There was another thing I need to tell you. Something happened during that two weeks, just a few days before Philip took me to the Throne Room. Something that I did not know whether I should be happy or sorry or regret about the result. It's like this.
The sweet sound of flute suddenly resumed one day, as if somebody had finally discovered the button and unpasued it somewhere beyond the dark thickets of trees. The noise was distant and light.
Prince Ciel must have been suffering for all these time. Nobody saw him much because he loved to shut himself in the room, unlike his beautiful sister whom can be seen every morning at the rose garden, and every afternoon either at guest room knitting or at the library reading books.
Pulling a furry cloak tight around my neck, I stood peering over the lake out to the hunchback meadow. I knew the music was from there.
"Prince Ciel goes too far." Shaph said, putting another cloak on me per my request. "Princess, are you sure about this cloak? It's only spring."
"Yes." Your spring is worse than Bangkok's winter. Apart from royals works, political competition, weather was one other thing I could never get used to here. "I think I will need another one."
Shaph blinked standing still in his one-layered top. I said, "Not for me, for Prince Ciel, I'll bring him back to the castle. It's not safe playing flute alone out there in the dark."
"We can just let a guard do that." said Shaph.
"No," I said, "It'll look like he's being arrested. It's a dishonor, he's a prince. I have to go myself. And I haven't thanked him for helping me last time."
"I'll come with you." said Shaph, "but I don't think Prince Ciel will need any cloak."
I suppressed my laugh and let Shaph lead me out of the castle. We strolled on a small brick path, taking a round at the rim of the mirror lake guiding by a not-so-round moon overhead. It was quite a long walk but the weather was nice with slightly chill wind and having a friend like Shaph by my side shortened the moment.
We soon found the Prince soloing a slightly sad and nostalgic piece on top of a low hill. It made me think that he missed his home. As the song coming to an end, a fervid spring wind gave a thick blow bearing the last Fa note towards us and on, rippling across the lake, fading somewhere in the midst of the night.
My outer layer cloak accompanied it. I really wished Shaph had brought another one.
"I'll get it Princess!" Shaph said and ran after the flying cloak.
His voice revealed our presence to Prince Ciel. The Prince did not have that eye patch on and dilated both eyes as if being caught conducting a misdeed. I finally got to see what was hiding under the metal patch all along. It was indeed extraordinary, as if the hole on the left side of his skull had sucked the whole moon in. The yellow star illuminated and glittered in the socket beside the lavender one. I had never seen such beautiful pair of eyes in my life. But before I could praise them, the Prince ran away like a scaredy cat, never to be seen or heard of ever again.
Umm...okay, I overdid that last touch. Although both Prince and Princess of Mithril traveled back to their Kingdom instantly the next morning, I did hear of them again. A week later, Princess Alette sent an apology for leaving without notice. She explained in short that her brother had complexity about that moon eye. I sent back an apology for upsetting Prince Ciel expressing how mesmerized I feel about that eye, how it glowed gently like the moon in the night, how it was like a beacon of hope in the dark, how it contrasted beautifully with his mauve one—I wrote many more partly was also to take the chance to thank him for saving me the day Jared and Valentine fought. I also wrote that he should be proud to own such a beautiful eye, and sent together a gift to console the boy.
Well, at least, one out, and I lived on.