As the sun started to set, Luke stopped by a riverbank to rest for a moment. He kept thinking back on what his father would want him to do during the princess’ banquet.
“Although I don’t agree with that man’s logic, I do agree that the imperial family must be brought down.”
He sat down and washed his face with water from the river. He touched his hair, “The dye is coming off. I should let them dye my hair again.”
After washing his face, he climbed up a tree and rested, thinking back on how he survived for the past five years under that man’s clutches.
He remembered the pains he went through the first few months he stayed. He remembered the rigorous training and the taste of the medicine that was still under trial and error. It is a miracle that his body had survived after everything it went through.
Then he thought about leaving.
“But where could I have gone to?”
He thought about his own mother, “I swear I am going to have my revenge.”
He closed his eyes and recalled what happened to him and to his mother. Luke considers this as something that gives him the motivation to continue no matter how painful the tests became. This memory also fuelled his anger towards the imperial family.
He felt the atmosphere around him change because of his own emotion. The atmosphere suddenly dropped and the surroundings became quiet as if the animals nearby are fully aware that one wrong move would lead to instant death.
Then he heard something from a distance so he immediately hid.
*****
“Your Grace,” Niveus suddenly stood up and looked out the window of the carriage.
“What seems to be the problem, Niveus?” Emilia looked up at Niveus as she continued to stroke the hair of her husband.
William is peacefully lying his head on Emilia’s lap, asleep.
“It was for a moment, but something felt off.” Niveus looked anxious as she scanned the surroundings with her keen eyes.
“I will check the surroundings, your grace.” With that Niveus opened the door and jumped.
Niveus’ jump caused the door to close with force, waking William up.
“Huh?! What! Is. There… trouble?” He sat up immediately, still having a sleepy look on his face.
Emilia chuckled as she cupped his cheek.
“Why don’t you go back to sleep. I’m sure, you are still tired, I haven’t helped you with the duchy lately since I was away.”
Emilia looked apologetically at William, “I’m sorry.”
William smiled lovingly at her, “Don’t be, my dear. You were busy with the children. And I am so grateful to you for taking care of them. I can’t wait to take care of them together with you, soon.”
“So, are you implementing that none of our children will become the next crown prince or crown princess?” Emilia raised her eyebrow and wore a dark expression.
“Oh, no! It’s not that!” William suddenly panicked so Emilia laughed.
“Relax, I’m only joking.”
With that, William calmed down and hugged Emilia as he buried his head in between her neck and shoulder.
It’s funny how different William is in front of other people. He seems so cold and ruthless to the public but whenever he is with his wife alone, he becomes such a soft person.
*****
Niveus checked the perimeter as best as she could but nothing malicious came to her view. Instead what she saw is a horse near the riverbank, resting.
“Someone’s here.”
She flew down to see who was the owner of the horse.
When the horse saw her, the horse immediately stood up and bowed its head. Animals greatly respect dragons, it is already in their instincts to always make obeisance every time they come across one.
The horse had no luggage whatsoever.
“Where is your owner?”
Although dragons can’t really understand animals, they can, however, understand their feelings.
The horse pointed in a specific direction, “Okay, thank you.”
As Niveus continued walking, she kept her guard up. Detecting even the smallest hint of malicious intent. She walked further but found no one, so she looked up.
Someone was sleeping on a branch, so she checked and found a boy sleeping soundly.
“What is a boy doing here?”
Niveus examined the boy more closely and found that there are a lot of scars on the boy’s body.
“Who could have done something so horrible to a boy?”
“A runaway slave, maybe? But slavery has been banned years ago. Is there still someone secretly having one?”
The boy slowly woke up with a confused look on his face.
“Hello there,” Niveus has a concerned look on her face.
The boy blinked at her and suddenly realized that he was not alone. He suddenly stood up and lean against the tree bark as if hoping to be melted along with it.
‘Act scared and surprised’, Luke calmly thought to himself.
Niveus slowly stretched her hands towards Luke, trying hard not to scare him away.
“It’s okay, I am not going to hurt you,” as gently as she could, Niveus caressed Luke’s face.
Luke closed his eyes, scared of Niveus hands. He even forced himself to shiver because of fear. Then he felt Niveus's hand on his cheek, making him suddenly open his eyes. He looked at Niveus with shocked wide eyes.
“Shhh, don’t cry,” Niveus gently wiped a tear on his cheek.
‘Why am I crying?!’ Luke immediately slapped Niveus’ hands and jumped. He immediately ran towards the horse and left.
Niveus looked in the direction he was headed with sad eyes, “Should I go after him?”
She wanted to but the safety of her master and mistress comes first.
“I will find you later,” With that, Niveus continued scanning the perimeter.
*****
Luke’s heartbeat never stopped beating as he wields the horse to run faster. Tears kept on streaming down his face and it was annoying him not to know why he suddenly cried at the sudden touch of that dragon.
“Disgusting!” He hissed at himself but remembered to control his emotions to avoid being detected by that dragon again.
He came to a sudden stop when he spotted a mansion from a distance.
“Where am I again?” He wiped his tears and focused on calming himself down.
He continued to go upstream, coming closer and closer to the mansion.
From a distance, he heard children laughing.
“Hmmm, as I can recall, the Meridiem household owns a rest house somewhere west. Maybe this is it.”
Luke turned his back, not wanting to stay any further when he heard a child shout.
“Fifi!!!! Come play with us!!!”
“Fifi? The princess? She’s here?” He suddenly turned around, curious to see if the princess is truly around.
“That man told me to befriend the princess, maybe I should just stay for a while and observe.”
With that, he hid himself and the horse, waiting for the right moment to approach the princess.
“While I’m at it, I should hunt some food to eat.”
*****
The day went by fast and evening came. Emilia, Fae, and William, together with Niveus and a few knights arrived before twilight.
After dinner, the adults spent their time together. Niveus and Blue went to the spring to have an evening swim. And we, the children, spent time together playing with Fae’s toys and reading storybooks.
“Finnian! You kept on sticking with Fifi for the whole day! We want to play with her too.” Ashwin demanded that Finnian will hand me over to him.
But instead of giving heed, Finnian stood in between me and Ashwin.
Ashnor, on the other hand, calmly walked toward me, without saying anything. Picked me up and carried me towards the sofa.
“I’ll be taking care of her.”
Finnian stared at Ashnor, and Ashnor stared back at him.
Then Finnian sighed and went to where Nix is playing with Fae.
“Play!” Fae offered a toy to Finnian which Finnian accepted but did not play with her.
I still can’t understand what’s on that boy’s mind.