King Rob smiles appreciatively at the couple whom he notices holding each other by the hand.

"Welcome my son and Cordelia. Congratulations and best wishes to you."

"I apologize for not being able to attend your Royal Wedding. I have some very important matters to deal with immediately. However, your mother was there with you so I think everything went tremendously well." King Rob summarizes everything in one speech.

Prince Bernard remains silent as if he is still in a bad mood. He seems to dislike his father's warm greetings for Cordelia. He is all the more reminded of this forced marriage thing.

"Thank you, King Rob. Welcome back too." Cordelia replies politely to the King as a courtesy, since she notices that Bernard has no intention to say anything at all. She feels obligated to be nice to the King.

"I have requested both your presence here to tell you that I intend to hold a Royal Banquet to welcome Cordelia as a Princess into our family. This will signify her legitimacy as your wife and formally introduce her to our kingdom." King Rob excitedly explains to the newlyweds.

Both Bernard and Cordelia cannot hide their surprise but try hard to control their personal protest against this announcement.

"Cordelia is a strong addition to our Royal family. Besides, our people love her already." The King continues happily without noticing the reactions of Bernard and Cordelia.

"Really father? That's really great!" Bernard says annoyingly but yet again unnoticed by King Rob.

"I have commissioned our royal seamstress to design a beautiful dress exclusively for Cordelia. It is the least I could do for my absence from your wedding. Consider it as a gift from your father." King Rob says proudly to Cordelia.

Cordelia notices Bernard's annoyance with all these and she decides to go along with King Rob's excitement to infuriate Bernard further.

"Oh, that is truly so thoughtful of you King Rob. I am very much thankful for your gift. I cannot wait to try out that dress. I am so excited." Cordelia exclaims in a very enthusiastic manner.

King Rob even claps his hands in delight at Cordelia's reaction to the dress.

This makes Bernard really disgusted. Bernard keeps imagining Cordelia in that exclusive dress. He is trying to picture her in his mind. He attempts to think of bad reactions like Cordelia will be unattractive and will still look so plain. He gets upset even more because his mind is debating with him too in disagreeing that his wife will not be pretty at all. Bernard just shakes his head with a sour expression on his face.

King Rob notices Bernard's actions and then says to him,

"Oh my son, I am sorry to take Cordelia away from you for a while. You will have her back after she tries the dress on." King Rob misreads his son's irritation as his refusal to be away from Cordelia.

Bernard just crosses his arms in response. He is unable to say anything anymore.

"My dear Cordelia, you can head on to the right-wing of the palace. You will pass the open park on your way there. The seamstress will be waiting for you there." King Rob instructs Cordelia where to go to try the dress on.

"Thank you, your highness." Cordelia says to the King as she curtseys. She turns around to leave.

Bernard attempts to follow Cordelia.

"My son, please let your wife go for a while. Stay here first and spend some time with your father." King Rob tells Bernard in an amused way, still implying that Bernard cannot seem to let Cordelia out of his sight.

Bernard shrugs his shoulders and stays with King Rob.

******************

Cordelia takes her time walking to where King Rob instructed her to meet the seamstress. She feels good a little for fulfilling her goal to upset Bernard. She feels satisfied with herself. At the same time, she is grateful for King Rob's warm acceptance of her. If she is honest with herself, she feels that being accepted here will not be so bad at all. She can always continue to annoy her husband anyway. As a girl from her simple foster family, she is also excited to see this dress that is specially made for her at the King's request. No one has ever given her anything special even when she was young. As she recalls, everything she had is handed down by her older stepsister Sofia. Cordelia stops these thoughts about her sad childhood. She is in a lighter mood now when she reaches the park that the King has mentioned earlier. She is near the place now.

As she passes the park, she cannot help but admire the abundance of flowers here. The beautiful flowers come in different colors and the fragrance makes her feel even more refreshed. Since she does not feel the need to hurriedly return to Bernard, she lingers in the park. The place is very tempting for her. Again, this is a wide area with lots of breathing space for her. This gives her a sense of freedom, even for just a few moments. Cordelia approaches the colorful flowers to smell them closely. She leisurely walks toward them with a bright smile on her face.

Maybe this will be one of her favorite places in the palace to visit, just like the garden she saw the other day when she tried to make her escape but was caught by the witch Zoe. She laughs to herself as she remembers how she planned to climb the vines to get over the palace walls. That was really one desperate moment for her.

As Cordelia reaches the thicker bunch of flowers, she is startled by a furry animal that sprang from the flowers.

"What the..." Cordelia exclaims in total shock as she backs up a safe distance away from the animal.

The furry creature suddenly made a strange howling sound. The howling sound gives a chill to Cordelia's nerves. It is undeniably a wolf, and a big one to be exact. This wolf seems out of place here. Presently, it seems focused on Cordelia who is staring at it with terrified eyes. The wolf starts to rush ferociously towards her.

Cordelia knows what is about to happen but she is paralyzed on the spot. She cannot even afford to scream from her surprise and fear to see such a creature on its way to attack her and definitely kill her. She closes her eyes in her panic and awaits her death with her nowhere else to run.

Cordelia keeps her eyes closed as a sign of acceptance of her death. Maybe it is better this way. She will be spared from all the harshness of this world. She has no one anyway to hang for her dear life to continue living her sad life anyway. Her life appears to be meaningless anyway even after she was born. She senses a few drops of tears fighting to flow down her closed eyelids. She feels so pitiful about herself. This is such a bitter end for a girl who is nothing to anyone.

Suddenly, Cordelia hears footsteps running in a hurry towards her. She gasps to herself as if she has been given hope. Those are not the sound of paws from an attacking wolf! Cordelia thought to herself. She opens her eyes quickly. Just in time when she opens her eyes, she sees Bernard coming towards her from nowhere with a panicked expression but is staring straight at the deadly wolf. His eyes seem to glow with fury in them. Wait; is that just a trick in her eyes made by the sun?

Cordelia cannot take her eyes off Bernard. He is moving with such a tremendous speed to get to her before the wolf does. Bernard's face is contorted with a combination of worry and anger. Cordelia remains a statue where she is standing. Impressively, Bernard stops precisely in front of Cordelia to shield her from the lethal wolf. He then gives a forceful kick directed at the ferocious wolf.

Cordelia is amazed at how he skillfully aimed his kick toward the wolf with such precision. It is as if he intends to kill it with one blow. She cannot believe her eyes. She feels as if she is only dreaming all these when she is actually dead already from the bite from the wolf.

The impact of the rushing wolf and Bernard's hard kick gives a loud whacking sound. The surprised wolf flew a few paces from the force of Bernard's kick and landed with a loud thud on the flower bed.

Cordelia is convinced that this is all really happening. However, she is amazed that Bernard can kick a big creature that strongly. He must have killed it right now. But then, she is totally mistaken because the wolf stands on its four paws and sprints as quickly as it can to escape. Cordelia stares with her eyes wide open from such an unusual thing. The wolf does not seem to have been injured by the forceful kick that Bernard gave it a few seconds ago.

Bernard watches the fleeing wolf and seems undecided if he should go after it himself. However, he turns to face Cordelia with a furious look on his face.

By now, a few royal guards start to arrive and attempt to go after the wolf that has suddenly escaped so quickly. They run towards where the wolf has gone, if not to catch it, at least to make sure the place is secure once more.

Cordelia watches dumbfounded at the royal guards leaving hurriedly.

"What were you thinking? Why are you here?" Bernard questions Cordelia with annoyance.

Cordelia's attention returns to the Prince but she is still shaken from the incident itself that she cannot respond at all. The sudden appearance of such a creature frightened her so much that she has lost all the energy that she has left to even argue with Bernard. She stares back at Bernard half deciding what she will say.

"Thank you for saving me from that wolf. I was so scared when it sprung out from the flowers. It must have been hiding there a long time ago even before I passed by. It might have been attracted to the flowers too." Cordelia says these to convince herself what the wolf is doing there, as well as to explain why she stopped there too.

"Why are you even here? You were supposed to try out your dress and not go around smelling flowers! Next time, do not go near the flowers." Bernard resumes lecturing her.

"You were asked to change in that dress but instead, you are side-tracked by these stupid flowers. Haven't you seen some flowers before?" Bernard is now ridiculing her for paying attention to the flowers so much.

"I was attracted by the colors and the fragrance and I have never..." Cordelia explains herself but is too weak to argue further.

"Next time, do not go near the flowers anymore. This is so ridiculous. You get distracted by trivial things. You are such a silly woman, my Princess wife. How can you help lead this kingdom with such a senseless mind?"Bernard cuts her short with a mocking tone. He is starting to get impatient again with her.

Cordelia stares at Bernard with a serious expression. She is trying to understand why he is always being like that to her even if she does not even start to argue with him. Why is he so annoyed with her?

"Go on now. The seamstress is waiting for you. You have wasted a lot of time already. Even if you are the Royal Princess now, you cannot expect the seamstress to wait on you the whole time. Or are you starting to get that title in your head now?" Bernard continues to make fun of her.

Presently, Cordelia lets go of all of her comments about Bernard to her. She wonders how her life has never ever been peaceful. Her emotions are spinning like a wheel all the time and it is definitely taking its toll on her mind and body. She has been here in the palace for only a few days and a lot of things have been happening so suddenly.

Bernard ushers Cordelia to continue on her way to the seamstress. This dress is really getting to be very annoying to him already. He allows Cordelia to walk a few paces ahead of him. The Prince glances back in the direction from where the wolf has escaped to. The royal guard who pursued it has not returned. He sighs to himself and focuses his attention on Cordelia walking slowly towards the right wing of the palace. Bernard shakes his head. He is trying to make up his mind on his impression of this strange woman who is his wife now and the Princess of their Kingdom.