Politics suck, so will you marry me? (Closed) (One on one)

"I'm sure." Emory wasn't lying, he was genuinely only concerned for Caroline. He had known the princess since he was young, and since then it had been drilled into him that at some point in time he would be wedded to her. It would be a lie to say he didn't like the idea of Caroline being his wife, but as time went on he realised that it was important to think of the happiness of others as well as yourself—a lesson he would always be thankful to his mother for.
The image of a very angry father popped into his head, and he could almost feel the slap he'd been dealt all those years ago when he had first shown compassion for another besides himself. Being compassionate wasn't what Emory was supposed to do, it went against everything his father taught him. But he just couldn't bring himself to be forceful with Caroline.
He looked down at the princess, a sad glimmer in his eyes, before a defeated smile grew across his lips. "You're truly a beautiful, strong woman. I have no doubt that you would be a good queen." he started to turn away, his body moving in the direction of the hedge maze not too far from the roses. "I'd be proud to have you by my side…" his voice trailed off as he entered the maze, he needed a way to distract his racing mind.

Caroline went after him with a small roll of her eyes. “Then take me by your side.” Or whatever wording will make you happy. “Why are you so against this? I’m fine with it, and I thought you were too.” She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She had stepped out here to cool off and she had long since cooled off. She forgot how cold it could get.

"At one point I was." Emory shrugged, unbuttoning his jacket and draping it around Caroline's shoulders. "But then I learned that for a relationship to work, both parties need to be happy. You say that you're 'fine with it', but by being married and having a king beside you, it restricts you from making every decision for yourself. Granted, you have that restriction with advisors, but not to as much of an extent." Why was he lying to himself, why was his brain telling him not to engage Caroline? Because it went against everything that his heart was screaming.

Caroline pulled Emory’s jacket more tightly around her. She was thankful for it, even if he was mad at him. It smelled like him. Well, what she guessed he smelled like. She had never been close enough to him to find out. “Yes well it’s not like I have much freedom as it is. And it would be a little hard to have freedom if my kingdom is taken over. This is our only option.”

Emory slowed to a halt, turning to face Caroline. "So you're telling me, if we were to wed for the sake of your kingdom, you would be 100% happy?" He was by no means convinced that was the case, and he felt a little stupid asking for clarification, but women confused him with their double meanings and their vague answers.

Caroline let our a sigh, watching the cloud of fog her breath produced. “100 is a large number.” She looked at Emory. “I’m not going to be 100% happy with any option I have. But this is the best option. I will be happiest with this option.” She still didn’t understand how he didn’t see that his father taking over her kingdom was by far the worst option. “My kingdom is important to me.”

(Aw, poor adorable, confused straight boy)

"I understand that." After all, Emory knew what it mean to be the ruler of a kingdom, the importance of keeping it alive and well. He stood in silence for a moment before taking a deep breath. "So what now?" It seemed like a daft question, but considering they were somewhere inside a maze, in the dark of night, with no light source—asking what their next move was seemed like the only appropriate thing to talk about.

“Now you propose to me. Well not now. This is the first time we’ve seen each other in a long time. That would look suspicious. But for now . . . “ Caroline looked back. She could hear the faint sounds of music and laughter. “We could continue our walk. The party can wait for us a little while longer. Plus, it’s very loud in there.”

Finally, something they could completely agree on. "I never much liked these lavish events." A soft chuckle floated from Emory's lips, his body relaxed into a more casual stance. No one was likely to come looking for them in the maze, so would it have been so wrong to be a little less formal? "What's in the center of this maze?"

Caroline laughed in disbelief. “You? But you handle them so well. You’re so poised and proper. I’ve never seen you panic because someone asked you a question.” She shrugged as they kept walking, guiding him down the right side of a fork. “I suppose you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?”

"My father taught me well I suppose." Emory smiled, following Caroline through the maze. The sky from where they were looked amazing, billions of stars cluttered the blackness, and not too far away the moon glowed. "I will say," he hummed, nudging Caroline with his shoulder. "Something good has come out of tonight, I've realised."

“Oh?” Caroline picked a petal from a rose as she passed it. She stroked the inside of it with her thumb. “And what would that be?” She smiled first herself. This night wasn’t nearly as disastrous as she had thought it would be.

"I get to spend time with you as a real person rather than as a prince." He offered Caroline a warm smile that reached his eyes. Never before had he smiled like that to someone else. Emory picked out a small lily from a nearby bed and carefully wove it into Caroline's hair. "You have a beautiful smile, you should wear it more often."

Caroline smiled and shook her head. “Oh come now. We’re not real people.” She could feel her heartbeat speed up as Emory put the flower in her hair. She stiffened. No. She would have to nip that one in the bud. Feelings made these things by a all the more messy. “Don’t flirt with me Prince Emory.”

"I'm not intending to, Princess Caroline." Emory gave her a stony expression before shrugging. He knew something was wrong from the way she suddenly stiffened, and her words became a little less friendly. "You hide your feelings too much, when was the last time you properly showed the emotions you keep inside?"

Caroline crossed her arms. “Emotional displays make you weak. Emotions make you weak.” The petal in her hand was starting to get a bit crushed. “Besides, how do you know I’m not stony and serious all the time? What if these are my true emotions?”

"Well," Emory thought for a moment, choosing his next words wisely. "I've already come to the conclusion that you are quite a genuine person, although while you make the inference that you are stony and serious, I know that you're generally a quiet person. You get easily flustered, as I noticed when we were dancing, and I feel like given half the chance, you would talk for hours about books. Serious and stony people don't show emotions such as those."

Caroline could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks. “I don’t get flustered easily.” The petal was a folded, mangled mess in her hand. “You think you know me? You don’t know me. Today was the first legitimate conversation that we have had in years and those aren’t qualities of mine that I share freely to the public.” Damn. She had basically just revealed that everything he had said was true.

Emory had to force himself not to say something along the lines of 'I told you so', because that would have just been mean. Instead he shook his head. "I never once pretended to know you, I merely shared my observations. Forgive me if I said anything that was incorrect, it wasn't my intention to offend you." Why did he always have to make things awkward, or better yet, why couldn't he just understand the female mind?

"Was it your intention to fluster me?" she spat. "Make me scramble for my bearings?" Caroline sighed. She brushed at the hair around the lily, making sure it had not fallen out of her hair. Prince Emory didn't have any ill will towards her. "No, forgive me. I sometimes fail to remember that not everyone is trying to make me look weak. You have been nothing but kind to me."

"It's alright, I don't mind you taking your negative emotions out on me." Emory rubbed the back of his head nervously and sighed. "I'd rather you take them out on me rather than someone who will retaliate in a way that will possibly make them worse."
How many times had Caroline been subjected to being patronized that it seemed to be almost a natural response from her to lash out like that? The poor lady didn't deserve to be looked down upon like that.

Caroline smiled. “Yes well, you still don’t deserve it. And I appreciate it, but you don’t need to worry about me.” She looked around them. All the flowers were white. She smiled again. “We’re here. The center of the maze.” She motioned for him to follow her with head and turned a corner, revealing a clearing. Stone benches lined the outskirts. Hedges cut in the shape of animals were scattered here and there. In the center of it all, leaves crawled up an arch. A lantern hung from the center of the arch.

Emory's eyes widened in wonder as the clearing came into view. Everything from the animal hedges, to the soft glowing lantern inside the arch, was like something from a dream. The area looked like it hadn't been touched by human hands for quite some time, but some part of Emory felt that this was a place Caroline took herself to whenever she wanted an escape. "It's beautiful here…" he breathed, smiling as he wandered under the arch.

Caroline sat down on one of the benches. She smiled as she watched Emory. He looked quite handsome under the glow of the lantern. "I know. I worked hard to design it to be that way." She couldn't take all the credit. It had been her idea, but she hadn't executed any of it. There were a lot of quiet whispers to servants. As far as she knew, none of her family or any of the advisors knew of this spot. They knew there was a center of the maze, of course, but no one came in here but her.

"You designed it?" Emory looked impressed, he didn't doubt Caroline's ability to create such a masterpiece, but it would have taken a lot of work to have it completed—determined as well as loyal. Princess Caroline was turning out to be more more of an independent and strong woman than Emory had ever thought. "You're amazing, I'll say that." he smiled at Caroline, holding out his hand towards her as if asking for her to join him under the arch.

Caroline lowered her eyebrows at Emory's hand, though she still smiled. After a moment of consideration, she stood up and walked over to him. "I know." She took his hand, standing next to him under the arch. His hand was warm. "I like having special places. And I especially like having my own places. I do not get many of them." She looked at his face and smiled at him. "You're lucky I shared this place with you, you know. I could have just let us wander and wander and never get to the center."

"Then why didn't you?" Emory frowned, keeping a light hold on Caroline's hand. It felt nice holding it. No, this isn't what you want to do. While marrying Caroline was something that he didn't want, a strong part of him did seem to want it. His brain just wasn't happy with the prospect of emotions coming into play. His eyes met hers, and held the gaze for a moment while he spoke. "Why did you show me this place?"

Caroline's breath caught in her throat, but only for a moment. "It's a test," she tried to tell herself. "Because I'm testing you, to see if I can trust you." But she knew that wasn't it. She knew she would never do something like that. She wanted it to be true, but she knew it wasn't. "Because," she said, holding his gaze. "Sometimes . . . it's nice to share things with other people."

Now would be the perfect time to—
Emory interrupted his own wandering mind by clearing his throat a little. "I guess so." he smiled, his eyes once again wandering around the area. "What gave you the idea for this place then? You could have had your own secret area absolutely anywhere on palace grounds, so why here?"