Reign turned to Ares with wide eyes.
"Your mother…. Your mother was murdered?" Ares nodded with a distant look in his eyes.
"Are you… are you going to tell me how she died?" Reign questioned and he nodded.
"You said you wanted to be able to understand me so here is my story, at least some of it" Reign surprised him by dragging his hand and leading him over to the grass.
"Let's sit here, it'll be more comfortable" She sat on the grass then patted the place beside her.
"Come on," She urged. He nodded then slowly sat down on the ground. They sat there for a while just staring at the beautiful scenery in front of them. Reign didn't want to urge him to tell her anything, whenever he was ready, he could tell her.
"When I was seven, my family was a pretty normal family. My father only had my mom and I, everything was great. He was a great father and my mother would literally do anything just for him because she was so in love with him and because of how loyal and dedicated she was to him, since he couldn't make her his queen, he decided to make her an empress" Reign gasped.
"Your mother was the first empress of our Kingdom? Wow, she wrote history" Ares nodded with a proud smile on his face.
"Yeah she was pretty great, she was someone I looked up to. Anyway, back to the story. When I was ten, my father came to meet my mother and told her he was getting married again since it was tradition that the king would have as many wives as he wanted. My mother didn't agree and threatened to divorce him if he brought another woman to the house but suddenly, she agreed and I couldn't understand why till my father came home with another woman who had a son that was one year younger than me. I was so mad at him, he had cheated on my mom, had a son outside and had the guts to marry his mistress. I was furious and I made sure he knew that. I became a nuisance and it only got worse when I found my mother crying everyday because ever since he brought his mistress into the house, it was like he forgot all about mom and I, it was like we never existed. I hated him for causing my mother so much pain and cussed him out for it everyday. Eventually he got fed up and I was locked in the dungeon with no food or water for one week. I don't know how I survive, I think it was because I kept thinking of my mother and wasn't ready to leave her alone with a man who didn't care about her anymore. When I was finally released, I realized my mother had slipped into depression because of my father and that was the last straw. I marched over to him and yelled at not only him but his mistress, I told him how much of an incompetent father and husband he was to both mom and I and if he didn't want us anymore, we would leave. I went over to my mother's chambers that minute and told her to pack up her bags that we were leaving but that minute, my father came in and apologized to both of us" Reign frowned.
"Did your mother forgive him?" Ares nodded.
"She was in love with him and she believed he was in love with her too but what she didn't know was that his mistress had been poisoning his mind and was telling him my mother wanted to be above him. She was to rule over him. My father was so foolish to believe her and the next thing, he told my mother he had a surprise for her and told her to meet him at their spot at night. Their spot was here. When my mother got here, my father was nowhere to be found. she waited for hours and when she didn't see him, she decided to leave when she was stabbed multiple times and was thrown down the cliff with no mercy and…" Ares' eyes suddenly widened as he noticed Reign was crying on his arm. He raised up his hand to caress her face softly.
"Why are you crying?" She raised up her head to stare at him with tears in her eyes.
"I can't believe I judged you before knowing everything. I'm so sorry, Ares, I was a fool" Ares used his thumb to wipe away her tears then pulled her closer.
"Is that why you're crying?" Reign mumbled a yes.
"I'm crying because I'm embarrassed" Ares chuckled then placed a subconscious kiss on her forehead.
"Don't be, okay? It pushed me to tell you this, right? You're the only one I've told" Reign pulled away so she can stare at him.
"But everyone at the palace knows?" Ares nodded.
"We all have secrets, every one of us has a story to tell" Reign nodded slowly.
"And I guess Diana is the mistress and James is the son? And she was the one who had your mother killed?" Ares turned to her with a gasp.
"Really? What gave you that idea?" Every word was tainted with sarcasm which made Reign roll her eyes.
"I'm slow, okay? So how was everything resolved? Everyone thinks she comitted suicide" Ares sighed.
"Because my father covered everything up so it wouldn't be traced back to him. My mother wasn't even mourned properly because everyone thought she had killed herself and that is a great sin here. I hated him and Diana so much, I still hate them the same way I did back then and now, James has joined their circle. Do you know my Goddamn father is now trying to make amends after all these fucking years? After everything Diana and James have tried to do to get rid of me, he knew everything and still never said or did anything about it. The reason I stopped coming to dinner is because I was poisoned there twice and almost died. No one else wanted me gone except James and Diana because I was next in line for the throne when we were younger but now, they have managed to push me out of the line and I really don't mind to be honest. Being King means I'll have to do some bad shit just to stay on the throne and I don't want that, I just want a normal life" Reign frowned.
"But if you become King, you can put them in their place and take revenge for your mother. You'll be above them, not them being above you. They'll trample on you till you have no energy left" Ares turned to stare at her serious expression. He smiled then flicked her forehead lightly but she still winced.
"Ow! What was that for?" She pouted as she rubbed at the spot.
"You looked so serious just now, it was scary" She rolled her eyes.
"But I was serious though, think about it, okay?" Ares rolled his eyes but nodded.
"So what about you? Do you have any secrets to share?" Reign's eyes widened. She stared at him for a while then sighed.
"Ares, I'm not…"
"You highness, I need to discuss something with you in private" Just then, Julian came and disrupted whatever Reign wanted to say. Ares nodded at him then turned back to Reign.
"What did you want to say?" He asked softly. She stared at him with conflicted emotions in her eyes then she shook them away and smiled.
"It's nothing important, I can tell you later" Ares nodded slowly then stood up and helped her up from the ground then helped her dust the sand off her body which made Reign go red. Why was he doing that?
"The carriage will take you back to the castle, I have something to take care of with Julian, okay?" Reign nodded then he led her back to the carriage and helped her in. He watched as the carriage rode away before he turned to Julian with a cold expression on his face.
"What's the problem?"
"Our men found something when they were digging the ground earlier" Ares furrowed his eyebrows.
"What?"
"Guns".…..