The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Four

The Prince's goal sounded too ambitious, and ridiculous even--- but since it was him, the love of my life, I tried very hard to have a straight face. Him reviving a dead deity sound so wrong to my ears and I just don't know why.

But he was clever because he immediately asked my opinion about it. "Why do I have the feeling that you don't believe every single word that I just told you?" he said to me with a frown. "I'm serious right here, Rainha."

I bowed my head the instant he told me that he was serious. "I'm sorry Your High--- I mean, T-Travor. Forgive me if I did not show enthusiasm at what you said..."

He shook his head at me. "Forget about it. I just thought that you, of all people, would believe me---"

"Oh no, please don't misunderstand me, Travor! It's just that I don't know about the Scarlet Phoenix, that's why I did not react."

"But you said that you have heard it in school."

I nodded, and I was silently panicking because I do not want Prince Kao to get disappointed in me. I want to be in his good books for as long as I can, so I tried very hard to repair the doubt that he already has on me. My goal here is to win him over, and I will do everything in my power just to achieve my goal. Besides, my goal is as ambitious as his, so I think we are perfectly matched for each other.

"I did hear about it. But I m just a Court Servant, Travor. I have no time to marvel at things like that. I have to get enough Coalstones and folktales won't help me get them."

He thought about what I said for a moment. "Well, you are right. Not everyone gets fascinated by tall tales like the Scarlet's Phoenix story just like me. Everyone else is busy. I'm sorry for judging you like that."

"You don't have to apologize," I told him humbly, and I swear, my heart is about to burst by the kindness and humility that this man has. He is certainly a one of a kind, a far comparison to his father.

The longer we talk the more I find him lovable and I'm kind of scared by that. I did not plan on being this close to him but suddenly an opportunity appeared and we are now here inside a carriage, talking about the Scarlet Phoenix.

"You have been working all your life right?" he suddenly asked me and the smile on my face vanished. "Can we talk about your family? I feel like I have to know you more to understand the circumstance that we both are in."

I just nodded and went on to talk about my family. "My late father, Peterson Filbuster, was a Royal Guard just like my brother now. My mother, Bruxan, was a tailor by profession."

"Your mother's name is Bruxan?" It was obvious that he was shocked upon hearing my dead mother's name.

"Yeah. Why? What's the matter?" It shocked me that the Crown Prince is acting this way. "Do you personally know my mother?"

He shook his head, but then he took something out from the depths of his royal robes. It threw me off because I was not ready to get a glimpse of his bare chest as he rummaged for a piece of old parchment there. It was odd for him to bring something like that everywhere he goes but I had no qualms about it if I could always see his skin like that.

"This is a letter from a person named Bruxan."

My eyes widened with shock at what the Crown Prince said. "M-My mother wrote you a letter?"

"No. It was addressed to my late mother."

I still can't believe that. "Prince Kao... I mean Travor... Am I right when I say that you are telling me that our mothers knew each other?" This was getting weirder and weirder and I was starting to feel like something is not right. Because if our mothers used to know each other then there is a chance that my mother was involved with things in Aure that I don't even know about. And that scares me because I don't think I am ready to learn something new from her.

"Do you want to read it?" he offered and I stared at him, not believing that he was actually offering me to read something that might be an important piece of memory for me.

"I c-can read it?" I asked him again because I was not sure if I heard him right. "It might contain confidential information."

"It does, but I trust you," he told me and I don't know if he was doing this to make me love him more or what, but I was actually torn between choosing to be more open to him and refusing to know more about my mother who I knew nothing. Refusing to read the letter seemed to me to be the right decision but this is Prince Kao that is offering me something.

Prince Kao, the Ruler of my Dreams, is offering me to learn probably new things about my late mother, something that my Aunt Milca refused to do because she hated my mother to the core. Of course, I just can't say no to him.

"This will also help you understand why I am doing all of this, Rainha. Go on, read it. I'll explain to you the rest of the situation after you read that letter."

I nodded and took the old piece of parchment from his hands. Our palms brushed each other and that alone sent chills to my soul, but I have to remain calm because I don't want him to think that I am a lunatic person.

I unfolded the yellow parchment and read the letter. It was indeed an old letter, probably written in a short amount of time as the writing appeared to be clumsily written. The slanting letters indeed seemed familiar to me somehow, even though I am quite sure that this is the first time that I have seen this possible handwriting of my mother. Maybe this was what they call instinct, or the famous saying that 'warmth from family is a warmth you could always recognize.'

"Read it," Prince Kao encouraged me with his killer smile so I obliged. I read it silently with the idea in my head that this might tell me some things about my mother that I don't still know about.

To My Dear Friend,

Hestra,

How are you? I hope you are doing fine. Me, I am currently in a state of bliss. My son Garreth has already recovered from the Frost Fever that he got from being exposed to his first cold. Nothing makes a mother like us happier than seeing our children get better, right?

That is why I am writing this to you. I knew that saving and taking care of your little Prince took a toll on you--- as I heard from my husband that you were bedridden for days now. Are you okay? I hope that it's not a serious illness, Hestra. I am going to visit you this weekend if I don't hear any improvement from you...

Your friend,

Bruxan

I paused after reading her name. This was indeed a letter written by my mother. There is no mistake to it, as my older brother was even mentioned here. He just had his Frost Fever by the time this letter was written. I remember when Aunt Milca told me that it was her who nursed me back to health when I had that disease myself. Frost Fever is a common illness of infants and children, as our bodies do not automatically get used to the extreme cold of our country. We get sick from the frost as our bodies still don't have enough strength to counter the cold. It is usually considered to be some sort of passage that every child had to go through and some families even celebrate the time when their child gets over the Frost Fever.

My heart was pounding now in my chest because I could not believe what I just read. Of all people who could possibly give me new information about my deceased mother, Prince Kao was the least that I expect of. But here I am, perusing a letter that he let me read, finally having something in my hand that once belonged to one of my parents.

"There is more to that letter," Prince Kao suddenly told me. He seemed to have known that I already finished reading it and that I was just rereading it all over again. "Use this," he said and gave me something small and square.

It was an Ink Coder. It is a piece of square eraser-like thing that I know too well. When I was in school this gray-colored thing used to be big on teenagers, as it was used by couples when exchanging love letters. It pissed me off back then as I thought that it was a silly possession for who would always want to write letters in secret when everyone else can read it too because everybody owns one of these? I did not see the logic behind that.

"I'll rub it for you," Prince Kao suddenly offered and it made me blush more than I already did. This scene reminded me of my teenage years when I was seeing this act from the lovebirds in my class and now Prince Kao and I are also doing it! Seriously, I could die by just thinking of that!

He took the parchment from me and started rubbing it with the Ink Coder. As he did it I could not help myself but imagine that he was rubbing the letter to reveal another letter that he personally wrote for me. It made me shiver with happiness, and I did not even notice that the carriage where we were had to stop abruptly causing the Crown Prince to almost hit me with his body.

"Sorry," he said gently to me while he continued rubbing the whole letter with the Ink Coder. "Look, it's almost done."

It was. The letter, which my mother wrote was now starting to disappear and a new set of writing was starting to appear out of the parchment. This was what the infamous Ink Coder does. It can 'erase' the words that you have written on a piece of parchment so that you can write on it too. With this interesting material, you can actually write several times on a single piece of parchment, saving us a lot of trouble as parchment is not exactly a cheap material to have in this country.

And now, a new letter was revealed as Prince Kao finished rubbing the piece of parchment with the Ink Coder. It appears to be written by someone else because this was different from the one that my mother wrote.

"This was my mother's response to your mother's letter. But this was never sent back to your mother as my mother passed away hours after she wrote this."

I gasped. I forgot that it is not only me who had lost a parent. Prince Kao's mother also died when he was young, so he never had a mother growing up. This was actually one of the reasons I fell for him in the first place, as I could relate to him having no mother to take care of me.

"I'm sorry---"

"You don't have to say sorry, okay? Just read her reply first."

I nodded and started reading her mother's reply to my mother. Her mother, Hestra, has a beautiful handwriting. I had no hard time reading her reply and just delve into it.

My dear friend,

Bruxan Filbuster

Thank you for writing me! I was just thinking of personally visiting you, or probably summoning you here so that I can thank you personally. But my body won't permit me to do that, and you know that. This is why I'll just write to you like this as I don't know how long I will still be here with my son.

I know that you'll feel guilty so I'm going to tell you now to stop feeling bad about what happened. You know how life works. Mothers like us only want our children to be safe, even if it means that we have to sacrifice ourselves. So don't you ever feel bad about what happened. I know that if the same thing happened to your son, you'll go to the end of the world just to make your son feel better.

My son is okay now. The cure that you acquired for me did its job well, although my husband despised what I've done. So let us just keep this as a secret. Who knows what he'll do to you once he discovers that you are somehow involved in this.

But do not worry, I will do everything in my power to make you and your family safe. I had asked my family there at Aurville to check on you just in case something bad happens.

Again, thank you for what you did, Bruxan. Thank you so much. I will forever cherish it in my heart. You and Peterson deserve an award from the palace, but instead, I am keeping this as a secret because you might get involved in things that will endanger you. My husband secretly hates Peterson, because he thinks that your husband is the reason why I did not love him.

But you knew how I feel for your husband. To me, he is a brother. A brother who took care of me back when my family had lost it all. Peterson was even willing to take me in just so I could not be forced to marry my husband as payment of my parent's debts, and that alone was something that I will be forever grateful for.

I wish you all the happiness, my dear friend, and if this will be the last time I will be able to write you, I wanted you to know that I did not regret everything because I love my son.

I finished the letter not knowing that tears were already flowing from my eyes. I only realized that when I suddenly felt Prince Kao's body pressing mine, which shook me to my core. I could not breathe because of what was happening, especially that he was wiping my tears. "Why did I ever read this?" I said crying. "I should have never read this," I said covering my face with my hands. This was very personal for you---"

"It is, but it is the same for you. This is also a part of your mother that you barely know, right?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry for being emotional right now," I told him feeling ashamed of myself. "I'm not usually like this."

"Stop crying now," he whispered to my ear, and everything felt better.