"Dad.. Dad" young 16 year old Eric burst into the palace conference room without a care in the world as his aides ran after him to no avail
"Prince Eric..i told you not to go in there" A breathless Aide said as soon as he entered then bowed to the filled room
"i am sorry, your highnesses, i tried to warn him"
"i know you did your job, Lukas, never mind him. we all know Eric here doesn't listen to anyone" Malakai, the battle commander said
"if he did his job properly, Eric wouldn't be in here" Erwin, one of the palace chiefs interjected and this caused a little rift in the room as the other chiefs started taking sides but Eric was not paying attention to any of them as he shouted at his father, the king while his aide, lukas tried to pull him back
but his dear father was also caught between settling the rifts when and in doing so, was paying no attention to Eric shouts ,when Eric realized this, he didn't hesitate before he got away from his Aide and yelled with all his might
"Everybody, shut up. .just shut up please"
The room went silent with a few murmurs , they were all used to his arrogant nature but none of them could oppose him either way, after all he was the crown prince of the country
The king however who saw no wrong in his son laughed aloud from where he sat on his throne
"i can't believe Eric intimidated most of you, including you Malakai" he pointed out while the battle commander smiled nervously
"finally, Dad.." Eric called out softly as he walked up to his father with a wide boyish grin
"Come here, my son" the king gestured as Eric gestured with a bow as respect for the crown
"but your majesty, we are still discussing the..." Erwin tried to say but was interrupted by Lady Hannah, the leader of the palace maids
"this meeting can certainly be adjoined until later, if the king needs to attend to his son, then we shall leave" she said deciding for the rest of the royal woman leaders who stood up and proceeded out of the room with grace, a few of the male chiefs followed after too and someone could be heard saying
"everyone knows she wants the king's favor for herself already, she didn't need to make it so obvious" and so went on the noises until the last of them died down and all that was left in the room was the king, his palace guards, Prince Eric and Lukas
"You have something to tell me?" the king asked
"yes Dad" Eric answered excitedly
"oh, what is that?" King Thomas inquired and that was when Lukas thought it was appropriate to ask
"Should i take my leave, your majesty?" he inquired with caution
The king laughed slightly "Oh, lukas ,sorry about my troublesome son, you can leave now"
"Thankful for the grace your majesty" Lukas bowed courteously and made to leave but was stopped by Eric who said quickly
"Oh no, Lukas can stay. its fine" he said
"Lukas, Eric wants you here. its okay. you can stay"
Lukas turned back and stood in the far end of the room with his head bowed as a sign of respect
"so what was it that you wanted to tell me, my son?" his father asked
"well dad, i rather show you instead" Eric said beaming and handed him father a white document he has been hiding in his hand for a while
The king smiled in amusement as he unfolded the folded document and read before frowning slightly
"ADMISSION LETTER FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY?" the king questioned but either Eric didn't notice his father's countenance or choose to ignore it as he replied with a smile
"Yes Dad, an admission for me to study the course i love the most, medicine" Eric explained
"but we discussed this, Eric. this is not because you don't want to be King right? " King Thomas said
Eric's smile fell as he replied
"You are not dying anytime soon, Dad. I remember telling you that i do not want to study here in the country's university, i want to go explore other places ,i will be back in time for the Crown Prince Ceremony which is still in 10years from now ,you know?"
The king sighed "I know. fine, give the letter to the International Ambassador and start processing it. when do you leave though?"
"In 2 weeks ,dad" Eric replied with a smile
"Oh, have you told your beloved Alexandria?" the king asked with a mischievous smiled and Eric sighed at his quite childish father who managed to be the king of a developing country, Neire.
"Not yet ,i will go tell her now and Alex is not my beloved ,Dad. she is just my best friend" Eric corrected him while his father chuckled
"i know" the king called out just as his son start walking away from him
"lets go Lukas" Eric called out
"Yes, my prince" Lukas replied and hurried after the prince
on their way out ,he added
"Congratulations on your admission, My prince"
"Thanks Lukas" Eric replied then added
"now lets hope she thinks so too"
******
"So you are really not going to the same college as me, just like you planned?" Alexandria asked
"Sorry ,Alex. but Neire is not for me" Eric replied with a sad smile as they sat on the porch outside Alex's house
"there is nothing to be sorry for, kid " Alex said with a chuckle and Eric joined in
"just because you are a year older doesn't make me a kid" he pointed out
"12months older actually" she corrected and they both laughed
"you are going to come home for holidays right?" she asked
"i promise" he replied with a smile
*****
"Eric..." King Thomas called out
that stopped Eric in his tracks as he turned to look at his sad smiling father
"you will come back home, won't you?"
"Definitely" Eric replied with a strong confident smile right before he got into the car that was taking him to the airport
"I hope so" The king said to himself as the car disappeared from his sight
His arrogant prince was out to see the world.