There was nothing that Li Chen could do, he had heard it all from his cousin about why she left during her engagement party. Everyone around Valencia has always been careful to not hurt her feelings in any way but Excalibur hurt her feelings on purpose, thus, Li Chen wanted him to taste a little more bitterness.
"Have a safe trip, princes Excalibur." Li Chen said to him and walked after Valencia.
Excalibur walked back to the line where his friends were and boarded the plane with the rest of them without as much as uttering another word.
Valencia returned to Alpin with her cousin, as soon as the two of them arrived, there were doctors and nurses waiting on stand-by with her parents.
"Mama." Valencia said as she hugged her mother and her father stood by watching her
"Acting like nothing happened?" Her father asked her and she smiled as she hugged her father as well
"Papa, I missed you as well." Valencia said to her father who kissed her forehead
"It's good that you've come home, you do not know how worried your mother and I were." Her father said to her and she nodded
"I'll stay longer." Valencia said to her father but he shook his head
"You should just stay." Her father said to her and she smiled
"We'll see how things turn out." Her father said to her and she smiled, it was indeed great to be back home.
"Now. Now you two, let's head back inside. It's not good for you to be out here for too long." Her mother said to them and the three of them headed back to the palace. Once the three of them were inside, her parents made sure that the doctors and nurse did a thorough check-up on her before they were dismissed.
"Tell us, what have you been up to the past three years?" her mother asked her
"What about me Aunty? How come you ignore me?" Li Chen asked and her mother smiled at him.
"You cheeky little brat, if your mother wasn't my best friend and my sister-in-law I would have you jail for assisting the princess." Her mother said to him and he chuckled
Li Chen was the one who assisted Valencia in her plan to run away on her engagement day, he was also the one who helped Valencia with her school paperwork as well. After 6 months went by, Li Chen finally wrote to her aunt and uncle that Valencia was safe and that Valencia would return once she was ready.
"It was not my fault, Val threatened to run away by herself if I didn't help." Li Chen said to her mother and Valencia smiled.
"Mama, Papa. I am quite tired, please pardon me." Valencia said to them and headed back to her palace.
Valencia was back at the palace but there was nothing for her to do, she had been back for a week now and there was no contact from her friends. Li Chen has returned home after being in the palace for three days only.
Once her cousin left there was no one else to keep her company other than the maids and her nanny but she was too old to play with her nanny. Her parents were busy running the kingdom. Luckily, Valencia has a whole garden to keep her busy.
After 2 months, Excalibur came to visit Valencia at the palace
"Your Highness, prince Excalibur would like an audience." Her maid Stella said to her but Valencia kept herself busy in the garden
"Tell him that I am not in." Valencia said to Stella
"But Your Highness, lady Sara said-" Summer said to her but Valencia went on with her work
"Then tell him, I am busy planting my new flowers and will not be taking any audience." Valencia said as she dug up the dirt to plant more flowers in her garden. The two maids were nervous about their next step but there was nothing for them to do, as they turned to go back inside to report back to the prince, he was standing right behind them.
"YOU'RE HIGHNESS!" the two maids said as they bowed in greeting to him, Valencia looked towards his direction but went back to tending to her flower beds, seeing Excalibur excuse the two maids. The two went back to tending to the other plants and Excalibur walked over to her.
"Why is it so hard to have an audience with my fiancee?" Excalibur asked her and Valencia scoffed
"You cannot call me that." Valencia said to him and he kneeled beside her
"Oh? And why is that?" Excalibur asked her, without looking at him she answered
"We did not go through with the ceremony, thus you cannot call me your fiancee." Valencia said to him, Excalibur took hold of her hand.
"That's why I came here." Excalibur said to her and she yanked her hands free
"There is no way I will finish that ceremony with you." Valencia said to him and got up from the ground
"Stella. Summer. I am heading back to my room." Valencia said as she set down her tools and stormed off, Excalibur surely followed behind her closely.
"Why not?!" Excalibur asked her
"Do you not remember what you said to me?!" Valencia asked him
"What did I say that could've upset you so much?!" Excalibur asked her as he tried to catch up to her but she didn't slow down.
"Did you really forget?" Valencia asked him and he pulled on her hand
"I did! So tell me, what did I say that upset you so much?!" Excalibur asked her and with tears in her eye she looked him in the eyes
"You said that marrying me was a sacrifice! You made it clear that no one would want to marry me!" Valencia shouted at him. She yanked her hands free, and ran into her room, locking the door behind her.
Excalibur doesn't remember if he said that or not but it was not the first time that he has come to regret the things that he said to her while he was trying to hide his feelings from her if he did say that to her then it would explain why she ran away. Excalibur knew that from what he had said, it was uncalled for and he knew how much it could've hurt her feelings.
There was nothing more that he could do since it was already said and done, the only thing left to do is try to make it up to her. Excalibur was not about to just let this break their engagement since he was the one who wanted this from the beginning.
That Evening after thinking it through, Excalibur thought that it was a better idea to go talk to her parents and rushed it from their end.