Grandpa Ben didn’t seem to be furious with Laura.
But she was still in trouble because she took so long. And it wasn’t even her fault, it was mine.
“Pardon, Grandpa Ben?” I spoke from behind Laura.
Both of them turned in my direction.
“Oh, hello there, dear boy,” Grandpa Ben smiled. “Were you here all this time? Come closer,” he continued as he gestured for me to come closer to him.
In haste, I stepped forward. “Grandpa Ben, please don’t give Laura such a hard time. It was all my fault that she took so long in the marketplace. I was the reason behind it,” I explained without giving Grandpa Ben any moment to speak.
“Is that so?” he asked with his arms still crossed. “And why is that?”
“I was taking a stroll in the marketplace of Bullingar when I heard her arguing with the vendor,” I answered. “I paid for the barrel and on our way back, we had a bit of a misunderstanding about who’s going to ride on Lady, my horse. That’s what kept us in the marketplace.”
“And why were you arguing with the vendor?” Grandpa Ben asked as he turned to Laura.
“A barrel of apples now costs twenty gold pieces. The money Ronald gave me was ten pieces short,” Laura replied.
“Twenty gold pieces?!” Grandpa Ben’s mouth hung open as he exclaimed. “For a barrel of apples, that’s the new price?”
“Unfortunately, yes, Grandpa Ben. I knew right then and there that it was overpriced,” she answered.
“Why were you arguing with Robert in regards to his champion?” he asked another, his hands now on his waist.
I entered the conversation, explaining, “I offered for her to take the horse along with the barrel. I decided to walk instead and pulled Lady on foot to get us moving. She didn’t want me to do that.”
Grandpa Ben turned to Laura, a brow arched.
“What?” she asked, her brows knitted in the middle of her forehead.
“You mean to say that what took your time is because of you, arguing with different people?” Grandpa Ben asked, unfazed.
“Grandpa Ben, please. I don’t want to have another discussion about this,” Laura groaned as she throwed her head back.
“Laura, how many times must I remind you?” Grandpa Ben scratched his forehead. He continued, “Somehow, you have to allow a bit of your walls down. Let go of your pride. Accepting help from other people doesn’t make you any weaker.”
“Grandpa Ben, I don’t want to argue about this,” she replied.
Grandpa Ben let out a defeated sigh. “You, young lady, have to find a solution for some of your traumas,” he said. He then turned to me and asked, “Are you headed off somewhere after this, son?”
Should I tell him the truth? That I came all this way, just to see Laura? I might come as too forward, too aggressive, too desperate even. Perhaps, it was best not to tell them the real reason. And besides, I didn’t want to stay if my presence was unnecessary.
“I’m currently undecided on what I should do next. I can just return home if I can’t think of anything. I just wanted to make sure that Laura came back in one piece,” I explained.
“Why don’t you take Laura for a quick trot somewhere?” he suggested.
“Grandpa Ben, I don’t want to!” she protested. She continued, “I still have work to do here in the bakery. You saw how awful Ronald is in making pies.”
“And you need to learn how to take a break from working. Have a life outside of the bakery,” said Grandpa Ben.
Grandpa Ben said “trot”. Did that mean that Laura had a horse of her own?
“If you don’t mind me asking, shall we take my horse? Or you have your own?” I asked Laura.
“Oh, she never mentioned it to you? She has her own champion,” Grandpa Ben answered with a smirk.
“Grandpa Ben, please,” Laura protested.
“Oh, shush, dear one. You need to have something different to do, other than baking apple pies for the bakery,” he replied.
Laura answered, “I don’t need to go on a trot. I have work to do.”
“I’ll have Shannon take over your work for you. I’ll assign Ronald to a different task,” Grandpa Ben said.
“But, Grandpa Ben–”
“Please, Grandpa Ben,” I intervened, “If Laura doesn’t want to come with me, I completely understand.”
“Robert, you are taking her for a stroll,” Grandpa Ben insisted, giving me a stern look. “And as for you, Laura,” he quickly returned to her, “I’m warning you: don’t push me any further.”
I was absolutely confused at the moment. I didn’t know who I should listen to. If my presence was a bother to Laura, I would prefer to leave her alone. However, I wouldn’t want Grandpa Ben to think that I was being disrespectful towards him.
Right now, probably the best way out of this conversation was to simply follow the old man.
“So,” I said as Laura turned to me, “Do you have a stable for your horse?”
She looked back to Grandpa Ben once again. It was as if she was trying to break through his warning glare. But, as her attempt failed, she let out a sigh and said, “My horse is placed at the back of the bakery.”
“Show him, then,” Grandpa Ben gave Laura a slight push forward towards me. I could see that he was pulling back a teasing smile.
Laura shrugged with a sigh and went on ahead of me. I grabbed Lady and followed Laura, smiling at Grandpa Ben as we went to the back.
~*~*~*~
When we arrived back at the bakery, we were greeted by a narrow alley. Loaded sacks piled up beside crates that contained glass bottles. At the very end of it was a stable with its door open. There, a horse quietly feasted on apples within its reach.
“Hello, Leo,” Laura smiled as she walked up to her champion.
“Leo?” I asked as I followed right behind her.
“Yes,” she turned to me, smiling as she scratched the horse’s neck. She returned to Leo and continued, “I have this certain fascination for lions. Hence, my champion’s name.” She then ran her hand down Leo’s long mane.
“Well, his name fits him very well,” I agreed as I reached them.
“How can you tell?” Laura asked as she prepared Leo for the stroll.
“Lions are known to be kings of the jungle, am I correct? That means lions are of royalty, class. And I can tell that your champion has a majestic flair to his aura,” I explained.
“That was very kind of you, Robert. Thank you,” she smiled.
I nodded briefly, an acknowledgement of her response.
She looked back to Leo as she continued her preparations. “Did you hear that, Leo?” she asked the horse. She continued, “Robert said you were majestic. You should be proud of yourself.” As soon as she locked the saddle in place, as well as everything else, she quickly hopped onto Leo.
“Shall we?” she asked as she looked down onto me.
I nodded and mounted onto Lady as well.
“The last one to the hills is a rotten egg!” she teased as she ran ahead of me.
“Hey! That is not fair!” I shouted as I ran after her.
As we made our way through the vast plains and a few hills, I was left in awe as I took in the whole scenery in front of me. It was… breath-taking. It was beautiful to be able to see nothing but grass, majestic trees, and colourful flowers, as well as how the slopes looked. This view was definitely better than the view that I had from my balcony. “This place…” I said, my mind drifting off slowly as I tried to form a coherent sentence. The beauty of this place rendered me speechless. It was as if all the words were taken from my mouth. “Don’t worry, I understand how you feel right now,” she giggled as she found me dumb-founded. “That’s the same thing that I said when I first discovered this place,” she continued. She hopped down from her horse, and I followed suit. We walked towards a hill. A tree stood on top of it, tall and proud. “When did you find this place?” I asked. “When I was first brought into the town, I looked for a place that only I knew about. A hideout, to put it si
Laura scoffed in disbelief. “Trust me, there is no one,” she said. “That’s impossible, Laura. A simple admiration is a normal emotion to have,” I replied. “Well,” she then played with her fingers, “There is someone that I like. And there is someone, who I believe, is trying to gain my affections.” My heart stopped as soon as she said that. Her admission destroyed my hopes that maybe she was the one for me. But, it would seem that her heart was already occupied. “Really?” I asked as I tried to hide the pain that was about to come out of my voice. I asked again, “Can you tell me who they are? For sure, I’ve never met them before.” “For now, I’d like to keep things to myself. It’s something that I don’t want others to worry about because it’s not for them to think about,” she answered. “I understand. But, perhaps, you can describe them?” I asked, still hoping that she would tell me more. “The one who, I think, likes me is very sophisticated, to say the least. He acts as if he was
A little while later, we arrived at Leo’s stable. I hopped down Lady as Laura allowed Leo to rest. Once her champion had settled, we headed to the front of the bakery. “Thank you for the stroll and stories, Robert. I enjoyed it,” Laura broke the silence between us. Couldn’t she tell that I had been trying to pacify the storm inside me? Was I not sending enough signs for her to realise that? “Well, I guess this is where we part ways,” she turned to me as we arrived in front of the bakery. “Thank you again, Robert,” she repeated as she turned around, making her way back inside. My mouth suddenly blurted, “Are you not–” I stopped myself before I could even continue. Laura stopped on her tracks. She turned around and returned to me. She then asked, “Is there something that you want to tell me, Robert?” “I just…” I trailed off as I fought the urge to speak out; the urge that was pushing me to the edge. It was forcing me to tell her what I had been feeling ever since we left the field
I turned my head and watched as Mallory entered the stables. “Oh, hello, Mallory,” I greeted neutrally. “Where have you been?” she asked. My brows furrowed. “Why do you ask?” I replied with a question. “Because I need to know,” her lips formed a firm line as she walked towards me. “Are you even my mother to know my whereabouts?” I replied sarcastically. I turned around and proceeded to the entrance, only to be stopped by her again. She protested right away, “I deserve to know because we are in a relationship.” “Our relationship is not real to begin with, Mallory,” I rolled my eyes as I turned back to her. “I don’t care what kind of a relationship that we have!” she suddenly shouted. She continued, “We are a couple now, which gives me the right to know everything about you!” I completely turned to her direction and towered over her. “As far as I know, you can only act that way when the relationship is real. A relationship where both people love each other, and are willing to su
“A woman?!” Benjamin asked in a sudden outburst. “Keep it down, Benjamin!” I shushed him in a panic. I didn’t want the maids to turn our conversation into another source of gossip for them. I continued, “Yes, I met a woman in the Mortal Realm.” He asked another, “And let me guess: you took a liking to this lady, didn’t you?” All of a sudden, Gonzalo arrived. With him was a cart, containing the wine, and everything else that I asked for him to bring. After a mountain of hesitation, I answered, “Well, I can’t say that I don’t.” Gonzalo finally reached us and prepared everything for us. “Is she a part of the upper class, working class or the lowest class of all?” Benjamin continued with his questions as our goblets were handed over to us. “I cannot consider her as part of the lowest class of society. She does, however, work to support herself,” I said as Gonzalo half-filled my cup with wine. I could only drink this much because I never drank wine. Unless, of course, if it was for a
As soon as James’ door was in sight, his guards immediately crossed his spears, blocking the entrance. “Your Highness,” one of them greeted, “His Majesty is currently in a meeting. Do you have a message for him?” “Gonzalo mentioned that His Majesty summoned me. I’m surprised that you didn’t know that,” I said, keeping my composure. The two guards looked at each other, confused and horrified. The other guard answered, “Accept our deepest apologies, Your Highness. Please, don’t take us as incompetent. However, as long as the king is in a meeting, we don’t allow anyone in.” Suddenly, the door opened and James’ page appeared. “Your Highness,” he bowed, “Is there something that I can help you with?” “His Majesty has asked me to fetch the young prince,” Gonzalo entered the conversation. “That’s the reason why His Highness is here.” James’ page looked at us, confused. “Did he, now?” he slowly turned to Gonzalo with an icy stare. He remarked, “I’m the king’s royal page. If he were to summ
Currently in my study as I skimmed through the new reports on my desk. Today didn’t end well, but what should I expect? Aside from my impossible relationship with James, my current situation with Laura abruptly crossed my mind. All of a sudden, everything stopped. Laura… What I did to her this afternoon was just… gut-wrenching. Unacceptable. I could only hope that she would forgive me. But, what could I do to express my guilt? What should I say in order to earn her forgiveness? I turned to the table by the window. And I immediately caught sight of a pen, on top of a few pieces of paper. A letter! Perhaps, a letter could help resolve some of the pain I caused between us? I shook my head as I removed myself from my thoughts. Why was I even too troubled about her? We just met and yet, she had some sort of impact on me. What I did to her shouldn’t matter this much to me. But why was I feeling this way? Instead of going back to work, I contemplated even more on what I should do. Sho
Water rushed in from every corner that I turned to. As I ran through the long corridor, I searched for the ones I was with. Everyone was screaming as they ran to save their lives. And all I could do was to follow the direction where everybody was headed. “Robert!” a voice shouted my name from behind me. I turned around to see who it was, only to be carried in the arms of a man. “Hold onto me, son,” the man said as he pulled my head closer to his shoulder. “You’re safe. I’m here.” It was my father and he was running in the same direction that I was. “Darling, hurry!” a woman in front of us shouted as she turned her head to our direction. It was Mother. She was holding my sister’s hand as we all ran. My father was about to catch up to them when suddenly, he slipped. He lost his grip on me and I slid to the left side of the ship. It was already filled with water, deep enough for me to be submerged into. “Robert! Hold on!” my father screamed as I did my best to keep my head above