CHAPTER SIX

“You shameless ingrate. You went ahead and became just like your mother! You used trickery to path your way into the palace! Were you not content with your life as a servant that you went ahead to seduced the fourth prince! The forgotten and forbidden prince of the kingdom! You are useless and he is even worse than you. Now the king must be fuming in fury that I am afraid he is going to rip off my status in the royal palace all because of you!” her father shouted at her as she knelt down on the floor.

“Right now the king must have sent the royal guards to come and gather us to the palace where our doom awaits us. Didn’t I tell you this girl was going to be the death of us one time. Now see she has done it Bernard. She has done it! Like mother like daughter. Twenty years ago her mother got married by deceiving you into believing that you were getting married to me and today her daughter has done the same!”

“Father believe me I have no hand in this. I didn’t want to do this father. I didn’t, you have to trust me. Mother, I…”

“I am not your mother. Never was and never will be. Your mother is dead. Dead! Honestly speaking the two of you should have died together twenty years ago. We won’t be facing this day today. Hope how did you dare to sit in place of a princess? How!”

“You people should throw her out of this house instead of lecturing her about the past. Listen I am not ready to die. It’s better most people don’t know she’s from this family so getting rid of her will be better for us,” Angel stated.

“I have no daughter who doesn’t fear and honor the royal family. In fact from today onwards we are not your family. We were never your family. Just carry yourself and get out of my house Hope. Leave!” he grabbed her arm and threw her out. “Don’t ever think about coming here again. This is not your home anymore. You’re now a married woman, go and be with your husband.”

“There is no place for a cheater and deceiver like you here. Just go! Leave this place for us Hope. Go and never come back here again!” Her aunt shut the door on her face.

“Father,” she called banging on the door. “Father please….mother open the door. Please let me in. I don’t want to go back there. Mother please…father! Father believe me. Father, mother!”

Lucian blinked his tears away and wiped those which had managed to come out. He had came running here the moment Tobias told him that she was missing from the palace. He knew he would find her here and definitely not in a good state. Hope was lost in her misery that she failed to feel his presence. He licked his lips and urged towards her.

He crouched down and held her into his arms engulfing her into a hug.

“Father please…,” she sobbed holding dear to him. “Mom…mom I need you. Mom I need you. Please come back,” she hiccupped unconsciously calling out to her mother.

“Shhhhh! I am here now. I am here for you sweetheart. I am here with you and you will never cry again. Just stop. They are not worth it,” he coaxed holding her against his chest. “You are not homeless. You are with me. I will be your abode.”

“This is my home! This is my house prince! I don’t belong in the palace. I don’t belong there. That’s not my home. They have to believe me prince,” she frantically shook her head. “I can’t lose my family prince. Help me beg them. Tell them the truth. I didn’t cheat or use trickery to be your wife. Help me beg them.”

No. He was never going to do that or let her do it. She’s his wife! She’s royalty and royalty should never beg for the commoners. Most importantly those who don’t deserve it. He was angry but the sorrowful state of his wife reminded him that he needed to calm down and coax her feelings to remain calm.

“I believe you Hope. I believe you wholeheartedly. I trust you blindly. I trust you that should be enough for you,” he caressed her back protecting her against the chilling night breeze. “Its cold out here. Let’s get you home. Come home with me please” he looked at her straight in the eye. “Please say yes. You have nothing here anymore. Please don’t do this to yourself. Don’t do this to me. Please come with me. Please…”

She looks at him then to the house closed door and she realized how true that was. They had kicked her out forever. She laid her head against his chest and tiredly nodded. He instantly carried her in bridal style and walked back to his car.

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“I had promised myself after my mother died that I will try my best to stay out of trouble,” she began looking at anything but him. “I wanted a simple life with no drama and getting married to you is not going to grant me that Prince. This is not what I need. This is not what I wanted! I want my old life back! Where there was no Princess Odette or the forth Prince and my mother was still alive!”

She was rejecting him then…it shouldn’t have hurt but it did. More than he wanted it to be.

“I understand your plight. No one would ever want to be married to someone like me. I am afterall a son of a mistress. I have no power or deed. Princess Odette also ran away and married someone else so I won’t be surprised if you want to leave as well. I won’t force you into something you don’t want. I am really not that type of a person. It’s my bad luck that I am no one’s choice.”

She closed her eyes freeing the tears. She wanted to tell him that, that wasn’t the reason she said all that. She honestly doesn’t care who he was. She just had her own personal reasons of not wanting to be married to him. Heck she never wanted to get married to anyone. It has nothing to do with status or wealth. She should have clarified to him but she didn’t she just remained quiet instead, sitting helplessly on the bed with her head held down.

“I don’t accept this. I can’t accept this. I can’t. I won’t be able to do it. I won’t.”

He sighed. She was breaking his heart. He felt rejected. For once he wanted to be selfish and keep her to himself. She was the only good thing that has ever happened to him besides his mother and for his selfishness he didn’t want to let her go.

“Hope…,” he struggled to say her name without fluttering. “You are mine now. You belong to the prince and there’s nothing much you can do about it. Like it or not I am your family now. I agree I am not the man you wanted and dreamed of but this is who I am. What I am,” he tells her and she just closed her eyes shaking her head negatively. “ You are fuzzy and need rest so I am going to let you be for a while. The room is all yours tonight,” he attempted to hold her hand but debated against it. He hesitantly walked out of the door and stood in front of the door waiting.

He heard a crash, more crashing and more of it accompanied by a scream of pain. He wondered what was going on in there? He could only wonder, curse, hurt just waiting for her to bring it down.

 Hope slides down on the cold floor glaring at the room she just destroyed. Was she content? No she wanted to destroy more but there wasn’t anything left. The only thing she could do was hug her knees and cry.

She cried herself to sleep whilst Lucian was outside he heard no noise from inside. He slowly opened the door. She had fallen asleep while sitting on the floor. He lifted her up and moved her to the bed and covered her with the blankets.

He reached out and wiped her tears and tugged the strands of her hair behind her ear.

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Earlier in the morning he took a shower in his private chambers and put on his best royal outfit and finalized it with his cloak. It was an important day today. The King had summoned the royal elders to talk about his marriage with Hope and discuss the annulment process with them.

Once he was done he applied some cologne and left to the meeting. He put on his passive and poker face. When the great doors of the throne room were opened he majestically walked in.

“Your majesties,” he slightly bowed and their jaws dropped. No one has bowed slightly to the king before, it was seen as a sign of disrespect towards the king. He noticed the elders and everyone else’s reactions; it was obvious he didn’t care. The King on the other hand gestured him to take his seat.

“My elders I am sure you all are wondering why I called you here this morning. You all were present on the day of the wedding and you witnessed the tremendous event that left my people confused. Now they want answers. They want to know who the forth prince got married to. I called you here to clear that confusion,” he began. “Prince Lucian was arranged to get married to Princess Odette. Everyone was aware of this fact however instead of the fourth prince she ended up getting married to the third prince as you can see she is by his side. You all must agree with me that love is a raw feeling that can make one crazy for it. The princess and the prince didn’t want to commit a sin so they went ahead and got married to each other. King Usiad and Queen Luna blessed the newly wed for their daughter’s happiness. In the mist of all this the fourth prince ended up getting married to an unworthy servant in this palace whom I came to know as Sir Bernard Williams daughter, Hope Williams. We have no idea why she did it,she has failed to give an explanation to us as to why she would sit as a replacement bride for the princess. I as a king and a father I am against this relationship and ask you elders what is the way forward in ending this fiasco called marriage?”

“My king if the forth prince wants he can annulment the marriage as early as now,” one of the elders responded.

“He is my son and he will do the needful. It’s scornful for a royal blood to marry a servant. Royalty marries only royalty. That has been our tradition for ages now. Moreover she’s not even here in the meeting which proves she’s incompetent for the prince.”

The elders nodded as they discussed among themselves. The King smugly smiled as he stared ahead. Once the discussion was over they glanced at the Prince.

“Prince, are you ready to annul this marriage?”

He didn’t raise to his feet instead slumped back on his chair. His eyes were closed and his fingers on his forehead. He was calm which was unexpected of him.

Princess Odette frown at him, she agreed to come here because of the action she was certain was going to occur. She was eagerly waiting to hear him beg her to take him back, she expected to see the pathetic excuse of his wife and make fun of her but she wasn’t present neither was he begging her to love him. What was going on in his mind?

“Prince?”

He snorted. “My wife isn’t feeling well and I don’t want to stress her with unimportant things like this. I love her so much for that.”

Love her? Who was he kidding? Everyone thought as they exchanged faces.

“She had a long night. She was forced to get married to me, she cried a lot because of it then she was kicked out from her house and she almost died. The pain was too much for her so I let her sleep in. She doesn’t need this,” he added and slowly opened his eyes. “I love my wife and I dare annul this marriage. You say royalty must marry royalty. My wife became royalty the day I married her. She’s no longer a servant but a princess consort. My legal and lawful wife. I have no intentions of letting her go ever. The King had put forth a decree that if one of his son’s marries and produces an heir, a son then he will hand over the throne to him,” he smiled. “I am married now which qualifies me as King of this kingdom right father?” he stood up from his seat and glances at each one of them. “That’s it. I am neither divorcing my wife nor am I ever going to back down from the throne. If the King want my wife to prove herself worthy of being called a princess then he must go ahead and do it. I am sure you have seen from last time that she can take anything on. I shall take my leave now,” he slightly bowed and made his way out of the throne room.

“Did he just walk out on a meeting?” Odette asked no one but herself.

“Don’t mind him. He has a mind of his own and sometimes he wakes up at the wrong side of the bed,” Prince Klaus replied her question and kisses her hand which was intertwined with his.

“Oh…,” she muttered her eyes going to the direction Lucian just took. She wondered where he was going to in such a hurry. She must admit he was quite charming in his cold demeanor. She sit back on her chair but her mind was wondering to the fourth prince.

                            ***

He found her in the garden drinking her morning tea in her pale blue night gown with her hair packed into a messy bun. She looked healthy and refreshed which made him happy for nothing. He made his way towards her.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” he asked with a beautiful smile and Hope shook her head. He pulled a chair for himself and sat down.

“Tea?” she asked him.

“Please.”

She poured some tea for him and passed it over to him.

“Err…I am sorry about the room. I am usually well mannered. My emotions got the best out of me last night and because of me you had to sleep outside. You don’t have to do that anymore, it’s your room and only you have the right over it. I am truly sorry.”

“Hope,” he held her gaze and leant forward. “You are not a stranger nor a servant. You are my wife. You’re the forth prince’s wife and everything he owns is yours. I don’t own much but whatever I have it is equally yours. I know this relationship came unexpectedly for you and believe me even I feel it. No matter how we feel, you and I are now married and we should honor this relationship. You don’t have to feel inferior to me.”

She bite her lower lip and stare him down. “I thought about it. I never wanted this but fate brought it upon me. I am not someone to run away from my responsibilities so I will perform them to the fullest. Understand one thing though, I will surely honor this relation. It will have respect but no love.”

For his entire life he has always been deprived of everything and love was one of those things. He shouldn’t have expected her to jump at him and love him. They are basically strangers and looking at her he just hoped that one day she will fall for him. Maybe one day.

“I know, it’s alright,” he said gently and she looked up in surprise and courteously nodded. “Then may I assume us as friends?”

“Friends? I think I can do that,” she smiled at him.

“On that point then do come out with me. I would like to take you out if you don’t mind.”

She thought about it for a while before agreeing to go out with him. He allowed her time to go and change her dress. When she came back she was wearing a pink gorgeous dress and it was hugging her thin waist perfectly and loosened up below her waist and touched the ground a little. Her brown hair was swinging freely against the wind behind her.

He couldn’t believe he got so lucky to be married to such a beautiful woman.

“Err…sorry I took a long time to prepare. I met your mother on my way to the chambers and she offered to help me dress up.”

Absentmindedly he urged closer to her in slow steps until he could hear her breath intakes. His gaze on her eyes the whole time, he was hypnotized by her. He lifted her hand and brushed off some hair which was on her forehead behind her ear.

“You look gorgeous and beautiful.”

Her heart fluttered and she blushed at the compliment. No one has ever called her gorgeous or beautiful before she just believed she was and hearing the prince say that about her. She liked it and was pleased as well. She thought he won’t like it but he did giving her a sense of relief.

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Lucian took her to the mall where he brought her new designer garments, dresses, shoes and customized jewelry. Once the clothing shopping was done he took her to a beauty parlor where she got her facial, manicure, pedicure and hair done.

It was long and slightly process. She gawked at her new look in the mirror and couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. Her skin was flawless, smooth and bright. Her hair was now clean and smelled of strawberries and cherries. She was her new self and she was confident with herself.

“I can’t believe this,” she let out a soft laugh whilst Lucian stood besides her, his hands on her shoulders and he bent down.

“You have always been beautiful Hope. You just needed some refinement. You needed this and you deserve it. It’s like magic isn’t it?”