Once Upon A Switch

Varian felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he heard her words. A sudden coldness hits his core. He gulped as he tried to remain calm.

"Whatever do you mean by that, your highness?"

Cassandra examined his now stiff posture that only confirmed her suspicion. She cleared her throat.

"I don't mean to be rude, your highness, but I do not believe this facade your showing me."

He let out a shaky laugh. "I don't know what you are talking about, Princess Cassandra."

"That smile," she simply stated.

"Pardon?"

"The smile that you gave your father," she started. "I used to wear that smile years ago. The smile of pretend," she added and took   a sip of her tea — just like she expected, it was a chamomile tea.

The prince let out a sigh and placed down his utensils. His eyes suddenly devoid the fake joy it once wore.

"Am I too obvious?"

Cassandra raised her hand and shook her head. "No, don't worry. It's just easy for me to notice since I've been there before."

Varian looked at him with interest. "Really? Have you ever tried a lot of things just to make your Father proud?" The Prince asked.

Cassandra let out a small chuckle. "You have no idea," she said, taking another sip of her tea.

She slowly placed her glass down to it's tea plate, the tea half finished.

"Now," her eyes looked straight at his. Hazel eyes met blue. "Would you please grant me the honour of showing who you truly are, Prince Varian?"

Varian look down, his aura gloomy. "Are you sure? It might change your view about me."

Cassandra stared at Varian with curiosity and sadness. Where was the confidence he had when she first met him?

Where is the guy that praised her and called her his lady?

"Yes, I am sure. And who cares about what other people thinks. You are your own person," she stated.

A small goofy smile formed into Varian's lip as he stood up. "Great!"

He went to her side of the table and grabbed her wrist, making her stood up as he pulled her towards the door.

"W-wait, we're not done eating-" she haven't finished her sentence when Varian stopped.

"Oh, right." His cheeks turned deep scarlet in embarrassment.

"I am sorry, m'lady. I acted so irrationally." he apologized. Her cheeks turned red a when he said the word 'm'lady'. She quickly let out a fake cough to hide it.

Cassandra shook her head. "No. No. It's definitely fine."

She can't help but find him to have a similar attitude as Rapunzel. Perhaps, he would really make a good husband for the princess?

"A-anyway, let's go before your Father comes back."

His eyes widened. "Really? But I thought you were-"

"Well then, you thought wrong, Prince Varian."

"Varian. Call me Varian," said the Prince.

"Fine. Just call me Cassandra, too."

"No. I'll call you Cassie," he said with a goofy smile.

She furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. "No."

The Prince acted as if he didn't heard her and grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the open door, leading to the castle hallways.

"This way, Cassie!"

"I told you to not-" she stopped when she saw the smile on his face.

Nevermind. She'll just scold him about calling her Cassie later.

In a strange way, being with him makes her comfortable. Is it because the way he treated her? The way he smile?

She quickly shook her head. No. She shouldn't be feeling this kind of emotions. This man is the princess' soon to be husband and she's just here to examine him.

But why does it feel like his hand was perfectly made just to hold hers?

She wanted to scold herself for thinking such thoughts. Get yourself together, Cass!

The stopped at the end of a empty hallway.

"We're here!" The prince announced, panting and trying to catch his breath.

"Here? Where?" She looked around and all she can see other than the way they used before are walls.

"Prepare your eyes, m'lady! For you will see a magnificent work of alchemy!" He announced with a huge smile and tapped the wall five times.

A few moments later, the wall moved and revealed a staircase underground.

"What is this?" She asked with wide eyes.

He offered his hand at her. "M'lady, allow me to escort you to my lab."

"Lab?"

--

I've deleted the previous chapter 3 teaser XD. I've just published it there because I thought I wouldn't be able to finish this chapter in 30 minutes but here we are!

Anyway, I didn't reached the 1k words for this chapter. It only have 819 words. :< So I would be making a goal for the next chapter to have 2k words.

As you can see, my writing style in this book is a bit different because I'm trying to practice my english. XD