Hazel felt him put his hands on her shoulders and slowly support himself back to an upright pause. His face was so close to hers that his breathing was splashing waves of warm air all over her forehead. In her dazed state , Hazel remembered the meeting she had had with her cousin back at her home mansion while they were walking leisurely through the gardens admiring the well trimmed lawns and beautiful splashing fountains .
" The sunset is beautiful today Vivian , I must remember to thank you later for inviting me .I will get you a nice cup of warm coffee when we get back inside," Hazel began as she slowly run her hands through the soft yellow leaves of the trimmed hedge plants lining up the pavement they were walking along.
" Lady Hazel , you flatter me with your words , but I must decline. Walking beside you and getting the chance to see your grace and beauty up close is already more than I can ask of ," Vivian replied looking up at the sunset with a smile .
" Everyone calls me beautiful , and here I thought you were the exception. Turns out you might be just as boring as the rest , " Hazel teased and laughed a little when Vivian struggled to hide her frown.
" Well if that's how you are going to repay my gracious manners , I'll skip the formalities and get straight to what brought me here. Even though you gave your father you're word , rumor has it that you plan on turning down the prince Lan Montreal for marriage . I am here so that you can tell me that they are all lies and that in the next two weeks you shall wed him before the high priestess and be his wife ," Vivian said then stopped walking to face Hazel face to face .
Hazel did not return her gaze but kept her eyes straight up ahead where the pathway joined with the main road leading up to the front gates of the mansion. Her face stiffened before she started talking , " I can't do what you ask of me , "
Turning around slowly to now face the shocked Vivian , Hazel continued ," He is a nice guy , too nice even . My marriage , just like the other five he's already had , is meant to bring an influential noble closer to his side and strengthen his grip on both the kingdom and the crown. But he's known to have a soft and gullible heart . Many people support his rise to power , not because they see him as the rightful ruler , but because he is a puppet too weak to make a decision of his own. Why else do you think my own father wants so badly that I marry him like all the rest are doing ? It's all one big arms race amongst the nobles to power and the first one there gets the biggest share of it."
Her flashback ended as Lan's hands left her shoulders and he stood up on his own. The concerns she had been fighting so hard to suppress were now brimming , made worse by his blank state of confusion and now the near collapse he almost had. She watched with hesitantly as he stepped back away from her and turned around to face the congregation watching them , seemingly preparing to address it.
Now everything was clear to Boris Web . He had somehow come to be in possession of the body of a prince named Lan after he had lost his life in the previous world because of an assassination plot. Having the experiences of both persons , it was now up to him to choose the identity he would proceed with and which he would let go of . His mind was made up and as he prepared to speak to the people , a sense of fulfilment overcame him and reassured him that he was making the right decision.
" People of Agreya ,I am prince Lan Montreal . Beside me is the beautiful lady Hazel Marjorie , now my wife. I cannot find the words to express how much joy marrying her gives me , for she is a kind and genuine soul , very hard to find indeed . As I make my vow to protect , love and cherish her , I want you all to know that I will do the same for you . I will be frank with this , my father's rule has not been the best and our kingdom has weakened in its political influence . Our neighbors out there mock us , and have done so for quite a while now. They take pride in being the first at everything and do all that's necessary to remain at the top , even if it means breaking the law. They steal our resources from right under our noses and leave us to struggle with poverty . Our weakest members of society , the most vulnerable ones , are constantly unable to get food to feed themselves and their children and the kingdom is too weak and poor to do anything to help them .This is all common knowledge and the only reason no one is doing anything about it is because of fear ," Lan paused to catch his breath . The congregation which has been all noisy when he started speaking had fallen silent , pushed into a common submission by the authority and confidence in his voice.
Seeing this , he continued,
" and that there is the greatest failure of the royal family, failing to protect you and your freedom to express yourselves however you see fit . It ends here. My name is Lan Montreal , prince of Agreya and rightful heir to the throne. I will lead you all into a new Agreya. An Agreya that will be so powerful no one will mess with us . I will make a kingdom that when it decides to speak ,the whole world shuts up and listens. We will be the richest , we will be the strongest , we will be the most feared but most important of all , we will be the ones in charge ! "
As she listened to him speak , Hazel remembered what Vivian told her after she insisted on canceling the marriage ,
" This one is different , give him a chance and watch him prove it."