As the night went darker, the boy can’t stop thinking of the baby who looked at him with no fear in her eyes. He can’t stop thinking about the kindness she showed him as she gave him candy.
The boy went into his pocket and pulled the candy out, examining it.
“What have you got there, Luke?” A man approaches his room inside the cave.
“Nothing.” He put the candy back into his pocket.
“You were gone for almost two days, where were you?”
“At the capital.”
“What did you do?”
Luke answered him nothing. He just continued staring at the ceiling thinking about the baby.
The man sighed, “You went to see the princess, didn’t you?”
“Why bother asking if you already knew? Besides, where were you?”
“Ah, I was also at the capital.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
The man sighed again, “No one can really control you.”
“That’s because I am not born to be controlled by people.”
“Have you taken the drugs, lately?”
“Before coming to the capital, yes.”
“And?” The man raised his eyebrow.
“What? I did not cause any harm or anything that can bring attention to me.”
“So what did you do at the capital, other than visiting the princess?”
“Went to the bookstore.”
“Anything else?”
“Nothing else.”
‘How can this child of mine be so distant?’ The man thought to himself.
The man gently touched the boy’s head, “You know I am only doing this for your own sake.”
“You are not my father.” Luke slapped his hand away.
“I am not your biological father, but your father nonetheless.”
“You adopted me for your experiment.”
“That’s how it may look like, but I adopted you because I know your pain.”
“GO AWAY! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!!”
Luke lashed out at him throwing the nearest object he could get his hands on at the man.
The man calmly dodges it. As the boy continued wreaking havoc while shouting and screaming.
He then nod at the outside of the room and a group of people went inside and forcefully laid him on the bed and put something in the boy’s mouth.
“I will… bring… you… down with me… someday.”
“Yeah, yeah. Oh, before I forgot, I need you to do something for me at the banquet. You will be trained and given the proper dosage as a preparation for the princess’ banquet.”
With that, he left the room as someone handed him an envelope.
“Ah yes, the next target. The son of Duke Phil Orientem, young Astrea would be glad about this.”
With that, he smiled evilly as he handed the envelope back and left the room altogether.
*****
We were given four days to rest and yesterday we spend our time roaming around the capital. We are asked to return to the palace a day before my birthday. And right now, we – the twins, Lucil, Ashen, Nix, and Finnian, are headed outside to go west. The Meridiem household owns a rest house where a spring can be found inside the territory.
“We are going on a vacation!!!” Ashwin shouted as he jumped up and down towards the carriage.
“Okay, calm down my boy or you will trip.” Ashen laughed as he picked Ashwin up.
“Let Daddy carry you, okay?”
“But I’m already a big boy. I am turning four this year!”
“No matter how old you and your brother will get, the two of you will always be our baby boys.” Lucil kissed Ashwin on his cheek as he picked Ashnor too.
“Careful my love, Ashnor may be heavy for you.”
“Oh, I can manage. I am of imperial blood, we are known to be stronger than average humans.”
“That’s my wife.” They smiled lovingly at each other as Ashen ruffled Lucil’s hair.
“Hey, the maids did their best to fix my hair for me.”
“Oh, right,” Ashen looked at the maids and slightly bowed his head, “I am sorry.”
Blue is the one carrying me, while Nix and Finnian followed us.
“Prince Nix, is your mother okay with you being with us?” Ashen asked Nix.
“My mother gave her permission, your grace.”
“And the Duke?”
“The Duke also, your grace.”
“If it’s not a formal gathering, you can just call me uncle, Prince Nix.” Ashen smiled at him.
“Thank you, your – uh, uncle. You can also… just call me,” Nix cleared his throat, “Nix.”
Ashen’s smile became wider as well as Lucil’s, “I will keep that in mind.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Lucil walked towards the carriage and waited for Finnian, Nix, and Blue to come in first.
“After you, my love.” Ashen assisted Lucil inside and then went in after her.
The carriage was big enough to have all of us inside. I, too, am amazed by its capacity to have the eight of us inside. Or maybe it’s because the twins and I are only sitting on the laps of the adults.
I don’t know why they did not prepare another carriage, maybe they just want to spend the journey together.
I looked at Ashnor, he never said a word since earlier. He just sat on his mother’s lap comfortably, enjoying without really speaking.
The carriage took off for a moment then suddenly stopped as we heard something land nearby.
“What’s that?” Ashen looked worried as he opened the curtains.
“It’s Niveus!” Nix stated.
Ashen opened the carriage door, waiting for Niveus to arrive in front of the carriage.
“I greet the Duke and Duchess of the South and the princess and princes of the empire.” With that, Niveus bowed down.
She’s wearing her usual white robe dress, with her long white hair undone.
“Niveus!” Blue shouted with excitement but then she looked at Lucil.
Blue calmed herself once again.
“The duchess has sent me to inform you that they, too, will be joining you on your vacation, if you agree to it.”
“Sister and William will be joining us?” Lucil asked excitedly.
“Mother and Father are joining us?” Nix on the other hand sound disappointed.
“Aren’t you happy that your parents are joining us, Nix?” Ashwin asked him curiously.
“That means I must be on my best behavior, so no, not really.”
When Lucil heard this she laughed, “Don’t worry, and leave that to me.”
“Do tell my sister that we will be waiting.”
“Understood, your grace.” With that, Niveus bowed down again, “I shall be taking my leave.”
With that, Niveus transformed back into a dragon and flew off.
I looked back at Ashnor and found him sleeping, then Finnian caressed my cheek making him look at him.
“Oh, Young Duke Orientem, we already informed your Father about you being with us,” Ashen told Finnian wherein Finnian only nodded.
“Do you want to hold the princess, Young Duke?” Blue whispered to him.
“Can I?”
“Sure, you can.” With that, Blue handed me to Finnian.
I unconsciously patted his head causing him to smile at me.
“Eh, not fair! I want to hold Fifi too!” Ashwin pouted.
With that comment, Finnian brought me closer to him and wrapped his arms gently around me.
Ashen laughed at the sight he saw, “Well this is unexpected. The young duke is very fond of the princess.”
“It’s like he’s keeping Fifi to himself.”
“Oh, right. I forgot to ask, how did you become so fond of her when you only met her yesterday, young duke?”
I can feel Blue stiffen beside us as she glanced slowly at Finnian and me.
Finnian looked sideways, avoiding the question.
Lucil waited for the answer as she stared hard at Finnian but then Ashen cleared his throat as if telling Lucil to drop the question.
“Oh! I’m sorry for asking you, Young Duke. Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“You can just call me Finnian,” Finnian whispered.
“I’m sorry young duke, I can’t seem to hear you.”
“Finnian,” Finnian stated again.
“You can just call me Finnian.”
“Really? I can?” Lucil’s eyes lit up as she smiled lovingly at Finnian.
“Then you can just call us Uncle and Aunt.” Ashen also smiled lovingly at him.
I looked at Finnian, and although he did not say anything anymore I can feel that he felt happy. As if for the first time he felt that he was being loved by a family member.