CHAPTER FOUR

“You piece of disappointment!”

Hannah bit her lip as the sting on her left cheek from her father’s slap covered her entire being. As soon as her parents saw her when she went inside the palace, she was dragged until the limousine that brought them home. It took days to travel from Norway to Andorra via land, but since her parents were not in a good mood, they called a chopper on. Her father was fuming mad that he didn’t talk while traveling. It looked like her father had enough of her mistakes since as soon as she was dragged into their house, her father immediately lands his hand on hers, without minding the people who were around. Even her own mother couldn’t care less.

“I already warned you, young lady. Your only task is to shut your mouth and act like a good girl.” Her mother’s voice was void of emotion, as if she was just giving her instructions. “But you still failed. You’re such a disappointment to our family.”

“Do you know what those people say about what you’ve done?” Her father huffed, pulling his tie while still looking at her, enraged. “That this family doesn’t have a class! That we hid you from people because you can’t act like a normal person!” As much as possible, she tries to bite the inside of her lips to prevent her from talking back. Aside from that, she’s tired emotionally and physically, and her brain was also tired of dealing with this shit up.

When she didn’t meet the eyes of her parents and didn’t answer, her father called the head of the maids.

“Lock her in her room. Make sure to give her a meal once a day. Don’t forget to make her kneel towards the gallery for an hour a day. Do that until I say stop.” Well, shit.

“Do you have anything to say, young lady?” Her mother inquired, but her tone conveyed a sense of finality. Hannah just shook her head, and didn’t wait for the maid to guide her to her own room. Or should she call it her jail.

She didn’t wait for the maid to close the door, and immediately took the gown off of her body, and changed into sleepwear. Silently, her maid was just following her. Hannah can’t help but laugh a little. She can bet her entire life that this maid is already pitying her. But she didn’t need that pity.

“You can leave me here. Just come after an hour, just like father has said.” She said coldly when they entered the gallery room. It is a room full of pictures of their ancestors, and kneeling in the middle of the room is a common punishment for her. Just like what her father said, this punishment would make Hannah reflect, and she should say sorry to her ancestors for being a disgrace to their clan.

“Yes, Your Highness.” When she heard the door close, she kneeled directly on the hardwood floor.

“Is it weird that I am already used to kneeling in front of you that the bruises that I got are not painful already?” She asked about the picture frame in front of her. Its familiar hazel almond-shaped eye looked back at her. The face of a woman who made her father act like a bastard. “I know you already know what I should tell you, but yes, I made your son angry again just by saying my opinion towards people. Did you also do that to him when you were still alive? Because I can’t really think of any reasons for what led to him acting like that.”

Being an abuser and being abused ran on this family. Her father grew up thinking that corporal punishment was normal because of his parents, especially his mother. Hannah always heard her father talk about how doing the punishment would make the child disciplined. Just look at the product made by her grandparents. It was like a trait that was passed on to generations. But Hannah promised that if she had her own family, she would do everything that a good parent should do. She won’t let her children experience the way her own family treated her.

Looking at the dark room full of pictures, she questioned herself if this was also the room where her father kneeled when he was doing his punishment. It was kind of sad to imagine a young boy crying in the middle of this room that felt like a nightmare. The silence that looks like it could eat your whole soul. Because that was what she felt when she was first brought here. Those fears disappeared after she became accustomed to the feeling of being alone, helpless. Until she finds comfort in the darkness that envelopes her.    

She can still remember the first time her parents laid their hands on her when she was nine years old. Her parents were always absent from her life, and the maids who were taking care of her kept saying not to enter the attic. But because she was curious, she went there and saw the crown that the queens wear. Since then, she kept sneaking out in the middle of the night to try it. Imagining all things that fairytales on the book keep saying. However, one night, while wearing the heavy crown, it slipped into her head. She watched in horror as the crown fell to the floor. Some of the jewels fell as well. When her parents found out, that was the first time her mother slapped her. Nine-year-old Hannah was crying as her own mother dragged her to her own room, and made her kneel. And it became a habit of her parents to punish her when she made mistakes, until now.  

It took a week for her parents to stop the punishment. It was the minimum number of days that her parents punished her in her whole life. The maximum was a month. She was emotionlessly looking at the ceiling of her bathroom, as the maids were busy massaging her knees while she was in the tub.

She can’t help but laugh. Massaging her? What a funny situation she was in. Do they think that the pain she felt all those times will disappear if they pamper her? Is this some kind of bribe from her parents after those times? Hannah’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone clearing their throat.

“Your Highness was expected to attend the dinner, as per mandated by Your Majesty.”

That made her eyebrows rise. For the whole week, this is the first time that her parents requested her presence for dinner. There must be an important announcement they want to make. Whatever it is, she hoped it wouldn’t be all about her. She hissed when someone put pressure on her bruised knee. Immediately, the suspect put her hands up and bowed down.

“You can all leave. I can finish it.”

As soon as the maids left, she instantly got up and took a shower. Her parents had already started eating when she arrived at the dining hall. The maid assigned there readied her plate as she sat down.

“The dressmaker and makeup artist will be here.” Her mother started. “They will dress you up since you will meet your new instructors later.”

“I expect you to be on your best behavior, Hannah. Or else you will be back kneeling in that room. Am I heard?” Hannah’s hold in the utensils became hard. She should have known that something was up when she was invited to dinner. “Am I clear, young lady?” Her father’s voice hardened. Hannah just nodded, and ate faster.  

She assumed that because she is an adult, her parents would allow her to finish her studies outside. But still, she was still homeschooled until she finished and got her degree. It is not necessary for the royals to finish studies, but since education is one of the aspects that the Ruiz household can be proud of, she is not getting off the hook. Her parents wanted her to study business and social welfare, which made her take up the two degrees at once.

One of the maids gives her a piece of paper. It is her list of subjects and her schedule. Her brows knotted when she noticed something.  

“Tour for three months?” She spoke out and looked at her father, questioningly.

“You’re already at the legal age.” Her mother, instead, replied. “It is important for you to build relationships with other royals. That is why we agreed to let you attend the class that was attended by the other heirs.” Unconsciously, Hannah smiled for the first time that day because of what she heard. But when she saw her parents raising their brows at her, she controlled her expression, even though she was excited.

“The tour is involved with traveling for 90 days. I am expecting you to take this subject as an opportunity to learn the culture of other palaces and build a connection to the heirs, young lady.”

“Of course, father. May I know who’s also attending this program?” She can’t contain her happiness as she imagines traveling to other places, and meeting new people. Traveling means being away from hell. She would never waste this once-in-a lifetime opportunity.

“The two princesses from Spain, all the siblings from Greece, the prince of Denmark, Morocco, and the Netherlands will also send their princes. The others still haven’t given their official statement with regards to this. So, expect there will be many of you.”

Silently, Hannah released a relieved sigh when they didn’t mention the Kingdom of Norway. She was still not ready to face the prince after last night, even though she was confident that he didn’t know her identity.

“Dennis will send you the folder that contains all the information about the tour when it's finalized.” He mentioned his assistant, who was standing at the dining room door.  

Her parents immediately left the dining room after eating, while Hannah stayed behind while involuntarily playing with her food.  Her mind just keeps overthinking and trying to imagine every possible scenario that will happen when she meets all the other royals. Will she be awkward towards them? Will she make friends?  Should she buy some of the palace’s specialties so that she can give them when they meet?

All of her overthinking became worse when, a few days later, a knock on her bedroom door was heard. When she opened it, Dennis, her father’s assistant, gave her the folder that her father mentioned. She winced when the folder was so thick, and she could already hear the voice of her father saying she needed to read and familiarize herself word for word with all the information on every page. After she thanked him, she immediately opened the folder. Excitement was visible on her face.

The first few pages are a description of the program. The program was introduced to the sovereign states in order to spread peace by learning and appreciating the different cultures of the kingdoms that were present. There was also a map showing the possible palaces that the royals would visit that was attached.  And the first stop is her own kingdom. Sucks.

Hannah read all the information enthusiastically, until she reached the page for the heirs who were officially joining the tour. According to the summary section, there are a total of 15 heirs that will officially join the tour. She gulped as she flipped the page for the personal information of all the young royals.

Princess Hannah, 18, from Andorra.

Princess Catalina,18; and her sister Princess Amelia,17; from Spain.

Prince Alexios, 21; Princess Olympia, 19; and Prince Ezio, 18; the royal siblings from Greece.

The prince of Denmark, Prince Joachim, 19. 

Prince Zouhair, 20, from Morocco.

Prince Henrik, 20, from Netherlands.

The famous twins, Princesses Astrrid and Clementine, 19; from Belgium.

Princess Akari, 21, from Japan, who is the only Asian royal to join.

Prince Sigvard, 21, from Sweden.

Prince Flint, 21; Prince Jet, 18; from Norway.

“Shit.”