Retrieve the Kingdom

Shut Mouths

Phoebe froze as the all evil Cledwyn smirks right in front of her. “You… Why are you eavesdropping on us!?” She said she is stopping herself to slap him in the face. The boy in front of her just snickered. “Nothing about is wrong anyway.”

“Everything is wrong about it—” Cledwyn shut her up with his hand covering her mouth. “I knew something that can be your downfall. I don’t care if it’s wrong for you, as long as it benefits someone, it’s still good…”

She regrets agreeing with his favor, she shouldn’t have trusted him. Of course, what could you expect for someone who just knows himself and cares about himself? Cledwyn removed his hand from her mouth and wipes his palm with his handkerchief. 

“Listen up, I will be quiet about this in exchange for some things. My father has some connection to the king so, it will be just easy as that to make you stumble down your knees, and particularly, that’s not my problem anymore.” Phoebe clenched her fist at her sides as her enemy just smirking in front of her. 

He knows she can’t do anything about it. Also, she already has a bad reputation with the king and the queen hates her ‘'until the end of time. She knows one person to testify their plans and what they have been doing, it’s the end of her. The last piece to have a reasonable reason for the royal couple to make their son stay away from her, and even worse consequences. 

Minutes of waiting for her response, she sighed. “F… Fine.” It was hard for her to release any word of agreement, but finally, she said it. She doesn’t know what will happen next after this, she’s in great trouble. Of all people she would-be enemies of, it’s an arrogant son of a viscount.

“Alright, now for my side of the deal. I want you to resign from your position as the class leader.” Phoebe looks at her with her eyes wide open, the smirk of Cledwyn just gets wider too. “What!?”

Phoebe went back to her temporary home, the archduke’s mansion. She went directly to her room with a bit of greeting to Bermin who is just talking with one of his sort of allies. She flopped herself on her bed. She decides to be productive and makes her assignments. 

Minutes later, she was called for dinner. She left her work and went downstairs to the dining table. She sat on the seat just beside the archduke, like she always does. “Good evening, Phoebe.” Bermin greeted. 

“Good evening, sir Bermin.” She flashed a small smile as she ate her dinner, which is some chicken and salad. “You seemed a little bit down, care to tell me? Is it about your school? Anything?” 

“Well… Uhm… It’s kind of a long story… And it’s really kind of complicated.” She said as she awkwardly chews her food. “We have the whole night for you to tell me it.” She sighed as she gave up and willingly tell the whole story. “So… I have a classmate named Cledwyn.”

“Cledwyn… I have heard of that name before, but I am not quite sure. I don’t have the strongest memory, anyway.” The archduke giggled. “Well, I am not surprised you know him, he is the son of a viscount, most probably in Hastey.” Bermin face’s lightens up, “Oh, he might be the son of Viscount Claro. Do you have a problem with him?”

“Well,” she bit her lower lip, “I… Uh… Well, yes, there is some kind of a problem…” She was too nervous to say it as she gulps, the archduke saw her being uncomfortable talking about it. “If you aren’t ready or don’t want to say it yet, I won’t mind, pick up your pace.” 

“No… I will be open to you, sir Bermin. It’s just that, it’s kind of embarrassing to tell how this went… That guy just hated me instantly, no reasons, no events before that, he just hated me and now he is really declaring him as my enemy.” 

Bermin nods, just listening to her. “He was one of the class leaders, my partner, shall I say. Since day one of me being the other class leader, I noticed that he hates me. After those days, he said that he will be higher than me, so I just let it and obey what he wants. It was just harmless, really, I thought we will be okay sooner.”

“What happened?” He asked, he was already concerned. “I hope he is not doing something so bad to you.” Phoebe heart’s beats faster. “I don’t know if this is bad enough for you to… I don’t know… Be mad? But… Uhm… Earlier, he talked to me and…”

“And? What did he do to you?” Bermin is already raising his voice a little bit. “Well, he is sort of blackmailing me.” The archduke looks at her, both confused and concerned. “Blackmail? What does he want?” 

“Well, I sort of being careless and talking a lot with Belle at school. And… He eavesdropped on some of our conversations without being noticed by anyone of us. Now… He knows we were the teenagers who tried to save a lady one time, and he knows that we want to overthrow the king, or at least I think about it that he knows…”

Bermin was shocked, “Why are you not being careful? You should have just talked about it here in the mansion. You can talk about it here anywhere, no one will tell. Did you agree with his deal?” 

Phoebe slowly nods, “It is to resign as the class leader. I don’t know why he is doing this, but, I am stuck, sir Bermin. I don’t want it to be known, and you might know his father can say it to the king, and you know how angry he is at me. It is the thing they have been waiting for, a reason that will make Andrei suffer and a reason to make my life fall.” 

Bermin comforts her as tears start to fall on her cheeks. “I can’t say it’s fine because it’s really not fine. I can’t do anything about it, because in any way, they will side to him. I can’t even handle this myself, because he might backlash against me since I am the brother of the king and in his perspective, I am protecting someone who wants the king to be gone. But… I’ll try, I’ll try to make him shut even you don’t fulfill his side of the deal.”

“It’s fine, sir Bermin. You don’t have to risk your reliability for this stupid deal. I can just resign…” She wiped her eyes. “That doesn’t just end there, Phoebe. As someone close to someone who does that a lot of times, they won’t stop if they still know about something that is your weakness. That is something you can’t ignore and be careless about. If they can manipulate you the first time, they won’t hesitate to do it again until you are already the slave of their bidding.”

Phoebe looks at him as Bermin hugged her like a father caring about her daughter. “I won’t let you go through that, I won’t. You don’t have to be through something you would suffer. You are just 16, you aren’t supposed to experience it like this. Tomorrow, I’ll talk to him, and you don’t have to worry about resigning from being the class leader.” 

Even he is not her father, and even he was his past life’s uncle, it was a warm feeling to have a father figure by your side. Even she was back on earth to save her subjects, she can’t stop thinking of just be laid back, just relax, and enjoy with her family. She hoped it was just like, but it wasn’t. 

The next day, Phoebe went to school, but now alone once more. She entered the campus with Belle. “What happened? I can’t feel any positivity radiating out of you, is something wrong?” 

Phoebe shook her head as a no, “Just feeling a little bit down today. I don’t know. But, it’ll change later, don’t worry. It’s nothing.” She flashed a small smile, but her lies won’t pass her friend. “Don’t lie to me, Phoebe. Something happened, I can feel it, tell me, I won’t mind.”

“I rather not, Belle. I just want it by myself for a while.” Even though Belle wants to know it, she just smiled it off. “It’s fine, you can tell me whatever you want. It’s better if it’s sooner because I don’t want you to be sad and also Andrei.” Phoebe once again flashed a small smile at her friend. 

It was an exhausting day for her at school, even though she wasn’t doing anything almost. She was just listening to lessons and jotting down notes. Something about this day just tires her off. At lunch, before she can even go out of the room with Belle, she was stopped by Cledwyn. 

“Meet me at the fountain before the class starts again.” He said as he went off on his way. Belle looks at her with her arms crossed, “Can I have a clue what’s happening?” Phoebe sighs, “Let’s have it while taking our lunch.” They went to their usual spot, and of course, she would be explaining this also with Andrei. 

“He blackmailed me.” Her starter for the conversation already blew the minds of the two people in front of her. “What? Can you tell us about it thoroughly?” Belle said as Andrei sighs, “Is this why you said that I should get going yesterday? You should make me stay a bit or even eavesdrop on you two.” 

“It will be worse if you were there. He would have the chance to manipulate you too. Speaking of eavesdropping, he heard our conversations these past few days, and used it to make me resign from my position in our class.” Belle gripped on her spoon and fork. “That’s just outright cruel! I know he hates you to the limits of the sky but he went through this just to satisfy his ego?” 

“Well, he said that he will tell the king the thing that we want him out of his throne and some of the other things we have been talking about these past few days. You know how mad the king was to be the last time we were there.” She sighed. “And apparently, Andrei is the son of the king, not his nephew.” 

“Not again, Belle, I am sorry, okay?” Andrei sighs as he eats his food. “Even I am in the mood, I still remember how you guys were caught in your lies. Anyway, before this conversation goes to chaos, I think we should eavesdrop back at Phoebe’s conversation with Cledwyn and see what he is gonna tell her this time.” Belle finished her food as they all decided to finish their food too so Phoebe could meet Cledwyn. 

As Cledwyn wants, they went to the school fountain. He was there, just sitting and keeping himself busy by reading a book. Belle and Andrei were left out just behind the walls of the building as Phoebe approached him, “Hey, I’m here now, what do you want from me again?”

He looked at her as he wears his signature evil smirk and sets aside the book. “Greetings, what a lovely day we have today, aren’t we?” Phoebe sighs and rolls her eyes, “Just get to the point.” Cledwyn snickered, “After class, you would sign a resignation letter at the higher student councils’ room. Say that the reason that you couldn’t take it anymore and say also that you know Cledwyn will be handling everything fine without your help.” Phoebe was confused, “Wait, I am not gonna praise you on a piece of paper.”

“Yes, you are going to.” Phoebe sighs, it’s still the deal. “Fine.” With that, they parted ways. She decided to go for it and after class, she went there. Before she can even knock, she saw the archduke walking on the hallways. Since it was the main building, it was the first thing he will navigate to. He didn’t notice Phoebe as he searches for the naughty young man. 

She followed the archduke as finally, the two encountered each other. “Greetings, archduke!” He said happily, smiling widely. “Mr. Cledwyn, we need to talk.