The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Thirty Five

This is bad. Of all people that could possibly see us, it's Kaylie. The innocent, sweet, and honest Kaylie. She looked both horrified and shocked at what she just saw. And she was pale. Plus, I noticed that she wasn't looking at our faces. She was looking at the Crown Prince's hands which were holding and touching my shoulders right now because he was just trying to comfort me.

"No, no, no," I whispered frantically because I know what she is thinking right now. She's thinking that something romantic is going on between the Crown Prince and me and that's not what is happening.

Kaylie then finally moved and she move backward while still facing us, so I have to cast the Crown Prince's arms that were holding my shoulders, and then I walked towards her.

"I'm sorry, I think I should not be here," Kaylie said, still politely, and then she did an awkward bow towards Prince Kao who was still shocked that someone saw us.

"No, no, no, Kaylie! Please don't go yet! I have to talk to you!" I said calling her and luckily for me, she listened and stopped. I caught up with her and held her hands. I felt how cold her hands were and I almost find it funny if I was just not in a tight situation. It was funny because Kaylie was more nervous than me, who should be the one that should be nervous in the first place.

"Is she your friend?" I heard the Crown Prince say just behind me and I felt that it made Kaylie tense. "We have to do something about her."

"Yes, she is."

"That's good. I'll let you handle this then," he added. "I just remembered that I have to be somewhere right now. I'll send you a note soon, Rainha." And just like that, the Crown Prince left and went out of the music hall. I was dumbfounded for a couple of seconds before I heard Kaylie gasp.

It was cute because it was like a late reaction, but she stared at me with accusing eyes. "Oh my God, Rainha. Don't tell me... Don't tell me that you are!"

"W-What?"

"Don't make me say it loudly!" she said in a low whisper. "I am still in shock! Oh my God! So the rumors were true! The Crown Prince is indeed seeing a woman!"

I shook my head immediately. "Kaylie... I think you got this all wrong---"

"Wrong?" she said to me with an intensity that I have never felt or heard from her. "Wrong? Rainha, I just caught the two of you! You are all lovey-dovey in here!"

"That's not true!" I said even though with all my heart, I wanted to confirm her suspicion.

"It's no use lying to me now, Rainha! I just saw the two of you!"

I could not respond to that because she had a point. She is right. There is no use denying what she thinks of what she just saw. Even if I did tell her the truth, she will still believe what she wants to believe. And it did not help that the whole of Aure knows that the Crown Prince is seen going out late at night with a woman. It just made Kaylie's theory as strong as hell.

"See? You're no longer denying it! Oh my God, Rainha! I... I did not see this coming!"

I don't know if she was being sarcastic or what because she is actually smiling at what she said. "Kaylie, please... Let me speak first before you conclude something else."

She stared at me with disbelief and then nodded. "Alright. Fine. I guess it's just fair to hear you explain how t-this happened. Because I could not comprehend how did you become--- Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that I don't think that you're not pretty or good enough---"

I shake my head again. "I don't think like that."

"Good. But good Lord, Rainha! What is happening? How did the two of you even become close?"

I know what she meant by her question. And I was expecting this kind of reaction. This was what I was imagining in my head. Whenever I could not sleep, or when I am daydreaming while I work, I always reach this scene in which everyone who finds out about me and the Crown Prince could not believe how did the two of us even come into speaking terms. It is just so bizarre. It is as if the Ruthless Blizzards suddenly stopped. That is how unbelievable it is.

"I know it's almost impossible to think that something like this is actually happening. I get why you are so confused because so do I, Kaylie. Trust me, if there is someone who can't believe everything that is happening to me right now, it is me. Believe me, I am as clueless as you---"

"But you know how did this happen," she said and that made me stop talking. "You perfectly know everything that had happened and led you into this situation, Rainha. Oh my God, you are the secret girlfriend of the Crown Prince!"

"I am not," I corrected her. "I know it's hard to believe me up to this point but I will still say the truth to you. I am not his girlfriend."

"Then what are you?"

"Well, we're sort of a team. Partners. A tandem."

Kaylie does not look like she was buying my explanation. "That's not what I just saw, Rainha. Please just stop lying to me. Don't worry, you don't have to worry about me talking aloud to others about what I just saw. I am not that kind of friend, and you know that."

Again, I was speechless by what she just said. I am also kind of amazed at how she is talking to me this way. It is as if she is a different person. The Kaylie I know did not know how to get angry or how to talk back to another person. She's the sweetest person I know and I feel like I just made her change right now.

"Okay, Kaylie, okay. I know that even if I told you what is exactly happening, you would not believe me too. I'll just accept whatever you want to think of me but please... please keep this as a secret. Nobody is supposed to know that I am seeing the Crown Prince."

That made her smile but in a creepy kind of way. "So you two are really a couple then. Oh, Rainha. Jang and Calyx have told me that you have a boyfriend, but I did not think that it would be the Crown Prince."

"It's because I am not officially his girlfriend, Kaylie," I told her awkwardly but there was also satisfaction by the way I said it. "You know what I mean, right?"

She paused then her face lit up. "Oh... I guess you're still in the getting-to-know-you stage?"

"S-Something like that," I told her and I felt so guilty inside that I was kind of lying to her. But what can I do? She's not going to believe me if I just keep on denying her what she wanted to hear for me. "We've been close for quite a while already, Kaylie. I also don't know how it happened because it happened so fast but could you promise me not to tell anyone about it?"

She was thinking about it. "Does Jang know that it's the Crown Prince?"

"No, she doesn't," I admitted. "I could not tell anyone, you know? The Crown Prince will kill me if someone finds out about us---"

"Correction--- the Crown Prince will not kill you," she said confidently. "From what I saw it seems like he is really into you. Imagine bringing you here thinking that you're safe here... He must like you so much that he forgot to think sensibly."

I could not help but laugh at her quip. "How did you even find us here? No one comes here when there's no event here."

She looked amused by what I just said. "For your information, Rainha, I was asked by Madame Morris to look for you because you just mysteriously disappeared from her sight. She was going to ask you to do the upper right corridor of the second floor, right before you have to take an early rest."

"Oh."

"And someone did saw you come in this direction. Then I came here to check if you are here cleaning because that was the only thing that you can do that I can think of. How would I know that you were here for another reason---"

"It's not what you think," I told her immediately while blushing profusely. She just giggled at my reaction though. "And now you're denying again."

"because we were not going to make out here," I said hotly. "Don't smile like that, I know that that's what you were thinking."

"It can't be helped, Rainha. A man and a woman in an empty room like this one? What would you do here other than that?"

"We were talking about my Aunt, you know. He was comforting me."

That shut her up a bit. Kaylie's expression changed too when I mentioned my missing Aunt just when how I told Jang about Aunt Milca. "Oh. I'm sorry..."

I nodded. "It's fine. The Crown Prince and I were talking about what should we do next, you know."

"Really? Is the Crown Prince hands-on trying to look for your Aunt? Is that why he goes out of the castle at night?"

"Technically, yes..."

Kaylie giggles again and I don't know if that was a good sign or not. But I have no choice but to tell her something about what the Crown Prince did for me. I have to tell her that our 'meetings' were actually planning on how to search for Aunt Milca.

That totally did the work for me. Kaylie was now sympathetic to my situation and was looking at me as if she was happy for me that I have now someone by my side while I am facing this very hard situation. "In fairness to him, he is really concerned about you. Rainha, I think the Crown Prince really loves you! You better not let him go, you know!"

I faked a smile. "What are you even talking about?"

"From what you told me it seems like the Crown Prince is really into you, Rainha!"

How I wish that it was true. What would I give her just to make her statement true? I don't even know. All I know that what she thinks of us is not true, though that is what I wanted from the start. So I did not bother to correct her and I have to swallow how bad I feel to let Kaylie think this wrongly.

"Who else knows about the two of you? Is it just me?"

"There are some Royal Guards who know about it," I said. "And of course, Madame Morris."

Kaylie almost squealed out of delight from what she heard from me. "Why do I feel so happy about this? Even though I know that it will be just a matter of time before things will get harder and harder for you, Rainha, you have to know that I am genuinely happy for you even if it's not the Crown Prince."

"T-Thank you, Kaylie," I said in a whisper to her and I made a shocking sound when she just suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace. I feel so guilty. Kaylie is so happy for me.

"Finally, Rainha! You have found someone that treats you well! I could not for the day that he makes it official to everybody!"

"But that's impossible," I said sadly because that's the truth. It is indeed impossible. The Crown Prince will definitely not make it official because there is no romantic relationship between the two of us in the first place.

"It's not impossible," Kaylie said and she released me from her hug. "That's what I felt too when I meet Ralphus the very first time. It was when he saw me at the public snow carriage, and he was there as a consultant of the carriages as he owns a business operating the private ones, right? When I saw him, I know that I liked him but I was like, nah, this man would not become mine. I did not think that he would like me back too, Rainha, but here we are. We are about to get married."

I gasped, but not because I find their love story sweet or incredible. I just realized something and I was now trying to stop myself from screaming. What the heck, why did not I thought of this the first time? There is a way to know who is behind those goons. And it involves Sir Ralphus, Kaylie's fiance!