Chapter 18: You Are My Happiness
"Young Lord, the lady is looking for you. She brought milk and cookies!" the maid lured, when finally the child looked away from the so-called father and walked out of the room with a silent face.
"I will prove to you that I am not your son." He muttered as he clenched his hands into a fist.
As soon as Alec walked out of the room, Cassian's face crumbled and he fell to the ground.
He pressed the bell with full force as Kevin with two knights and two maids entered the room.
"Prepare the carriage, we are leaving for Lithium."
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Early in the morning, Mary stopped in front of the gazebo in the garden and looked around confused.
"Where is Your Highness?" She was sure that this was the place where he had his breakfast at this time. She specifically requested Alec to accompany him so that she could develop some intimacy between them.
"His Highness is not in the palace. He left for urgent work." Mary sighed. She was trying so hard to bring Alec closer to Cassian but he was not paying attention.
She could understand that he had been fooled by others. But even the blind person could see that Alec was his child.
"And let me guess, you have no idea where Cassian is!" The maid shook her head instantly.
"How was I supposed to know that?"
Alec looked at the disappointed face of the woman and felt a heaviness in his chest.
"My lady, are you here only to see Your Highness?" His voice was so low but Mary heard it clearly and paused. She looked at the dim face of the child and felt guilty.
"No! I am happy he is not here." Alec blinked and then looked at her in confusion.
"I was planning to have a meal with you in the garden and play near the lake. It would have been difficult to spend time if Cassian would have been here. But now that he is not, we can spend a good time together." The dim face of the child brightened instantly.
"Do you mean we are planning to have a picnic here?" she nodded her head even when he asked the same question three times.
His face bloomed and he flushed, "Then, will you play hide and seek with me?" Her heart melted at his innocence.
She kneeled down on the ground and touched his face.
"Not only would we play hide and seek but we play all kinds of games until you are tired and sleepy." She chuckled when he smiled bashfully.
When Mary looked at the maid, the maid smiled as she said, "I will arrange things accordingly." and left the garden.
"So what do you want to start with?" Shall we pluck the flowers and make a crown for each other?" the boy nodded with a smile and both of them ran to pluck the flowers.
First, the child hesitated as he remembered the harsh words of the maid yesterday. But she assured him as she plucked the flowers first and he joined.
The boy laughed as she taught him how to join the flowers using petals and small branches.
"Here, which color would you like? Yellow or red?" she asked as she looked at the flowers with confusion. The boy looked at the flowers in her hands and did not know why his heart felt heavy.
He wanted to tell her that he did not care which color it was! But when she smiled at him and touched his cheeks, he pointed to red.
"Alright, red it is!" She nodded and made a crown for him. Once it was arranged, she placed it on his head and looked closely.
"You look like King Alec." She clapped her hands with joy. "Soon you will have a real crown on your head when your father accepts you."
He paused and stared at her, opening his mouth and then closing it but his face dimmed.
"What happened, Alec? Did you not like the crown?" she asked with her furrowed brows when he paused and stared at her.
"Umm, my lady.. What if I was not chosen as the son of the Duke?" he could not hold it in anymore as his voice fell when she paused.
"Honey, why would that happen? Your father is confused but let me assure you, you are his son. Your mother died giving birth to you and your father has been looking for you since then. He loves you a lot. You will be the prince of this land with a lot of power, respect, and love." But the more she assured him, the more his heart fell. He did not want to be the prince, he did not want to be the Duke. All he wanted was to live a simple life with her.
"But.. I did not want to be the Duke or the prince. Can we not play like this and live a simple life? I promise that I will work hard and earn well so that we do not have to worry about deficiency.."
"....."
"You do not want to stay with me?" He must have known. He could not provide the money and comfort that the palace could.
"Of course, I would. For me, you are more important than this wealth and palace. If Alec wants, we would leave this place and live a peaceful life
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone