~A/N~ This story takes place in Medieval times. I think, I have no idea what it was like in Medieval times but it takes place centuries ago. Please ignore the weirdness and cheesiness of this~

Aurora wandered around the village, looking for someone to employ her. Her mother was ill and needed a cure, but her family could barely afford food, let alone medicine. She needed to get a job, her father had passed years before, so it was up to Aurora.

Unfortunately, nobody was hiring. Aurora was known as the strange girl amongst the villagers. She wanted to learn and be independent, not cater to a man and be a doting little housewife. Whenever the Royals came to the village, the villagers always hid Aurora, ashamed of her.

Nobody wanted to employ the strange girl no matter how much they needed the help. Aurora was just about to give up until a poster on the side of a building caught her eye.

Maid Wanted By Royal Family

The royals needed a maid! The royals had no idea of Aurora's 'strangeness', they were sure to employ her.

Aurora ran to the castle, freezing when she got to the gates. She had never been to the castle before, she had never even been this close to it. What would she say? Has she dressed appropriately? Would they even employ her? Did they employ maids this young?

Taking a deep breath, Aurora walked up to the guards. "Excuse me... I would like to speak to whoever is in charge of employing the maids..." Aurora worried that she'd made a fool of herself.

One of the guards nodded once. Opening the gates, he led her up the stairs and into the castle. The inside of the castle was so much bigger and more elegant than the outside. Aurora was in awe, she had never seen anything like it...

The guard led Aurora to a room and instructed her to wait there. Once the doors shut, Aurora looked around at her surroundings. There were two couches, a beautiful table in between, and an even more beautiful piano on the other side of the room.

"This room is bigger than our whole cottage..." She said to herself. She went over to the piano, pressing a few keys.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Aurora turned around startled. "I- Yes, it is... I-" Her eyes widened when she realized who she was speaking to: Queen Pepper "Your Majesty..." She curtsied. "I apologize-"

Queen Pepper shook her head, a small smile on her face. "There's no need for that. I hear you're here about the maid position?"

"Yes, your majesty"

"Very well. I'm normally not the one that employs the help, but since our head maid isn't here at the moment, I decided to come"

The Queen motioned for Aurora to sit. After almost an hour of questions, the Queen decided to hire her.

"The duties of a chambermaid, you will clean the rooms and public areas, including hallways, bathrooms, bedrooms, and sitting areas. Sometimes you may even serve tea or help with serving supper. Tomorrow you will have training with our head maid and then the day after you will start work."

Aurora nodded as the Queen explained her duties. "Thank you, your Majesty"

"You will be tending mainly to my son, he doesn't really like any of the maids, thus he doesn't listen when they try to keep him on his schedule. But I think you may be able to help him"

Aurora nodded again. "I will certainly try, your majesty"

The next day, Aurora went for training where she was shown how to do anything and everything that she needed to do. The day after was her first official day as a Royal Maid and Aurora was extremely nervous.

Word had spread around the village that she had found work at the castle, and the villagers were not pleased. They tried to convince her not to take the job, so as to not embarrass them, they even offered her jobs, but Aurora wouldn't do it. She was working at the castle and that was it.

Taking a deep breath, she brushed off her dress and got to work. Her dress used to be her mother's, when she worked at the castle herself

(Aurora's face claim and her maid outfit)

Her first task was to wake up the Prince since he'd sleep the whole day if he wasn't forced to get up. Aurora was nervous, she had never met the Prince before.

Standing outside of his bedroom, she took another deep breath and walked in. She opened the curtains, causing the Prince to groan and pull a pillow over his head.

"Go away May," He said, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"Sorry your highness, but it isn't May. I'm the new chambermaid"

The Prince pulled the pillow off of his face, looking at her intently. "I apologize, I thought you were May"

May was the head maid as well as the Prince's former nanny. She has since become a close friend of the royal family, even becoming an honorary member.

"No worries," Aurora smiled. She went to his wardrobe and pulled out some clothes, taking them back over to the Prince and laying them on the bed. "You should get dressed, you have a busy day today."

Nodding, the Prince got out of bed and Aurora left the room to tend to a few of her other duties and give the Prince some privacy. She came back ten minutes later to find the Prince dressed.

"Is there anything else you need from me before you leave sir?"

He shook his head. "Nope" He went to leave as Aurora started stripping the bed of its sheets. Right as he was about to open the door, he stopped and turned back to the young maid. "Actually, there is... I'd like to know the name of this new chambermaid that I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time with"

Aurora shrugged, smiling slightly. "I don't think my name is that important"

"I will need something to call you"

"You can just call me... Rose..."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why Rose?"

"I love roses" She said simply, going back to her duties.

The Prince smiled to himself. "As you wish..."

~・~

Aurora didn't see the Prince for the rest of the day, she feared that she had angered him by not telling him her name, but she couldn't risk him finding out about her 'reputation' amongst the villagers and also think that she was strange. She would probably end up losing her job.

It was starting to get dark. One of her last things to do was water the flowers in the garden. She was supposed to water them once in the morning and once before she left.

The garden was big and beautiful, it was enclosed in a greenhouse so they didn't have to worry about snow or anything hurting the flowers. As she was watering them, she hummed to herself. She turned the corner and nearly dropped the watering can in shock. "Your highness, you startled me"

Prince Peter was sitting on one of the benches, lightly touching the flowers. "My apologies. I come out here a lot when I need time to myself... This used to be my mother's" He motioned to the garden.

"Used to?" She asked, sitting down next to him.

The Prince was quiet for a moment, he wasn't supposed to tell anyone, especially not anyone that he just met... He looked over at Aurora, wondering if he should tell her or just brush it off. For some reason, he felt like he could trust her, he wanted to tell her, although he couldn't figure out why. "The King and Queen aren't my birth parents. Queen Pepper was best friends with my birth mother, they grew up together, and when she fell ill, she brought her to the castle to be taken care of. They made this garden to cheer her up... Like you, my mother loved roses." He smiled. "When my mother died, the King and Queen adopted me, per my mother's wishes. I was three, so I never knew my birth mother, but they've told me a lot about her..."

Aurora looked down. "Oh, I-I'm so sorry..."

The Prince shook his head. "It's okay... Pepper and Tony are my parents now"

"Forgive me for asking, but can you still inherit the throne if you're adopted?"

Peter glanced around them before moving closer to Aurora. "Nobody knows... Not even the help. The only person that knows other than me and my parents is May... And now you... I probably shouldn't have told you... I don't know why I did"

Aurora smiled and raised her right hand. "I won't tell anyone, I promise"

"I know." He smiled slightly, then turned serious. "Nobody outside of the castle can know... If they do then I can't become King..."

"So if they don't know... You can still become king?"

Peter nodded. "They don't know that the Queen was never pregnant, so they would have no idea of knowing that I'm adopted. As long as they don't know, no one will question anything when I become king... I don't want to become King though..."

Aurora looked at him confused. "Why not?"

He shrugged. "I just... Don't want to... I'm not cut out to run a kingdom... Not like my father..."

"Can I ask, what happened to your birth father?"

The Prince shrugged again. "I don't know. My mother, the Queen, told me that he just disappeared..."

"I'm sorry..."

He shook his head. "Don't be." He picked a rose from the rosebush next to them and placed it in Aurora's hair. "A rose for my mysterious Rose..." He smiled, tilting his head to the side. "You know, now you know more about me than I do about you..."

Aurora looked down. "Trust me your highness, you don't want to know about me"

"Why not?"

"I'm just..." She sighed. "I can't tell you... I'm sorry..." She grabbed the watering can from where she set it and got up. "This was very lovely, thank you but I must go."

Before the Prince could say anything Aurora left the garden.

~・~

The next day, since the Prince didn't have anything to do, he decided to go to the village and see if anyone knew anything about the maid that intrigued him so much.

Aurora wasn't working today, so he hoped that maybe he could find her in the village.

He didn't know why he was so interested in this girl... Was it because she wouldn't tell him her name? Or was it because he feels like she's hiding something?

The villagers were surprised when they saw the Prince walking down their streets. He rarely ever came to the village...

"I seek a beautiful girl..." The Prince said to one of the villagers, working at the shop. "She has blonde hair, bright blue eyes, around my age..."

The shopkeeper's face dropped. "You mean Aurora?"

Aurora... The name bounced around his head, causing the Prince to smile slightly. His Mysterious Rose finally had a name, and it was beautiful...

"-I'm sorry if she's caused you any problems..." The shopkeeper continued, snapping the Prince out of his thoughts. "She's a strange one, we told her not to take the job at the castle-"

"Why is she a strange one?" He interrupted, getting a bit irritated. No one insulted His Rose.

The shopkeeper's eyes widened. "Oh uh, she- She's... Odd..."

The Prince's eyebrows furrowed. "Odd how?"

"She's... Not like us... She doesn't think like us, she wants to be independent... She doesn't want to be a wife or a mother, she wants to work... It's wrong-"

"Why is Aurora wanting to be independent wrong? My mother is independent, would you tell her that it's wrong?" Peter snapped. He didn't like the way he was talking about His Mysterious Rose, just because she wanted to be independent.

The shopkeeper's eyes widened and he shook his head. "No, Your Highness!"

"Where does she live?"

He gave The Prince the directions to Aurora's cottage and Peter made his way there. The townspeople kept staring at him and whispering, he hated it. He knew why they did it, because he was Royalty, but he still didn't like it. He thought about Aurora...

Aurora... It was a beautiful name... He wondered why she didn't want to tell him her name, did she not like her name? Did she not want him to know who she was? He loved her name... It was the most beautiful...

As he made his way up to the cottage that he assumed was Aurora's cottage, he peeked in the window and saw Aurora standing in the kitchen. He smiled as he watched her do things around the kitchen before walking into another room.

He went over to the door and knocked. There was some noise on the other side of the door and then it opened.

Aurora stood there, her eyes widening when she saw him. "Y-your Highness... What are you doing here?" She curtsied.

"I was curious about you so I came to see if any of the townspeople knew anything about you."

Her eyes widened more. "You didn't... What did they tell you..."

The Prince shrugged. "That you're 'odd' because you want to be independent and because you don't want to be a wife or mother. May I come in, or are you going to keep me out here?"

Aurora sighed, stepping to the side to allow him in. "It's not that I don't want to be a wife or mother, I just don't want to be a wife whose entire life revolves around her husband..."

Peter walked in, looking around the cottage. It was small and homey, Peter thought it was a cute place, if he had to pick between here and the castle to have grown up, he would choose here. "So, why didn't you want me to know your name?"

Aurora looked down. "Because I didn't want you to know that I'm odd... That the townspeople are ashamed of me..."

"You're not odd, Aurora. I know I don't know you that well but I know you're not odd" He said, smiling.

Aurora smiled, looking down. "Well thank you, Your Highness"

"Call me Peter"

She looked up at him and nodded. "As you wish" She smiled.

Peter laughed. "You heard me say that after our first meeting?"

She nodded. "I did..."

Someone called for Aurora from the other room, she apologized to Peter and ran into the other room. Confused, Peter followed her. Aurora's mother was laying on a bed, looking like she was only moments away from death.

Peter watched as Aurora tended to her mother, rushing back and forth from one room to another. When she was done, Aurora pulled him out of the bedroom and he looked at her concerned. "Is she okay..."

Aurora shook her head sadly. "No... She's really sick... That's why I got the job at the castle, we don't have enough money for her medicine..."

"Why didn't you say anything...? I could have helped"

"I work for you guys, I'm not going to unload all my problems on you and expect you to help me..." She went over and sat down on the couch.

Peter sat down next to her and they talked for a few hours, telling each other about their lives. They had only known each other for a day, but they trusted each other. By the time they were done talking, it was really late and Peter should have already been back at the castle.

He rushed back to the castle, hoping that nobody noticed he was gone. Unfortunately, someone did, and even more unfortunately, it was his father. The King was standing at the top of the staircase with his arms crossed. "Peter..."

"Yes, Father?"

"Where were you?"

Peter started walking up the stairs. "I was on a walk" He went to walk to his room but his father grabbed his arm.

"You were with the new maid, weren't you? I've seen the way you've been looking at her ever since she was hired"

The Prince shook his head. "No..." He pulled his arm away and left.

"Stay away from her" His father called after him. "Or she'll be fired!"

When Peter got to his room, he thought about what his father said. He didn't think his father would fire Aurora just because he was hanging out with her. Would he? He couldn't let her lose her job, especially since her mother was sick... And his father wouldn't allow him to help her with money for the medicine that her mother needs... He didn't want to just not see her anymore, he liked her, he wanted to get to know her better... What was he supposed to do...

~・~

Over the next few days, Peter kept his distance from Aurora. He didn't want to stay away from her, but he also didn't want to anger his father. He was going to become King, his Kingdom was supposed to come first, before anything and anyone else.

Aurora didn't know why Peter was suddenly avoiding her, she worried that she did something wrong and angered him. Maybe he believed what the townspeople were saying about her...

The head maid, May, could see how this was affecting both of them. She could tell that there was something going on between them, even though they had only met a few days prior and barely knew each other. There was a connection. May tried to talk to the King about it, tried to convince him to let the kids do whatever they wanted to do, but he wouldn't even consider it. May talked to the Queen, who agreed with her, she could see the way her son felt about the young maid. The Queen talked to her husband, but again, he wouldn't even consider letting the kids be together. Peter was to become King, he couldn't be with the maid.

The two teenagers would pass each other in the corridors, only glancing at each other when they did. Aurora wanted to talk to him, ask him what she did to upset him, but she didn't want to make everything worse.

One day, while Aurora was in the village on her day off, she overheard people whispering. She didn't know what they were whispering about until she heard them mention the Prince.

"Prince Peter isn't the King and Queen's child"

Aurora froze and her eyes widened. How did they find out...? She made her way back to her cottage, thinking about what was going to happen to Peter, now that the kingdom knew. Suddenly, she felt someone grab her arm and pull her into the space between her cottage and her neighbors.

Peter stood there, looking livid. "You told someone"

"What are you talking about...?"

"About the King and Queen not being my parents!" He shouted, causing her to jump. "That has been a secret for fourteen years, ever since I was three years old! Then I tell you and suddenly it's all over the kingdom."

Aurora shook her head. "I didn't tell anyone, I swear! I would never do that to you..."

He wanted to believe her, he wanted to think that Aurora was too sweet to do anything like this... But he didn't know her well, for all he knew, this was all a charade... Other than his parents and May, the only other person who knew about it was Aurora, it had to be her...

"Peter... I swear, I didn't say anything..."

Peter sighed. "I really wish I could believe you... And I really wish I didn't have to do this..." He looked over to his right and one of the palace guards came over and grabbed Aurora by her arms, telling her that she was being arrested.

Aurora struggled against them. "Peter! I didn't do anything! You can't do this! What about my mother?"

Peter looked down at his shoes, trying to ignore her cries for help. It broke his heart, but she broke his trust.

Aurora was taken to the castle, where she was put into a cell in the dungeon. She sat down on the wooden bed, thinking about who could have told Peter's secret. She didn't tell anyone, she would never have broken his trust or risked his chance to become king.

It felt like forever before someone came down to question her. What she didn't expect was that it would be the King.

"Your Majesty, I didn't tell anyone. I swear!" Aurora said, grabbing the bars of the cell.

The King sighed, crossing his arms. "Why should I believe you? I told my son that he should stay away from you, you're nothing but trouble."

He told Peter not to trust her... That's why he was avoiding her... She hadn't done anything wrong... Aurora looked up at him. "Please, Your Majesty! My mother is very ill, she needs me to take care of her! I never told anyone your secret, I wouldn't do that to Peter! Please, believe me!"

The King shook his head slowly. "You're nothing but trouble..." He left the dungeon, leaving Aurora alone.

She sat on the floor of her cell crying. She understood why they thought that, but she thought that The Prince trusted her...

A few days passed and nobody came down to Aurora's cell, other than the occasional guard to bring her food, though Aurora didn't eat most of it.

The Royal Family had spent the past few days trying to calm the Kingdom down and assure them that The Prince was the King and Queen's biological child, even having May serve as a 'witness' to Peter's birth. Peter hated lying to the kingdom, but they had to. If he didn't become King, then they would lose the kingdom to distant cousins, and he couldn't have that happen.

The Prince had a nurse from the castle take care of Aurora's mother, he didn't want to be the reason that an innocent woman suffered, and he wouldn't do that to Aurora.

Aurora... His Mysterious Rose... He missed her, he wanted to go see her, he wanted to free her, but he couldn't. He was forbidden from ever seeing her again... He didn't want to believe that she would try to hurt him... His Rose wouldn't do that to him...

May and The Queen didn't believe that Aurora would do something like this, especially if it were to hurt Peter. They had both met her and she was the absolute sweetest thing they had ever met. The King however, didn't want to hear what they had to say, and his wife had a feeling that he was going to do something drastic, and sure enough, he did.

A week after Aurora was arrested, The King told his wife and May that Aurora was going to be put to death for betrayal of the Royal family. The Queen was against it, she told him that her telling the secret was no reason to kill her, but again, he didn't want to hear what they had to say.

Peter had overheard his father's decision, he went up to his room, locking himself inside and started to cry. How could he allow this to happen to Aurora, to His Rose... He regretted ever telling his parents that Aurora had known about his true parentage, actually he had regretted that ever since she was arrested, he wished he had just told them that he had no idea who it was that told the kingdom.

"Peter..."

Peter looked up and saw his father standing at the door. "Please..." Peter begged. "You can't do this..."

"I'm sorry son, but this is how it has to be. And I won't let you try and stop it" The King took a key out of his pocket.

Peter's eyes widened, knowing what his father was going to do. "No! Please! You can't do this!"

Ignoring his pleas, his father left the room, locking him inside. Peter banged at the door yelling until his hands were raw and his voice was gone. He sunk down to his knees, his head against the door, and cried.

Everyone in the castle was instructed not to let the Prince out, no matter what, not even to feed him. The execution was happening in two days, so the Prince would be fine until then, plus The King knew that his son kept snacks in his room that he had stolen from the kitchen.

When Aurora was told that she was going to be executed, she cried for hours, not only for herself, but for her mother. What was going to happen to her mother when she was gone? Aurora didn't even know if her mother was okay... What did her mother think happened to Aurora...?

On the day of the execution, Aurora was sitting in the back of her cell, quiet, looking at the wall in a daze. There were no tears and no fight left in her...

When she heard the guards coming down, she knew it was time. The guards came into her cell, grabbing her by the arms and saying something, but Aurora didn't hear it. She wondered what the Prince was doing, and if he agreed with her fate.

There were people around her talking, but she didn't hear anything they said, except for one word: Guillotine...

She was going to be beheaded... But at least it would be quick and painless...

Meanwhile, Prince Peter was doing everything he could to break out of his room so that he could save His Rose. It was his fault he was there and he was going to fix it...

He stood at his window, trying to come up with a plan. His window was open and he could hear the maids talking as they walked past, he wasn't paying any attention to them until he heard something that snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I overheard him talking to that girl-" The girl talking had a nasty tone in her voice when she said 'girl'. "He told her everything. And now, when the kingdom goes against them for lying, the crown will be ours"

Peter looked down to see who was talking and saw a maid passing under his window. He didn't know who she was, but he had an idea. She had to be one of the distant cousins that were set to inherit the throne if Peter didn't become King.

They framed Aurora... But why would they do that? She was innocent... Peter looked at the clock in his room, he had to hurry, the execution would be happening soon.

He looked back down out of his window. His room was too high up to climb out of, but he was going to do it anyway, His Rose's life depended on it...

Carefully climbing onto the ledge, he made his way down the castle wall, nearly falling a few times. Once he was on the ground, he ran to the courtyard, where the execution was taking place.

Everyone was already there and Peter worried he was too late. As he made his way through the crowd, he saw the executioner raise an ax to cut the rope of the guillotine.

Aurora had her eyes shut tight, tears streaming down her face.

"WAIT!" The Pince yelled, finally breaking through the crowd.

People turned to look at him, his parents looked at him in shock. Peter ran over and opened the guillotine, freeing Aurora, who looked up at him in shock. He pulled her close to him, not wanting to let her go.

"Peter! What is the meaning of this!" His father yelled, storming over to him.

Peter pushed Aurora behind him, he didn't know what his father would try to do and he wasn't going to allow anything to happen to her. "Aurora didn't tell anyone... I know what really happened..."

He explained everything. At first his father wasn't going to believe it, until they saw the maid bold out of the crowd in a panic. Guards followed her and caught her almost immediately.

She confessed to everything, getting a job at the castle to spy on them so that they could find out something that would make the kingdom turn on them and give her family the crown. She overheard Peter talking to Aurora in the garden and when she heard his secret, she knew that she finally had what she needed... Someone needed to take the fall though, and Aurora was perfect. She was new, no one really knew who she was, and they didn't trust her.

The maid was arrested and Aurora was pardoned. Aurora hugged Peter, almost starting to cry. She really thought she was going to die that day.

The King apologized to Aurora, per his wife's orders, and Peter took Aurora back to the castle, apologizing profusely for not believing her.

Aurora forgave him since it wasn't his fault that he was just doing what he thought was right. At the castle, unbeknownst to the two teenagers, the Queen told her husband that he wasn't going to be able to keep the two apart, they would keep finding a way back to each other, and after seeing them in the courtyard today, he knew she was right.

The two were given the King and Queens blessing, and immediately, Peter pulled Aurora in for a kiss. Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure, this one left them all away...

They might not have known each other long, but he was head over heels for her.

After everything that had happened, the Kingdom didn't mind if the Prince was adopted, they knew he would be an amazing King.

Although before Peter didn't want to be King, if he had His Rose by his side, then everything would be okay...

And years later, when Peter proposed to his Princess, she only had three words to say:

"As you wish..."

~A/N~ Sorry about how dumb this is. Though now I kinda want to write a fic called His Mysterious Rose~