note: this was submitted on 11/7 in my time zone, but it may not necessarily be the case for other time zones. The Princess's Patience Once upon a time, there was a princess named Analisa. Although beautiful, she was very impatient. By the time she was 16, she was begging her father to have her debut. Finally, her father agreed and on the night of Analisa’s debut, there was a great ball and feast. At the ball, Analisa was immediately smitten by a duke from a far away land. Once again, she went to her father. “Oh father, please let me marry the duke!” She cried. Her father was very conflicted. He knew that his daughter was very impatient, but the duke was engaged to another woman. “I’m sorry, Analisa, but the duke is engaged to another.” The king told Analisa. She was extremely upset. “I cannot arrange a marriage between you two.” “We’ll see about that!” Analisa stomped off angrily. Then, late at midnight, she summoned the king’s general. “You, go and invade the home of the duke’s bride-to-be!” She ordered. At first, the general refused. “But, your highness, we can’t! We’ve been maintaining peace with all of the kingdoms, it would be horrible if we were to go to war with a neighboring kingdom!” The general reasoned. Analisa glowered at him. “Who is your ruler after the king dies? Me! You will listen to me, and invade the kingdom. Do you understand?” Analisa screamed. And with that, the general had to agree. Flames erupted from houses in the cold midnight, soldiers enslaved or killed any villagers. Eventually, they got to the palace. But there, the duke’s fiancee wasn’t in her room. Instead, she had fallen ill and was staying in the infirmary. The soldiers arrived just in time to see the duke’s fiancee close her eyes for the very last time. Even without ransacking the kingdom, the duke’s fiancee would’ve died regardless. The next day, both kingdoms despaired. One at the loss of peace, and the other at the loss of their princess. Princess Analisa was banished from her kingdom. As the days went on, Princess Analisa, who was just called Analisa now (for she was no longer a princess), lived in shame for her actions, but decided to become more patient. One day, a soldier arrived to find a new princess to help rule the ransacked kingdom. The soldier said that he would conduct a test, and the person that passed the test would become the new princess. Women flocked to the soldier and made a line, but Analisa, being so patient, simply walked to the line. Luckily, she had secured a decent spot in the line. “Excuse me, can I be in line in front of you?” A maid behind her asked. Being so patient, Analisa didn’t mind waiting a bit more to do the test, so she allowed the maid to go in front of her. But other people noticed this, and they all asked to move in front of Analisa. And Analisa let them. Once it was her turn to take the test, the soldier was very tired and just wanted to return to his kingdom, so instead of treating Analisa fairly and letting her take the test, he made an announcement. “It is with great pleasure that I announce that the testing is over! And the new princess is Delilah!” The soldier gestured to the woman that took the test right before Analisa. Analisa was truly disappointed, but there was nothing she could do. She spent the rest of her days living as a poor villager, reminiscing about her days as a princess. Moral: Wait for it, but don't throw away your shot ;)
this was very last minute.
