5. Commoner

Reza is standing in the dungeon. The guard he ordered to find Alicia & James is gone. Taking a long breath he moves his feet over steps and walks up to the hallway.

He sees guards coming from the other end of the hallway. He identifies the two guards that usually stand beside his gate. They are gossiping about something among them.

"What happened?" he asks.

"Your highness, a fire broke out in Sir Yuri's room," one informs him.

Reza walks to the other end and steps into Yuri's room. Several guards are still inside the room. Some are still holding big water jars in their hands. Some are still coughing under deep smoke.

Beside them are grey and black ashes of the once yellow and white bed. A giant smoke is still lingering over it. Wet ashes on the floor mixed with the water look like the dirty mud around the small ponds in summers.

"Who did this?" Reza asks, waving smoke by his hands around his face.

A circle of guards splinters from one side making way for someone. A golden turban over the head with a face covered in dark beards moves forward. A hand sweeps the smoke around it to reveal the dead eyes of Yuri. 

"Whom do you think?" says Yuri with his face inches away from Reza, looking inside his eyes.

A humongous fire sparks inside Reza. His brown face turns fiery red.  "Find'em…I WILL BURN THEM ALIVE," grumbles Reza loudly, glaring at the guards.

The omnipotent heat radiating from Reza illusions as the origin for the smoke around him.

Yuri stays stunned. Coughing after a while he turns back sluggishly. 

With a heavy head, Reza sprints into his room. His room door clicks open as he sits on the bed. 

Two girls in their twenties dressed in white tops with open backs walk in. They giggle seeing Reza sitting on the bed.  

"I'm not in the mood," he says, leaning on the bed.

"Let us spice it up," says the blond-haired girl and stands behind the redhead girl. She runs her hand over the naked back of the other girl who lets out a low moan. Her hands untangle the knot of the girl's dress around her neck. The dress drops down revealing her slender body.

"WHAT DID I SAY?" Reza roars and jolts up on his feet. The girl picks her dress and walks towards the exit. "Let's go to Yuri's," hisses the blonde one. "His bed I heard was burnt," hisses the redhead.

"DON'T COME BACK HERE," he screams and shuts the metal door with a loud bang.

He lays on his bed and trips to the left. His nose brushes the soft cotton of the pillow. A pleasant aroma sways in. It's from the perfume Alicia had given. Something else is also mixed with it mildly. 

He inhales it and feels different and more pleasant than before. He sits on the bed with the pillow in his lap. "It's her" he recognizes the unique aroma of Mary flower and his mind slips into her memory.

Reza is standing in Alicia's long and wide veranda. His hands are over his hips and he glances inside the hut every now and then. 

Alicia steps out. She's dressed in a luminous silk gown. The pink color of her gown matches with her rosy lips and cheeks. Her milky white skin around her neck and shoulders are contrasting the off-shoulder neckline dress.

His eyes stay clung to her almond-shaped eyes. His hands slide down. She walks over to him. But he stays frozen, not even breathing anymore.

"Having second thoughts?" she asks, raising her beautiful s-shaped eyebrows.

He takes a long breath. "You had promised me," he says, scratching his head.

"And I intend to keep it," she says, picking a basket. "I'll go with you after this but in case you want to go alone" she lowers her head to the sides.

"No, I'll help you finish this," he prompts instantly.  It's been only a few days with her and he seems to have grown very fond of her companionship. For all his life he has been getting help and care from all but he offers his help to someone for the first time.

"Then let's go get some flowers for the wedding bouquet" she walks with the basket in her hand. 

"Pass it to me," he says, extending his hand. She gives it to him smiling. He follows her carrying the basket with joy.

She stops around a place filled with flower trees of all colors and aromas. She plucks some star-shaped flowers and some round ones while Reza stands behind her confused with so many varieties of flowers.

"Get me some white Sharon," she says, turning to him. He nods confidently.

He plucks the white flowers around him and walks to her.

"Those are Lillies," she tries to suppress her giggling but ends up bursting into loud laughter. He scratches his head laughing softly over his own mishap.

She stands up still giggling. "Those," she points up towards the tree in his back. 

He turns back and looks at a high branch. "Too high," he says, raising his hands up. 

She walks to it and extends her hand while standing on her toes. But she's not even able to touch any. "Help me," she says.

"How?" he shrugs his shoulders and tries again but no luck. She raises her hand again but this time she's able to grab one. 

Her eyes trail downwards to see his arms wrapped around her waist. Her legs are floating in the air. She turns her head up and plucks the flowers.

Reza holds his arms around her waist with a dropping heart rate. Small jerks in her body as she plucks flowers, send wintery waves in his body. Her thin gown tightens around his belly and he's mesmerized with the perfectly round navel underneath it.

She gets her hands full with Sharon flowers. "Down," she says but he doesn't budge. "Put me down, Reza," she repeats giggling.

"Sorry," he jerks his head to the sides and slides her down slowly. A unique pleasant aroma grasps him as her face comes near his. He inhales it with pleasure and closes his eyes.

"It's from Mary flower, like it?" she asks, feeling his breaths over her lips.

"I love it," his arms around her grow tighter and he enjoys the aroma with eyes still closed.

"You're supposed to free me now," she says but words don't come out of her mouth, she gazes at his sharp chins. 

Both stay frozen for a moment.

A wind blows around them and it carries the aroma from Sharons in her hand to him. He lets her free and stumbles backwardSilence. He lets out a sneeze.

"You have an allergy to Sharon?" she asks.

"Looks like it," he says as everything around him sweeps away with the wind except the mesmerizing Mary aroma.

He opens his eyes to see the pillow in his hand. "She must've been here," he says looking at it.

Thoughts dwindle his mind. How can she do it? She looks so innocent and I've only seen her care and compassion for others. 

He stands up and walks up to his gate. "I want each one of you in the throne room," he says to the guard around his room. 

"Your highness, many are out in villages looking for the traitor" the guard informs. 

"Send in all left," he says and steps into the throne room and sits on the throne.

All guards assemble in the room moments later. Yuri comes along with them and stands beside Reza.

"I want you to tell me all about her," he orders, glancing at the guards.

"The traitor," Yuri clarifies in a stern tone and gets a glare from Reza.

A guard comes forward from the crowd. "Your highness, I had seen her going into a secret passage," says the guard.

"Then," he digs in further.

"Then she came out with that guard...James," the guard says recalling.

"So that guard went first?" he asks, narrowing his eyes. "Maybe she's innocent," he adds further.

All the guards look at each other. Whispers and sighs among them stir up. 

"But she admitted her crime," Yuri gets in front and clears the cloud dwindling over them. 

A silence descends in the room. 

Reza's head gets heavy. He signals them to disperse. They all walk towards the exit. Yuri goes out with them.

Reza walks out and steps into his room. An internal war is going on within him. His brain is favoring all the evidence against her but his heart is stubborn that she's innocent. 

"Guard," Reza says, turning towards his gate. 

"Yes, your highness," a guard walks in. 

"Not you, the other one," he says, recognizing a different tone than he expected.

It's difficult to distinguish any guard from the other as they all have the same dress and their helmets reveal only their eyes. But it would have been really easy if he could remember them by name.

"Why remember our names? You're a selfish bastard unlike the king, your father," curses the guard in his head and walks out.

The other guard walks in and bows to the prince.

"I want some of your clothes."

"Of a commoner like last time?" the guard asks.

"The vest should be a little loose unlike last time," orders Reza.

"Yes, your highness," bowing the guard walks out.