"Just to be clear, there is not much I can do for you if he did in fact run off with a woman and marry her. My order has no power when they have become married. You should hope that he truly was not with a woman or I will have to arrange your marriage to a relative of his or something. Works for me either way," Darius shrugged.
"There are other things I can do for myself to make this mystery woman go away. All you have to do is bring him back and I'll make sure he never leaves again. I've been playing childish games all these years instead of really getting him to be mine. I'm not going to let some woman we don't know about take away what is mine. I'm sorry that I cannot talk with you any longer brother. I have some planning to do," Catherine bowed then raised her head feeling more determined than ever.
She knew many women were after a man like Alexander just as she was but she had managed to successfully chase them away because of her status as a princess. The fact that Alexander might be with a woman opened her eyes. If she let him out of sight some other woman would grab hold of him because her brother was not reliable.
"If only you were more excited to do your duties as you are to plan out this wedding for you and Alexander. Mother would scold you if she saw you now. Go have fun with your planning. Go on. Go think about Alexander rather than your older brother. Go on," Darius chased her away. "Isn't it sad that even my little sister loves Alexander more than me? And you were just blaming me for his disappearance."
Surprisingly, Catherine approached her brother to give him a hug for finally giving Alexander to her. Of course, she would love her future husband more than her brother. She planned to be a dutiful wife that saw no one else but her husband. Plus, there were many times when Darius only looked out for himself at her expense. "Thank you, big brother."
"Okay, that's enough. I get it, Catherine, get off of me. If anyone saw me now they would think I was going soft." When Darius had been named King, his personality changed as he had a persona to portray. Not only on the outside of the palace but on the inside.
On the outside of the palace, he wouldn't have minded Catherine hugging him since it would show the people of his kingdom that he was a caring king or whatever. On the inside of the palace, the ministers were watching him carefully ready to call him a fool. In his early stages as king, he realized he had to be cruel in order to make people respect him or they would try to take advantage of him. Over time, the persona he created inside the palace had stuck with him.
Before Darius became king, he was kind to everyone, messed up here and there but had the spirit to become a good king. The constant comparison to his father and past kings made him start to change. In the beginning stages, everyone criticized his choices as king and started to look into the sons of other relatives to make them become king. It meant they would plot to kill him. It was thanks to some advice from Alexander and studying that he turned into the king that took no commands and disrespect from anyone. When people started to doubt his capabilities again he needed Alexander to be there to help make sense of everything.
Catherine was thanking him for fulfilling her wish but he was just using her for his benefit. He almost felt bad each time he did it but that was the way of life. The king got to play with everyone's lives and they could do nothing about it.
"There's nothing wrong with hugging your sibling Darius. That is how our mother raised us," Catherine reminded her brother as he forgot how they grew up. He was so much better when he was just a prince and did not have all of these responsibilities as king.
"I learned more from our father than from my mother when I came of age. He preferred us to show less emotion and when I was younger I hated it but now I understand as king what he meant. One day, you'll probably understand what was meant by his words."
"Why must I when I will never become Queen? It's the depressing life of being a princess. They raise you to practice being a queen like our mother, dangling the dream in front of my face. In the end, I'll only get married to a third prince who isn't close to being king or someone with a high profile here," Catherine sighed, jealous that her brother could become king but she could never experience being a queen.
Darius titled his head puzzled by her words as she had only thought of being with Alexander. There was no way for her to become queen by becoming Alexander's wife. Why on earth didn't she chase after the young princes who used to visit the palace if she wanted to become queen? There was a handful of them that would have become king. "You should have chased after a first prince instead of Alexander. Even if you did marry the third prince, you could've manipulated your way to the queen."
"That means I have to kill more than one person to do so and it's not in my heart to do that. That's why I made you do all of that. I'm not going to fall into some false idea that I would become queen by marrying a low prince. I'm satisfied with Alexander," Catherine concluded. Being with Alexander was a much better path for her. She loved the man and soon enough he would learn to love her.