Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions
Chapter 97 - Becoming Reality

A/N quick to note to say that I will be releasing another new privilege tier next month.  10ch/45coins. It most likely will not be up on the first day of the month, but I will try to have it up and running by August 3rd. Thank you again for all your support for the story.

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The taste of the lemonade even felt like it was of a higher quality Samuel noted as he took a sip of the drink, looking around at the other guests. Seeing the people talking casually and dressed similarly to him and the princes helped him relax some.

"If it's something that's really bothering you, I can arrange to have Jeff drive you back over the weekend or some time in the next week so you can it over with your family." Lena's comment brought his attention back to the girl that was sitting across from him. Her face was rather blank as it usually was, but he could tell by her eyes that she was trying to analyze what was bothering him.

"It's not that big of a problem. I will just call my mother later and we can talk about it over the phone." Samuel replied as he took another sip of his drink, hoping that the food would come soon so that there would be a distraction aside from talking.

"I'm just thinking about a lot of other things too."

"Like?" She asked, leaning back slightly in her chair as she glanced towards the stairs to see if the waiter was on his way back yet. It had already been over ten minutes since they had put their order in.

"The engagement and the fact that it is really happening. It's one thing to talk about something that's going to happen, but another to really realize it's going to become a reality soon." He replied, glancing at his left ring finger where he knew that the ring would soon be sitting.

"Is it something that you're still not completely committed to? Or is it that the reality of something that's been decided for eighteen years is coming true?" She clarified. It wasn't that she didn't understand what the other was feeling, she just wanted to know what was affecting him.

"It's not that I'm not committed to it, though I am still bothered by all the things that I don't yet know that I will have to get used right after that. I guess it's just that it just never felt real until we started getting everything in order for it." He replied.

"It's not likely anything will really change by us getting engaged though. Pretty much everything will be the same except that our family and the rest of the smaller families will become aware of the intention for us to get married and it'll become public to them." The princess replied, pausing what she was saying when she saw that the waiter was coming back with the food. She knew to be careful of how she was talking because of all the people that were around. She thanked the waiter and waited to finish speaking until after they had left.

"Aside from that, everything else will be the same. I'll be me and you'll still be the same little chickadee that you have been since I met you. We'll just be closer to being recognized as a couple."

"Who says that I will be the same by the time that we get engaged?" Samuel asked, he had plans for some things to change before that point, or at least prove to her that that he was not the same as when we first. She smirked at his comment as grabbed one of her fries to it, pointing it at him she replied.

"Because we both know that you can change certain things but at the bottom of everything, if I do or say the right thing, you will still become just as easily flustered as you did when we first met." she ate the fry as she finished speaking while Samuel started on his own food.

"I don't think that's true. I'm starting to understand you better so certain things don't catch me off guard as they used to." He replied in defense of his behavior. It was true that certain things still did catch him off guard, but he was getting better at understanding the way that her personality worked so it became easier to know when to expect her to say or do certain things. Except for when he was sleeping, that would probably not change.

"If you're thinking that a challenge over this type of thing is something that you would probably be able to win at, you would be wrong. You need a few more months before you could even begin to predict the way that I might chose to behave in situations." The princess replied as she continued. As expected, the food once again didn't disappoint her. She would be certain to leave a good tip for the food and decent service.

​ "Not in terms of training. Clarice says that I'm doing well. I don't think that I will have a problem being on your level by the time that we're officially engaged." He argued back. That much was true, Clarice did think that he was improving rather quickly compared to what she had been expecting. Though only in certain areas.

He had training tomorrow and now that she was getting used to what worked best for him and what his strengths were, she was beginning to work out a plan what direction to take his defense and fighting skills in that would be the most beneficial to him.

"You can say that, but you haven't even seen what my skills are. I doubt Clarice is even aware of what I have been practicing over the years. At some point we still do need to do that spar. I just need to replace the time in my schedule to fit it in among everything else." the little queen told him as waved down the waiter to request for a refill to their drinks.

"I may not know them yet, but I think that I could pick it up rather quickly if I had time to watch you." He thanked the waiter as he refilled his glass.

"A true expert never reveals all their cards. Even if you did watch us spar, I doubt that you would learn enough to be able keep up with me if it was between us. I learned quite a lot over the years and learned also what best skill to use depending on the situation while keeping other hidden." She responded. She may not have been able to travel the same way that Clarice did, but she learned whatever she could while stuck at home with her father. He had no problem brining in people to train with his daughter so long as he was aware of what was going on and made sure beforehand that there wasn't anything to worry about from any of them.

"Why don't you tell me though what you think of the food and this place. If you perhaps think that it is good enough to be included in a rotation of places to take lunch again in the future." She asked changing the subject. Samuel waited until he was done taking his next bite and take a small drink of his lemonade to reply.

"The food is good. It's different from what I am used to eating when I would go out with my family, but it isn't bad. I think that it would take me a bit to get used to coming here often though. It's a nice place, but takes a bit of an adjustment to get used."

"If you think that this place is a bit much, you may be more taken aback by some of the other restaurants that we will be visiting in the future." The princess told him as she finished the rest of her food.

"This kind of restaurant is good for casual lunches and family meals, but we usually hold business meetings in places of much high class than this. It's all part of the package that comes with taking over the family. You will have time to adjust to everything though over time." She intended to get dessert left, but she was waiting until Samuel had finished the rest of his food before she called the waiter back over to order it. She couldn't leave this place without dessert.

"Is learning the proper etiquette to eating in such places going to be a future part of training then?" he asked.

"I don't think that there is any reason for it, from what I can see you have perfectly fine etiquette that there is no reasons to make any adjustments to it. At most I might recommended getting used to the type of clients we deal with before you involve yourself too much in the conversation." The princess told him as she waived the waiter down to request dessert when she saw that the other was almost done eating.

"Since we're doing things reverse, people are going to probably give you a critical eye since you're an outsider and they'll be wanting to know if you're qualified to be a part of the family or not." When the waiter came over, she changed her attention back to him.

"Two coconut and banana mille-feuille please, and then we will be ready for the bill." She told the man who wrote down her order and thanked her before leaving to take care of it.