Chapter 10
Astrid's POV
Today is just like any other day. Nothing special. Just lying in my bed reading some boring book my father advised me to read.
My attention from the book slowly drifted away as the wedding reappeared in my head. Less than three months. What am I supposed to do between those days just so I won't regret anything when I get married?
I was lying on my stomach but as soon as my thoughts stepped in, I lay down with my back taking a deep sigh. All of my thoughts vanished as soon as I heard the door opening and Ruel walked in.
"Princess Astrid th—"
"Is this something formal? Because I always tell you to call me Astrid." I'm ready to listen to the ten word news that my father told him to tell me.
"Yes. It is. The King is calling you for something important."
I can't think about any reason on why my father is calling me aside from the wedding. I sighed and rolled my eyes before sitting down on the bed.
I immediately rushed downstairs towards my father's office though I didn't want to with Ruel following behind me. This is the matter I least wanted to talk about today, especially when the one I'll discuss it with is the one who declared the wedding.
Wedding. Everything is about the wedding ever since I turned 18. Everyone in this kingdom is really desperate to watch me walk down the Isle, leave this kingdom, then have kids with a man I don't even know.
Only one person doesn't want to get married and that is Ruel. But then, I remembered what he said that night.
"Prince Henry is a sweet man, suitable to be your husband. I'm sure you'll love him, but you should love me first."
Sure, he added a joke at the end, but at the same time I'm questioning myself if he also wanted me to get married just like the others.
I hope not.
"What is it, father?" I said as I opened the door and I made it sound like I'm not in the mood although I'm really not.
"What's wrong?" I assume that he realized the act I'm trying to show.
"Let's just get through the point."
"Prince Henry wants to have an engagement party at the end of this month, and I'm saying it in advance. So you better get ready for the ballroom dance."
Ballroom dance. The thing I'm not familiar in doing. Although I'm a princess, I didn't and I don't want to learn how to do that dance. If you can't tell, I'm actually more on the adventurous side, which is very uncommon in us princesses, than behaving like those ordinary princesses who prefers pink, though I sort of like pink myself.
I'm not like other princesses.
One time, my father had to enroll me in a ballroom dancing class because I can't simply learn from him, but I told my father that I'll just learn it myself, which I failed to do so. This will be a real challenge because I'm not that great when it comes to dancing.
"Is the ballroom dance really that necessary?"
"Of course it is! I thought you've already learned that by yourself, so why are you backing off now? Plus, I'll get to see you dance that for the first time! I'm looking forwards to it. Wait." He gasped, as a suspicion came into his head. "Don't tell me you still haven't learned that! It's been six years!"
You guys don't know how a terrible liar I am. I don't know how to lie, so that explains how he already found it in only six seconds. "I know how, just a bit." I could feel that my father is now regretting to have a daughter who doesn't know how to lie even if It's just a small one. If he's not, then I am.
"Just make sure you won't disappoint anyone when you do that dance. Anyways, Prince Henry is picking you up today to pick an engagement ring and the theme of the party. He also wanted to spend time with you."
"Can we do that another time?" I don't want to spend time with that man, it's just… something is bothering me inside. My instincts is telling me that I shouldn't be with him at all cost.
As soon as I said that, a tall handsome man with slick black hair and Hazel brown eyes pushed open the door.
"Well, you can't do that right now because your knight in shining armor is here!" My father stood up from his seat and went towards the 22-year-old man. "Prince Henry! It's good to see you again. Are you here to pick up my precious daughter?" He placed a smile on his face.
"Yes, King Arthur." He said to my father formally, but then, he turned around to look at me. "I could see that my future wife is gorgeous as usual." Prince Henry walked towards me and kissed the back of my palm just like what he did the first time we met.
I don't think I'm comfortable when he's around. Every time he's near me I could feel this strange emotion that screams danger. I placed a forced smile on my face so that he won't realize what I'm feeling right now.
The next thing he did was positioning his arms in a very Prince-like manner in front of me. "Shall we go?"
I grabbed his arms and just nodded, not bothering if he thinks that I don't have manners or something.
We walked outside the castle with Ruel following us as always. We hopped onto Prince Henry's coach as soon as we got out of the castle.
While we were inside, a loud silence was present, all we could hear was the loud chattering of people as we pass by roads and the tapping of the horse's feet in the background. I didn't actually thought of that because my mind is lost in my thoughts.
As soon as we arrived, we stepped out of the coach and I grabbed his arm, guiding the both of us in a very expensive jewelry store. The store was neat and clean, but most of all, the price of jewelry in here is very high.
I roamed around the store with Prince Henry, looking around the precious rings. The rings have many different stones such as Emerald, Ruby, Opal, and many more. They looked extra but I just wanted something simple and not that eye-catching.
"Which one do you like the most?" Prince Henry spoke as he looked at the rings inside of a clear glass.
"This one." I went to the far corner and saw a stunning ring that has a pear-shaped diamond and a golden band. I only have one word to describe this ring: Simplistic. Exactly the one I wanted.
I watched as Prince Henry look at what I chose but then my gaze shifted to Ruel who's behind Prince Henry and it seems like he's quietly looking at the ring.
His expression when he looked at the ring I'm pointing at is blank. His attention quickly turned to this gorgeous silver ring with a big round-shaped sapphire. The sapphire itself was surrounded with tiny diamonds, which made it more expensive than the one I chose.
"I really like this one than the one you picked." If that's what he thinks, then he shouldn't have asked. The ring he chose is extravagant, and anyone who's around me will look at the ring, not at my precious face.
"So what will we pick? This," I pointed towards the diamond ring, before pointing to the sapphire one. "or this one?"
"Hmm… well just go with this one." He picked the sapphire ring, which clearly anyone could realize that I don't like that ring. "That's okay with you, right?"
"Sounds fine to me." IT'S NOT FINE! I know he could see it in my face that I don't want that ring, but he still insisted to do so. But since I'm Astrid Falin, I can't act impulsive in front of the man who's gonna be my future husband though I'm not the one who planned all of this.
I just flashed him smile so that my lie won't be that obvious, even though it already is because of how I am as a liar.
"Please pack this up."
"Aren't you gonna try it first, Miss Falin?" The employee asked, and I swear I was disappointed because of Prince Henry's decisions that it irritates me a bit to hear the employee calling me 'Miss Falin'. I sound like an old woman.
"No need. My ring size is 7." I don't want to try on the ring because I don't think it will look good on my hand.
"I would like to see it in your hands when I visit in the future, my princess." I don't think I'll wear it when I'm just in the castle.
I giggled a bit but I snapped back immediately to my resting face as soon as Prince Henry turned his attention back to the employee.
After the ring was packed, in a beautiful box, we went to pick the theme of the party.
Hours have passed and finally, we finished everything we have to do. Everything turned out just right but for me, I don't think so. It was the complete opposite. Most of the time, Prince Henry was the one to decide on everything, and I had no choice but to agree on everything. Every time I pick something, he would brush it off or deny it, then he would pick it himself. He shouldn't have brought me with him if that's the case.
After all of that, my body is now exhausted because all I have to do was walk around and simply agree to everything. We went to a restaurant that is very famous here in Chartancil. It was often crowded, and people who usually dine in here is rich considering that the food in here is expensive.
We saw a waitress at the entrance ready to welcome us. "Good Afternoon." She greeted politely. "I'm very sorry, but we have only one table left, and it's a four-seater table." The waitress said.
"Although it's just the two of us, we'll just make do with it."
She led us towards the table, not so far away from the entrance of the restaurant. We sat down and ordered some food. I looked at Ruel who's standing still as a rock. And of course, the typical Astrid Falin just has to come out.
"Ruel, would you like to seat with us?"
"I—" He was about to say his response not until this prince sitting in front of me cut him off.
"He doesn't need to sit down. He could stand perfectly well."
Ruel and I both stayed quiet after Prince Henry responded for the bodyguard he handed to me.
After all of that, Prince Henry kept flooding me with questions. He might think he's getting to know me, but I think he's just casually asking me some questions. I just kept my head low and avoided eye contact with him as much as possible until one question made me look at him straight in the eye within the matter of milliseconds.
"So, I heard you had this very special stone named the Sacraia. Rumor said that it was very special and rare, but no one actually saw it because it was only shown as a picture. Is that true?" He asked completely changing the topic.
"Um, yes, it's true."
"What does it look like?"
Suspicions started going in my head. The Sacraia is very popular among people here in this kingdom, and people in the neighboring kingdoms, most especially, criminals. So It's very suspicious of him to ask. Does he also want the Sacraia? That's so impossible!
"It had this yellowish color with a hint of red and orange, that glistens when the ray of sun hit it. It's a very special stone, and it's also known as the Sunstone." I didn't realize that I revealed too much information. I wasn't supposed to, I swear. I drank big gulps of water that was on the table, thinking about what I just did.
"I also heard that a lot of criminals went inside the castle just to find that stone, including the famous criminal named Sear ten years ago. I think he's just 11 at that time when he tried to find the Sacraia."
I became quiet after hearing the name of the person who murdered my mother. Sear was the person I feared the most. I fear that maybe one day he will come back in this kingdom just to slit the throats of my family one by one in front of my face.
Before I could even speak, the food arrived in front of us, leaving Prince Henry's words not responded. We just ate, none of us speaking a single word. I noticed how he only ate a few bites, then he looked at his watch, checking the time.
"My Princess, I have to apologize because I need to leave. I'm needed at our kingdom right now. I hope you don't mind."
"It's okay. You can leave now when you have important things to do." I told him, making it sound like I was disappointed that he's about to leave, but on the inside I was squealing with joy.
He kissed the back of my palm, again. I bet this will become a habit whenever he visits me here. Before he could even walk out of the door, I saw him telling something to Ruel, which I barely heard.
I let Ruel sit down in front of me, and he pushed the plate aside. I called the waitress and ordered food for him.
"Astrid, you really need to stop doing that."
"Do you want to starve until you die?" I went back to chewing my food, looking bothered. The joy I had when Prince Henry left quickly disappeared as soon as I remembered him mentioning Sear. The tragic memories reappeared in my head, and once it does, I'm gonna have a hard time removing those thoughts away.
I decided talk to Ruel, because I really need someone to listen to my thoughts at this moment. ""The Sacraia was given to my father when I was 6 by a 13-year-old girl based on what my father said. When it was handed to him, it came with a small vial of clear liquid which the girl called the Seryline. There was no exact reason why she gave the stone and the liquid to him. My father was advised that my mother should drink the liquid. At first, they thought the Seryline was poison, but when they smelled it, it was like flowers thatq reminds you of the sun."
I took a deep breath before continuing what I'm saying. "Not long after, the news revealed that we have a special stone sitting in the castle. The Seryline and Sacraia were said to give good luck to our family when it is used right. So the day when my mother turned 38, the Seryline was added to her drink which she drank, thinking that good luck is flowing through her veins. But instead of good luck, bad luck came."
"My mother was murdered by Sear, the person whom every person feared the most 10 years ago, considering that at a young age he killed my own mother. Then after that, even more tragic events happened to our family. Me and my brother were almost killed multiple times by criminals because of their desire to have the Sacraia. But luckily, I'm still alive today." I finished telling him everything and when I looked at him, I saw a blank face with a hint of… guilt? I don't think It's guilt. Maybe he's just sorry for me.
"I didn't know that your family had a tragic history." The food came in front of him. As soon as the waiter left, he said something to me. "Why are you saying this to me?"
"I just needed someone to talk to. Besides, I can trust you, right?"
He became silent for a little while before responding with happiness. "Of course you can trust me." He flashed me a smile, then we continued eating.
We went back and the first thing I went to is my bed. Gasping, I laid down at my comfy bed and felt something really hard hit my back as soon as my back reached the mattress.
I got up and looked at what it is.
The book I was reading earlier.
I put it back at my table, did I?
Something inside me was screaming to open the book so I just did and I dropped it immediately at the floor as soon as I saw what was in it.
There was words written at the first page. And it looks like a threat.
Stay away from him.