"All right, people, here's how it's going to work," announced the queen and family matriarch, standing in front of a pile of carefully-wrapped presents. "Before today, we all drew names out of a hat. I pulled someone's name, Sebastian pulled someone's name, someone pulled his name, someone pulled mine, and so forth. That person was to purchase a present for that person and ONLY that person."
Alexandra was first, accepting her gift from the person who pulled her name. She had been happily discussing the football game with the men, including the butler who had joined them.
"Wow, the latest Simbox?" she asked. "It isn't even out yet!" But there was a note inside, with an advance copy of Madden 14. Whoever bought this knew she was a sports fan.
But while Alexandra mulled over who could have purchased this gift...
...the rest of the family, including her former IF Patrick, opened theirs. Patrick received a bicycle, which seemed to please him.
Francisca warily approached the gift pile and opened her present, which, to her surprise, was a new keyboard. Whoever had purchased her present knew she liked music and had played piano as a young girl.
Anastasia's new set of paints made her happy, too. She'd wanted to take up painting, but she was much more comfortable with pen-and-paper sketching. Aldo the butler, hovering over her, had given himself away as the mystery benefactor.
"Lucian, did you buy the Simbox?" asked Alexandra with more than a little curiosity.
"No, Alex, I didn't," he replied. "I pulled Ella's name."
If Patrick pulled mom's name, and Lucian pulled Ella's name, and Aldo the butler pulled Ana's name... then that meant...
Ella had bought the limited edition Simbox with the Madden 14 prototype game.
The crown princess had as much as confirmed it, with the surreptitious glance she had thrown Alexandra's way when she asked about it.
"How'd you get it?" Alexandra whispered to Ella.
"Hey, you forget I'm the crown princess? I've got another stowed away for Emmanuel's birthday."
Meanwhile, after the gifts were handed out, Anastasia went into the dining room with her mother.
"What was that all about with Sebastian and Fran?"
Queen Catarina nodded. "A bit of ancient history there, I'm afraid. Happened well before you were born. So don't worry your pretty little head about it. I'll deal with Francisca during my own time."
"Anastasia, dear, when are you going to announce your engagement to Lucian?"
Anastasia let out a resigned sigh. "Lucian and I are not engaged. But we are very much in love."
"Yes, Anastasia, I can see that, that's why I'm asking. I gave you and your sister an ultimatum, to marry within ten simdays or lose your inheritance, and the ultimatum still stands, with three simdays to go. The two of you hadn't even much considered dating, it wasn't even much in your vocabulary, and these two suitors pretty much pop up out of nowhere. Could you tell me what is going on here?"
Anastasia cleared her throat. "Mother, I'm not getting married because I've decided to attend Sims University's architectural design institute."
Queen Catarina was livid. "Anastasia Maria-Teresa!"
"Mother, you are not going to stop me. I've already applied and been accepted, and I'm going to start in the spring."
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