Kapitel 45: Chapter 45: Jeremiah Dominique (Part 2)
Jeremiah
She's the runaway Princess of Titania.
Runaway Princess?
Princess of Titania?
No wonder I always thought that she did not belong in our world. She had the face of a commoner but the mannerisms of a princess. It all made sense.
I will admit. There were times when I thought she was different. However, for a guy in love, his girl was always different from the rest. She would stand out in a crowd.
But she was different - and it's not my feelings talking, I can assure you that. After she was taken by those guards, I just stood there, frozen, unable to digest the fact. As long as I thought about it, it was easy to convince myself that it's just in my head. Now that it was out in the air...
...It was true.
I couldn't lie to myself even if I wanted to. There were whispers all around me, gossiping about what happened and who I was and what connection I had with Cha- I mean, the Princess. I didn't know what to feel anymore so I quietly made my exit.
___
"Jerry...? You okay in there?" I heard Trini from the other side of the door. What should I answer her? Yeah, I'm cool! Of course, I am! I just found out that the girl I was in love with wasn't the girl I thought she was!
"Jerry...?" She inquired again, concerned.
"I'm fine, Trin. Go help mom or something. Leave me alone."
"Something's wrong, Jerry. You're not yourself right now. Talk to me,"
Sometimes I hated it that she had strong intuitions. She could sense changes in a person faster than anyone else. Even at the young age of seven, she was mature than most kids her age.
I may have mentioned this before.
"Trin, trust me on this one, okay? I need to sort things out before I talk to you. Can you wait till then?"
I heard her sigh. "Alright, but don't just keep things to yourself. Talk to me when you're ready."
I let out a strained chuckle. "You got it,"
After a few minutes, I just slumped on my bed and stared at the empty ceiling. I didn't know what to think anymore. Now that I did know for sure that she was the Princess and not Charlie, I wondered for a moment,
Was everything she told me was true?
The 'thing' that we had - was it real?
Was any of it real?
I did not wanna blindly accuse her of being someone she wasn't. Or even, blame her that all she said was a lie. My mind and heart were in a constant tug of war. Where the mind yelled that she was nothing but a liar and she played with my feelings, my heart did not wanna believe it.
No, I'm sure there was more to it.
Does it matter who she is?
All I knew was that I fell in love with the person she was, not for her title. Heck, I didn't even know she was a Princess until now!
For me, she was just Charlie.
My Charlie.
___
After contemplating for quite a while, I still couldn't reach a decision. What should I do? What if what I thought was wrong? What if - all that the Princess showed and said was a lie? But what if...all of it were true? It was crazy how I couldn't blindly accuse her, it would've been a lot easier if I could just do it. But I wasn't that kind of a person. Char- I mean, I was sure that the Princess did lie about her identity, her face said it all. She was guilty for lying about that fact - but other than that? My heart wasn't ready to believe that all those times that we shared, it was all a facade. No one, on this planet, could act so perfectly. Not even the best actors!
The probability that the Princess did not lie about "anything other than her name" was more than "her lying entirely about everything". Of course, I didn't know the real Charlie myself, so it was hard for me to tell if she was lying about herself.
Wow, look at me!
From a simple artist to a detective!
Think, Jeremiah, think.
What could've happened?
Why did she lie?
What must've had to have ha-
"Jerry..?" I heard my mom knock on the door. "You have a visitor,"
Visitor?
Now?
"I'm coming!"
---
"You?"
"I assume, you must be Mr Dominique,"
I deadpanned. "That's my dad, you can call me Jeremiah,"
"You both know each other?" Steve asked, curious.
"Since when do you have connections with the Titanian Royalty?" Kyle inquired.
Since the day I officially met the Princess.
Of course, I couldn't tell them that.
Not yet.
Mom, Steve, and Kyle sat there confused while The Royal Guard sipped his tea. We had this house rule that we should always be serving our guests with some kind of food - even just water was fine enough. No matter who stepped into this home.
"Why are you here?" I asked him, taking a seat on the single couch.
"Could we speak in private? 'Tis confidential matters,"
"I'm sure we can talk here, it's just family,"
He shrugged, keeping down the cup. All this while, he had a straight face, not a single emotion flashed in his eyes. That was probably because he was always been trained to keep a straight face, being a guard and all that. However, that was the least of my concerns.
If he was here, he didn't come on his own to explain things.
Charlie- I mean, The princess might've sent him to clear things up. I'm sure she realized that I had a lot of questions that needed answering.
Damn it!
Why did I keep doing that?!
But...why didn't she come to clear things up on her own?
"If you insist," He spoke, "She asked me to tell you that everything she said was not a lie,"
"What lie? What are you talking about?" Mom inquired, panicked "Jerry, what is he talking about?!"
"Mom, calm down...relax!" I quickly looked at Steve and nodded. He dashed into mom's room and brought her inhaler - just in case. I may have forgotten to mention that mom was prone to panic attacks, so we always tried to keep her away from stress as much as we could.
"I'll explain everything to you, once I have everything sorted - I promise,"
Mom gave me a stern look. "You better, young man,"
"Steve, do me a favour and take her inside,"
"On it,"
"But I wanna stay here and listen to the whole conversation!" Mom whined.
I patted her shoulder. "It's okay, I'll give you the details. You need to give yourself a rest now, you might have a panic attack,"
"But-" She tried to argue but I cut her off.
"Details. Promise. Now go,"
She huffed. "Fine, but if I don't get my details...."
"I don't wanna walk down that road,"
With that, she was escorted to her room. Now it was just Kyle, Trini, the guard, and I.
"Sorry for this," I apologized and took a seat again. "What were you saying?"
"She asked me to tell you that everything she said was not a lie," the Guard repeated himself.
"Why isn't she here to tell me this, herself?"
"She is a princess, she is not allowed to go outside the castle walls," he answered.
I raised my eyebrow.
"Then how come she was here for almost a year, without getting caught?"
He was caught off guard with that question. I could see it in his face -he was wondering whether to tell me or not.
After a while, he spoke sternly. "I cannot tell you that, 'tis going beyond my orders,"
He abruptly stood up, "I shall take my leave,"
No, no, no, no, no. Hell no! This was my only shot at knowing what truly happened and why was the princess not here? Now I was sure that there was more to this than met the eye. I needed to know that. I was dying to know that!
"Wait!" I called. "I need to know the whole story,"
" 'Tis not my place to tell you this,"
He turned the knob.
"I am in love with the Princess," I announced. This earned me shocked glances from both Kyle and Trini. Of course, they expected me to tell Charlie's name - or well, not say anything of that sort now, so it was understandable. Surprisingly, my little trick worked. This made the guard stop.
"Why are you claiming to be in love with the Princess? Are you aware of the consequences that come with it?" He turned to face me.
"From the second I laid eyes on her," I said with a look of determination. "I know, I might sound cheesy, but I'll do anything if that meant she gets to be safe. I can slay dragons and fight the bad guys and travel distances just to see her safe. If that isn't love, I don't know what is. And if these aren't the words of someone who knew what they were getting into, I don't know what else would convince you."
"Wow, man. You sure are cheesy as hell!" Kyle commented.
I could hear Trini smack him. "Shut up, you moron! Don't you see there is a thing going on here?!"
"Language, Trini," I turned back just to give her the look and then focused back on the thing at hand. Just a while ago, I was confused and didn't know what to do. I wasn't even quite sure about the feelings I had for 'the apparent Charlie', but I was sure now.
I was in love with her.
Not with Charlie.
But with the Princess.
Don't get me wrong; I wasn't a gold digger who quickly realized he was in love as soon as he found out the girl was the Princess.
No.
Even if she wasn't, I would still love her - now and forever.
To infinity and beyond.
I wasn't in love with the face, or the name - I was in love with the beautiful soul that wore that skin.
He sighed. His stern demeanour was finally breaking.
"Fine, if you insist so much. I must tell you - you are persistent, lad. No one would care so much for the Princess. Not even she herself,"
"That's exactly what being in love means, doesn't it?" I smirked. I may have been looking composed - but believe me, I wasn't the least bit composed in my mind. I was dancing my victory dance!
He returned to his former seat. "Okay, I shall tell you everything I know,"
He took a deep breath.
"Princess Francine Maxwell is the heiress of the King of Titania. Ever since she was a young lass, she was taught to be like the other Princesses - the etiquettes and mannerisms of a true Princess, while her brother - Prince Samuel Maxwell was trained to take over the throne. The King was very close to his kids when they were young, however, after the death of the Queen, he started to distance himself from them. The death of the Queen played a toll on his mental health and he became cold-hearted. He barely was in a good mood - most of the time, he had a poker face."
"However, as soon as the Prince and the Princess turned 17 and 15 respectively, Prince Samuel turned down the throne. He wanted to live a life full of adventure. The King agreed and the burden of the throne fell on the young Princess's shoulder. Princess Francine was exactly like her brother - a wild child with a sense of adventure. Although she grew up accepting the fact that she was to be the next in line -she wanted to break free from the shackles that held her bound to the kingdom's walls. Prince Samuel was always the ingenious young lad of the family - a playboy with a heart of gold. 'Twas his plan to help his sister get out of the palace walls and bring in her doppelganger - Charlie Robinson,"
"You seem to be close to the royal family," I commented when he paused for a while to drink up the water.
"I have been there ever since the Royal children were born - in fact, 'twas I, who taught them how to fight,"
Wow. I was genuinely impressed with the Princess's backstory. Now I saw her in a whole different light. She was soft yet fierce. A deadly combination, if you ask me.
"So the siblings were close?"
"Very," he smiled for the first time. "They were inseparable back then and still now. In an age where siblings slaughter each other for the throne - they love each other to death. One would always sacrifice for the other. 'Tis what made them so special,"
I wondered for a split second. "So...now that the Princess has been taken in, what will happen?"
"She shall get executed along with those who helped her,"
What?!
Are you kidding me?!
"What?! Why would she be executed? She just wanted to live her life! That's no crime!" I sprang to my feet, yelling at him although, I knew it was pointless.
" 'Tis how the law of Titania is. Whoever shall help the Princess escape shall be executed and if there was the Princess's will then she shall be executed as well,"
"That's crazy! The King's okay with killing his own blood?! She's his daughter for the love of gods!"
"He is the King before he is her father. His loyalty towards his subjects come first before his daughter,"
"That man is nothing but CRAZY!" I yelled again, but this time, Trini pulled me down to my seat. Ignoring her, I continued. "What about you? Why aren't you doing anything to stop this?! You knew her since she was a child - you know what she did wasn't wrong right? Or are you supporting the King?!"
He chuckled. Was he serious? How could he chuckle at a moment like this! I swear the Royalty are crazy!
"You sound exactly like the Princess when she was taken in. And to answer your question - no, I am not supporting the King. I am helping the Princess from not getting executed. Moreover, there is a lot more to the story than what meets the eye. But I guess, this shall satisfy your curiosity for now,"
"What do you mean by there's more? Why can't you just tell me the whole thing?"
He sighed. "As I said, 'tis going beyond my orders."
I snapped. "You already went beyond your orders. I can see you care about the Princess and so do I. So tell me the whole thing so that I can help,"
He laughed. "Ha! There is nothing you can do, lad. Let the Princess fight her own battle. This is the Royal family we are talking about,"
"Guard, just let me help - she needs me,"
"Phobias. And no, she is doing just fine. You will prove nothing but a distraction towards her goal. You do not know anything about the Royal family and its politics. So 'tis best if you stay away from it,"
"He's right," Kyle spoke after a long time. "We don't know anything about the Royal family, so it's not in our hands to do anything,"
"Trin...?" I pleaded. I just wanted someone to support me. I know what I was thinking was crazy. But the Princess shall get executed for something that wasn't a crime in the first place! That's not right! And I couldn't sit back and watch the show.
Trini looked at me with determination and then turned to Phobias. "Listen here, mister. If you don't help my brother save the love of his life, I shall make sure you don't get to live another day. And I'm dead serious about this - even if I'm just seven, I have seen crime shows and am fully capable of disposing of a body. Right, Kyle?"
Kyle didn't speak.
She smacked his arm, repeating herself while emphasizing the whole thing with gritted teeth. "Right, Kyle?"
"Yeah. Yeah. What she said,"
If this wasn't any serious, I would've laughed heartily at Kyle's expression and choice of words. But this was serious.
So no laughing.
Phobias sighed. "I am not the least bit scared by the empty threat,"
Uh-oh.
Sorry, Trini.
He continued. "However, I do not think that just because I told you to stay away from this, you shall stay away. You might end up doing things and endanger the Princess even more,"
Okay, you might be right about that.
"So, I shall help you in your mission to help the Princess, however, there are ground rules,"
I couldn't express how giddy I was just to hear that very statement! But I kept myself composed.
"Go ahead with it,"
"Firstly, this whole conversation never happened. If the Princess asks me about having this meeting with you- I shall deny it straight away saying that your family didn't let me through. This is to keep the Princess focused on the mission,"
"What would you have said if my family actually didn't let you in?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I would stick to my story, regardless,"
He continued, "Secondly, I do not have much access to money so I would not be able to sponsor your trip. You have to bear your own expenses. However, as soon as you step into the castle - I shall guarantee that you shall be well hidden in the servant quarters in the guise of a servant,"
"Okay...agreed,"
"Finally, you shall not do anything on your own until you are given orders. In short, do not do anything stupid. 'Tis no fairytale there, 'tis the reality and one wrong move shall be enough to get the Princess executed,"
I nodded. If I were to save the Princess I had to follow the rules or else, I might end up losing her forever. No. I didn't want that.
"Good then," He spoke, rising up. "I shall see you in Titania, Jeremiah Dominique,"
I stood up quickly. "Wait, you haven't told me the whole thing yet!"
He was already at the door.
"You know enough,"
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein