02. new life

"Long'er, your mother has been painting you since you were a child. Would you like to see it?" The third prince's face suddenly changed when he heard that his mother had been painting him since he was a child. Releasing his hands from around the queen's neck, the third prince slowly backed away.

"Mother... I've changed my mind. Maybe it's not good to paint someone's face too often. Well! I think I'll go back to my room first. See you later, Mother." He replied and immediately ran away from the garden, leaving the queen who watched him with a smile.

"That naughty boy..." The queen sighed happily. She asked her servant to replace her painting with a blank piece of paper, then she began to paint again. As she moved her hand, a face slowly took shape, followed by his hands and feet. After an hour had passed, all the servants could see that what the queen had painted was the third prince.

"My son, did you think your mother couldn't paint you even though you weren't there? It would be a shame if I couldn't do that, then how could I be called the goddess hand," she said with a satisfied smile as she looked at the finished painting.

"Yes, Queen, your painting is truly beautiful. The third prince's good looks are not lost in your painting. I really can't stop looking at it," said another servant, praising Queen Chen's painting. Queen Chen's beautiful smile appeared. After all, she was painting her son, and this son made her life happier than it used to be. But a moment later, her heart felt sad because her third child could not live like his two siblings. However, due to his sensitive status in the eyes of the people, Chen Long became a homebody. Even though if women came and saw him, they would surely fall in love at first sight, even though there were several times when she also invited friends or nephews to come to the palace, her son wore a mask to cover his face. So, no outsiders saw Chen Long's real face except for the servants or a few guards who came to guard him.

"Huh, it's a pity he has never gone to the academy even though my son is smarter than his older brother," said the Queen sadly.

"Oh! In that case, after celebrating his birthday, how about we send him to the academy?" A familiar male voice sounded in her ears. When she turned her head, King Chen was smiling as he walked towards where she was sitting. The servants immediately saluted when they saw their king, who now looked very happy.

"Honey, why did you suddenly come with such a happy face? Did something happen at my meeting earlier?" asked the Queen, smiling sweetly as she welcomed her husband. King Chen recounted what had happened at the meeting earlier, how he had managed to convince all the nobles and ministers to allow the third prince to live outside the palace. He also planned to hold a birthday celebration for the child, which they would hold at the same time they had found him as a baby.

"All right, then I must invite my friends and my entire family. I want them to know that my son is very handsome and also the only one who is the best in the Chen kingdom," said the queen, very happy to hear that the palace was going to hold a fifteenth birthday party for her son. The king saw how happy the queen was, smiling sincerely, even though it had been fifteen years and they had never shown the third prince's face to the outside world. In fact, it could be said that only he, his wife, their two children, and the servants who worked in the palace had ever seen the face behind the third prince's mask.

"I will tell her two older siblings; they will surely be very happy to hear that their sister's birthday will be celebrated." The queen was so happy that without thinking twice, she wanted to send a message to her other two children.

"All right, do as you wish. The third child's birthday will be left to you, is that okay?" said the king as he placed both hands on the queen's shoulders.

"Of course, I will definitely make my child's birthday the most festive in the whole kingdom," replied the queen firmly and confidently, determined to throw a party for her child. The smiles of the queen and king made the servants fall into happiness. All this time, they had watched the third prince grow up and seen how this small family treated a child who was not from their family so sincerely. They had always wanted an official ceremony to announce to the outside world that they had three children, but this was rejected by the elders and nobles who did not agree with the third prince's appointment. If it weren't for King Chen's determination to give the third prince a title, many would still consider the third child a pest.

...

At the Chen royal academy, there were many young geniuses with various skills who were trained and supported to become the successors to the kingdom. They were great figures, but there were also some who only relied on their parents to stay there. In a large room, where the children of nobles held meetings or parties, was the place most young people wanted to enter, but it was only accessible to the most elite of all the young people in the academy.

"Princess, have you really decided to end your training here?" asked one woman to another woman sitting at a table with tea on it.

"Yes, I have to end it this month. After all, I came to the academy just to look around and practice. And besides, I'm old enough to help my father with his work." replied the beautiful woman who was none other than the princess of the Chen kingdom, Chen Mei. She was a princess who had been training at the academy since she was fifteen years old. She should have left when she was twenty years old, but for some reasons, she chose to stay in the academy for another five years. Of course, the reason was because of some unpleasant comments from nobles and ministers who really wanted her to marry into another kingdom to improve relations between kingdoms. But now she no longer needed to back down because she already understood how to live in the kingdom she now lived in. He also wanted to help his cute little sister get what she should have had since she was a child, and only when he intervened to help his father did she get all of that.

"Oh! Do you miss your little sister again?" A man's voice accompanied by footsteps was heard from behind Chen Mei. When she turned around, it was the voice of a man dressed in blue and white with his hands folded behind his back.

“Greetings, Crown Prince.” The women and people there said as they saw the man arrive.