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,
It was a good day to fish. There was nothing to hear but the gentle current of the river, the wind gently blowing around us. There were frogs close by, a few of them croaking loudly. The sun was out but it wasn’t that hot as the clouds slowly passed under its light, giving us shade every once in a while. James and I had been sitting on a rock for quite some time, waiting for something to bite. The guards had their own time together, not far but close enough to keep an eye on us and to make sure of our security. The silence between us was so thick, you could pierce a sword through it and it would bleed. But for the first time in such a long time, the silence didn’t feel hostile. We were spending time together but not in the way where we needed to talk. Somewhere, we understood one another, read each other’s minds that it was better if we kept our words to ourselves. My thoughts were interrupted when James finally spoke, “I trust that you have taken care of all the needed work for to
It had been a couple of hours after lunch and all I did was look out the window and admire the view of the garden. Although there’s nothing new about the view, the undying beauty of nature was refreshing and relaxing. I should be doing other princely duties but my mother did say she preferred that I do nothing today. I decided that having some peace all to myself would be the best way to pass the time. My peace, however, was disrupted by a sudden knock on my door. “Enter,” I slowly faced the door, crossing my legs. As the door opened, my page entered and quickly bowed. “My deepest apologies, Your Highness, for disturbing you. Mallory is here, she wants to have a word with you.” I groaned as my face landed on my hand. The only time of the day where I didn’t want to be bothered by anything but Mallory managed to make it worse. I wasn’t surprised at this point because she had been doing this consistently ever since we had our agreement. “Please don’t be angry at me, Your Highness,” m