Chapter Text
35 girls all competing for Lance’s attention. A dream come true. He had been counting down the days for his selection to start since he was twelve. He had watched every single Selection at least four times. His favourite one was the one which lasted one day. The prince had looked every contestant in the eyes and immediately knew who was the one he would want to spend the rest of his life with.
Lance didn’t really expect his selection to go that way. Mostly because he has been told that he has a terrible judge of character, especially when it comes to pretty girls. If he would use the same strategy he would probably end up keeping all the girls in the palace. The hardest part would be sending them away.
Apart from the excitement he felt that thousands of girls had submitted their pictures because they were interested in dating Lance, he also felt terrified. He would have to cause disappointment.
He would have to tell 34 girls they aren’t the one, and watch as their smiles would fall. 34 families would not become the next royal family.
He was also scared that his Selection wouldn’t be as entertaining as the others. That his love life would bore people to death.
Fortunately, or unfortunately depends from which side you look at it, the Selection was still a week away. Preparations were being done and agreements made.
At the moment Lance was looking at the pictures of the selected girls. He was laying down on his huge bed, which would probably be advertised as emperor-sized, as he was trying to link personalities to the photos.
Until he came to the conclusion that he couldn’t judge them based on a picture, and that all the fictional personalities boiled down to the same two qualities; strong and funny.
A future queen should be able to handle herself. She should be independent and resolute. Obviously she should also be able to put up with Lance’s obnoxious behaviour.
Lance had always appreciated a good sense of humour. If his wife can make him laugh, she can make him happy. That’s what he’s always thought. Dad makes mom laugh, and he’s a great husband.
Thinking of the Selection always makes him think about his parents. His mother had skipped it. She wasn’t the first to do so. It had become some kind of memory from the past, but Lance had been completely willing to resurrect the old tradition.
Suddenly he heard someone knock on his door.
“Come in.”
The door opened slowly. The head maid was standing in the doorway hesitantly. She wore the kind of smile she wears when the castle kitchen has run out of eggs, so he won’t get pancakes for breakfast. Indicating that she was here to announce a minor inconvenience.
“Hello dear, are you busy?” She asked with her honeysweet voice.
“No, I’m not mrs. Garret. Is there anything wrong?” Lance responded.
“Nothing important, but I just need you to come to the dining room. There have been made slight altercations to the planning.” Lance started to get a bit concerned now. He hoped whatever was wrong had already been fixed and they just needed to inform him of the changes, so the opening ceremony would proceed smoothly.
He stood up and looked at the mirror if he was presentable. Which he was. As if Lance flawless appearance would ever fail him.
He followed mrs. Garret to the dining hall. When the great doors opened in front of him he felt extremely important and powerful. There would be people waiting for him at the other side of the doors, they were his parents, but still.
Since he was a little kid he loved to pretend to be his mother, the most adored person in the country, as he would stride into the dining room. He felt majestic. He was just short of a cape flowing behind him to make his entrance perfect. Though he would imagine this scenario this every time he entered the hall, the feeling of greatness never wore off.
Until he saw who was sitting at the dining table next to his parents: Keith.
His mood dropped, steps faltered and his mouth fell open. What was he doing here? These couple of weeks/months would be Lance centric. Is he just here to steal his moment of fame?
“Uuuhmmm, explain please?” Lance demanded.
The apologetic look his dad send him told him enough. Keith was here to stay. The last bit of hope Lance had that he was here for a couple of days, after which he would leave to do his own prince stuff had been crushed.
“Well…” Lance mother started. “Illea and Altea are two very close countries. You know that. The citizens of Altea adore you and would love to see you fall in love. That’s why the Selection will be broadcasted there as well.”
“I was aware of that. So?” Lance was more than aware of it. He felt waves of pride whenever it was mentioned that the Altean citizens loved him, so he had been bragging about his Selection being the first international one to his friends.
“So, we thought they might like to see some of their own royal family in the background as well. They don’t want to be a passive part of the Selection, but actually have something to do with it.” She answered like it justified everything.
“They want to meddle in our politics.” Lance stated.
“Your superficial wife hunt has nothing to do with politics.” Keith noted factually. “And besides, like your mother just noted, I will just act as an advisor. I will be just as much or little a part in the process as you want.”
“Then leave.” Lance responded stubbornly,
“I don’t want to be here either so if you could just realize that I’m just going to stand in the background as some kind of Easter egg for the Altean viewers to see. I won’t influence anything.”
Lance huffed. “Sure you won’t.” He walked to the doors and slammed them for dramatic effect.
He was on his way to his room, though he wasn’t sure what he would do when he’d arrive. Probably just wallow in self-pity. Unfortunately he didn’t get that far.
“Hey, buddy! Where are you going?” Lance was not paying attention to his steps so he ran face first into his best friend Hunk.
“Hunk. Good to see you, but I gotta go.” He tried to shove past him, but Hunk had noticed Lance was upset about something and took his arm and turned him around.
“Is this about Keith?” He asked. He wore a concerned look on his face.
“You knew about that?” Did everybody in the castle agree on this except Lance?
“Uhm.” Hunk hesitated. “We were afraid you’d try to stop it. So we waited for the last possible moment.” Lance was offended. How could they assume he’d try to boycott Keith’s arrival? He most likely would
have done exactly that, but didn’t anyone in the castle trust him?
“Couldn’t anyone have asked for my opinion?”
“We already knew what your opinion was, and nobody agreed with it. Keith is a good guy. If you would just get past the fact that he’s not Allura even you would see it.”
“I don’t want to have this conversation right now. I’m going to my room.” Lance managed to move past Hunk and sprinted to his room.
Why did Keith have to ruin everything? First he takes Allura’s place as Royal Ambassador of Altea, so Lance sees her less. Then when Lance decided to give him a chance he forgets his name. Who forgets the name of a prince. Who does that? And in addition to that he wants to ruin the thing Lance has been looking forward to since his twelfth birthday. He may say that Lance won’t notice he’s there, but the girls definitely will. What if every single girls falls in love with the mysterious Altean prince, instead of him. What kind of sad story would that be? “Upon arrival every Selected immediately fell for brooding ambassador of Altea instead of the Prince they should be trying to seduce” It was technically forbidden, but Lance wouldn’t punish them for something Keith did.
Suddenly Lance was remembering every single girl’s face and imagining them telling him they’ve fallen in love with Keith. He tried to shake off the feeling, but it stung. It stung even more to know that Keith would do it unconsciously. He wouldn’t even notice every single girl eyeing him.
He must leave. As soon as possible.