Once the maid was gone did I head to bed, but not before I changed out of my robe and into my nightgown. I sighed and placed the robe on the side table only for it to vanish. I blink in surprise.

I know I am a place filled with magic, but a vanishing robe is still hard to take in.

I climbed onto my bed and rested my head on the pillow even though I wasn't that tired. Once I did, the lights seemed to grow dimmer in the room that I am guessing is also one of the works of magic. Is it me or is time room alive? It must have thought that it was bedtime for me as soon as I lay down on the bed – that or it wants me to go to sleep.

Either way, I don't mind. Sleep sounds pretty good to me. The only problem is, I can't. Millions of thoughts swirled inside my head that it was impossible for me to sleep.

It must have been minutes, hours of me twisting and turning on the bed but I still can't seem to fall asleep.

"Come on brain. Shut up!" I muttered in the darkness of the room.

Apparently, my brain doesn't want to listen to me because it kept replaying and showing me images of the old Fred in Thalia and comparing it to the Fred here in Hazel.

"For goodness sake! Why can't I-" I started to grumble but stopped when I heard a faint knock on my door. I immediately shut up.

"Rose?" It was Fred.

Great. I haven't even fallen asleep and now I am living in my nightmare!

I heard the door creak open and I did the only thing I could think of. Pretend to fall asleep. I cracked one eye open and saw light bursting in my room as Fred himself entered.

I willed myself to breathe steadily and remain calm when he gently closed the door behind him and made his way to me. The moonlight from the window did nothing in helping me see his face. I only saw his shadow coming closer to me as he took a chair, placed it beside my bed, and sat. He leaned against it and let out a sigh.

What is he doing here?

I wanted to get up and scream at him to get out. I don't talk to strangers, and I don't ever want to see him again, but we all know that that is rude and this isn't my house, to begin with. This is his castle and we are his guests.

Fred started to lean on his chair and stare at his fingers and played with them. By the looks of it, something was bothering him. I know because I saw him do that once back in Thalia and when I asked him about it, he only smiled and told me it was nothing.

But this is different. He's different.

He started to straighten up and when he did, the moonlight caught his face and I saw his look. Something does bother him. He does that biting your lower lip thing and looking out in the distance. He did that for like a few seconds behind he looked at my sleeping face – excuse me – pretending-to-sleep-face.

I have to fully shut my eyes in case he finds out that I am still awake.

"Rose, I don't know if you're awake or not, but I just want to say this to you." He started. "What happened back there, the way I acted to you, I am really sorry." He said. I have no clue what he looked like right now and I badly wanted to crack my eye open just to see if he really meant it. But judging from the softness and the sincerity in his voice it reminded me of the old Fred.

I heard him take in a deep breath as he continued. "You were right, Rose. About everything. I don't want to leave Thalia. I love it there and if I were given a choice, I would have stayed. But I can't, Rose. I can't. I am the only male heir to our kingdom and it is a custom that only the male child is to rule and marry a pure-blooded witch in their kingdom to keep the line intact. And that's me. I have no choice. I am the future king." He paused. "I only came to Thalia because the Queen told my parents that I would become a better king for this kingdom if I met up with the other prince back in Thalia. That I would be able to learn the customs of others and apply it to our kingdom to make it better. My stay in Thalia was never permanent and even if you choose me, I still won't be the next king of Thalia. I was the second player there. Not much of an importance." I paused. "You know, I was supposed to leave Thalia one week before the ball."

Now that he says it, I do remember Fred being a little depressed during our last dance lesson. We were having a break back then and he took me to the garden pavilion to get some fresh air. I saw him gazing off into a distance with a look of sadness and longing in them. When I asked him if he was alright, he smiled at me and said that everything was fine and he gave me a flower.

That was the day before the ball.

I heard Fred let out a soft chuckle. It was as if he was afraid to wake me. "That was the plan, but I couldn't leave just yet. After all, you did promise me your last dance and I want to see to it that you give me that promise. When you think about it, it was our last dance with each other."

I suddenly felt tears forming in my eyes at the memory and I have to shut them tight just to get them back in.

"I have no other choice. I was afraid that if I told you, you would react and persist that I would come along with you." He chuckled. "I know exactly what you would do if I tried to explain this to you. You would overreact, butt in, and you might even kidnap me and bring me back to Thalia because you never think things through."

Correction. I never think.

I think my tears just died down and I want to punch this guy over here because my ears do not deceive me and I don't think that it was a compliment.

"But that is a good thing about you, Rose. You do those things because you care. You understand our feelings. You understood me well enough in my letter that it may be the reason why the nymphs lured you here. I appreciate that, but nothing has changed. I still can't go back and I don't even know if you ever want to speak to me again or see me for that matter. I just know one thing: It's for the best. I love my kingdom. And as future king, I will do my best to put Hazel back to its feet. If only-" He didn't continue and curious as I am, I cracked my eyes open just a bit to see him shaking his head and sighing. He ran through his hair and looked back at me. I closed my eyes again. "I don't even know why I am telling you this while you're asleep. Maybe I'm just a coward." He muttered and I felt him pulling the covers up my chin and felt a kiss on my forehead. "Goodnight, Rose." He whispered and then I heard the door open and then close.

It was silent again.

This time I opened my eyes. Fred had just tucked me into bed and talked to me while I was asleep. I can't place it but that was the Fred that I know and somehow not the Fred that I know. He's sweet, but never that sweet to me. Jolly but not so jolly.
I groaned. Does he have a split personality or is he just bipolar?

And so far, from what I've learned from this trip, the princes all have other stories that they left when they became a king candidate.

***

I barely slept last night. It was bad enough that I kept thinking of Fred before he came into my room and after he left, it just made my mind swirl with more thoughts. I was confused.

My eyes were still swollen both from crying and lack of sleep. But as of the moment, I don't really mind what I look like right now as I headed to the same table in my room as last night. Breakfast was served in my room and the same maid who had accompanied me during dinner stood there and waited for me.

Trust me, I almost screamed as soon as I saw her there too. The maids here are just too freaky and unpredictable.

After I ate my breakfast, I changed into some nice clothes prepared for me before heading out and into the open air by the very same fountain that we saw yesterday. One of the maids informed me that the princes were waiting for me here for our departure and sure enough, they were already there.

"Rose!" I turned my head towards the owner of the voice. It was Ren and he was running up to me fast. He stopped the moment that he was in front of me and leaned down to study my face. As soon as he did, he arched an eyebrow. "What happened to you last night? We were worried." He said.

"I wasn't worried! Ren was. He barely slept. Just thought that you should know!" Dan called out somewhere behind Ren.

Ren turned and growled at his brother. "Shut it, Dan!"

"I was worried too!" Nate suddenly appeared behind me and made me jump.

I turned around to look at Nate, he flashed me his vampire fangs. "Tell me, love. Who made you cry and I promise that I would rip them to shreds. And I will do it painfully."

"If anyone is ripping anyone who messes with Rose, it's Ren!!!" Still, Dan was now hiding behind the fountain from Ren's murderous glare.

"No one is ripping anyone to shreds." I quickly said before things get bloody around here.

"Awwww.....but I love ripping things to shreds," Nate said and wiggled his eyebrows as if emphasizing something that I could not get. I tilted my head to the side in confusion and Nate only facepalmed at me. "You're too young. Too pure. Too innocent." He said melodramatically and earned a slap at the back of his head from Ren.

"You know better than to talk to her like that." He said and gave Nate a disapproving look. He then turned his eyes on me and grinned. "Don't mind him, alright?"

I nodded slowly. Still having no clue of what just happened. "Okay...."

"Anywho," Said Nate and gave me a serious look. "What really happened? After PRINCE Ace sent you to your room, he and Fred had this intense staring contest and things seemed to get awkward during dinner. Not to mention that PRINCE Ace would not tell us anything about what happened." He then jerks a thumb at Ren. "Ask wolf boy over there. PRINCE Ace almost skewered him on the spot for persisting."

I looked at Ren. He looked away and shrugged his shoulder while Dan let out a wolf whistle.

I smiled. I find it sweet that they would worry about me. "I'm fine," I told them. "Stop worrying about me. I can take care of myself and whatever happened, it's already done."

"But-" Nate started to argue but I cut him off with a wave of my hand.

"Nate, I am not gonna dwell in the past forever you know. I'm going to move forward. Isn't that what I told you way back then?"

At this, the corner of Nate's lips lifted into a smile as he nodded. "Yes. I understand."

My eyes caught something behind Ren. It was Ace standing beside his horse, Midnight, with his back to us.

"Excuse me for a sec." I told them as I made my way towards Ace. "Ace!" I called out and stopped as I stood behind him.

"PRINCE Ace?" I called him again when he didn't turn around.

At my last call, he finally turned and as soon as I saw him I couldn't help but wonder. He seemed really pale and he looked tired. His eyes seemed unfocused and I saw a smudge of red coming out of his nose. "Ace?!" Ace quickly looked away as he wiped his nose.

Was that blood?!

"Are you alright?!" I asked worriedly. I'm not sure but I think he was having a nosebleed.

"Fine." He snapped at me and glared. "And it's PRINCE Ace. How many times must I remind you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. As many times as you can to remind you that I don't care if you are a prince."

"Tch!"A look of annoyance crossed his face.

I glared at him. "What's your deal? Why do you have a nosebleed?"

"I wasn't. And if I was it is none of your business." He said ever so rudely.

"Not fair! I told you about my problems yesterday and you won't even tell me yours?"

Ace cast a glance at me. Again, it was one of those you-are-a-worthless-human-and-I-am-a-high-class-elf-prince kind of look. "We're not friends for me to tell you my problems. You were the one who told me your problems willingly. It's not my problem that you have a sensitive heart and can't stomach not being able to confide in someone."

I felt my nerve twitch. This guy has some serious talent of pissing me off. "Well, you might as well tell me since you obviously don't have any friends to begin with!"

"I don't need friends to begin with."

"Figures. You don't even have a social life to begin with."

"Who even needs social life to begin with?"

"Are you even normal?"

"I'm not even what you humans call as normal to begin with." He shot back.

"Why you-"

"Shh!!" He shushed me! And he wasn't even looking at me. He was looking at something behind me. "He's here." He said.

I don't know why, but for some reason I don't even need to ask who this he was talking about. I already know the answer to that. It's Fred.

I immediately stiffened. After what I heard from his last night, I don't think I'm ready to face him yet. I mean, what would I say to him? What face would I make? Should I smile and act natural? Tell him that I wasn't really sleeping and I heard him talking to me last night? What? What?

Suddenly, everything went black as something was thrown over me. I reached up and pulled the thing down only to see that it was Ace's coat.

"Keep it up." He said and pulled the coat over me again. "You don't want to see him right? And you most certainly don't want him to see you with that hair." Oh yeah. With so much in my mind I forgot to brush my hair this morning.

"Prince Ace." I heard Fred's voice and I had to bite my lips to prevent making any sounds.

With one of Ace's hands still on top of my head and preventing me from seeing either him or Fred, he answered. "We're leaving as per your wishes."

"Thank you." Fred said and even though I couldn't see him, I somehow got the feeling that he was watching me. "Have a safe trip, Prince Ace, Rose." When he said my name, I heard the familiar Fred that I used to know and my throat seemed to tighten. Then I heard his footsteps getting farther and farther away.

"He's gone." Ace finally said and removed his hand from my head. I lowered the coat and Ace seemed to stare at me.
I glared at him. "What?"

He sighed and scratched the back of his head in frustration. "Look, if you really want to talk to him then do it. You look so pathetic standing there and looking troubled."

Then the moment that he said it made me aware that I was indeed troubled. I quickly brought my hands to my face and wiped the expression away. "I don't want to." I said stubbornly.

"You say that, but then you'll regret it later. Before we knew it, you'll be crying the whole way back to Thalia and might sneak out again to come here."

"I won't." I said. "I can't. I don't know what to say."

Ace stared at me. "You talk back to me with that mouth of yours and yet you can't converse with Fred?" He snorted. "Wimp."

"Hey! I just can't okay? It's embarrassing and even if I do, he's gone anyway." I said sadly.

"You humans make good fiction novels about this sort of situation and yet you can't follow your own advice. All talk and no work." Ace said. Clearly, he was getting annoyed with me by the second. "Come here." Before I could even react, Ace threw me over his shoulder and started walking in the direction of the maze.

"Ace? Hey! What are you doing? Put me down." I growled at him.

He didn't listen and kept walking instead in the direction of the maze. What is he up to?

He started to walk us into the said maze before he threw me down not so gently and took his coat from me. "Ow!" I said and rubbed my butt. I glared at him. "And you call yourself a PRINCE!?"

"Stay here." He ordered me and ran off. Leaving me alone in this maze.

"Hey! Ace, you big-eared freak! Come back." I got up and dusted my butt from the dirt as I ran to the last direction that Ace had disappeared to. I turned to a corner and found myself stuck between 3 paths. One of which might lead to his exit while the two might leave me deeper into the maze. I growled. "Ace, you fool!" I screamed.

Does that menopausal kid really hate me that much!?