'I know I made a promise to Will that I won't tell anyone what truly happened that fateful dawn,' Simon told to himself, 'but it won't do me good to be too proud of something I didn't actually do myself.'
"Long live his highness, prince Simon!"
The people around him sang together with the performers his father had hired to entertain them.
"You are so great, brother!"
Even the rest of his siblings noticed him for the first time.
"This son of mine reminds me of my youth the most!" proclaimed his father who hardly ever spoke to him.
"Tell us, Prince Simon!" they begged him. "Tell us how you killed the behemoth!"
So Simon placed his untouched cup of wine on the dining table, and stood timidly to faced the crowd who stared at him wide-eyed.
"I-it was as if I was in the very pits of hell itself!" he told them in a small, shaky voice that his audience had to strain their ears to hear. "My brothers at arms were falling, one after the other... the behemoth's fiery breath, scorching the Dark forest and leaving only ashes on its path..."
"Where were you then?" Juno asked him mockingly. "What were you doing as your companions fell one after the other?"
"I was at the back, straining from a broken leg from the behemoth's first attack..."
Simon stared blankly before him as the scene from the carnage passed before his eyes.
"The two knights my brothers sent with me tried to help me... one of them brought me back to my tent, while the other stayed behind to ensure that the traps we set were armed properly to keep the monster from advancing, but the behemoth was too big for the traps, and too strong for our army... there were only 500 of us, after all..."
"Five hundred?" his father, the king asked him.
"Didn't I sent two thousand men for this quest?"
"That's right, father," Juno answered quickly, "I decided to divide our men into groups and sent them to different locations to make sure that the behemoth would be stopped, no matter what path it would take."
"What a brilliant plan, Prince Juno!" supporters of the first prince cooed. "He truly is a great tactician!"
"Tell us what happened next, Simon?" the rest of the audience asked.
"W-we were about to reach my tent, when the behemoth attacked once more, swiping the ground with it's tail... it was as long as the road from the main gates to the royal palace... M-my faithful knight was able to push me away, but... but he was swept by that accursed tail instead and was killed in an instant..."
Simon fell silent for a while, tears streaming down his cheeks.
The whole dining hall fell silent as well.
"I tried to run then..." he continued. "I knew that I had no chance against it. All I could think of was to warn the rest about the behemoth approaching. But I was backed up against the foot of a steep cliff, and had nowhere else to go.
It was then that I decided to face the behemoth head on... though I knew I had no chance of winning..."
"Then, what did you do?" asked one of his younger siblings, their eyes wide with anticipation.
"I raised my blade then and pointed it at the behemoth," he continued. "He stared back at me, taunting me, for it knew that there was nothing more a mere worm like me could do, until..."
Simon paused once again.
"Until what?" asked the king, dying of anticipation with the rest of the guests in the banquet.
"Until... I suddenly felt a burning sensation beneath my chest..."
Simon continued with Will's story.
"I-I felt a sharp, burning pain from within my solar plexus... it felt like my body was breaking from the inside out... as if I was going to explode... A-and I just wanted to scream and push it out of my body, so I screamed with all my might and I hurled all that feeling out and towards the monstrous behemoth that towered above me."
He looked shyly at the people listening attentively at him.
"I-I have no idea what happened or how I did what I did... I just looked up after the explosion, and the behemoth was no more."
"Oh! What an amazing feat indeed!" his audience exclaimed.
"It was an awakening after all!" the others said with a nod.
"Then, brother Simon," Largos pipped in. "Can you show us a demonstration of your newly found power?" he asked with a big grin on his face.
Simon turned to look at him, his face burning.
"I-I'm afraid I am in no condition to do something of the sort right now," said he. "I'm still recuperating, and the long travel has made me weary... and frankly, I'm not sure if I can do it again," he said truthfully.
"Is that so?" Prince Juno asked him flatly.
"Yes, brothers," Simon replied. "I'm afraid I'm not sure when this mysterious power of mine will come back again, or if it will ever come back at all."
Later that evening, Simon was about retire to the dormitory where the rest of the princes lived, but Prince Juno intercepted him and led him towards his own dwellings.
"From now on, you will be given a residence of your own," said his brother. "Since they are still preparing a palace for you, you shall stay here for now, as my esteemed guest."
"T-thank you, brother Juno..." Simon answered, still unfamiliar with the special treatment. "P-please lead the way."
They were about to leave the main palace, when someone pulled Simon's sleeve from behind.
He looked back and saw the healer, Nell, behind him who gave him a curt bow.
"Oh, Nell! There you are!" he called happily, glad to see his new friend. "Did you have a good time in the banquet? Did you watch the performances?"
Nell gently shook his head.
"I'm afraid that only nobles were allowed to enter the royal dining hall," his brother Juno told him. "Your healer was sent to the kitchen to eat with the rest of the aids."
"I-is that so?" Simon frowned at his brother. "But Nell is my friend, and should be treated as an honorable guest. He's the one who has been healing me, after all."
"Be that as it may, he is merely an aid who has not even been ordained as a priest yet," Juno insisted. "You, as a member of the Krems royal family, should behave as one and not associate yourself too much with lowly peasants."
"But..."
Simon was about to argue with his brother some more, but Nell gently touched his shoulder and shook his head.
"See?" Juno said with a snort, "even your aid knows his place."
"I-I guess you're right then..." said Simon. "let's just go to my brother's palace to rest for the night," he told Nell.
"The healer will get a room of his own together with the rest of the servants," Juno told them coldly.
"A room with the servants?" Simon frowned at his brother once more. "But Nell is my personal healer! He should have a room next to mine!" he protested.
"I'm afraid I don't have an extra room for him," Juno said coldly. "But if you insist, he can stay in the servants' quarters in my palace instead."
"He can just stay in my room with me..."
"A lowly healer in the same room as royalty?" Juno snorted and raised an eyebrow at his younger brother.
Simon felt his face burn more than the alcohol he tasted earlier.
'I guess I should start behaving like a proper royal now...' he thought to himself.
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CHOICES:
[I should do what a proper royal should do.] – go to Part 22
[I still wish for Nell to stay by my side.] – go to Part 23
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