Penelope opened her eyes to find herelf in a substandard looking bedroom. There were displaced furnitures, broken windows, unprompted wooden floor boards and a bucket put in a corner to stop water from leaking above the ceiling.
The bed creaked as Penelope rose from it. She was clueless of where she could possibly be. All she knew was that she was supposed to get married to Alez before a sudden event took place at the wedding hall.
Penelope walked out of the room and went into what seemed to appear as the living room. She glanced out from one of the broken windows and saw somebody approaching the inferior house.
Leonardo entered the house and gave Penelope a satisfied look when he saw that she had awoken.
"You awake. Did you have a good night?" Leonardo asked.
Penelope was confused.
"Why am I here? Wasn't i supposed to be married to Alez?" She asked being clueless.
"That was yesterday. I took you out of there with the assist of using sleeping gas. I now brought you here and it's now you're waking up."
"Leonardo, are you insane!? Why would you take me like that against my will? This is certainly considered as kidnapping. Especially if it's the princess of Luopetia!"
"But you did not want to marry Alez."
"I was doing it for my family and kingdom! Marrying Alez makes an alliance between Kanarua and Luopetia which can benefit the kingdom."
"It's better to go with your mind, princess."
"What will I do now?"
"You'll live with me from now on if you're fine with it. But since you have nowhere else to go..."
"I could simply return to the palace."
"Don't do that!"
"Why not?"
"I want to be with you, Penelope. I saying this right now. You may feel the same."
"I don't know how I feel about you, but I don't appreciate you interrupting my wedding halfway in. They'll start looking for me now. Where are we in particular?"
"Don't worry, we're somewhere very far and deep in the forest. Where most citizens don't step foot in accept for the lumberjacks that come here to fell trees."
"What of basic needs?"
"We have everything here already. Food won't be a problem and I got you a change of clothes."
Leonardo toses the formal clothes at her. She was still in her wedding dress so she actually needed a change of clothes.
"Fine, I agree to this. But it's only because I'll gain liberty from it, that's why I'll live with you in this place." Penelope said.
"Well said, princess." Leonardo replied.
"And who's house is this?"
"My friends old home. He now has a new one, so this house of his is just abandoned."
"He let you stay in it?"
"Not exactly..."
Penelope sighed.
"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. But i'll want to finally experience the full package of freedom and not being bound by responsibilities. I'll be living with a commoner. Not just any commoner, but you, Leonardo."
They both smiled.and Leonardo tells her that they need undercover names.
"I'll be known as Steven." Leonardo said.
"I'll be Holly." Penelope said.
They spend the rest of the day together organising their new arrangement for living in the forest. Penelope is excited by the thought of being free, while Leonardo is glad to see her in such a happy mood."
Back at the palace, Alez is enraging in fury when he figures out that Leonardo had kidnapped his bride.
He orders an immediate search team to go and look for her while he speaks to her parents in the palace court.
"How dare he take Penelope away!?" Alez said angrily.
"He should know better than to actually so foolishly." The king said.
"I shall have him beheaded as soon as he is brought to me." Alez spoke.
"Please, don't speak such vicious words like that. I believe that they'll soon return. Penelope is a responsible princess." Queen Amber said.
"Nonsense! Penelope is nothing but a preposterous child. She only does things to her pleasure. See how she has disgraced me and Luopetia now?" King Ulric said, being smitten with rage.
"When I find her, she will have no chance of escaping, I'll make sure. We will set journey to Kanarua as soon as we're married and after that idiotic commoner is killed in my presence." Alez said cruelly.
"I trust in you to protect her, Alez. I'm giving you all the power to do what you need to do to bring her back." King Ulric said proudly.
"Thank you, your majesty. Let me start by a decree that all areas outside of Luopetia should be restricted. It is not is allowed to go in and out until the princess is found." Alez said.
"Wise move, prince Alez. Consider it granted." The king said.
"Oh, dear..." Queen Amber exclaimed.
Days passed by. And Penelope however, is not affected by this decree one bit. And they haven't even caught her and Leonardo yet.
She spends her time bonding with Leonardo, exploring the forest at most times, collecting wild flowers, and enjoying the outdoors every single day.
She has also started seeing how meek Leonardo is in personality and actions. How he does everything based on his emotions from his words to his actions. Penelope realises how well Leonardo has been taking great care of her for days as they lived together and she finds it sweet.
Penelope soon starts developing feelings for Leonardo and confesses them to him soon after.
Leonardo is cheerful about Penelope finally returning his feelings and the both of them start dating officially as a couple.
Leonardo and Penelope make sure to always help eachother out when getting basic supplies or when one of them is in need.
Penelope fell sick once, and the both of them went to the town to see a pharmacist.
They put on their usual outing clothes. Penelope tied her hair in a scarf fully so that no one could see her orange hair peeping out and she wore the decent clothes. And Leonardo wore a hat and changed the tone of his voice whenever he was talking to outsiders.
They got to the pharmacy and the pharmacist that was working there prescribed some licit drugs for Penelope to take. He asked for their names and they used their fake names which were Steven and Holly.
They left the pharmacy and Penelope soon got better after taking the drugs for a while.
That was how the both of them were living since the day after Penelope's wedding day.