Retrieve the Kingdom

Seemingly Odd

The main residents of the great mansion of Enoch have arrived. All of them were welcomed back in the castle by the servants. “I-I… I am sorry if I let that happen, I thought that messenger was trustworthy.” Bermin looks at Andrei, “No, you don’t need to be sorry. You don’t even have a reason to say sorry at all. It’s your dad and that Jerome who did something wrong to you, and they should be sorry about that.”

Bermin patted Andrei’s back, “And, it’s a perfect opportunity for me to lessen his extension arms across everyone. He thought he already has an ace to manipulate you. I am not letting that happen, you are the only hope of this kingdom since that brother of yours has already succumbed to your dad’s beliefs and ways.”

“How about you, sir Bermin? I mean, you are eligible to be the next king if you ever have… Successfully overthrow him. I am not saying that Andrei isn’t good, but usually, the greatest one will take the throne.” Phoebe asked, looking at the archduke himself. “I am already getting old, Phoebe. And even we overthrew the king, obviously, Andres will take the throne. He is more cunning and obviously, younger than me. This overthrowing can be hard too since Andres is like a wild tiger guarding his own cave.”

“Are you really sure uncle that he will even care about dad? He treats him like trash and always disrespects him. I even bet that he will be in his most participation in your plans if he ever knew it or something.” Andrei rolls his eyes as Bermin chuckles, “I can sense the bitterness in your words. I honestly can’t read what Andres wants, planning, or even thinking. He was like really Dougal before when he was young, he was hard to read through. That’s why I didn’t expect him to plan such things, the only difference between them is Dougal always wants our parent’s attention and tried to excel along with us while Andres is just a little rebellious prince with unknown reason.”

“Whatever his reason of why he is doing all of this, we will know sooner or later. He will not be a little mystery forever.” Lady Naia joined the conversation, which her husband agrees on. “Let’s take our dinner.” The small little, non-relative family in the mansion took their meals that night.

A few days later, the school has started once more. It was the time that Phoebe once more rides her personal carriage provided by the archduke. “Long time, no see, Miss Phoebe!” Her coachman greeted her which she responded with a smile, “Long time, no see too, Mister Crawford!” She boards the carriage and she was ready to go to her own school. 

“How was your vacation, Miss Phoebe?” The teenager giggles, “It was great, I was back in my hometown and just enjoyed the tranquility there.” The coachman smiles, even though Phoebe can’t see it full, she can see his cheek bumped up, “That’s nice to hear! The archduke let me have my vacation too back at my hometown, I live in Caiazza, Ophdal.”

“Oh, I hope you had a great time there, Mister Crawford.” He nods, “I had! I was so happy to see my family was doing so fine. It’s been months since I haven’t seen them, and it was a relief when I got there. I have a lot of bonding with them, and it’s just a relief! My wife was a little bit concerned, but I said the archduke is not as bad as my previous boss.”

“What happened?” Phoebe asked as silence ensued, “I… I didn’t mean to invade your problems… I am sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” The coachman sighs as the bumped cheek returned again, “It’s perfectly fine, Miss Phoebe! Curiosity is really our enemy sometimes. Anyway, we are here!” 

Phoebe was a little bit surprised but she shrugged and hopped out of the carriage. The coachman waves his hat before start going back to the mansion. Phoebe responded with a small wave just right by her shoulder as she went into the campus. She looks around as no students were outside, she shrugged as she went to her Path building and went to her classroom. 

“Hey, Phoebe!” Belle said as the other people looked at them but ignored them after. Phoebe went beside her as she suddenly hugged her in excitement, to which she responded with a hug also. Belle released as she looks at Phoebe, “How was your vacation?” 

“It’s fine, it was relaxing. Mires really makes me calm.” Phoebe looks at her friend and smiled, “I am glad to hear that, mine was good also, I am still in vacation mode. It was fun bonding with my parents once more, but then, we need to go back for our education.” Phoebe nods, agreeing with her. Minutes later, their teacher entered the classroom and officially started the school day. 

In lunch, even it’s a bit chilly outside, with their winter coats and other winter clothes, some students are outside in the cafeteria plaza, one of them is Phoebe’s circle. “I miss you, Andrei! I hope you had a great vacation if you had… Any.” Belle awkwardly laughs as the prince just shook his head. “Well, you know what has been happening, right? I can’t even set my mind that’s it’s our winter break, not some sort of prince training stuff.”

“Yeah, the winter break really brought another type of coldness to you and some other guy…” She looked around, trying to find someone. “He deserves it, to be honest. Maybe a loss of someone will make him better, but knowing him, he might even plot revenge—” Phoebe puts her index finger on Belle’s mouth, “He’s here, don’t be so loud.” 

Belle pushed her hands off her, “Fine, thanks for saying it to me, I don’t want the first day from winter break in school would be dramatic, I am not into that right now.” She looks at Phoebe, “Where is he?” Phoebe uses her eyes to point at him, “You can see him at the corner of your eye, he is lonely.”

“It’s a miracle to see him mourning for someone. He is that type of guy that you don’t even expect to be sad for someone.” Phoebe nudged her with her elbow, “Hey, he’s not a psychopath. And besides, it’s his father who he lost, one of his aces against me and most importantly, the guy is literally his father and a member of his own family.”

“Phoebe’s right, if he only can mourn to only one death, he would choose his father’s death. Apparently, it came too early.” Andrei joined the conversation as Phoebe was secretly staring at the lonely antagonist of her life. “This is odd, but I pity him.” 

“Wow, a lot of miracles is happening this day, huh. That’s really odd for you. Well, I pity him too, if he wasn’t bad then I would be there comforting him even I don’t know him.” Phoebe looks at Belle, “Well, we are still humans anyway, and even that boy’s attitude seems inhumane, he is still one of our kind.” Phoebe decided to change the topic for fear of being overheard once more. 

Minutes later, an unusual individual to approach them approached them. “Uhm… Do we have any meetings today that you want to talk about, Cledwyn?” Phoebe looks at the familiar figure of a person, the one she fears and hated to see the most these past few months. Cledwyn shook his head palely in response, “I… Just want to say sorry to you.”

Everything seemed stopped in Phoebe’s surroundings, her train of thought stopped and only projects one question, ‘what?’. The boy sighs, “It may not seem true, but, it is what I say. I am sorry.” Phoebe blinks, “Belle, pinch me.” The latter did, she pinched her and Phoebe reacted to the pain. Cledwyn just rolls his eyes, “Look, you are not in a dream, this isn’t a joke, this isn’t a prank. Anything you could think I would do. I am sorry.” 

All of the three were so shocked and all of them have the same thoughts if this is true or not. “It’s fine if you wouldn’t accept it. I know it’s unbelievable that I am saying sorry. But, it’s true, with all of my heart, even you don’t think I have, with all of the genuineness I gather these days, I am sorry. I am sorry for everything that I did to you all. The times that I bothered you, all of that, I am humbly sorry.” 

“It’s not that we wouldn’t accept it, I mean, it’s just really unbelievable,” Phoebe said, trying not to be rude to him. “Frankly enough, for a person like you and with your attitude, it’s really unbelievable. This would happen when stars align, which is not entirely possible, but most unlikely.” Belle added, which she received another nudge with Phoebe’s elbow.

“I am quite happy with that opinion. I might think you will say when pigs fly. I never thought you even see redemption in me.” Phoebe smiles, “You are still human anyway, while you are alive, you have a chance to redeem yourselves to people who surround you, it’s just your choice whether you will do it or not. But yeah, we really didn’t expect this.” 

“Honestly, if ever my past self were to see this, he just rather see a pig fly than see his future self saying sorry to his enemies.” Belle looks at him intently, “But still, you are suspicious, what drove you into saying sorry, for someone like you that’s self-centered, it’s pretty odd for you not to do your self-centered things.”

The little noble sighs, “It’s fine you don’t trust me, I am just here to say sorry for everything. I want to be on good terms with you guys now, it seems karma is taking its actions to me now.” Belle raises her eyebrow, “Is this about your father’s death? What’s the connection of him being six feet underground to your relationship with Phoebe and us?” 

“It’s not really about the connection. I just have some self-reflection these days, in our winter break. If you don’t really believe any of this, you can ignore me. I wouldn’t bother you guys anymore unless I really need to because you know Phoebe is my partner in the leadership in our class. At least I already know I said sorry. It’s your choice what to do with it. That’s all I came here for.” 

“I mean, we are happy that you regret your actions,” Phoebe stands and touches his right shoulder, “And, I am happy to fix our relationship with each other. Maybe it’s time that the leaders of the Political Path’s freshmen be good with each other?” She smiles at him, to which Cledwyn responded with a smile too. “I am looking forward to that, I am planning to take to Kyran and Gerald later, I know I have treated them badly, they seem great to befriend, to be honest with you. My prideful self is just burying that within my mind.” 

Phoebe is getting happy with this result, “I am happy to befriend you too, I mean, it will be awkward that we will just treat each other like strangers when we are technically conversing almost every day for our duties.” Cledwyn nods, “I am looking forward to that, my partner.” He reaches his hand to her as Phoebe hesitantly accepts it at first but then they both shake their hands.

“I must go now, I am glad to fix my problems with you guys.” Phoebe nods and smiles, “I am happy for your actions too, I am glad that you turned to the good side.” Cledwyn smiles and bids his goodbye to them as he returned to their classroom.

“Phoebe.” She turned to Andrei, “Don’t trust him.”