Chapter 4: True Feelings
The two continued on along the creek, and then, at long last, they left the woods and could finally see the village. The village was but a small place, with houses spare and apart and most of the land had been used for farming, the water flowing down from the creek perfect for watering the crops.
The Princess and the Keeper walked down the dirt path, in between two fields of crops, as they headed towards the largest house in the village. It was harvesting season, and they could see the farmers hard at work with sickles in hand, only stopping when the Princess and Keeper passed them by, watching them as they went.
Outwardly, the Princess was relaxed, but on the inside, she was alert, for she knew that any of these farmers may be assassins stationed here by her brother, that at any moment, sickle may come for her head instead of the crops. Fortunately, that did not happen, and they were able to pass peacefully.
Soon, they arrived before the largest house they could spot. The Princess went ahead and knocked on the door, to which a woman came and answered.
"Pardon, but we are seeking the headman of this village." said the Princess.
The woman told them to wait and went back inside. After a brief wait, she emerged again, inviting them inside.
"Princess, how long has it been?"
Waiting them inside was an old man, the hair on his head white and thinning, but his body remained strong.
"Almost a year, headman, it's good to see that you are well."
They knew each other, the Princess and the Headman, as the Princess do the many headmen and mayors and lords across the kingdom, for the Princess would occasionally make her rounds about the kingdom, visiting various villages and towns. "Our kingdom is small, but due to that, I am able to know everyone better." she would say.
To the headman, she requested aid, clothes to change into and food for their travel, to which the headman happily provided, liking this princess very much, and as the harvest would soon be done and a festival would be held in this small village to celebrate, he invited the Princess and the Keeper to stay with them for a few days.
"I am sorry," she said regrettably, "but we are in a hurry."
"You'll collapse at this rate. Why not rest while you can?" To the Princess' surprise, this came from the Keeper, who had kept to himself for most of the time and never found any need to advise her in much of anything.
The headman of course, agreed with the Keeper, and he also mentioned that the Princess looked haggard and restless and that she'll likely do more harm than good if she pushed herself too far.
Reluctantly, the Princess agreed and decided to stay for a little while.
For three days she stayed, resting and enjoying the festivity, and during those three days, the Keeper wondered about without a care, though he never left even though he could very well do so.
"How did it end up this way?" she asked him on one of those nights.
"Are you asking about your brother, or about me?" the Keeper asked her back.
"Both... I loved my brother very much, uncle, as does my father loved you. How is it that both of you can bear so much hatred towards us?"
"Because we are different, yes, there is a huge difference between us, both in abilities and as people. What you may think to be love in your heart can easily be perceived differently in our eyes. Your kindness can easily be seen as condescension, your generosities seemed to be boastings, and your friendliness made you seem pretentious."
"Isn't that just a twisted vision born from your loathing!?" The Princess was rightly mad now, she was not happy to hear that her own kind intentions could be twisted to seem so malignant. "How could you become so blinded by hatred?"
"Blind? Hardly. My eyes worked about as well as anyone else's, your brother's as well, and of course, yours too."
"Mine...?"
"Yes. For you see, I never actually liked you. I never got angry with you because I couldn't be bothered. When you learned history from me, I instructed you to the best of my abilities only because it was a task handed to me and I refused to do a less than perfect job, and if that meant I would be rid of you sooner, then all the better. And of course, there are the times you would come to my, crying and complaining about all sorts of trivial things. How difficult it had been to tune you out, how very patient I had to be to not scream at you to leave me be. It had always been a torment, being by your side."
She was shocked, shocked at the sudden revelation, and she even questioned if she had heard him correctly for a moment, but from his cold gaze, she felt that it was undeniably true, and her heart began to fracture.
"But... why haven't you said anything?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Why? Because you are the beloved daughter of the most beloved king there is, because everyone loves you just as they did your father. It would have been unwise for me to let my tongue lash." He explained it all with a matter-of-factly tone, as if unaffected by it all, and his coldness dealt the final crack that finally crumbled her heart.
Her legs are trembling now, and she could hardly breathe. Her father had died when she was young, and her mother died some years later. The only family members left now are her brother and her uncle, both very dear to her, and now she knows, that both despised her. Warm tears poured out of her eyes as the realization sank in, and all of her begins to feel numb. She does not remember much of what happened afterwards, only that for some reason the Keeper stuck with her throughout.
By the end of the third day, the Princess and the Keeper set off once more. She had calmed down from the other night, though she and the Keeper had not shared a word since.
"Why do you follow me, uncle?" she said finally after a short while of traveling.
"Who know? Perhaps I seek to torment you."
"Are you jesting? Because I am not amused."
"Well, in the end it hardly matters. Besides, you still require my knowledge, do you not?"
"I thought there was nothing in the Book for me?"
"That is correct, but I can lend you my knowledge in its stead."
The Princess remained silent for a bit. If she could, she would liked to be left alone, however, the knowledge the Keeper possessed, the one who had studied the Book of Knowledge for perhaps as long as he had been locked in that dungeon, it is something she could not easily deny.
"To the west there is a town," she said after making her decision, "I know the lord personally, so we can expect his aid against my brother."
"You will war with you brother then?"
"I hope not, I sincerely hope not, but if he insists on this foolishness, then-"
"Why not just leave it all behind?" the Keeper cuts her off.
"What?"
"I remember that you used to hate the idea of having to rule and would much rather be free. Well now you have someone eager to do it all, so why not just go?"
For a moment, for but a moment, the Princess was tempted.
"I... I cannot. Mother, the late queen, wishes for me to rule, and I will honor that wish."
"So you do not believe your brother can rule then, neither his sister nor his mother believed in him."
"That's-"
"There's no use sugar coating it. That's what it is. Perhaps your mother had seen the jealousy and hatred within him, and perhaps in him she saw a reflection of me and what had happened in the past, and so she decided that he is not to hold power. Though perhaps your mother was right all along, or perhaps being seen in such a light drove him to this point the first place."
"So which is which?"
"Pardon?"
"Was my mother right or did she drove him to it?"
"Does it matter? It won't change what has happened, or what will happen."
"It seems you really are here to torment me, aren't you?" She turned away from him, already beginning to walk away, weary of talking to this man.
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