Heidi's Coronation Ch. 03

CHAPTER 3

Later that day, in the early afternoon before the ceremony.

Heidi sat atop her throne. The hall was filling quickly, she watched as a number of servants scurried around the room attempting to complete their various tasks before the important guests arrived. The Princess was trying to keep out of the way as to avoid potential onlookers.

Since the Princess had left the confines of her room she'd attracted more attention than she was expecting.

Heidi noticed many of the shocked expressions on her guest's faces. It seemed whatever they had been told about the Princess prior to today seems to have underprepared their expectations, leaving them in a state of shock. It wasn't just the guests who noticed some of the more ample changes. Though most had the decency to avoid saying anything, she had already caught a few of her own constituents making quick glances or catching their gaze during their long-eyed stares. Overall, everyone seemed surprised at the goddess that sat in front of them. While she enjoyed some of the looks she was getting, the extra focus was making her somewhat uncomfortable.

"When was this supposed to get started?", the Princess asked a nearby servant.

"The ceremony will be starting shortly, m'lady. Is there anything I could do for you in the meantime? You look flushed, are you feeling alright?" The servant asked as she put down her tray, temporarily pausing her duties to assist the Princess if necessary.

Her loins were already tingling and her face felt flush, the servant drawing attention to it only seemed to magnify the effects.

"No.. that won't be necessary. Just continue with your duties, I'm feeling fine." Heidi told the servant. "It's just stress," Heidi thought, but the more she tried to repress her feelings the stronger the sensations.

The servant nodded as she moved to continue with her task. Heidi briefly stopped her with a short request, "Actually, do you think you could find Sophie for me? I need to talk to her about something important."

With a second nod the servant moved on.

Sophie hadn't been at the Princess's side as she normally would've been. Her hand maiden was present only briefly but has since disappeared. It was likely that she was merely busy with some other task that she was assigned; and with a few of the expected suitors yet to arrive there was certainly no shortage of preparations still left to be made. Regardless of where Sophie was, the Princess would have preferred her to be at her side right now.

The whole situation frustrated the Princess. It all seemed like much too much effort for something as pointless as marriage -- which was little more than a ridiculous business transaction. Heidi is royalty, she's already a Princess. She was already old enough for the crown, twenty-one as dictated by her father's last testament, it was just tedious red-tape holding her back from her rightful rule. Whether she agreed with it or not, Heidi needed the suitors if she wanted her kingdom. Unfortunately, the suitors that had already arrived left much to be desired.

Many of her potential suitors were hardly men at all, some barely looked a day over fifteen and others weren't much beyond skin and bones. As they'd arrived the Princess would be expected to welcome them to her late father's kingdom and wish each of them luck in tomorrow's festivities. Each of them would be expected to participate in a series of games to win her affection.

Heidi wasn't a fool, she understood how this worked, and only begrudgingly partook in the ritual.

Her kingdom used to be quite the envy in its heyday, back when her father ran the land there was bountiful prosperity. The kingdom had flourished in peacetime, building up considerable wealth and influence with their many neighbors. However, not all good things are meant to last. After a series of wars, the latest of which led to the death of her father, the royal treasury was starting to run a little lean and the kingdom desperately needed a ruler to take charge and rescue them from their situation. Heidi was the only heir to the throne and whether by her ignorance or a lack of confidence the only available Princess was hardly in any position to rule her father's kingdom. The dire situation did not leave her many alternative options; a marriage was seen as a great chance to unite the faltering kingdom with another.

Heidi hardly wanted to worry herself about the minutiae of the pending proceedings, she only had one goal on her mind. Find a great looking Prince - who knows what he's doing in bed. One with a chiseled jaw, rock-hard body and an enormous... - Heidi suddenly snapped out of a lust-filled trance.

As she came back to reality, she moved her hand away from her crotch, where she had been rubbing herself through her dress.

"What the hell has gotten into me." She thought, shaking out her hands trying to regain some composure.

The Princess inspected her hand as if she was expecting it to be covered in some sort of strange substance. There was no substance, no physical explanation for what she was feeling. She'd been feeling herself up, in the middle of the hall, in front of all of these people who could've, at any moment, looked and seen what she was doing.

This wasn't normal for the Princess. Public masturbation wasn't an activity she would typically subscribe to. The Princess bit her lip as her hand subconsciously moved back down to the front of her dress as she tried to discreetly rub at her pussy through the smooth fabric of the gown. She was only vaguely aware of how wet she was getting. Her face felt flushed. Her heart rate accelerated. The problem was, she was deeply enjoying it.

As much as Heidi hated to admit it, the potion was definitely doing more than just physically affecting her. It was already obvious how much of an impact it was having on her libido; she could only hope it wouldn't continue to degrade.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before her libido wasn't going to let her do anything else.

A sudden sound of trumpets blared into the hall startling the Princess. She snapped up straight and flung her hand away from her crotch. The trumpets were definitely here to announce the arrival of more guests of honor.

"Here we go," Heidi uttered under her breath.

As the procession entered the room Heidi eyed up each of them attempting to discern any potentially worthwhile candidates. Maybe it was a pretty shallow outlook, but Heidi figured with her improved looks she deserved a decently handsome Prince. If she was going to be married for the good of the kingdom she might as well get something out of it.

She grinned at the idea.

As she scanned the newcomers one Prince caught her attention. Unlike the majority of her interested suitors this man stood apart. He had a classy appearance. He attracted her gaze because he looked considerably more seasoned than the rest, and was likely more than a few years older than Heidi. All the while he maintained an air of finesse but appeared solidly built. His tunic, while relatively simple, was decorated by an intricate gold-inlaid around the edges and topped off with a sheathed sword hanging off his belt to complete the ensemble.

Based on his appearance, the precession of his entourage, the numerous coat of arms and the screeching declarations from the court heralds this was clearly Prince Herod.

She wasn't familiar with his kingdom only vaguely recalling they were from somewhere beyond the Mountains and across the Eastern Seas. It was probably covered in one of her many preparations, but all these kingdoms always had hundreds of years of dreadfully boring history, full of wars, famine, and disastrous betrayals; all of which sounded fun on paper, but were written about as if it was just another regular happenstance. Heidi had heard lots of tales from the Eastern Seas; it was a harsh place and this Prince had clearly been up to and seen some serious business. As far as she could tell, his smouldering gaze and refined good looks were enough for her. At this point, she had already decided.

As she stared at him from atop her throne he briefly caught her eye, forcing the Princess to instantly break her gaze.

She could feel her cheeks blushing.

Heidi felt like a naive, juvenile girl with a fresh new crush. The giddy feeling welled up inside her, but centered the heat on her crotch. Frowning at her sudden flush of arousal, Heidi attempted to act normal by peering back out at the crowds. The Princess crossed her legs and squished them together as best she could in an attempt to suppress the feelings.

When she returned her gaze to the main doors, her trained eyes searched the room. With Herod already out of sight and her arms crossed, Heidi inspected the rest of the suitors.

From some far away Northern Lands hailed the young Prince Kelt. The suitors were required to be at least eighteen, but he barely looked a day out of his teens. The boy was lightly built with frizzy red hair. Many of his own entourage looked more formidable than Prince Kelt did, and certainly had seen many more years and battles. He appeared a nice enough kid, but compared to the Princess, he seemed a little under developed.

The next was from a neighboring kingdom. Prince Eugene didn't look like much. He was only average height but a little heavier set than some and with a full head of golden blonde locks. While Eugene seemed to perform exceptionally, his angry father constantly chastised and berated him. The Prince didn't seem like his heart was in it at all and he was only doing this out of some misguided sense of duty. She had met this Prince before, and Heidi knew that he just wasn't all that interested in her. It was fairly well known around the kingdom that this Prince preferred a different sort of prize.

As the suitors and their entourage came forth one at a time, they presented various gifts and made their musicians and entertainers perform their pieces.

All the while, her group of advisors carefully measured up and took stock of the available options while old and grey men argued details about the marriage. Not a word was directed towards the Princess and her opinion was never considered. After the initial precession they moved out to the back courtyards for a series of rites. Where it was just a bunch of pointless chest thumping as they performed their meandering feats.

Heidi just huffed just under her breath, settling in for the long haul she watched them perform their feats while she nitpicked each candidate.

Amazingly Kelt, the scrawny redhead, somehow managed to fumble his way through each of his challenges; Either through pure luck or some sort of innate magical prowess.

Eugene managed to hold his own and post respectable scores in each of the challenges, but not without a few stern words from his furious Uncle at the "Disgraceful performance" as Heidi and nearly everyone for a hundred miles could hear him scream.

As expected, Herod overperformed compared to his peers and managed to look amazing while doing it. His fair hair flowing in the wind as he gave Heidi countless winks as he performed his feats in the most garish way possible.

Heidi swooned.

"That's the one." she smiled.

Later that evening.

As the challenges winded down the numerous guests moved into the ballroom for the rest of the day's events. Food would be arriving soon and there was to be much celebrating and dancing while old men continued to argue over the specifics of the marriage.

Heidi scoffed at the objectified pursuit, but at least now she'll actually get a chance to at least meet her suitors, instead of being presented by some announcer from across the hallway. Heidi scanned the ballroom in search of the rugged Prince Herod. She spotted him on the opposite side of the room, staring out a large window looking out onto the garden outside.

As she casually worked her way towards him she unfortunately made eye contact with Kelt. The young Prince locked eyes with her, puffed up his chest and began pushing his way through the crowds towards her. He was on an intercept course.

"Here we go." the Princess sipped her wine, sensing no way to avoid this pending greeting.

"Greetings, P-Princess Heidi." Kelt stuttered as he immediately dropped into a deep bow. He seemed to flail his arm randomly at first, but eventually grasping her free arm he brought her hand in close for a kiss.

"Um, yes, nice to meet you too Prince Kelt. You performed...notably- at today's rites." She forced a smile and beckoned her hand out of his grasp. She took another swig of her wine.

There was an awkward silence while Kelt just sort of stared at her with a doe-eyed look in his eyes. He seemed completely in awe and utterly frozen. His expression reminded her of the look that Sophie had in her eyes during their bath.

"Ahrmm-" Heidi faked a throat clear to snap the young Prince out of his trance.

Kelt blushed. Placing his arm above his head he desperately searched for some angle of small talk he could force into the conversation.

Heidi took another sip during the contemplative silence. He was visibly sweating, "I should at least give him a slight chance... at least be polite."

Breaking his silence, Kelt muttered out a "S-sorry, you're just much more b-beautiful than I imagined." he frowned as he said that, "Not to say, I was expecting worse... but you know they say things- and well-well I wasn't p-prepared. Is all and well I..." He started trailing off into an endless ramble.

"Thank you-" Heidi interrupted the nervous Prince, "You're too kind."

She tried to give the nervous Prince the benefit of the doubt, but the rambling and bouts of silence dragged onward. "Poor kid," she thought.

"What's going on over here? Just sharing a little bit of quippy banter? Another suitor swooped with his jokish greeting. Heidi sighed a breath of ease as Prince Eugene broke the silence.

"Your highness." He effortlessly knelt down and kissed Heidi's hand in a practiced motion. "Great to see you again, you're looking as ravishing as ever."

Heidi returned a simple "And you as well."

Peering past the two Princes in her periphery she tried to keep track of her ultimate prize, Herod. He was still stationed near the windows, mingling with other nobles and even some of her own advisors. Heidi made an involuntary swoon.

Kelt, having misinterpreted the swoon and feeling uncomfortable at the extra competition sought to dismiss himself from the group. He dropped an unsubtle, "Well.. um I should go."

Heidi passed Kelt a quick wave as he indiscreetly slunk away.

Eugene gave a look to the young Prince Kelt. "I'm sure he will catch on eventually." He gestured over his back towards a table stocked full of older men still arguing over their offered dowries and other aspects of the marriage. He mused, "I've been to enough of these things to know that it's more of a business transaction than a romantic interest."

Heidi laughed at his comment, "Thank you! I was just thinking the same thing. It's disgusting how we get treated like prizes to be won and traded off." Heidi huffed as she vented some of her frustrations.

"To be fair, you're quite the catch." Eugene jokingly retorted.

Heidi blushed at the compliment, before quickly deflecting the attention off herself, "...and how fares your chances?"

"Well, lets see." Eugene glanced over towards a man arguing loudly, "Based on my Father's expression, somewhat less than stellar." Eugene's Father was near red in the face from his excessive yelling, he wasn't getting the deal he was hoping for and was now resorting to petty threats and bargaining.

"If I'm being honest though..." Eugene continued, "You're not exactly my type, If you know what I mean."

"Pardon?" Heidi feigned ignorance.

"Please, I'm sure you've heard the rumors yourself. They're not exactly based on lies." He almost grinned as he said it, taking satisfaction in tarnishing his father's legacy in whatever small way he could. Gesturing towards Prince Herod, "You should probably take your shot at him, before I finish my drink."

He sipped his glass and took a quick bow before he left, "Farewell Princess, and good luck."

Heidi locked eyes with Herod and was instantly reminded of her earlier arousal. While she had held a brief reprieve, the flushed feeling was back in force.

Turning away to break eye contact, the flustered Princess fanned herself with her free hand in a feeble attempt to cool off. She had yet to work up the courage to make her way any closer to the handsome Prince. Heidi slammed back the remainder of her wine in one large gulp but before she could swallow she was interrupted-

"Ah yes, Princess. I'd like to introduce you to Lord Darren." Vishal, with Darren close by, had approached the Princess in the exact worst time. She tried to quickly swallow her mouthful of wine, as she outstretched her arm for a greeting kiss.

Darren smiled as he gave a supple kiss on her hand, Heidi narrowly avoided choking. 'Shit' Heidi thought, so much for a good first impression.

Darren maintained a smile, "Uncle Vishal has told me many wonderful things about you. I'm delighted we finally got a chance to meet."

"Uncle?" Heidi coughed up a splash of wine, "Uncle Vishal? I didn't know Vishal had a nephew, let alone a nephew who's a noble!" she managed between coughs. Heidi's face was beet red from the sudden asphyxiation and the surprising news.

Darren gave the Princess a few pats on the back to help ease the coughing.

"Well it's something of a recent development, there was a tragic loss in the family which unfortunately left our young Darren the sole heir to the old family name." Vishal lowered his head, "May his Earlship live on forever."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for your loss." Heidi tried to comfort the young Lord, Darren only nodded.

Heidi cleared her throat as she sought to take another sip of her wine, only to raise the glass to her lips and find it empty. Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment again.

"Let me grab you another one." Vishal snatched the glass out of the Princess's hands and turned towards the nearest wine, leaving the two alone.

She gave him a quick look over. He wasn't too bad looking, all things considered. Vishal wasn't all that great looking, it wasn't just that he was an old, he had never looked good. Heidi recalled seeing a portrait of young Vishal, "Yikes." But luckily, Darren didn't look to have inherited any of Uncle Vishal's unsatisfactory traits.

Darrens eyes were beautiful, big and mesmerizingly blue. His jaw was strong and had a great profile. He had broad shoulders, and a lean physique. Unexpectedly, the young Lord Darren actually was pretty handsome. He still had his younger-boyish charm, but he appeared relatively well seasoned; she figured he must be some place in his early twenties, maybe only a year older than herself.

Heidi glanced over to Darren, he had a somber look in his bright blue eyes. She tried to comfort him, "I know what it's like to lose family. My mother died when I was very young, and my father died during the war."

Darren leaned over and gave her a hug. Heidi squeezed him back as he held the hug for a moment.

"Thanks," as they shared condolences, Darren shared a quick smile.

Heidi wiped tears from her eyes as the embrace ended. The pair stared at each other for a short while, she felt the warm stirrings starting to build back up.

"But, you... and your uncle don't really look alike." Heidi spoke out in an attempt to change the subject, in between a forced cough. She had noted earlier that their eye colours weren't the same nor their general facial features. The only element they shared was their dark brown and wavy hair.