Eight

Riccardo’s hand gently swipes Caralyn’s hair away from her face, his mind completely occupied.

He had taken her into her room himself after she fainted; no one but Alessio and Enzo was there to witness it.

Queen Jessie and her daughter are to receive fifty strokes of the punishment plank, which was the judgment he had passed; he has no intention of killing them. He didn’t punish any of the servants either.

He looks around her room. There is nothing special about it; it’s quite plain for a princess’s room.

 

‘Should I just take her with me and officially make her mine against all reasoning?’ he asks himself.

He wants her. 

But can she really want someone like him? Even if she does, can she withstand his darkness? Can she endure his harshness? Is she strong enough to stand beside him without faltering? Would she stay when she learns everything about him, including the deepest of secrets?

Riccardo exhales and withdraws his hand.

He gives her one last look and turns his back, exiting her room. He will be invited to King William’s coronation ceremony two and a half months later; he should be able to come to a conclusion before that time.

 

*

It was the last day of the month again. In other words, that day in the month that Caralyn dreads the most.

She allows herself to be locked in without putting up a fight; the last thing she wants is for King William and his family to see what kind of monster she becomes after being taken over by the rage fit.

They don’t really interact, but they don’t maltreat her either. They just face their own business, leaving her to hers, which Caralyn likes.

The new king has moved in with his family. His mate died three years ago, and he never took a new mate. But he has three children: two daughters and a son.

The first child, Prince Wilson, is a cold and quiet twenty-year-old. He is the same age as Caralyn, but Caralyn is still about a month older than him. The last children are twins, Princess Willow and Princess Wilma. The two girls are two years younger than Caralyn. This means they are the same age as Princess Dora, Caralyn’s stepsister.

While they are twins, the two girls’ attitudes are completely different. Willow acts more mature than her age and acts like a grown woman of the house, while Wilma loves being carefree.

Wilma is bubbly and always has a happy atmosphere around her. Caralyn has caught her on several occasions staring at her, as if she wants to say something. But whenever Caralyn catches her gaze, Wilma looks away instantly.

{Back to the present}

Caralyn sits quietly on the cold floor of the empty room, her hands crossed on her bent knees. She stares into nothingness, patiently waiting for her curse to manifest.

But that night, the strangest thing happens.

Till the clock read ten and the minutes proceeded into midnight, Caralyn experienced nothing. The guards had even been alarmed, thinking something bad had happened to her when thirty minutes passed, and they heard nothing.

They had opened the door, and she had commanded them to lock it back, not willing to take any chances.

The morning light spilled in, and that moment was when Caralyn felt the happiest in all her twenty years of living. The curse hadn’t surfaced. Does that mean the curse has been lifted? Does that mean she is forever free, now? She wonders. 

She had totally missed the rage fit. Just then, all traces of happiness drain off her face when she realizes something else.

The rage fit isn’t the only thing she has missed.

She seemed to have also missed her period.

 

*

{A MONTH LATER} 

“Mrs. Hale. I thi-I think I’m pregnant,” Caralyn says with wide eyes and a trembling voice.

Mrs. Hale’s expression morphs into shock. “What?! H-h-how?”

Caralyn keeps quiet and goes to sit on Mrs. Hale’s bed.

The woman suddenly remembers what the Brooks family and Alpha Jason were arguing about back then, before Supreme Ultima Riccardo’s attack.

“Princess Dora was right?” Mrs. Hale sits beside her. “You slept with the Supreme Ultima when he was here?”

Caralyn could only nod, not trusting her voice.

Mrs. Hale swallows, and a strange look passes over her face for the shortest moment. She looks into nothingness as she is deep in thoughts, her own thoughts totally foreign and different from Caralyn’s.

It was about something else entirely.

 

*

{FEW HOURS LATER}

“Your Highness, can I come in?” Mrs. Hale asks after she realizes that Caralyn is taking too much time.

When there is no reply, she slowly opens the bathroom door, only to see Caralyn bent over the sink with her hands holding her up. She looks to the side at the head attendant; the layer of tears in her eyes makes the woman appear blurry in her vision.

“It’s positive!” Caralyn cries.

“Oh, dear.” Mrs. Hale immediately envelops her in a hug, patting her back gently. “We will figure this out, everything will be fine,” she coos.

“I’m too young,” Caralyn sobs. “I’m still a student, what will I do from here? My education? My career?”

Mrs. Hale hurriedly but carefully moves Caralyn back to her room, lowering her on the bed. “Calm down, Your Highness. You don’t have to be distraught over this. It’s your life, your father is no more, no one can question whatever decision you make now.”

Mrs. Hale wipes the tears off Caralyn’s face. “You have options. You can keep the baby; the royal family has the resources to look after the child. And it will be understandable if you want to terminate it as well; it’s your choice.”

Caralyn shook her head. “It’s not my choice alone. I didn’t make the baby all by myself.”

 

Mrs. Hale sighs and hesitates to spill her next words, but she does anyway. “A baby between the great Supreme Ultima and a… cursed princess, do you think he will want it? Sorry if it sounds upsetting, Caralyn, but it’s the truth.”

She thinks about Mrs. Hale’s words. She hadn’t even seen or heard anything about Riccardo for almost two months now. She is in it all alone, and that scares her a lot. 

Caralyn starts sobbing again, and Mrs. Hale’s eyes water too.

“You are right, there’s nothing wrong in letting him know. You both made the baby after all,” Mrs. Hale rushes out the words, trying her best to calm Caralyn down.

After Caralyn calms down, the woman speaks again. “So, what are you going to do now?”

Caralyn gave her a lost look. “I don’t know.”

‘Is there a chance that the Supreme Ultima might agree to take responsibility?’ Caralyn asked herself.

 

‘It’s highly unlikely,’ she answers her own question after a few seconds.

And that answer makes her heart beat faster.

Because she realizes that now… There is just one option left.