The Winner's Crown
Chapter 19

I may not attend the wedding. If the king saw me, he would for sure replace out what I know and throw me in jail alongside my brother. And who would welcome a yellow to a Royal wedding? But I still end up dressing up in a long blue dress. I want to be presentable, just as if I were to be going to an event. It is heartbreaking to me, the thought of what is to come. Both Carolyn and Desmond don’t love each other. They are not in love with each other. I know that for sure now, there is no doubt in my mind.

Picking up my dress from the ground, I look outside to see maids bustling all around. They are all greens, the lucky greens. Maids can only be someone of a lower status, but that person needs to be a green since oranges and yellows are “too insufficient and not ready for the job.” This is what I have been told at least. The maids are laying out a white carpet, down the rows of flowers that line the garden. This ceremony will be beautiful.

I see the maids as they continue working hard, scattering blue flower petals down the aisle. It is a symbol of Carolyn’s status about to change. From being a purple, to becoming a blue. And therefore, the next queen. I’m not sure if she wants the title. She seems quite scared at the suggestion. But I don’t know what she is truly thinking. It is a wonder to realize that other people have that same voice inside their heads as I do. They think thoughts every day, just as what happens to me.

People are the same in many ways more than none. No one is better than anyone else, and I know that this society is beyond wrong in their ruling. This kingdom will eventually fall apart if this keeps up. One day, maybe hundreds of years in the future, but still one day, the lower classes will band together. There will be a war declared, and all angels pray that the yellows, the greens, the oranges, will win the battle. Then maybe we can all start over, and future generations of children may live peaceful lives.

But then there is the possibility that Desmond and Carolyn may become the first fair leaders. They will welcome everyone, every person, as equals. Maybe it won’t matter anymore what position you are in society. What color you fall under. Maybe yellows and blues can be friends. And maybe it won’t be hundreds of years in the future. Maybe it will come soon. And then the competition might be over. People will not die any longer, at least not at the hands of other people’s entertainment.

I don’t know how, if this really does happen, the upper classes will handle all this. They might agree that this needs to be done in order to bring fairness into the world. Equality into the world. Or the proposition may backfire. There may still end up being a war. But in this new idea for the future, the blues would be on our side. And we would then have more resources, more tools to our advantage. This war would be different. Fairer, and yet still not so simple.

War is not simple. If it was, we wouldn’t have so much leading up to it, so much pain and suffering all around it.

Down below, I can see people start to trickle inside the gardens. They have on the most attractive outfits, flaunting them like it is nothing. If people from my village saw this...they would think they were dreaming. The music does not start yet, so I keep on staring. I don’t know if I will be able to watch. It might be too hard to. I turn my head away with that thought potent in mind.

I know that Desmond is a nice prince, and he will probably make a good leader as king. But Carolyn, I do not quite know. She is a nice person to me now. But why? Did something happen in order for her to suddenly be alright with me? With my status in the world? That is all she ever used to care about. Status. But now...it seems as though everything has changed for her, and I have no idea why or what caused it.

I don’t want to say that I would make a good queen. I hate bragging. But I think that I would to an adequate job playing the part. I might mess up in the first parts, but I would eventually get better as a leader. People would look up to me, but I am not inexperienced in being a leader, or more likely with not being an easy target to take down. Bullying doesn’t work on me, and violence, I can avoid easily.

The music starts playing down below, and I crack open my window just slightly, my mind instantly telling me that I need to watch. I need to see this.

Royal weddings are a different kind of ceremony. They are not carried out by walking down the aisle with the maid of honor being last before the bride. Instead, just like everything else, it is of power, of age.

Richard does not walk down the aisle as men do not do so. Instead, he stands at one side of Desmond. Richards face is set in stone, just like it always is.

Venus walks down the aisle first. She holds a bouquet of flowers in her hands. They are blue speckled with gold, reminding me instantly of Desmond’s eyes as he studies my face like he usually does when he’s with me. Sara is quick to follow, her dress a little shorter than that of what she usually is to wear. But it suits her well, making her legs look even longer than they already are. She is very tall for her younger age.

The music starts playing the traditional song of the bride. Everyone stands up, looking behind them. I try my hardest to squish my face against the glass of the window, but I cannot see her until she begins walking down the aisle. Carolyn’s father is holding her hand, and in her other, she is holding onto the biggest bouquet I have ever seen.

Her dress falls around her delicately. But it is not lacey, instead smooth and sophisticated. Something very fitting to a future queen, or a Royal of any kind.

My eyes stare down at the ground and I know that I cannot do this. It is wrong. Carolyn and Desmond. It was rushed. Way too fast. One second Desmond was single with upper class woman all wanting to be wed to him one day. And the next second, he is getting married. And to none other than someone that I know!

It seems surreal. Almost like it is all an act. Something to make me angry, something to make my emotions run wild as they have been.

My feet start running out the bedroom before I even know what I am doing, what is happening. But I follow my instincts, which tell me that this cannot happen. For the sakes of all the people of the kingdom, this wedding may not be sealed.

I am not saying that Carolyn would be a bad leader, I am still unsure of such a thing. But to be even the slightest unsure of such a thing, is not a good sign. I do not even know why Carolyn, all out of the blue was nice to me.

Another thought hits my mind abruptly right as I spin to the entrance of the gardens. If Carolyn was always going to be queen, why was she thrown into prison with me? Surely that would be improper to happen. And that is where she seemed to have made some kind of friends with me. That is where she started to be nice to me.

Something does not sit right with how Carolyn has been acting, and it almost seems as thought she’s been twisting me. Playing with my emotions so that I would run the other way from Desmond. I shake my head, not allowing myself to finish the thoughts that run through my mind in a panic.

Instead, I continue to run out the doors to the gardens, picking up my dress as it flows down the steps. The people at the back of the ceremony turn their heads, looking at me in surprise as I interrupt the wedding.

What am I doing? What am I doing? My mind keeps repeating these words, but I know exactly what needs to happen in order to stop this wedding. In order to make things right, or as right as they can be at this moment.

More heads start turning my way, and I can see Carolyn turn to me in shock. And something else that I cannot quite make out. But when Desmond spots me coming down the aisle running, he smiles. It is only for a second, before he catches himself. But I can see his relief at my arrival. At someone postponing the wedding.

The king stares incredulously at me from the front row of chairs, furiously he stands, but I jump past him. Staring at Carolyn, apology in my eyes, I push her slowly aside, looking up at Desmond. We stand at the alter, and it probably looks like it is us getting married now. If not for Carolyn standing at the side in her wedding gown. I recognize now the expression on her face. Rage.

I have no clue why she wanted me to think there was anything between the two of us. But she didn’t do to good of a job. Course she got me thinking, but still, I had shown up here today. I am going to stop this wedding no matter what.

And then I think to myself something else. If she lied to me about our whole relationship, was she lying about Kenneth? About the plan to rescue him? I know that I do not have the time or space right now to think about that.

And with another final glance at Carolyn, I reach up, grabbing Desmond by his shoulder’s and place my lips on his.

There are murmurs through the crowd as we pull away from each other. But all I can focus on is Desmond’s face. He is smiling widely, and I can tell that this is the only thing he’s truly wanted in awhile.

Carolyn’s face is enraged, and she is about to say something when someone else grabs me from my shoulders. I spin right around to see the King. He is glaring, his eyes dark and evil. I know that is what I keep thinking of him, but there is no other word to describe him as than that of evil. Pure evil. His nails dig into my skin, and I wince at the hard touch.

The queen gets up from her seat with one graceful move, and puts a hand on her husbands shoulder.

“James, please.” She whispers delicately to him, and his eyes go soft for one second. It is enough though, to tell me that there is something inside him, something, even if it is in the slightest bit possible, that is of a kind man.

I have seen the queen at this man’s side a lot of the time being here at the palace. And she seems like the only reason he has any sanity left. I guess they are really in love. But why the queen has ever loved, and still does love this man is strange. Maybe one day it will be explained, I think to myself as I try to brighten the situation I have willingly and stupidly put myself into.

“No, not this time.” He says back with a growl, staring back at me, lowering his eyes so they are looking straight towards my own.

“You are trying to persuade my son to marry you? A yellow who is worth nothing. And you think you have a chance?" The king booms across the gardens, making this a show now. I bite my lip, knowing that I need to distract myself from his painful words.

I have succeeded in my effort to stop this wedding. But I know where I am going, where the King will take me. Nothing is going to work out, and I cannot save myself this time. In a world where you either live or die, I am about to replace out what it is like to experience the latter.