“I can sense the questions that are racing in your mind now,” Bethilda continued and I quickly turned back to her.“At times such as this, it is your father who you must talk to.”“You already mentioned this to me. Couldn’t you just tell me what I should know?” I asked.Bethilda sighed as she pressed her lips firmly together. She replied, “As much as I want to, it is not my responsibility to explain the entire history of our family. That obligation is on the shoulders of your parents.”“Then tell me only what you can. Tell me your side of the story,” I insisted.Bethilda chuckled. “Young Robert, your parents are not the kind that will twist lies into truths. The same goes with the truth to lies,” she answered. “If you doubt your father’s words, it is best that you consult my sister about it. But I will never take the responsibility of telling you everything.”“It shouldn’t be my burden to carry,” she added.“But–”A knock interrupted me. Marcus rushed towards me and whispered, “Your H
“She said that Benjamin paid her a huge amount of gold and even promised her the title of queen consort,” James continued.“However, Bethilda had a feeling that Benjamin had other motives as to why he bribed her. She sensed that someone was also working with Benjamin. Because of the common rule that princes aren’t allowed to have access to a lump sum of gold,” James explained.He added, “The question that remains is who could possibly be helping Benjamin?”My eyes widened as I held my breath. I gripped onto the chair as I struggled to keep my emotions at bay.James might have noticed my tightening grip onto my chair. Immediately, he knelt and held both of my hands. “Robert, do not allow your emotions to take over. You can’t have the same incident happen again,” he reminded me as he looked at me. “Control yourself.”Slowly, I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. I tried to clear my mind but my emotions were too much to bear. Suddenly, a small pillar of glowing light appeared from the
‘During the first year of marriage to your mother, everything was perfect.‘Even though Elizabeth was our first born, I was satisfied. I knew that I wasn’t going to inherit the throne. Therefore, the pressure to have a male offspring wasn’t placed upon my shoulders.‘However, when the people grew restless under your grandfather’s rule, all of his children were forced to produce a male descendant. At first, it didn’t mean anything to me. I did try with your mother. But we never forced anything on each other regarding that matter.‘But when I noticed that all of my siblings had sons with ease, I became envious and questioned the validity of my marriage. Your mother did become pregnant with a male heir. Unfortunately for us, he was born prematurely and died shortly after birth.‘Being the immature young man that I was, I blamed her for my frustrations. Even though I knew she was never at fault. But because of that matter, it caused a lot of arguments between the two of us. Eventually, I
“Your Highness?”I groaned as someone knocked on my door.The knock persisted. “Your Highness? It is time to wake up.” It was Marcus.Slowly, I sat up on my bed with one eye open. I looked around and saw that only a little amount of light entered my room. I squinted as I grew confused. I didn’t put the curtains down last night.Was someone here whilst I was asleep?“Your Highness?” Marcus knocked once again.I cleared my throat as I turned to the door’s direction. “Come in, please.”The door creaked open and Marcus entered with my breakfast on a tray. “Good morning, Your Highness,” he bowed before he continued to approach me. “Were you able to sleep well?”I rubbed my eyes as I replied, “It was fine. Truth be told, I would like to sleep more. However, James said he needs my assistance today.” Marcus carefully placed the tray on my lap and prepared everything for me.As Marcus stepped away, I asked, “Were you here last night? The curtains are drawn,” I pointed to the window. “I didn’t
Bethilda’s eyes widened.Her ladies stopped crying as they looked back at us.I then turned to James, baffled.James added, “In one of the accusations against you, it isn’t only me whom you have offended.” Slowly, he looked to my direction and said, “I believe that the prince also has the right to put down his own verdict in regards to your case against him.”In a panic, I discreetly shifted my gaze between James and Bethilda. I bent down towards James’ ear and whispered, “Why are you doing this to me? I thought you wanted to handle this.”James leaned towards my ear and replied, “If we proceed with the death penalty, your mother will never forgive me. And besides, you deserve to uphold justice for your end of the debacle.” He returned to Bethilda and said, “I give the floor to my son, Prince Robert Edward Dex of Western Wind.”My shocked gaze then met Bethilda’s confused stare. James then gave me a slight push forward. I fixed myself and cleared my throat as I stepped down a few step
“Who is it?” I asked.“He didn’t specify. He only said that he had something important to tell you,” the guard replied as he lowered his head.I turned to James and he was quick to answer, “You may go. It may be very important.”“What will you be doing?” I asked.“I will be returning to my room. There are still things that I need to settle for our next step,” said James.I, along with the guard, gave our respectful bows and went on our way.~*~*~*~I immediately stopped on my tracks as I entered the accepting room.Inside, there stood Gonzalo and right behind him was Grandpa Ben.“Leave us,” I said as I kept my eyes on Gonzalo. The guard left the room and I walked towards Gonzalo. As I reached him I asked, “What are you doing here?”Gonzalo bowed as the doors closed behind me. “My humblest apologies, Your Highness,” he replied as slowly stood upright. “It was never my intent to disobey you. However, Grandpa Ben wanted to speak with you.”I glanced over at Grandpa Ben and he was emotio
“As a father, all I wanted to do in life was to shield her from any heartbreak.“You don’t know how many times I wanted to speak with you, just to stop you from seeing Laura. But I saw your sincerity towards her. And because I wanted Laura to be happy, I trusted you. I trusted your words,” Grandpa Ben added. “But look at where we are now. You weren’t able to protect her from the dangers of your realm. You have all the power that any mortal would want. All the abilities to be able to protect the ones you love. And yet, you were unable to save my daughter. The very person you swore to protect with your life.”Grandpa Ben ended his statement with, “How am I supposed to trust you with the matter of rescuing her if you already failed your prior promises?”I cleared my throat and replied, “I understand that you don’t want to trust me anymore, Grandpa Ben. And you have every right to deny me of that trust. I am all too aware of my mistakes and inability to keep my word. But I beseech you to
I stood and waited for them to speak their minds.But instead of doing so, they remained silent. Bethilda’s ladies lowered their heads and their eyes never left the floor.“I heard everything that was said,” I continued. “You shouldn’t be afraid to tell me your thoughts. I will listen and I will do whatever it is that I can do to help.”One of the ladies stepped forward and curtsied quickly. She said, “With all due respect, Your Highness, we prefer to stay with our mistress. She has been our family for years. And should we return to our own families, we will be disgraced.”“We much prefer to be imprisoned with the duchess than to be sent back home,” another added.The rest of them spoke out of turn, talking over one another.Bethilda cleared her throat as she turned to her ladies. They immediately stopped talking. She turned to face me. Her eyes, however, were still fixed on the floor. Bethilda began, “Since you already heard everything, I will not take so much of your time.” She lift
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