Chapter 9: In Good Terms
"If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing in the forrest that night?" I was seated in front of Prince Gregory. It was already noon and we are eating our lunch.
"It's none of your business." He replied bored. I liked him better when he was sickly and delirious. He was having more emotions then compared to now.
"Wow. Technically it's my business. I need to know the reason why I'm protecting you."
"I don't need you to protect me."
"Bwahahahahaha!" I bursted into laughter. He's freakin' hilarious! I only stopped laughing when I saw him in his usual pokerface. "I'm sorry, what was that again? I remembered
something about rescuing your ass a week ago."
"Tsss. Why would I even trust someone like you?" He replied distrustfully. Look at him. Look at him with his arrogance and lordliness. A week ago he was thanking me for saving his life with his flushed face, now he was transformed again into Prince Douchebag.
"Uhhm. From what I remember..." I faked cough. " I saved your life. Duh."
He squinted at me for a minute before deciding to respond. "Tsss. Open my drawer."
"Are you serious right now?" I asked, my eyes squinting too at his command. I'm not sure if this was one of his tactic to avoid the topic.
"That depends if you want to know the reason why I was attacked." He shot back.
"Fine." I surrendered. "What compartment?" I stood up in search for 'the secret'.
"That's my closet you peasant. I meant the drawer of my bedside table." Yup. Prince Douchebag is totally back in business.
"I'm sorry your highness, but if you would've told me that a while ago, then I should not be here looking in your closet." I emphasized his sobriquet. How dare he call me a peasant?
"It's not my fault you didn't ask. Any sane person knows the difference between a closet and a drawer." He declared.
"Wow. That's so stupid! Plato should kill himself." I opened his magic drawer only to find a key. "This is it? That's the secret?"
"For a person that's not a member of the commoners, It's not just an ordinary key. This key is one of our great invention. It's called the Royal Key." he paused for what I think is an attempt to gain a reaction from me. "All the locks in the palace needs their individual keys, but with this key, it can open anything!" he continued when I didn't seem to be impressed.
"Can it open your mind?"
"No. But it can open the torture chamber below." He retorted.
I inspected the key. It was no doubt made from gold designed with a crown on the handle. I'm more impressed on the locks which can be opened by two separate keys.
"Kidding aside, if they want the key, off all the places here, why the forest?"
"We were ambushed on our way back to the palace. I managed to slip out and use the hidden door from the wall but they soon followed me." He replied casually. It's like he didn't even care that someone died that night. His Royal Guard that was supposed to be his friend for that matter.
"You mean, there's a hidden door somewhere on the wall?"
"Yes. But a peasant like you shall not find it. Escaping from the palace entails a severe punishment to anyone who tries." He snatched the key back from my hand and secured it on his pocket.
"Why would I even try to steal that key just because I am sick of your aristocracy Your Highness?"
"Cause this key protects the only lock that can only be opened by the one who holds the Royal Key. Only the King, Queen and the Prince have it. A destitute like you who always attempt to steal in order to snitch some gold and money from the palace's treasury." How haughty of him to call me and accuse those things. If I would ever want to steal it, it would be to use it as a means to escape from his annoying face.
"Well thank you Your Highness for sharing me your secret. I can now kill you in your sleep and steal the royal key. Or fuck it, How about now?" I grabbed the pillow beside him and attempted to put it on his face but he was fast enough to grab both of my hands and pinned me down to his bed.
"I'm afraid your weak enough to do that." He whispered and grinned while trapping my body.
"Let me go you one of a darn prince!" I struggled to get out of his grip but he was too strong enough to not let me go. He was also on top of me while putting his weight on my legs to further tame me.
"Try me." His husky voice plus his face near me again started to wake the beast on my chest. My heart began to pound faster than usual. Fuck. I'm having this weird feelings again. Even if I don't want to admit it, I'm enjoying his warm body on top of me especially his hands on my pulse.
"Let me go silly. Gah!" Before I knew it, someone opened the door.
"It seems you're getting along well I suppose." Oh my god. I literally want to hide my face in embarrassment. The king witnessed us in that awkward position.
Greg withdrew his death grip and fixed his position.
"What brings you here father?" He asked.
"The ball will push through tonight. I hope your ready." I heard the king said. I wrapped myself with Greg's blanket. I'm too shy to face him.
"Sure." His son replied.
"That includes you too James."
"Yes, Your Majesty." I replied still hidden in the blanket. When I heard the door close, I instantly went out of my hiding and stood up.
"You fool! Aren't you ashamed your father witnessed us in that position?" I punched his arm but I think I'm the one who felt the pain. Note to self: Don't punch a hard biceps.
"So you mean it would be better if he saw you trying to suffocate me?"
"That's not the point! If you... If you..." My mind went blank. Shit. I can't think of any other reason except to stop this storm in my chest.
"If what?" He asked cunningly.
"Nothing." I replied.
"If you mean nothing, I suggest you to change for the ball" he commanded.
"Change for the what?"
"The ball. You heard the King."
"But why do I even need toâ"
"You are my Gardein. You shall be with me at all times, you knew that."
"Alright. Alright. It's a surprise you said that, coming from a man who said he doesn't need any help."
Again, he gave me the death glare. Shesh. He really can't take any joke. Before I could even melt from his stare, I went out of his room to prepare for this so called 'ball'. It was probably right to call it a ball cause they're probably balling each other.
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I'm so bored.
I'll probably die from boredom here. Right now. Pffft. Them aristocrats are enjoying their dance right now while I am here standing in the corner. My feet hurts from the hour of not doing anything except standing like a statue whole watching them dance. It was stated in the Gardein's Manual Article III section 5 (I'm not kidding. A manual was actually given to me) that I should not be involved in any dancing, conversation etc. in order to protect my ward.
Speaking of my ward, Prince Gregory is now on the dance floor dancing with some random woman. He's looking for his potential bride now that he's twenty-one. I actually read that in the fifth chapter of the book A brief history of Chesterheimr. Yes, they have given me a lot of reading assignment for the week.
If they should be pimping the prince then it would be better if they do it in an easy way and not in a time consuming way, like how they select the perfect bride for Prince Maxon on the other kingdom.
"Do you even get bored everytime they hold a party?" I approached Mattheo, who is standing not far away from me, to engage in a conversation. I'm totally bored. Truly, madly, deeply bored.
He didn't reply. It was probably because he didn't want to answer the question. Mattheo is now in its usual serious mode. He's so serious about his job.
"How many more of this party until the prince finds her bride? It's my first time to guard but I am dying of ennui here."
Mattheo finally turned to face me. Yay! I take that as an achievement.
"Well if you didn't swathe the prince with mashed potato, a day would be deducted from our schedule." He said.
"Pfff. Whatever. But we can eat from the buffet right?"
"Yes." He replied exasperatedly.
"Chill. Let's go and have a bite." I grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the food side.
"Whaaaat?" I asked him when he tried to struggle.
"I believe we have a job to do." There he goes again talking about his job.
"And I believe that we have the right to take a break. It's actually written in the manual plus there's a bunch of other guards in the perimeter." When he let down his guard down, I took the chance to drag him near the table.
"Oh my god this is heaven!" My mouth started to water when my eyes landed on the foods served for the visitors. On second thought, I think I can enjoy this ceremonial courtship.
I handed a plate to Mattheo which he reluctantly accepts.
"I know you're hungry." I said. Who wouldn't? After all that standing doing nothing, everyone would get hungry.
I piled my plate with some random delicious foods I can see from the table. Food is life. (Next to sleep of course)
"My goodness you should try this!" I exclaimed when I ate probably the best piece of bread I have ever tasted.
"What?" Mattheo asked dumbfounded from my sudden outburst.
"Here. Open your mouth." I offered him one of the little tiny cream puffs I just ate.
"Uhhhh.." He hesitated.
"Don't say: uhhhh, say: aaaah." Due to my stubbornness he obliged and I stuffed the food in his mouth.
"See? It's not that bad?" I can see in his face that he liked the bread I gave him.
"How romantic." Suddenly, prince Gregory was on our back smiling sarcastically. I didn't even notice.
"What?" I asked him for butting in.
"Excuse me but you're blocking the way." He said.
I squinted my eyes at him and parted ways with Mattheo to give way to the prince. He stepped forward and clicked his tongue while staring at me before filling his plate with food.