I didn't find the time return Prince Alexander's jacket. The days became so busy I hardly saw him anywhere. I figured I could maybe take it to his room, but after what happened the last time I was there, I had no courage.
I used that to my advantage and spent most of my waking moments in the night time cuddling the jacket and sniffing it. Creepy, I know. I was careful though not to let Jennifer walk in on me. Not that she spent a lot of time in the room anyway.
Sunday had already arrived and I quite dreaded my 'forced' date with Alfred. True to his word, the entire palace staff was off duty today except some few maids and butlers and cooks. In fact almost the entire kingdom was off work. Except for a few professions that were vital. It so happened that today was marking the start of harvest season.
A festival of sorts was always organised in Town square and the entire royal family was always present from dawn till dusk. It was a tradition dating back to the fourteenth century. The harvests in that century had been so poor due to the drought and pest infestation that had rendered the land almost barren.
The priests had advised the King to hold a ceremony to the goddess at every start of harvest season and sacrifice twenty five percent of the harvest to her. The harvests have never been poor henceforth.
Even in this current era, where the world was now modern and pagan worship was made illegal due to the christianization of the kingdom, the festival was still held. Minus the sacrificial components of it.
Now the festival mainly composed of games and a carnival off in the open field and foods. The games included, to mention but a few; horse riding, swordfighting, cooking contests.
The royals were to reside over some games and take part in some for half the day before they went back to ruling the kingdom behind desks. It was really fun.
I had never attended this festival in all my years of living. I only caught glimpses of it from the small television that sat on a small cabinet in the small living room in my home. My mother always sat watching the festivities for the almost the whole day. Mostly admiring the royal family.
Today however, I was finally attending. Albeit with a 'forced' date. I would have to find a way to get rid of him so I can hang out with Jennifer and the gang later on.
I found a seat in the bleachers to watch the next game. Polo. Or widely known as the Sport of Kings. Alfred had excused himself to go to the restrooms and suggested I come find seats before the place got filled up.
I sat in the fourth row up from the field and took out my bag of popcorn. While it may not be the best snack at the moment, it would suffice.
The players made their way onto the field and I almost dropped my snack on the seat below me. Among the bustle of players was Prince Alexander and Prince Henry, both wearing different coloured shirts.
Prince Alexander was wearing the usual polo gear with a number three drawn in gold behind his white polo shirt. Prince Alexander on the hand also had a number three in white behind his red polo shirt. Were these two playing against each other?
"Oh wow. So the two are going against each other? This is going to be fun, I reckon," exclaimed Alfred who was currently taking his seat to my right.
I looked at him. "What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.
He looked at me with disbelief before he started laughing. "Oh right. You're still new. Those two blokes have been, is it enemies, since like forever. They hate each other."
Hate? Why would two brothers hate each other? That didn't make sense one bit. I remembered their previous interactions in my presence. There had seemed to be tension between the two. But I'm sure it's nothing in the hate territory. Probably just some sibling banter like the case is between my brother and myself.
But as I looked out over at the field and watched the way the two looked at each other during prep time, I was suddenly not so sure about my hypothesis.