Mass release, August 11th, part 2/5.
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Dad held me in his arms, probably because he would miss me, and went inside the Castle with me and my mom. I don't really know why they call it a Castle when it's more like a Palace where each of them has a Castle of their own. And apparently, I would be staying in the Queen's Castle, which was better for me.
The Princes came right after me and my parents, and although I wasn't looking, I could feel their stares on the back of my head. It was annoying and it made me wary. When we arrived at the garden, there were three different tables full of different teas, cookies, and things like there. But when dad put me on the ground, I noticed that the main table only had 4 sits, while the other two had 6 and 5 each.
Anxiety crept inside of me when I realized the distribution of the tables before my aunt told us how it would be, "We'll sit with you and brother-in-law, sister. While the kids will sit together, and the concubines will sit on the other table."
My mom kneeled down and looked at me, caressing my cheeks, "We'll be right here, okay, darling? Stay with the Princes, they are cool kids, you will see." She kissed my forehead, and dad nodded.
"Alright," I whispered and turned to see the five boys still staring at me. Then I walked directly to the table and sat in a chair that faced my parents' table directly. And when they all sat around me, I began to feel anxious again, with their intense gaze.
Prince Benjamin spoke, "Can't you talk?" I knew it was him because in the game he was described with silver straight hair and expressive honey eyes, and he was always the more arrogant in the letters.
"Aunt said she was shy," Prince Valentin, the one with blonde straight hair and dark green eyes, spoke. "And by how she stuttered when speaking before, she really must be."
"Come on, cousin," of course, it was Prince Nathan, the pink-haired with turquoise eyes, that would call me that, just like in the damned letters. "Talk to us."
When I sighed, all of them stared at my every move. "Don't call me cousin, Prince Nathan."
His grin was feral, "So, you really look down on us." And I thought Benjamin would be the worse.
I smirked, catching all of them off guard. "I don't look down on any of you, Princes. It's just that we aren't blood-related, so, there's no need to act like cousins when we are not. Besides, it's better that way. It would be extremely awkward to marry a cousin, wouldn't it?" None of them seemed to expect me to say something like that. "At least, I find it disgusting to marry someone who's blood-related to me."
Prince Kaleb giggled, and it was a sight to see. He was always the one who caught my attention the most, with his dark eyes and black wavy hair, like the starless night sky. "My brothers thinking you were looking down on us for not calling us cousins when you were actually thinking of marriage. Like mom said, girls really have a different mind than us, hm?!"
I couldn't help but smile at him, "That's what they say."
However, Prince Erik, with his wavy honey hair and dark pink eyes, was the one who surprised me the most when he talked. Not only because his voice was even deeper than Kaleb's at such an age, but because of what he said, "Some years ago, I heard aunt and dad talking about you." Like they said in the game, his beautiful eyes were hypnotizing. "Aunt said the reason you didn't want to meet us before, was because you were afraid of us," he tilted his head to the right. "Was it true?"
Benjamin, Valentin, and Nathan seemed almost offended, "Why would she fear us?" They questioned in sync.
While Kaleb seemed to catch on faster than the others. "Because she has royal blood in her veins and we do not. Did you think we might end up killing you in the future just because of that?" That's what you will do, it isn't baseless.
Clenching my jaw, I said nothing. Ignoring their questions, I filled my teacup with chamomile tea and put five cookies on my plate. But I didn't eat, after all, it's rude to eat in the presence of the Royal family before them. So, I stared at my hands.
But Erik broke the silence, "I'm sorry, I made you uncomfortable."
"You weren't wrong, Prince. But it's meaningless to talk about that. It's my fear to take care of, it doesn't concern any of you. After all, we've never met before, thanks to my insistence, so, you did nothing to scare me. It's only a fear I created, and I gave it the power to stay alive," a soft smile appeared on my lips. "Besides the fact that not all of your letters were pleasant to read," I side-looked at Benjamin and Nathan, then back to Erik, "I appreciated the books."
Valentin noticed why I hadn't started eating and giggled, then he began eating a brownie and filled his teacup with hibiscus tea and honey. "Don't restrain yourself, Princess. We are still growing up, you have to eat, so you will become stronger and healthy," his care made me feel my cheeks a little hot, but I chose to ignore that.
Biting my bottom lip to avoid saying anything, I took a sip of the tea, feeling refreshed. Then I looked around for a jam to put on the cookies. "What are you looking for?" Benjamin asked and I felt a little awkward speaking with him.
"Spicy jam," I muttered and they all seemed stunned.
"You eat spicy jam with cookies," Nathan questioned, clearly judging me. "I've never seen a kid who eats that. Usually, it's only the adults."
"Prince, I didn't judge you by how inconvenient you were in the letter you sent me on my birthday. I would appreciate it if you didn't judge me for the way I eat my cookies," my tone was calm, but he showed me that feral grin again.
"Shy? You don't seem to be that shy," he mocked and got on his feet, then headed to the concubines' table and talked with the woman I guess was his mom, because of their resemblance. Her gaze turned to me and then back to him, then she took a glass with something in it, from the table and gave it to him. When he came back, he put it in front of me and sat back as if nothing had happened. "Here it is, your spicy jam," he exclaimed without looking at me.
I felt bad for how I talked to him before, but not enough to apologize. "Thank you," I said simply and opened the glass, then, using the back of the small spoon, I began to spread it over the cookie. Smiling satisfied, I ate it and drank a little bit of the tea. "Delicious," I whispered to myself, too focused on the cookies to notice how they were staring at me.