The second day began with far less elegance than the first.
As soon as breakfast concluded, Rowan herded the candidates toward the palace library like a frantic sheepdog in a waistcoat. The candidates, for their part, chattered excitedly about the rumored "knowledge test," though no one seemed sure what knowledge was expected.
Queen Eleanor and Prince Adrien waited inside the grand library, along with Cinderella, Anastasia, Drizella, and an overly smug-looking Rowan who held a clipboard like it was a weapon.
"Today," the queen announced, "we assess your conversation, education, and" she paused delicately, "practical thinking."
Drizella whispered to Anastasia,
"Ah yes, the dreaded common sense exam. Many nobles perished attempting it."
Rowan cleared his throat loudly.
"First activity: conversational interview! You will converse on light topics for one minute with a member of the royal party. Subjects include: festivals, geography, literature, and—"
"Fashion?" one girl asked, bright-eyed.
Rowan blinked. "Yes. But preferably not for the entire minute."
Pairs formed.
Cinderella sat with a nervous candidate who froze completely and whispered, "I read half a book once." Cinderella nodded kindly as if she'd just confessed to climbing Everest.
Anastasia listened to a girl passionately explain her theory that dragons once ruled the kingdom's fashion industry, which was bold, historically questionable, and wildly entertaining.
Drizella found herself trapped as a candidate listed every popular pastry from her hometown. Drizella nodded thoughtfully as though pastry diplomacy might save the nation one day.
Meanwhile, Rowan endured a lecture about proper curtain fabrics for winter palaces and somehow made notes for later and whispered, "Curtains are important," to which Adrien contemplated revolt.
Next came the written portion.
Rowan passed out parchment and ink. A simple prompt read:
Question 1: Name one major river in the kingdom.
Question 2: What is the purpose of a treaty?
Question 3: Who currently sits on the throne?
The room fell into a strange quiet.
One candidate wrote, "A treaty is when two people agree not to shout at each other anymore," which Rowan grudgingly awarded partial credit for accuracy. Another confidently answered, "The queen sits on the throne," then scribbled, "unless it is a ball day," and added a small doodle of a crown.
For Question 3, one girl wrote, "Prince Charming, obviously," then underlined it three times and drew hearts. Adrien glanced over Rowan's shoulder and choked quietly.
After the papers were collected and candidates given a short break.
The final part of the test began: Practical reasoning scenarios.
Rowan read aloud: "Scenario One: Two guests demand slightly different seats at a banquet table. What do you do?"
One girl wrote, "Move the table."
Another put, "Give them soup first and let the problem solve itself."
A third wrote, "Tell them to behave or sit in the garden with the geese," which made the queen stifle a laugh.
Then: "Scenario Two: A chicken has escaped into the palace courtyard during a foreign visit. How do you handle it?"
This produced masterpieces.
Responses included:
'Catch chicken.'
'Ignore chicken; perhaps no one will notice.'
'Apologize in every language and pray.'
'Serve chicken at lunch.'
Adrien covered his mouth during that last one.
The final scenario proved chaos: "The queen asks you three times for her spectacles, but you cannot find them. What do you do?"
This question screaming Rowan's personal experience.
Half the room wrote some variation of: 'Check atop her head.'
The other half panicked and described complex search parties involving dogs, couriers, and messenger ravens.
By the end of the day, stomachs ached from suppressed laughter, Rowan was out of ink, and the queen needed tea to recover from amusement.
As the candidates exited, Anastasia whispered to Cinderella, "If this is the educated batch, imagine the uneducated one."
Cinderella grinned. "At least none of them proposed war over curtains."
Drizella sighed dreamily. "I rather liked the soup strategy."
When the afternoon chaos finally ended, the queen asked all the candidates to rest for a while and clean up for dinner.
But she did not mean rest-rest.
She meant strategic rest, the kind where queens plan hidden traps to study the brain of future princesses.
Only three people knew:
The Queen
Prince Adrien
Rowan
Everyone else — including Cinderella, Anastasia, and Drizella — had no clue.
Rowan prepared the things for the test with great pain and a tiny cry for help under his breath. The queen ignored him because queens are immune to such noises.
Right before dinner, the candidates were gathered in the small music hall.
The queen stood in the center, smiling like someone who knew too much.
Adrien stood behind her looking serious and handsome. Rowan looked tired and handsome. Both are common Rowan problems.
"Ladies," the queen said, "before we eat, can anyone help me to solve a small dispute. A princess should know how to settle matters fairly."
Rowan brought forward three servants arguing about a broken vase. Apparently:
One said it was the second one's fault,
The second said it was a palace cat's fault,
The third said it was nobody's fault because gravity exists.
The candidates had fifteen minutes to settle the dispute and declare a final decision.
They failed.
Results: Surprisingly Terrible
Candidate 1 accused Candidate 4. Candidate 4 accused the cat. Candidate 12 accused Rowan. Candidate 19 blamed gravity again. Candidate 27 suggested the vase broke long before she entered the room, which made no sense but she seemed very confident.
One candidate recommended punishing all of them to "save time." The queen made a tight smile at that one.
By the end, not a single candidate could form a fair and reasonable conclusion. Some argued too much, some cried, and one tried to bribe the cat with tuna.
The queen sighed loudly. Adrien rubbed his forehead. Rowan wrote notes with a face that said "I would like retirement."
The queen dismissed the candidates and told Rowan to fetch Anastasia and Drizella because she needed help with mental peace setups before dinner.
They came in, both confused.
While the queen was fixing her brooch, Rowan hurriedly explained the vase problem because he could not keep things inside his brain any longer.
Anastasia listened.
Drizella listened.
Then Anastasia said, "It was no one's fault. The vase was placed too close to the edge. Of course it would fall if touched. So we fix the placement policy, not punish the staff."
Drizella nodded and added, "And give the cat tuna anyway. Cats do not care about politics. They just like snacks."
The queen froze for a second.
Then she smiled the slow, proud, queenly smile that only queens and cats are allowed to have.
"That," she said, "is the correct judgment."

Adrien, who pretended not to be listening, actually heard everything and had to stop himself from smiling like an idiot.
Rowan puffed up like a proud rooster because those were his girls. He did not raise them, but he liked to act like he did.
The queen told them they could go help Cinderella with the dinner. They left happily, unaware they just won a test nobody knew existed.
As soon as the door closed.
Queen whispered:
"Sharp thinking. Compassion. Fairness. Unusual humor. I like those two."
Adrien whispered back:
"I noticed."
Rowan whispered louder because he could not whisper properly:
"I always said they were brilliant, but no one listens to Rowan unless there is a crisis."
The queen ignored his drama and called for dinner.
--------------------------------------------
SIDE NOTE: next will be the last day of chaos. Even I'm tired with them. Long live our queen👸.
If you like my story then give it a star and share it with your friends, this will help me to keep motivated and write new stories.