章 7: Chapter 3-2

Author's note : Still in Tristan's POV

__________________________________________

According to what I heard from the maids and butlers, the Second Prince tried to imitate the guards and fell off the tree. So he was badly injured on his leg and was not able to gain his consciousness back. Three more days passed, and finally the Prince woke up. But because of his injured, he was advised not to stand or walk on his own. At that time, I felt that this Prince was very unfortunate, even though he was born in a Royal Family. First, he was almost kidnapped by some unknown men and the guards wouldn't notice until I made a commotion about that, secondly, the King and the Queen had seldom shown their loves towards him. And finally his legs were badly injured, that was equal to ' the Second Prince was not protected by anyone at the moment he fell off the tree '. The only people who were closed to him were his nanny, maids and butlers. He didn't have any personal guards to protect him, usually a royalty must have at least 1 guards standing next to them to protect them. But there weren't anyone like that who were beside the Second Prince. ' How badly was this kid be treated by his parents ? ' I thought. If I was able to, I would've bring this kid back to my family in the countryside, even if my family was poor, we could more or less afford his basic livings and showed him our loves. Actually at the moment I was thinking of that, I had not seen the Prince's face.

One more week passed, time flies very fast. The Prince was said to walk on his own again, but only for a short distance. He tried to go outside once, and was caught red-handed by one of the guards. The Queen knew about it, and assigned me and one other guard to make sure he would not go out again. I was quite nervous on the first day of my new task. I was wondering how was the Prince look like, he would be either have silvery-golden hair like the Queen or the jet-black hair like the King, I was curious. While I was spacing out thinking about the Prince's appearance, someone's voice pulled me back to the reality.

" Hello... May I ask what are you doing here ? " A little kid with shoulder-length jet black hair with crimson irises which shined like gemstones was looking at me, expressionlessly. I first wondered what was a kid doing here, but I soon realised that that was the Second Prince since his face share some similar traits with the King. Except for the crimson pupils that he inherited from the Queen and the long hair, the Second Prince totally looked like the younger version of the King. I was quite shocked, it is common that children can look somewhat the same as their parents, but the Second Prince was different, he and the King had completely the same face, and they are both handsome of course. I was so shocked that I forgot about the Prince's question. I intended to asked the Prince to repeat his question, but he wasn't there anymore. Maybe it was because he got bored since I took to long to answer his question. After that day when I first saw the Prince, I realised that there were less and lesser maids and butlers in the Ruby Palace. I was curious, why were they all gone. The Prince sill had not noticed about it at that time, since his nanny was usually the one who took care of him was still there. But finally, that nanny received an order from the Head Maid of the whole Castle that she would be transfer to the First Prince's Palace. Before going off, she entrusted the Second Prince, Francis to me and the other guard, Shawn. She also said that there would be high chances that there might be no one to deliver food to the Prince, so if possible, she asked us to bring the Prince to the guards' dinning room to eat. It was then I could confirmed that the Prince was treated unfairly by his family. What were the King and the Queen thinking ? The Second Prince is still their child he might not be such a capable kid like the First Prince, but still, to treat the Second Prince as some unknown existence like that is unforgivable. I wonder what would the Second Prince think about this ? He might have a mental breakdown in the worst scenario.... Shawn couldn't hide his anger and frustration towards the King and the Queen for being so ignorant. But of course he wasn't able to confront them, as he would be condemned as ' insulting the Royalties '. Since Shawn and I are the only guards who are legally able to step inside this Palace, we were also the only guards who knew about this matter.

Up until yesterday, there were still some people bring the food to the Prince, but yesterday was unexceptional, there were literally no one who bring the Prince's dinner here. I had a feeling that what the nanny predicted was true, that there would be no one bothered to bring the Prince's meals everyday. At nine o'clock, it was the time that me and Shawn switch the shift with each other, and the food was not delivered yet. I talked to Shawn about this, he seemed to be extremely upset with those people. We agreed that there were no other choices other than to bring the Prince to the guards' dinning room. We also lied to the Prince that ' because someone said he doesn't need dinner, so there was no dinner delivered to him '. It was bad to lie to a four-year-old kid, but since we had no choice. I surprised that the Prince didn't against that idea, since he is a royalty, he might not approve having commoner's food, but he said he didn't mind eating that. Since his legs were still injured, I need to carry him to the dinning room. On the way there, he asked why did I not reply him when he first talked to me. What should I say ? 'Because I was shocked that you and the King look similar' ? No, that was impossible.

" It's because I was still doing my job to guard you, obviously. " The only valid reason that popped up on my mind. He didn't say anything after that, and it became silent again.

" Young Prince, we are here. " I showed him the dinning room, he didn't look surprised or anything, expressionless as ever.

Unexpectedly, we encountered my senior, I forgot his name. He was a little troublesome, he scolded me for bringing the Second Prince to this place and all, but if I didn't bring him here, our Second Prince would've starved to death.

" Sorry for making a fuss, but it was my choice to come here to eat anyway. I have not eaten anything since lunch, I want to eat now. " Finally, the Prince put this to a stop. Thank you so much Young Prince. I found a table for two in the corner of the dinning room, and put him down on the chair. Since he's a royalty, I expected he would complain about the chair being uncomfortable, but he was fine with that. I was surprised, again. But since the Prince was hungry I ran as fast as possible to take our food, I even beg the stall's auntie for the extra portion of chicken for the Prince, luckily, she agreed. After I said that I brought him an extra serving of chicken, he looked a little surprised and thanked me, more importantly, the Second Prince SMILED. It was only for a second, but I clearly saw it ! The expressionless kid like him showed some emotion at last. Since I finished my food quite fast, I unconsciously stared at the Prince. I wanted to see him smile again, but it still remained expressionless.

" Why are you staring at me like that ? " The Prince noticed, maybe he was uncomfortable since I stared at him so hard. I obviously could not say that I want to see him smile. So I lied to him again.

" Cuz it's weird. Usually, a royalties would have complained here and there when they eat our food. But you are not. " A perfect lie.

" Because I'm more mature than those people. " ..... It was an unexpected answer, but funny at the same time. I could not hold my laughter back. It is still funny even when I remember about it now. The Prince seemed embarrassed, he didn't show it on his face, but his ears were red like tomatoes. Who said that he is hundred percent expressionless ? He still can show his emotion though, it's just not that frequently. We talked more after that, I found out that the Prince is so humorous even at such young age. He told me many funny jokes although his face remained the same expression. But at the same time, I thought that this kid is so innocent and miserable. He is still living happily, but because he doesn't know that the King and Queen are abandoning him. From that moment, I wanted to protect this kid and vowed myself to him. I don't care if he committed any crime in the future, or start a rebellion, I don't mind, as long as he is happy, I will obey all of his orders. While I was thinking about that, we had reached his bedroom. He asked me to take his pyjamas, but I didn't know which of it were the pyjamas, so I took the simplest set of clothes for him. He didn't look dissatisfied, so I assumed that I took the right ones. He asked me to go out to give him some privacy. A short while later, I opened the door to check if he was okay, it seemed that he was sleeping soundly. Then I entrusted the job to Shawn and went back to the guards' dormitory.

Young Prince might not know that I had saved him before, but I don't think of telling him that, since he might think that he owed me once and I don't want him to have such thinking. And today, I started my job again and switched my shift with Shawn at nine o'clock. It was also the time for the doctor to come and check on the Prince's leg. He said that the Prince can start walking and running normally from next week. I was delighted to hear that, and also the Prince. The Prince then wanted to go around the garden, and of course, I carried him around it. This garden, called the Garden of Lavender, is huge, and from its name, I can clearly tell that this garden is full of Lavender. After a short while the Prince wanted to rest, and we cam into a hut in the middle of the Garden. And somehow, I end up in a small conversation with the Prince, but to be more exact, it seemed like he is looking for some advises from me. But I don't know how should I advise him though...