Fantastopia: The New Life (Part 1)

Chatting with a cool butler

I think I only sat at the bay window for like a minute when I suddenly heard a knock at the door that caught my attention.

“Your Highness?” a middle-aged man’s head poked in and spotted me as I got up from the bay window.

“She’s not here.” I told him “She should be back soon.”

“Oh,” the man remarked a bit surprised “I guess I’ll just leave these here then.”

He walked in carrying an armful of silver arrows that he dropped on her bed.

“Whoa,” my eyes widen “That’s uh- that’s a lot of arrows.”

“Well, when you’re an archer, you do tend to lose your arrows, that’s kind of the whole point of being an archer actually.”

“Oh, right.”

“You’re Jesse, right? Our chosen hero?”

“I guess so” I shrugged.

I still wasn’t completely comfortable being labeled as the chosen hero, it still felt really cliche to me.

“Well, I’m Castor” he held out his hand to me “I’m one of the butlers of the castle.”

“Oh,” I replied as we shook hands “I was wondering when I would meet a butler. I barely see any in this castle.”

“Well, we do move around a lot. It is what we do.”

“And what exactly do you do around here?”

“I work here” he answered simply.

“Um, I know that.” I responded with a small chuckle “But um, do you do a specific task or do all butlers do the same things?”

“It depends” he shrugged “Whatever needs to be done, we do it. Same thing with the maids. Oo, that reminds me.”

He reached into his pocket to pull out a miniature knife.

“The princess also wanted me to get this knife sharpened” he added as he tossed the small knife on the bed with the arrows.

“Well,” I breathed while staring at the sharp objects “She’s surely not like other princesses.”

“You’re right about that.” Castor chuckled “She’s just like her mother.”

“Did you know her mother?”

“Well, not personally. I’m not exactly close to the royal family, I don’t think any of us are. However, whenever Aria’s friends aren’t around, she sure loves to talk with us.”

“Really?” I smiled.

“She’s a social person. Plus, whenever she’s feeling down and none of her friends are there to comfort her, then we’re the ones to do so. In fact, one of her favorite subjects to talk about is love. She goes on and on about love, it’s actually quite nice. I heard she was talking about it yesterday with one of the maids.”

“Wait, seriously?” I raised an eyebrow “I thought she wasn’t interested in looking for love.”

“She told you that?” he responded a bit surprised “Well, that’s a bit of a lie. Aria wants to find love more than anything, you can say she’s a bit of a hopeless romantic. But I can see why she told you that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m guessing she didn’t tell you about what happened with her old love, huh?”

“Old love?” my face lit up “No, she did not. Can you tell me?”

“Well um, I don’t know if I should, but I feel like you should know. I’m pretty sure I won’t get into trouble if I told you, please sit.”

Now things were getting interesting as I sat back down on the bay window and waited to hear the story.

“A little over a year ago,” Castor began “Aria used to be engaged to this guy.”

Whoa. This was already getting exciting.

“She was crazy about him, I mean, a lot of the girls were crazy about him. He was handsome, strong, brave, he was basically Hercules. However, he wasn’t a very nice person. He and Aria had a lot of bad days, and yet she was still willing to marry him because she believed he could change to be a better person. But then one day, I think it was a month before they were supposed to get married, Aria realized she was wrong about him when he just suddenly left her. He didn’t leave a note, he didn’t tell anyone where he was going, he didn’t say goodbye to anyone. All he did was told one of the maids that he couldn’t go through with Aria, and then he just left.”

“Damn,” I gasped “He just walked away, just like that?”

“Yep,” he nodded “She never saw him again, and she never wants to.”

“Man,” I breathed in shock “What an asshole.”

“I know.”

How could someone do that to Aria? I may not have known her that long, but I at least know that she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. I don’t know what happened to her old fiance, but I sure hope he doesn’t come back.

“Though she seems to be over him now.” Castor put in “And I bet she’s learned her lesson about finding love too quickly and feeling desperate.”

“Is she still desperate about finding love? Considering that you said that she wants to find love more than anything.”

“To be honest, I think she still does. But I’m pretty sure she only feels like that because she’s a princess and that she should get married so that if anything were to happen to her, she would have someone fill her place to run the kingdom.”

“Oh yeah, she told me about that, mainly because she’s an only child.”

“Exactly.”

But, if she really is desperate to get married, that must mean she doesn’t know a lot about love. Heck, not even I know a lot about love. But all this talk about love has got me thinking. What if something bad does happen to her while she’s still a princess? Then who will take her place? I understand that she wants to get married so that someone could take her place in case something does happen to her, but does she still think about love as well?

“I know what you’re thinking.” Castor suddenly spoke “But I know that Aria wants to marry for love as well. She just needs to understand that love takes time. But it’s not always easy to find love, especially as a princess when you’re kind of feeling the pressure to get married, you know?”

“I get it.” I nodded “I mean, it’s not like anyone’s forcing her to get married, right?”

“No” he shook his head “She made it clear that she wants to find love on her own.”

“That’s uh- that’s good to know.”

As much as I understood that Aria wants to find love on her own, I can’t help but think if I could be that guy for her. I’m not saying that I want to marry her right now, but who knows what will happen in the future.

“If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking” Castor smirked, “Try not to rush things with her, okay?”

“Oh uh- I know” I promised with a slight chuckle “You’re right, love does take time. I mean, I don’t even know everything about love, I’ve never been in love before. I thought I was once, but that took a wrong turn so I understand it a bit more than before. But don’t worry, it’s not like I’m gonna ask her out right now. As beautiful as she is, I want to get to know her some more until I feel like I can really be myself around her.”

“Good” he smiled “That’s the kind of guy Aria needs, a gentleman who she can feel comfortable around with. And if you two do end up together, I will support you all the way.”

I let out a chuckle just as we heard footsteps as Aria entered the room.

“Oh, hello Castor” he greeted the butler.

“Your Highness.” he greeted back with a small bow “I was just dropping by your arrows and I was also having a nice talk with Jesse here.”

“Oh,” she remarked with a smile “What were you guys talking about?”

“Just- stuff” I offered. I didn’t think it was a good idea to let her know the truth, she might think were gossiping about her.

“Stuff huh?” she smirked, most likely to show her doubt.

“Well,” Castor spoke out loud “I should get going. It was nice meeting you, Jesse.”

“You too” I waved as he left the room and shut the doors.

“Okay,” Aria said as she sat next to me on the bay window “What were you two talking about?”

“We weren’t gossiping about you, I swear” I assured.

“Mmhm” she smirked again while crossing her arms.

“Okay,” I sighed giving up “We were talking about you, but I wouldn’t consider it gossiping cause I leave that to the girls.”

“And what exactly were you guys talking about that involved me?” she demanded, still smirking.

“Well um...” I hesitated, knowing that I can’t tell her everything. But I might as well tell her a piece of it “Castor kinda told me um- he told me what happened with you and your old fiance.”

“... I see” she dropped her arms.

“I don’t know if it was wrong for him to do that-”

“No, it’s okay” she ensured “I’m not mad at him. I was actually going to tell you about that someday, I just didn’t know when.”

“Oh.”

“But yeah,” she sighed “I was engaged to this really handsome guy named Colin who I was crazy about. But he turned out to be a big asshole who left me with a broken heart. But it’s okay now, I’m over it, he’s gone and I never want to see him again.”

“Well um, that’s good to know.”

“To be honest, I’m actually glad that happened. As painful as it was, it taught me a valuable lesson, and that’s to never rush into finding love.”

“That is a good point” I agreed.

“And to know when to call it quits, especially when you’re too blind by Colin’s handsomeness to realize what a big douche he was.”

“Um, that’s also a good point. I mean, looks can be deceiving.”

“I now realize that.” she sighed with a small smile “But once again, it’s all good now. When love wants to come to me, then it’ll come to be. Besides, I’m 23, so I still have time.”

“Wait,” I raised an eyebrow “So you were 22 when you were engaged?”

“I know what you’re thinking, but in this world, most people get married when they’re still really young. I mean, that’s how it was like in the past. In fact, there are some who still get married when they’re like 18.”

“Seriously?” I gasped.

“Well, this world is practically a mix of old times and modern times. But when it comes to marriages, depending on how badly you’re in love, some people just can’t wait to tie the knot. And as for me, once again, I still have time. But if I wanna get married, I first have to fall in love, and I mean really in love. And I just hope that my future husband feels the same way about me.”

“Well,” I smiled with a warm feeling “Whenever love does come, I hope it’ll be worth the wait.”

“Oh, I’m counting on it” she giggled “But until that happens, I’m trying to focus on other things, like getting you to train.”

“Right” I agreed.

“I think the arena should be empty now, and we’ve got time before you go.”

She stood up from her seat, “Shall we go?”

“We shall.”

As I followed her out of her room, I found myself once again thinking about her. I seriously needed to stop this so I could focus on my training, but I don’t think it’ll hurt if I do end up thinking about the princess every once in a while. I just hope that my thoughts about her wouldn’t get in the way of my training. But hey, it’s fun to think about love.