my father assumed the throne. However Estevan D'Auvergne Bretonne had three daughters. And he refused to have another child, with the possible possibility of being male, as suggested by some of his trusted members of the court. Because he knew that by right, my sister would inherit the throne. And nothing and no one could change that. And he taught her to be a perfect queen, as he was as a king. And he always told her that they didn't accept her because they didn't know her. That once they knew how great and competent she was, they'd change their minds.
• And there was me... The middle child. The princess who wouldn't be queen, like Pauline. And that there were no arduous and repetitive tasks, such as lessons in diction and public speaking, posture and etiquette, such as making beautiful speeches for guests and the press. And I didn't look like Aime either, our sunshine, who knew what she wanted at ten and even had more of a gift for a queen than Pauline herself. I was just a girl just finishing high school, shy and a little insecure. I only had one friend from school, who ended up moving out earlier this year. Unlike Pauline, I completed my schooling in Alpemburg, in a small but traditional school. As almost everyone knew who I was, they walked away from me immediately.
• I didn't want to be a teenager begging for friendship or acceptance. Even because I had my best friend inside my own house, who was my sister. So I just focused on learning and nothing else. Oh, I had a boyfriend. Me and Gael were together for over a year. We met through our parents, who were personal friends. His family was very influential in Alpemburg and his father aspired to be part of the court.
• My dad and I, Estevan, had a very strong bond. I was always the closest to him . And maybe for this reason the only one to inherit the ability to be a racing driver... And love cars and speed.
• Gael liked it too, but he wasn't as good as I was. By the way, we met on the slopes. I always beat him in a contest. And that made him furious. I just wasn't better than my father... Because nobody could beat him. Estevan D'Auvergne Bretonne was one of the best racing drivers I knew... and Alpemburg's number one. And that made me very proud.
• Of course, I was also intimate with my mother, although we were completely different. I was calm and collected and she was completely anxious and agitated. Not to mention she gave the worst advice ever about boys. Yet she always comforted me... Above all. Her hands were soft and warm and her lap was the best in the whole world. And she always had kind words on the tip of her tongue… as well as profanity. In fact, I hated swearing. Pauline couldn't swear. And Aime was too young to hear swear words. So my father was all the time trying to contain my mother.
• Still on the two of them: they slept far away from us, in the last room in the hall. As we grew up, we understood the reason: sex. My mother, in addition to being addicted to it, could not be discreet. So my father switched everyone's room, far away from each other. I honestly found that disgusting. Not that sex was disgusting… But imagining my parents doing it was. And no, I hadn't had sex yet. And I would only do it when I felt safe. Pauline had the first time with a boy she had been in love with since she was a child. And suffered a lot afterwards. I believe there was no feeling on his part, only hers. It traumatized me a little. Yes, the future queen of Alpemburg, Pauline D'Auvergne Bretonne, was rejected and duped by a boy who just wanted to be her first. Occasionally they still met secretly. Even though she was sure he didn't want anything serious with her, Pauline didn't care. And even if they wanted to have a relationship, that was impossible, as he was Leia's grandson, my mother's former nanny. As soon as they started looking at each other, when Leia was still in the castle, my father and mother decided that it was better for her to get a house of her own... Coincidentally, as far away from the castle as possible, almost on the border of Alpemburg with another country. All this to drive Pauline and Alef away. In part, the solution they found solved it, as my sister began to meet less and less with her forbidden love. But her heart, unfortunately, still belonged to him. We didn't know what stood between our parents and Alef's. I don't think it was a secret, but a subject that didn't bring back good memories, especially for my mother. So they preferred not to touch it.
• - So, girls, tomorrow morning we will all watch the race of your father and his cousins. Then we will receive the Chevaliers in our house. And you will be good hosts. And Aime... Behave yourself.
• - Mom, no one will believe that Andrew Chevalier was at my house. I need to broadcast live. – claimed Aime.
• - Not even. And if you insist, I'll have to talk to your father about it. Chevaliers deserve privacy. If they want to make this a moment to be shared with the world, let them do it.
• - OK. She nodded sadly.
• Thinking about seeing Andrew Chevalier again after eight years made me completely anxious and almost breathless. The last time we saw each other, we “married” and he gave me a kiss. Pauline thinks it wasn't a kiss, but for me the first kiss was with Andrew Chevalier, when I was ten years old. If I closed my eyes, I could still feel his lips on mine, even after all this time. For as long as I can remember in life, I liked him... The blond, skinny boy with narrowed eyes and who hardly ever smiled. And who always treated me very kindly. Seeing him again would be the only hope of getting him out of my thoughts forever, in an attempt to make him an idiot, nothing like the sweet boy I knew. Because he populated my dreams after I started stalking him on the internet.
• Andrew Chevalier was known almost all over the world, I believe. Fame preceded him by his surname and the beauty of his father, Magnus, and his uncle, Dereck , and their exploits in Noriah South, where they declared a republic after they had killed their own mother. Rumor has it that it was Katrina, Magnus' wife, who shot Queen Anne Marie. But that was never made clear to anyone. It was a matter closely guarded by the Chevaliers.
• - Where's grandpa? I asked.
• - He went with his father. They are working on a new engine.
• Sean, my grandfather, learned to work with my dad's race cars. So he was responsible for all the mechanics of our competition cars and was always with us. I participated in some, but my father never let me reveal my identity. So I never took off my helmet. I was a ghost who won races every now and then... by any name. The automobile world was not very receptive to women. So my father protected me as much as he could. So that I wouldn't suffer any kind of reprisal, let alone play with our surname.
• As soon as we finished breakfast, I quickly went upstairs to Pauline's room. As soon as I entered, I threw myself on her bed and said, holding back the scream:
• - I'm going to see Andrew!
• - Yes... And you have a boyfriend.
• - Hey, I just said I'll see you... Nothing more.
• - You still don't think they're married, do you?
• I laughed:
• - Of course.
• - That's great. Okay, I agree... Andrew is handsome, hot and the whole world wants him. But it's just a man, nothing more.
• - Pauline, you can be happy with someone besides Alef, you know?
• - I do not like him. She lied blatantly.
• I laughed:
• - You can't lie to me. Because I know you.
• - I swear that what I try most is to get him out of my mind and my heart. – she confessed.
• - Are you going to keep hiding it from our parents?
• - Yes... Even more so now that I see him rarely.
• - One more reason to get him out of your life for good.
• - So let's stop talking about it. It's a good start...
• - Aren't you looking forward to seeing Henry?
• She laughed:
• - My husband too?
• - This child's game haunts me to this day. Can you believe I dream of my marriage to Andrew? And sometimes, in my dreams, we are already adults... And I'm dressed as a bride... And he kisses me. I sighed and closed my eyes, picturing his teenage face in my mind.
• - What if you look at Andrew and find that you like him, Alexia?
• - That's not going to happen... I just think... - I searched for words to describe what I thought of him and don't compromise me so much. - Beautiful... Actually, beautiful. Look at me, Pauline. I'm not his type of girl.
• - Why not? You are beautiful... A princess.
• I laughed:
• - Middle princess... How important is the middle princess?
• - The same as a prince without a crown. - she laughed. “But we don't need to discuss it. After all, you date Gael and our father would never let you get involved with Andrew. I don't even know how he let them stay here. I remember after what happened that time he was furious for a long time.
• - Do you think that's why we never go back to Noriah? Because of my kiss with Andrew?
• - That wasn't a kiss.
• - Yes it was.
• - You already kissed. So you know it wasn't...
• - My first kiss was with Andrew Chevalier. I sighed again.
• - Yes, at ten years old. – she scoffed. - That's pedophilia. After all, he was sixteen.
• I lay on the bed and put my head in my hands, looking at the ceiling.
• - Well, I'm curious to talk to him face to face after so many years. We didn't even say goodbye last time. And our father almost hit him... So in a way I felt guilty.
• - Don't feel... He knew very well what he was doing.
• - And you think I don't?
• - So you are very naughty, Alexia.
• - Who exchanged the real kiss first was you and Henry.
• Pauline sighed and lay down beside me. We turned to each other and our eyes met. She said:
• - I already liked Alef back then. But Henry's kiss was good.
• - Are you going to kiss him again? I asked. - Afina, you don't have a boyfriend.
• - What part of: “our parents don't want us to get involved with them” you didn't understand.
• - I won't get involved with him. - I guarantee. – I like Gael.
• - Have you ever dreamed of you and Gael getting married?
• - No. - I confessed. – In my dreams I only marry Andrew.
• - Do you follow him on social media? Have you ever sent a friend request? Have you ever shown that you exist?
• - No. - I confessed. – I mean, I stalk his life, but I never had the courage to send a request.
• - You're scared, Alexia. What harm could there be in that?
• - He might not accept...
• - He might not see it, that's right... But of course he would accept. Is Andrew really doing social media or is there someone who does it for him?
• - Is he so important as to have someone who organizes his social life? I asked myself out loud.
• - I barely have time to fiddle with mine. You'll see he doesn't either.
• - I have time... And I don't move much.
• - But he has time to mind his own business. - she laughed. “Actually, I think you just do that.
• - Just a little. - I confessed.
• - It's too much of a coincidence that you two like to drive race cars. Perhaps a sign of fate. - Pauline observed.