Moments later, Gonzalo has finally arrived. “Your Highnesses,” he bowed to the both of us. “You called for me?” “Can you tell us what you need?” Elizabeth asked as she turned to me. I smiled as I cupped her cheek. “Check… Mother,” I slowly spoke, trying not to hurt myself in the process of talking. “You want me to check on Mother when you’re in a lot of pain?” she asked in disbelief. With a deep breath, I replied, “I… will be… fine. I need… time… alone.” “But, Robert–” “There’s no need to worry, Your Grace,” Gonzalo interrupted as he approached us. “I will not leave the young prince until you return.” Elizabeth looked at Gonzalo and returned to me, unsure of what she was going to do. “I will… call… for you…” I assured her, trying to be strong amidst the strain I felt. She sighed. “You are such a stubborn person, Robert,” she patted my hair gently, shaking her head with a smile. “I’ll go and accompany Mother for a short while. I beg you, don’t do anything reckless.” I scru
Three months had passed and I had completely recovered. Well, at least, in my perspective. For my family and the Medicine King, I was still required to stay in bed for another month. But I didn’t want to do that. To remain bed-ridden wouldn’t help me recover. It would only make me more ill, which was absolutely against the idea of recuperating. After giving a few gentle stretches, I carefully removed myself from the sheets of my bed. I still had to be very cautious with my actions. My wounds, partially healed, still, stung if I used my body to the extreme. I was in the middle of fixing my bed when a knock came upon my door. “Enter,” I answered, taking a last look at the bed. The door opened and as I turned, Gonzalo entered. “Good morning, Your Highness,” he bowed the moment he stepped foot inside my room. “Good morning, Gonzalo,” I walked towards him. “How is everything today?” “Everything is on schedule, Your Highness,” Gonzalo replied. “Your parents are currently in a
I bit my inner cheek as I avoided her gaze. I knew that look on her face right now and she wasn’t amused. “Robert?” a stern voice came out from her lips. I sighed in defeat, looking at her apologetically. “Would you mind explaining to me why Gonzalo entered your room with a stack of reports?” she asked as she gestured at Gonzalo briefly. “As I said, Mother, I’ve been feeling better since last week. And instead of staying in bed or doing nothing the whole day, I figured I could go back to my reports,” I explained. “Robert, your father and I already gave out orders for you to be exempted from royal duties until we see fit,” she scolded. “Why do you keep defying our orders? Is that hard to follow?” “Mother, it’s not that I want to disobey your orders,” I protested. “But what you want me to do will just keep me sick for a much longer time. If I continue to do nothing, I will never truly heal.” “But do you have to do an immediate stack of reports on your first day out of
An hour had passed and Gonzalo was writing across from me. He nibbled on the end of his pen as he thought of what he should put into the speech. “Gonzalo?” I called out. “Yes, Your Highness? Do you need anything?” he quickly looked up to me. “No, I’m perfectly fine,” I smiled. “I’m just a bit concerned and confused because you seem to be struggling with the speech.” “I’m trying to create something that you requested specifically, young prince,” he replied, looking down at his speech. “I guess writing speeches isn't as easy as I thought it would be.” “Gonzalo, as I mentioned, you don’t have to create a perfect one. All you have to do is the foundation for the speech and I will do the rest,” I answered with a smile. A knock on the door interrupted our conversation. “Who is it?” I spoke. The door creaked open and my page entered, carrying a scroll with two hands in front of him, his arms stretched forward. “Your Highness,” he bowed with his arms still stretched forward.
“What do you mean? What happened to my sister??” I asked without hesitation. “She’s currently in the garden but an unknown man entered and he’s been harassing her,” my page said. “They said she tried to have a decent conversation with him to make him leave but he is now resulting in violence.” “Doesn’t she have any guards with her?!” I exploded, grabbing my coat. “Where is she right now?! Why would you allow this to happen?!” I continued my rant as I sprinted towards the garden, my page, and Gonzalo right behind me. The two guards by my door followed us as well. “There were guards with her but the man put a petrifying spell on them. She’s now left to her own devices,” my page continued to report. “Why didn’t she use her magic against him? She’s the daughter of the ruling monarchs!” “The man put some kind of hex on her so she won’t be able to use her magic. She’s now holding a sword against the man and the man is doing the same.” Without any sort of thinking of a plan to
My head quickly turned to the voice’s direction. To my joy, it was Laura, by the door. She ran to me as I stood up, hugging me as soon as she reached me. “Thank the heavens you’re all right,” she remarked, her embrace getting tighter by the second. “I’m all right,” I lightly tapped her back, struggling to talk and breathe. “However, can you loosen up a bit? I can’t breathe.” “Oh, I’m sorry,” she quickly pulled away. “I was just so worried about you,” she continued as I gasped for air. “You didn’t even write more--” “Oh!” I shouted as she jokingly poked my chest where my wound was. I turned away from her, curling into a bow in pain. “Oh, I’m sorry again!” she quickly held onto my arm in concern. “Are you all right?” I let out a deep breath after holding it in, trying to ignore the pain. “It’s okay. It’s just a wound, nothing else.” “A wound?!” she screamed in horror. “You went on a voyage and you returned wounded?!” “Calm down, Laura,” I held onto her arms which sh
With his serious tone, I turned to his direction and paid attention to what he was about to say. He continued after a sigh, “Please be careful with Laura as I’m being cautious with letting her spend time with you. His request spurred confusion inside of me. My brows met as I grew more confused and nervous as well. I wasn’t sure where he was trying to revert this conversation into but I was starting to worry. Could it be that he saw me as a bad influence on Laura? Was I a distraction to her? Or could it be that he knew something about my true identity? Has he seen right through my disguise? Has he seen through the facade used by ancient immortals to keep us safe in their realm? We stayed silent once more. After the silence became deafening, Grandpa Ben proceeded, “I know what you truly are. Your guards didn’t spend any effort hiding your true being the last time you visited this place” My eyes widened. Was he referring to the little fiasco that happened the last time I visite
We finally returned to the bakery and the journey back was decent. During our journey back, Laura told me different stories about Grandpa Ben’s adventures. I remained silent throughout the journey because I started to feel the same emotion that I had the last time we spent time together. I told her again that I enjoy her company, that I loved having her with me. But her response didn’t signify that she felt the same way. I wasn’t quite sure if I was overthinking and she did feel the same or she didn't. Whatever the answer was, I needed to know today. I needed to have a straight answer. After putting Leo at the back of the bakery, Laura returned to me. “Robert?” she called out, causing me to stand. “Thank you again for accompanying me. I’m glad that we’re able to know more about each other.” I nodded with a firm smile to keep any kind of frustration within my mouth. Unpleasant words could have their way through one’s heart in such a quick manner. “Is there something wrong,
A prince had a peaceful night all to himself.His fireplace burned brightly as it kept his quarters warm against the harsh, cold atmosphere outside the old castle he currently resided in. A direct view of the beautiful moon outside his window. And a scrumptious meal right in front of him.He happily dug into his meal, which was something that he hadn’t done in a long while. Not after all the sleepless nights that he had. As well as the days where he pretended in front of his family.‘Ah, finally,’ he thought to himself as he cut through the tender meat on his plate. ‘A night where I can finally enjoy my food.’Just as soon as he was going to take a bite, a knock came upon his door. He groaned as he put his fork down. “Who is it?” he answered, irritated.The door creaked open and a servant called out of the dark. “Prince Benjamin?”“I thought I made it clear that I wanted to be left alone for a few hours,” Benjamin replied as he scratched his forehead.“My apologies, Your Highness, but
“Grandpa Ben?” my brows knitted together as I called out.“What are you doing here? Where did you come from?” I asked as he approached us.Grandpa Ben stopped right before us. He immediately glared at Gonzalo. But Gonzalo didn’t back down. He stared right back at Grandpa Ben.Grandpa Ben then cleared his throat and returned to me. “Go ahead. Bring Laura back. However, I want for the both of you to return safely. If I don’t see you with her, I will never forgive you even in death.”“Have you no regards to his life?!” Gonzalo protested, making us turn to him. “For the sake of getting your daughter back, you’re willing to put the prince at risk?! Don’t you mortals ever think of anything but yourselves?!”“And what about you Immortals? Don’t you do the same?” Grandpa Ben snapped. “I may look like a weak, old man. But I’m well-versed with stories of your kind. I never imagined that the myths of gods and goddesses being selfish were actually true. But you,” he pointed a finger at Gonzalo, “
The moon shone high in the sky as I looked out my bedroom window.The whole room was pitch black, dark as the night sky above. And only the powerful moonlight was able to illuminate my room.Well, at least a portion of it.I was incredibly frustrated with everything that I never bothered to light my torches as night fell.After I returned from James’ study, I remained in my room and did absolutely nothing. I simply sat by the window and drank tea without any signs of stopping. I also requested for an early dinner, an attempt to avoid James during dinner time.I just wanted to be left alone.I just wanted some space.‘I just want progress. Was that too much to ask for?’ my mind shouted, helpless as no one could hear it. And no one bothered to listen or even ask me.Then, a knock on my door echoed throughout the room. But I didn’t answer. I already rejected persistent knockings as I remained in my quarters. Even though someone from the other end called for my name, I never made my prese
Bethilda’s mouth hung in disbelief.“Your Highness, my heart's already breaking for the sacrifice that I am to make. Against my own beliefs and wishes, I am giving you my men to aid your cause. Just because I want them to have some time to prepare, that doesn’t mean I am on the other side of this debacle,” Bethilda protested.She added, “Your impatience will put their lives at risk. And that’s a risk that I will never be willing to take.”I pressed my lips together as my nose flared after a deep sigh. Truth be told, I gave my full respect to Bethilda as she put her servants before anything. However, I couldn’t wait again for a longer time. We already wasted too much time here and we never made any sort of progress in terms of the rescue mission.I cared for Bethilda’s household the same as I did for my own. But we couldn’t afford to wait another week before we could proceed. We didn’t even have the slightest clue on what could be happening within Benjamin’s territory.The mere thought
Bethilda’s eyes widened whilst James immediately turned to my direction.This was the fastest solution that I could think of. James already exhausted all of his efforts for this debacle. I had to do something, even if he didn’t like it.Bethilda looked to James for a moment before she returned to me. “Whatever the reason is for this sudden request of aid, I am afraid that it will do you more harm than good,” she answered. She added, “My soldiers aren’t fully trained for combat. I only trained them to protect and to distract enemies. And besides, I don’t think that His Majesty is in favour of this decision of yours, Your Highness.”“James has already given his all for our cause. We don’t know who to turn to and we are running out of time,” I answered. James’ stare never left but I paid no mind. I had no time to argue with him.Bethilda asked, “Have you reached out to other kingdoms? I know that you are attempting to rescue a friend. If that is the case, shouldn’t it be advised to ask t
“I already sent some of the guards to gather more troops back home.“We don’t know how many men Benjamin has to protect him,” James replied. “As much as possible, I don’t want to spill too much blood, especially within their territory. I don’t want this debacle to cause a scandal. And I also don’t want to destroy our alliance with them. At the same time, we can’t waste the lives of more men, both on his side and ours.”For James to still honour our alliance with Eastern Sun, even after what Benjamin did, was frustrating.Benjamin betrayed me. Trust and loyalty were values that I held in high regard. But Benjamin disregarded that, all because he didn’t get what he wanted.For that action alone, the friendship between our kingdoms was also destroyed. How could we possibly trust a traitor? Even if that person was our ally, it already destroyed their credibility as someone we trusted deeply.However, I understood why James was still worried about the alliance. Eastern Sun wasn’t simply a
Marcus chuckled as he shrugged.He looked down to his feet and replied, “My loyalty to the duchess is more than just of a servant, Your Highness. And even though that was the case for me,” Marcus returned to me, “I never overstepped nor did I ever use my emotions to my advantage. I respected her as my mistress. The person who gave me a home and a new life. Nothing more, nothing less.”Marcus’ response rendered me speechless.Who would’ve thought that a servant would develop strong feelings towards their mistress?Perhaps because of Bethilda’s care towards Marcus, his gratitude slowly turned into something else. Unfortunately, in this world - or in any other world in that retrospect - a relationship between a servant and their master would never be acceptable.I could only feel the ache on Marcus’ behalf as I once felt the same for Laura. That feeling that we wished we were born within the same kind of beings, just so nothing would be able to stand in the way of what we felt for each o
“Thank you for accompanying me all the way here.“For now,” I turned to the two guards behind me, “I would like to have a moment alone.”After I woke up from my nap, I decided to take a quick stroll around the castle grounds. Luckily, the guards told me that Bethilda had a small garden. So, I asked them to show me its location.The two guards shared glances with each other, worried and unsure. One of them replied, “But Your Highness, His Majesty specifically said that should you ask for our company, we are not to leave you alone. Especially when you are outside the castle.”I chuckled. “There is nothing to be scared of, gentlemen. With the location of the duchess’ residence, it’s a bit impossible for enemies to attack from within these walls,” I explained. “At the same time, I don't think that these walls are penetrable from all fronts.”The guards looked at each other again, still uncertain of what to do.I sighed, which made them turn to me. “I assure you, I can manage on my own. I
“And how long have you been in service within the duchess’ household?” I asked the maid in front of me.An hour had already passed and I was still only halfway through the inspection. I had to be very careful when I asked certain questions. At the same time, I had to discern personalities behind prim and proper facades.I couldn’t rush the process even if I wanted to. I didn’t know who could possibly have dark motives against Bethilda so I had to proceed with caution. I didn’t want to be the cause of her death, all because I chose the wrong people to serve her.“I have been serving the duchess for seven years,” the maid replied.“Ah, that would mean that you are fairly new within the household,” I said as I wrote the information down. “In your few years of service, how familiar are you with everything?”Her response was interrupted when my doors suddenly opened. We turned our heads and watched as James entered my room. Immediately, we stood and gave our greetings.“Did I interrupt any