Soon they reached the table and to his surprise the princess pulled out a chair at the head of an extremely long pearl table for him. Wasn’t pulling out a chair the man’s job? Why was this princess doing a gentleman’s job??

 

The princess noticed his hesitation and looked at him inquisitively until a spark of realisation hit her and she sheepishly stepped away from the chair after tucking it back in.

 

She apologised, “I’m sorry, I forgot my manners for a moment. Princesses aren’t supposed to pull out chairs for princes. I hope this doesn’t ruin your opinion of me.” While she said the last part she clasped her hands and looked at the young king pleadingly and fearfully. 

 

He didn’t like seeing the princess like that and found it rather sad that she felt that pulling out chairs for men was a crime of sorts. While it was rather strange, it was by no means a crime, in fact the king somehow liked this perspective since it was refreshing. She was an interesting girl and seemed like the perfect match for him. 

 

He said, “Well I am a king so-”

 

She interrupted, “You’re a king?!” 

 

He nodded proudly and her demeanour immediately changed causing her to become more subservient and bow her head which made him uncomfortable. He didn’t like seeing this strong woman or for that matter anyone to bow down to him like this for no reason other than him being a king.

 

Before he could say anything however she spoke.

 

She apologised, “I am so sorry for my disrespect. I wasn’t aware that you were king. I completely understand if you wouldn’t want to make a deal with us, I just hope you will let us be.”

 

He panicked, “Hey now, what is this? I might be a king but-”

 

He paused when the word deal finally reached his ears. He hadn’t expected her to be the one to offer a deal since he thought that she would want to be saved but then he remembered that this was the princess who had tamed a dragon so in reality he had to win her over.

 

He had been an idiot and completely forgotten that she wasn’t the normal girl everyone thought she was but on the bright side that actually worked very well for him. He needed a queen who knew her stuff and could be assertive, so this girl was ideal for that.

 

He asked , “What do you mean by a deal?”