"-had enough! You're disgusting!! Do you ever think?!"
He blinked and found the scene in front oddly confusing. A beautiful girl was screaming at his face. Her pink lips matched her angered cheeks, sharp blue eyes shining and brimming with unshed tears while her platinum gold hair rattled with an unstable air.
Oriana di Marie Valente. First princess of the kingdom, older twin sister of the crown prince.
'My fiancé...'
Her name and story rushed through an echo of memories and knowledge.
As if seeing for the first time, he blinked. As if breathing after drowning for so long, he gasped.
Pain, he felt pain. Like a hammer hitting the back of his skull. It hurt so much that he had to detach himself of the situation and appreciate the feeling of agony by groaning loudly and holding his head with both hands.
His surrounding warped and blurred as he tried to hold his lunch from lurching forward.
And then silence.
Everything was over. The feeling of sickness and the rush of pain went away. He blinked again just to make sure that his vision wasn't blurry and breathed slowly.
His lung were burning, barely holding, trying to swallow air that felt void.
Forcing himself to control his breathing, he relaxed his muscles and tried to activate the logical part of his brain.
'Panic attacks were not good', he concluded, 'the feeling of a sudden death is the worst part' he thought simply...and then he processed what he had just thought. 'Where did that come from?' he emotionally stuttered for a moment, blinking once again, just for good measure.
"Are...are you okay?"
A soft female voice brought him back. Her tone fragile and trembling.
'She's scared' Quickly, he lifted his sight, 'She's just a little girl'. A cute child was in front of him.
"Humm, don't worry."
Trying to smile, he searched his memories.
'Kale, my name is Kale.'
Kalestre Morgana. Eldest son of the Duke Verum Morgana and Duchess Melania Valente di Morgana.
Slowly but surely, with each slow breath every piece started to fit. But he needed more time.
"Excuse me, could you give me a moment?" Kale asked, eyes sleepy but his mind was slowly becoming clearer with every second.
"Uh, no?"
For some reason she denied his request, but he paid it little mind to it and took a seat.
The room they were in was a fancy one. Royal green with numerous seats, a tea table that was so clean that it reflected everything on its surface, around five windows that lead to a view of the neatly trimmed garden of the Duke's property.
'What happened?'
He tried to understand the circumstances, but that would take time, so he put his mind on autopilot and addressed the princess of the empire formally.
"Your highness, please take a seat," his vision blurred again for a moment as he tried to organize his thoughts. He tightened his jaw and bared it whilst speaking. "Would you like some tea? I can get a maid to bring it if you would like."
The princess looked at him in confusion, as if seeing an stranger or an alien for the first time. Kale could only let a muted dry chuckle as more memories came rushing at witnessing her reaction.
- 'How dare you!'
- 'You will address me by my title, scum!'
- 'You lowlifes, you shall bow to me.'
- 'I did not ask for your opinion, princess.'
It was like witnessing all his actions from a third person perspective. As if someone else had possessed his body yet he was conscious of every move it made, of each word take came out of his mouth. 'What the hell was I thinking?'
He couldn't help but blush in shame and mentally apologize to each person that suffered because of him. But that was for later, right now he had a princess in front of him that required his attention, and that still had a shocked look on her face, eyebrow raised to her scalp, pupils contracted in unsaid emotions.
So he sighed and spoke again, slowly, just so she could understand. "Please, take a seat as well your highness. We are both in a high emotional state, nothing good will come of making important decisions or saying harmful words in such a state." Kale blinked slowly and purposely relaxed his muscles, as if to convey that he would not make any sudden movements. He breathed slowly, silently compelling Oriana —the princess— to imitate his actions.
Gradually, if not a bit stiff, the princess did the same. With measured steps she took a sit in front of him, a love seat with space for two people. Her shoulder were stiff, but after a few minutes of slow breaths they relaxed.
Kale used this minutes to meditate. After making sure that the princess was busy enough calming herself down he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. The memories stopped rushing and started pouring out in a calmly manner, in a chronological order and without interruptions.
As stated before, he was Kale. Full name: Kalestre Scan Morgana. The only son of the Duke Verum Morgana and the now deceased Duchess Melania Valente di Morgana. His mother died shortly after giving birth to him. From what he caught from the servant when they thought he was out of hearing distance, she was a superficial woman with not a care in the world outside of materialistic things, she dressed fancy and spoke with a pompous tone, as if everything and everyone were beneath her. Kale, being just a young child, took those words to heart and decided to do the same, in a vain attempt to make them regret their ugly words about his dear and departed parent. It worked, in a manner of speaking, as word got around that he was just a distasteful as his gone mother. Rather that being bothered by it, Kale puffed his chest in pride, thinking that his mother was looking at him from beyond with a proud smile.
His father did not think the same, burdened by his only son behavior, he made a decision. This decision gave Kale a family, a family that he did not want. A sister and a new mother. Scared and confused, Kale lashed out and-
"Why are you silent?"
He blinked in awareness and noticed the princess' sharp blue eyes looking at him with a judging light. Even if she was just a little girl, Kale realized that she was not to be underestimated. One doesn't live for around thirty years without learning anything.
Yes, the princess was at the age in which commoners would be a full grown adult. But she —and him— were nobles. Their life expectancies were much higher, but the mental development was the same as their body appearance.
In essence, she looked like a little girl (from his perspective), then she thought like a little girl. In reality, she was a prepubescent female, just a few decades shy from reaching her full flown teenage years.
"Just ruminating my thoughts, your highness." He replied with a small smile. "How about we continued our conversation from before, you were saying...?"
"Ah!" Seeming to fumble for a bit, she played with the fabric of her beautiful baby-blue dress, biting her lips for a moment, she continued. "I-I was saying...that..." As more words came out, the weaker was the sound of her voice.
'I see. It seems that after cooling her head, her mind became a jumble...that, or she was about to say something really rude before I interrupted her.', he tilted his head slightly, accepting this fact as not something major. He was used to it, at the bad mouthing, at the sneers, at people talking behind his back. He would not lie and say that he didn't deserved it.
In retrospect, he was majorly disgusted with his own behavior up until now. He had not idea what he was thinking.
'No, that's wrong, I know exactly what I was thinking.'
From early childhood, the situation has always been the same, his dad and him against the world. But he always thought about his mother, and when he heard some servants badmouth her, he lashed out. This became a predominant attitude, it was so troubling that even his loving father gave up on changing his attitude.
'Not like he tried much.'
But he didn't blame him, the man was mourning and had to take care of a troublesome child all on his own. The servants helped, but they were not parent and neither could be figures of authority for the kid due to their status. So his father got re-married, and he ended up lashing out even harder.
'If no one would love me, then I will just become unlovable.' that's the answer that his childish mind arrived to.
"Uhm." Kale pretended to think, holding his chin with a hand. "How about a rehash then? Tell me, how it all started for you to arrive at this moment?"
"What? But why do such a thing?" the princess raised an thin eyebrow in question.
Kale just smiled patiently and returned an answer in a softened tone. "This helps with organizing your thoughts, your highness.
"Sometimes, we become so overwhelmed with emotions or by situations that we forget the basics. So take a deep breath, close your eyes, and recount it, remember how this all started, put everything out and in order, and do it slowly."
Oriana lowered her head and blushed prettily, "Is that really necessary?" then she stuttered a bit in a lower voice. "It's quite a bit embarrassing, is it not?" and she wasn't so sure of herself anymore.
"I understand your point princess. So how about this..." Kale clapped a few times and after a few seconds a maid came in through the door.
"Master?"
She was beautiful. With glossy brown hair and sharp eyes. "Anabelle, would you kindly bring a soul contract, please?"
Kale smiled gently and the maid raised her eyebrows in surprise, but as a true profesional, she answered "Of course, master." and went away.
He, again, wasn't surprised by such reaction. If he remembered correctly, and he did, not a single kind or polite word has ever come out of his lips when interacting with the servant.
His lips thinned again and etched in his mind the reminder to apologize honestly to each one of the servants. Such a lack of respect... he mentally shook his head in self-dissapoinment.
Anabelle arrived with a yellowed piece of paper, and after receiving it, Kale noted that the maid's eyes lingered on him for an instant, giving away an indiscernible look. He just smiled softly at her in that instant. She looked taken at back, pupils constricted and shoulder's tensed, but faster than the eyes could perceive, they returned to normal. With a low bow, she went away.
Quickly, Kale wrote the establishment of some ground rules.
"I asume you are aware of what a Soul Contract is, princess?" he asked whilst his pen wrote without a stop.
The harrumphed, apparently offended. "But of course. It is a bond between two or more souls. Once signed, it is stablished that both parts will follow the set of rules stablished or be damned with a cursed soul."
A cursed soul was the lowest of all fates that could befall someone. It causes pain deep within, as well as bad luck for the rest of your life. The gods will negate all their blessings to your person and monster will be able to smell you from a long distance away.
It is practically a death sentence, so the contract is taken very seriously by everyone.
"Here," with that, he passed the contract to her. "Please read it, if you agree, you can sign it. As you can see, I already did so."
Oriana delicately picked it up, after around a minute, she questioned. "This is very simple. Are you sure about it?"
Kale gave the princess an smile and a nod. The contract was short; it stablished that anything said within the room for the duration of the "session", will be kept private between the two parts that sign the contract, unless such information could cause harm anyone if kept silent.
It referred to the two person as the "Listener" and the "Speaker", it had some minute details and conditions. but in essence it meant "I want you to think of this moment, this place, as yours, your Highness."
"Mine?"
He hummed in affirmation. "This is your space, your highness, your safe-zone. As per the contract, I will limit myself to listen and have a word or two, but anything said here, will be kept private and I will not act in any way or form based on any information you could give me. And any information, can only be given willingly, so please, do not feel uncomfortable." And then his guilt took over his tongue for a moment "I owe you at least this much, your highness." the last words were whispered, though they were audible enough for Oriana to hear.
Oriana mulled over his words and ended up letting off a soft sigh. Still, hesitation lingered in the light of her eyes, nevertheless, she powered through her insecurities and signed the paper.
"Where should I start?" she asked.
Kale looked at her and didn't pressure her to begin. "Please, take your time."
She bit her lower lip, rolled her eyes to a random piece of furniture and parted her pink lips.
"I guess, it was twenty years ago, when father summoned me..."
And so, the princess told him of her blues, her woes and fractured heart, piece by piece, her story was revealed in the following sessions.
Though that's in a far off future, because at the end of the first session, Kale offered to annul their engagement, for "her mental health and well being."
Flabbergasted, the princess punched him in the nose.
And that's how our story begins.