"YOUR HIGHNESS…" Lord Zereko said as they arrived at the Prince's office.
"I know Lord Zereko! That old man Balthasar!" the Prince said slamming his desk with his palm.
"What would we do now, Your Highness?" Lord Zereko asked.
"Continue the pursuit but let it be a secret from everyone else especially the divine generals." The Prince demanded.
"Yes, Your Highness." Said Lord Zereko and left the office.
The prince was left alone in his office. He was lost in his deep thoughts. Many things has been running through his head. The pursuit of the unknown criminal, the deteriorating health of the king, the meeting earlier, his nowhere to be found brother, and the enthronement of a new king.
His usual furrowed eyebrows had now almost met. He leaned his back to the backrest of his and closed his eyes trying to get some nap. However, just as he was about to take some, he suddenly heard some noises outside his office.
"Oh, just the court maids…" he said under his breath.
"Is that true?!"
"Yes! I heard it from the divine generals that the king will announce his last will the night after tomorrow!"
Because of what he hard heard from outside, Prince Adlai stormed out from his office that made the court maids outside shriek. They immediately recognized the prince and they all fell down to their knees.
"What was that all about?!" he yelled at them. It made the courtmaids jump.
"W-W-What do you mean, Your Highness?" one of them was able to gather her courage to speak.
"The one…. About my… I mean, the king's last will!" he spoke as though he was talking to a deaf person.
The court maids were shaking in fear of the prince's rage. All of them felt the pressure that made the sweat and their throat dried.
"Prince Adlai, Your Highness, the king wants to see you." suddenly one court maid arrived and talked that made everyone's burden lighter.
The prince cleared his throat and spoke, "I'll be there momentarily.�� Then walked in back to his office.
The court maids sighed in relief and slowly stood up. They elbowed the person who spoke before the prince vent out his rage on them. They were blaming her for talking to loudly and gossiping too much. They soon left the place and proceeded to their assignments.
Prince Adlai on the other hand, wastes no time and went to the king's quarter. He was about to knock on the door when heard someone was talking to the king.
"My time is slowly coming. In no time, I would be saying my farewell from this world. I'm not even sure if I would be able to." The king said between his breath.
"Do you think this is the best way?" Adlai recognized this voice.
"General Bal!" he whispered as he leaned on the door to listen intently.
"I can't have him lead this country. That's why I want you to look for Zoi." The king said.
This made the prince flustered. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. If somebody was there with him, they would describe him as a volcano with oozing lava on his face. His face was red and he's shaking in anger. But he needs to know more.
"Hmm… Would you at least tell me why?" asked the General.
"Bal, you've been my friend for who knows how many years. I must tell you but I knew you better than anyone else and that I guess that you already know why." The king said.
"My guess tells me that you favored the other one." General Bal said jokingly.
"I do. And I will feel sorry for the other." The king said. The General sighed in this.
However, the prince had heard enough. He wasn't able to held back his anger, jealousy, and even tears. He ran away from the quarter and found himself running without any particular destination.
The general bid goodbye to the king to let him rest and left the quarter. When he was about to left the door, he kicked something.
"This is… the Prince's ring." The General said anxiously. Perhaps he heard us, he thought.
MEANWHILE, the girl wore her mask to face everyone who saved her life. She was told that even if that man could look into her eyes, others can't. So, she needs to wear this thing again but today is different. No one is afraid of her and she saw many people. It made her feel something she didn't before. She can't recognized what's this thing called but she thought it's not bad.
She looked at everyone and everyone looked at her. It was like a staring contest between her and everyone. It was becoming awkward and a deafening silence surrounded them.
"Hey, what are you say right after someone helped you?" the guy whispered to her.
"Huh?" but she didn't know. The guy scratched his head.
"Just say thank you." he said.
"Thank you?" she asked again. The guy getting annoyed just nodded.
She faced them and stared at them for a while before saying,
"Thank you." she said in a low voice. The guy got irritated.
"Hey! At least put some emotions on it!" he whispered angrily. The girl got confused by him. But he was shocked when everyone's delighted by what she just said. They were smiling and laughing and others were even cheering at her. Some children surrounded her.
"Why do they got excited just by that?" the guy spoke to himself.
"Maybe because they haven't seen any new person for months already. Well,I must also say that it could also because of her strange appearance." The old woman who was taking care of her when she's bedridden said.
"Yeah. Red hair as well red eyes. But she needs to learn more. He's way too ignorant for me. And besides, she's from Helvede." He replied.
"Well, you can't really blame her. I heard your conversation with her and I can say that even she only stayed in that four walls, a lot of things had been going into her head." She said and looked at the girl with sympathy.
"You should have just listened. If you had just stayed silent, I would have known more from her." He said raising an eyebrow.
"Hmp! I can't let an unmarried girl and boy stayed alone in one room." She said which made the guy roll his eyes. "Also, would it be better if we just let her show us who she is without forcing her? Would it be better if she would tell us willingly?" the old woman said and went back inside her house. The guy was left dumbfounded. Was he too oppressive and aggressive?
"Hey lady! Could you remove your mask for me?" one little girl asked her. The guy heard it and went to them to stop them.
"Now, now, she still needs to rest so get away from her now kids." He said and the sound of disappointment was shown by the children.
"Come on now. You still need to study." He said trying to persuade the children.
The children left but one of them stopped.
"But first, I want to know your name!" one little girl asked.
"My name?" she said.
"Yes!" other children joined her and their eyes brimmed with excitement.
"I have no---
"Faia. Her name's Faia. Now go!" the guy said.
"Faia? That's a nice name! I'm glad to meet you Faia!"
"Me too! My name is Arwin!"
"I am Baldwin!" and many children introduced themselves to her. Its kind of nice for her. She haven't experienced this kind of thing after all. Everything was new to her but it doesn't seem bad. The guy finally succeeded in persuading the children.
"Finally!" he said and let out a deep sigh. "It's really hard to deal with children!" he added. They sat on a bench under the Amamamia tree. This tree only blooms flower once in every one hundred year. When it is not blooming flowers, people would only look at it as though it was the ugliest creature.
"Faia…." She whispered.
"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm sorry about that. I just want to drive those children away. You know, they're trying to take off that mask." He explained.
"It's the first time that someone gave me a name." she said looking at the ground.
"Well, if you like it then you can have that name." he said.
"Thank you." she said. His eyes widened because he thought he was thanking her for giving her a name. "Those words, what does those mean?" he was disappointed. She was just asking what does that mean.
"Well, it is something you would say when someone did a good thing to you." he explained to her looking bored at the Amamamia branches.
"What's your name? Do you have one?" she asked looking at him.
"Of course, I do! I'm not like--- Well, my name is Zoi! And my mother gave it to me!" he said with great pride.
"Zoi? Zoi. Thank you." she simply said but it made him stop. It's as though everything was so slow even the blow of the wind. They're just looking at each other. Even though there's no emotion in her eyes, he felt it. She was thankful. Just then, the Amamamia tree suddenly bloomed its flowers. Some flowers fell as if it was a beautiful rain. For others, it was just a rare sight but at this moment, it was a start of friendship.
He was still lost in thought. She suddenly stood up and walked away from him. His eyes followed her. She went to the old lady who took care of her. He didn't know why but the old lady seems so happy.
"Thank you." she said as she approached the old lady.
"Hmm?" the old lady was shocked and speechless.
"Zoi told me what that means. Thank you." she said.
"You're a nice girl!" the old lady said with a big smile. It made her thought. She know it was a compliment but she didn't think she deserved it. She killed many people already.
"We are born in this world differently. Some are from rich family, some are not. Some people suffer, some didn't. Some are free, others are not. But living it's not about that. Life is how you make it. It's not dictated by anyone nor controlled by any, except you. I hope you understand." The old lady said and patted her on her shoulder.
She just stared down at the ground.
"Life is how you make it, huh?" she whispered to herself.
"PRINCE Adlai, Your Highness. You called for me sir?" Lord Zereko said outside the Prince's office.
"Yes, come in." the Prince replied from the inside. Lord Zereko opened the door but he was shocked. The Prince's eyes darted at him with bloodshot look. He was afraid to even move from his position. He just stood there with eyes wide and nerves shaking.
"I said come in Lord Zereko." The Prince said again. Zereko gulped and slowly walked inside. The interior design of his office made it seem like it was a torture room for that moment.
"W-W-What is it Milord?" Lord Zereko managed to speak but he can't look at the Prince's eyes anymore.
"My father, he said he won't make me a king. He wants Zoi to take over." He said while opening a window. This made Lord Zereko drop his jaw.
"But- But aren't you the one who stayed with the king even with your brother gone?" Lord Zereko asked.
"I won't accept him as my brother! That lowly son of a prostitute! I wonder why father wanted him to become a king?! Compared to him, I had proper education, military training and was even taught by prestigious teachers! Not to mention I am a pure royalty!" the Prince snarled. Anger was evident in his eyes and face. His body is even shaking. If he can't control his anger, he could surely kill a number of people in a short moment.
"Your highness calm down…" Lord Zereko said even if he s afraid of the prince's expression just now. The Prince turned angrily at him as if he is going to kill him. Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted them. This made Lord Zereko mentally sighed.
"Prince Adlai, we've traced the enemy's escape route! It goes to the southeast region of the mountainous area owned by Amane." The person outside reported.
"All right. We'll head there now." The Prince said calmly.
"But the problem is…" the person outside added which made the Prince irritated.
"What now?!" he snarled. Lord Zereko jumped in surprise.
"The enemy's track stopped at the cliff also known as Death Cliff. No one was able to go down at the cliff so I'm afraid that the enemy fled there only to met its own end."
"Is that so? Prepare an army and the newest equipment. We'll head there now. I won't be satisfied unless I saw dead bodies." He said.
"But your highness. It's the Death Cliff no one came back alive, no I mean, no one had came back ever since they ventured on that cliff!" the person outside said.
"No one had come back and no one had been seen dead that means some may survive." Explained the prince.
"But---."
"Just do what I say!" the Prince said angrily and throw a blade to the door that barely escaped by the person outside.
"I-I-I understand!" the person outside caught by surprise but nonetheless glad that he was alive. He then left to gather the troop.
"Lord Zereko, there's one thing I wanted to ask you." the Prince said.
"What is it your highness?" Lord Zereko replied.
"When the current king will die, I will do anything to replace him. However, I am also aware that there are lots in the Divine Circle who kept their loyalty to the current king. That means that if my father's will were to be announced and I'm gonna defy it, I have no chance of winning." The Prince stated while Lord Zereko is listening intently.
"What are you gonna do then, your highness?" he asked.
"Lord Zereko, I am fully aware that your family had always been supporting us financially. But even with that, your request to become one of the nobles but your request had always been denied." The Prince looked at him mockingly.
Zereko clenched his fist for the Prince told the truth.
"What do you intended to say, your highness?" he asked trying to maintain his composure. The prince just smirked as if he had just thought of a perfect plan to win the game.