Alice
al-is. Origin:German. Meaning: noble, exalted.
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Alice was the perfect child, the embodiment of a perfect princess; beloved by both her mother and father from the moment they found out she was a girl; the glue that keeps her family togethe...
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The words she had spoken the night before were still echoing in her mind as she got ready that morning.
She was due back in Edinburgh to start the semester that same week, as soon as possible really, and by the way her grandparents had said it there wasn't any more ways to spin it or postpone it, she had to go back before people started to suspect something and went babbling to the media. Which meant she needed to let go.
Her father had already arrived from Scotland, a little earlier than normal, and made his way to the countryside to prepare his only daughter for probably the most difficult decision she would ever have to make.
Alfred was asleep in his pram in the living room while Alice was seated by the opened window, enjoying the late afternoon breeze as October rolled around and the weather started to get a little too chilly for her normal long walks around the garden. Her father walked in with his private secretary, who was new but had been dealing with everything related to Alice's situation until now, and waited for Alice to notice his presence, which she did after a few minutes.
"You can go back to Edinburgh on Friday, to resume classes on Monday, ma'am." The private secretary says, while the Prince of Wales plays with his signet ring and looks at somewhere in the room beyond where the pram was stationed.
"And when would they..." Alice couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, so she simply nodded at the pram where her son was sleeping soundly.
"Any day before Friday. We were thinking Wednesday, so Your Royal Highness would have time to go back to London and prepare your bags before departing."
"So tomorrow?" It was a redundant question but the private secretary nodded as Alice got up and went to stand beside the pram, almost like she was protecting it, her son, from the whole situation. "Everything I have is here, they brought everything since they weren't sure what I would need. I have nothing in London."
She saw how the words made her father's expression change, probably hurt by her rather sharp words, but honestly she didn't really care, she had been hurt too much by her own family, ignored too much to this very moment for something that wasn't entirely her fault, to feel any sympathy for her father's sentiments.
"I'll leave on Friday, but they can come on Friday as well. So then we'll all leave this place together, just as we came in."
The private secretary nodded and gathers his papers, but as he is living Alfred fusses in his sleep, which makes Alice's heart hurt.
"Could you arrange for a photographer to come in tomorrow or Thursday?" There's a minute where the private secretary and her own father are unsure who exactly she's talking to, and honestly neither does she know, however, it doesn't really matter, as either of them can do that favour for her. "I would like to take some photographs with him before..."
