Chapter 23
2328 Words
CHAPTER 23
Sphrya splashed cold water to Aragorn’s face. They seemed to enjoy the falls where winter is approaching. Burn was also enjoying with them. She’s a dog banana boat swimming around them. She rarely takes a bath and was forced to joy the enjoyment of Sphyra, Aragorn, and Yosef.
“Winter is approaching. How will you and Burn live in this forest? It will be too cold for the both of you.”
“I’m weak when it’s winter. There’s a cave nearby and we’ll stay there for the whole week. We have to gather food for us to survive the whole week.”
Aragorn roamed his eyes around. He can’t find any cave. “Where’s the cave so I can check on you and Burn if I have the opportunity to? We can also bring food for the both of you.”
“I’ll show you later. I don’t want to interrupt our fun in this waterfall. Don’t you worry about me? I survived a lot of winters and I know what do to. I can still create fire in the cave if the climate is too cold for me and Burn. This part of the forest is my haven. People were restricted to here and were told stories that wouldn’t make them go here.”
“Aren’t you scared of what you might encounter during winter?’
“I have no choice, but to stay in the cave. I’ve been scared for a very long time and it wouldn’t matter for me to face those fears.”
Facing the fears. The best option but not everyone is ready to face those fears. Or they are ready to face it but what they didn’t know is there’s a hidden fear within.
“Aragorn, do you regret it?” Sphyra said. Her eyes were a fiery orb that wanted an answer from him.
“Regret what?”
“Do you regret being their son?”
“I don’t regret being the son of my father and mother. They were great but I regret being the son of the queen and the king. When you belong in the royal family, there were plenty of responsibilities that you should do. It feels like you are born to do these responsibilities.”
“Your Highness, Sphyra, look at Burn. She’s having difficulty getting back to the land,” Yosef said which cut their conversation. Burn was trying to swim back to the land but the waterfall seemed to pull her back. She’s adorable and was crying alone.
They all laughed at her. Sphyra swam towards the dog and carried her towards the land. Burn dried herself while sitting on the ground.
“It’s getting dark. Yosef, we should go.” Leo and Hideo might be in the hut after bringing that bastard to the prison. Aragorn and Yosef got out from the water. Sphyra followed them.
“You’re right, Aragorn. The path back to your hut is dark when the night approaches. Thank you for visiting me.”
Sphyra smiled. She knew Aragorn wouldn’t visit her after he helped her from the fire that happened in the village. After that, everything will be normal for the two of them. No more Prince Aragorn and no more Yosef. She’ll come back to her usual life; preserving her life and living like a hidden treat.
Hideo arrived at the royal palace after Leo asked him to. Women in the hallway were staring at his sharp jaw and glistening eyes. He walked prim towards the king’s throne and didn’t look back on any of the women that were staring at him. After arriving at the king’s throne, he bowed and gave praise to the king. The queen was also there and two of her personal servants were sitting beside her. One of them was Lolita, a face that was familiar to Hideo. The second was the woman who bullied Lolita the last time he went here with the prince.
“Greetings, King Argon and Queen Amira,” he greeted.
“Why are you here? Don’t tell me that there’s a bad thing that happened to Aragorn. If yes, don’t you dare telling it anymore,” Queen Amira said and covered her face with the silk towel she had. Tears were about to fall from her eyes. No, she can’t hear something happened to her son.
“Don’t worry, Your Highness. There’s nothing bad that happened to the prince. Earlier, we were in the market and our group witnessed a man hurting his concubine. The prince comes up with a decision to punish the man and make the woman our servant because she said she didn’t have any place to go. I’m with Leo and while we’re on the way to the prison, the man pointed his dagger at me and groped my neck. He escaped from us and I’m here to ask help on you, Your Highness.”
“Oh, God! What happened to Aragorn?” the Queen wanted to assure herself that her son was fine.
“He’s totally fine. He’s with Yosef before we left and we don’t know where the two of them went to.”
“Lolita, please bring me water to drink. Also, bring something for Hideo and King Argon,” she said to her personal servant.
“How about me, Your Highness?” Dina asked. She wanted something to do or she will lose her worth to the queen. Back then, she was her favorite servant, but now her eyes were always on Lolita.
“You can take your rest by now. Lolita can handle it.”
Dina rolled her eyes and walked away from the room. She’s lucky that the king and the queen didn’t see how she rolled her eyes. A pathetic woman indeed.
“Why do you need the help, Hideo? You can ask investigators to do the matter,” said King Argon.
“The prince is the one who did the judgment. The guy was dangerous and his concubine said that he was the reason for his own wife’s death. Based on his personality, he’ll take revenge on his concubine and can also be to the prince.”
“You have a point but where can we search for him?
“I don’t have an idea either, Your Highness. This person is a threat to the kingdom, especially to the prince. We hope he’ll get caught by the authority.”
“I’ll do my best to catch him. I won’t let my son get hurt because of him. By the way, where’s Leo?”
“He said he’ll do an important matter. He also said that he’ll do his best to help us on finding that man.”
“Okay. If you can, provide a sketch of the person you are referring to.”
“My bad that I’m not familiar with his facial features. His concubine which was in the hut would be the best option for that, Your Highness.”
“Sure. I will send Milano along with the artist that can draw the features of the man you are referring to. If my son’s in danger, I have to do an act for that. You can go back to your hut or you can stay in one of the rooms of the palace if the track is dangerous for you.”
“I’ll go back to the hut, Your Highness. It wasn’t that dark on the way back to the hut. Besides, I can take of myself.”
“Be careful on your way back to the palace.”
Hideo nodded and was about to exit the room when Lolita entered with three canteens filled with water.
“You’re about to leave, Master?” she asked Hideo. Since it’s obvious that he’s going to leave, she gave the canteen to him. “The Garden of Pleas must be far from here. Take this water so whenever you feel thirsty, you have water to drink.”
Hideo gave her a bit of his smile. He grasped on the canteen of water that Lolita gave.
“Thank you,” he said and he left.
Lolita woke up the earliest hour she can wake up. She glanced at her room’s window and the golden sun was about to rise. She caressed Lola’s head and kissed her forehead. She let her rest and stood up from their bed. Cooking for the queen is her job whenever she wakes up early. She fixed her hair and headed to the kitchen. She almost bit her lower lip when she saw Dina preparing the food on the table. She usually wakes up not this early. It was a miracle that she was cooking and she woke up early.
“Oh, Lolita! You’re shocked that I am the one who’s cooking for the queen. I told you that the queen doesn’t need you to become her personal servant. I am her one and only personal servant and you just wanted to take over my position,” Dina said sarcastically.
“I don’t care about your position and the queen decides to make me her personal servant. If you disagree with that, you should talk to the queen and not me. And I don’t care if you’ll be the one to cook for the queen. It’s also your job and I'm glad that you’re doing something besides working on your unstoppable mouth.”
“You!” Dina was about to attack her with the wooden spoon she was holding. She stopped in her position and smile. “I don’t have to hurt you. You’ll lose your position once Queen Amira had tasted the food that I cook.”
“I don’t have a position, Dina. I’m a servant. We’re both servants. If you think you’re higher than me, I don’t care with that.” Lolita let Dina face her back. She took the broom and cleaned the floor of the kitchen. She arranged the flower vases on the long wooden table of the dining while Dina was busy preparing the foods that she prepared for the queen. She’s confident that the queen will like the dishes that she cooked.
In a few minutes, Queen Amira had arrived at the dining where the food was prepared. Dina was excited to let the Queen taste the food that she had cooked.
“Greetings, Your Highness. I cooked the breakfast for you.” She went to Queen Amira and assisted her to the chair.
“You’re the one who cooked. I thought Lolita was the one who cooks all the time.”
“Not today, Your Highness.”
Queen Amira stared at the foods prepared on the table. They were plenty for herself only. It looked like there was a feast with all the foods that were on the table.
“Why did you cook a lot? And where’s my morning tea?”
Morning tea, Dina didn’t think about it. She didn’t think that the queen drinks tea in the morning. She thought she only drink water. Oh crap, she forgot something.
“I’ll make you a tea, Your Highness. Wait for me…” She didn’t finish her sentence when Lolita entered the room with a cup of Jasmine tea in her hand.
“Here’s your favorite Jasmine tea, Your Highness.” Lolita smiled at the queen and she gave her the tea that she had prepared.
Queen Amira smelled the tea. It smelled like freshly picked Jasmine flowers from the Garden., In making tea, Lolita is one of the people she trusted.
“It smells good. I guess you did it again perfectly.”
Dina gritted her teeth. Lolita again. It’s always Lolita in the queen’s mind. Why does she adore her so much?
“Eat the food that I prepared for you, Your Highness. I exerted a lot of effort in cooking those. And when you taste it, you’ll realize that you don’t need any more personal servants, Your Highness?”
Queen Amira felt a force on tasting the food that Dina cooked. She trusted her that she can cook, but Lolita’s dishes were her favorite. She got some using her fork of the soup that Dina had cooked. Dina smiled confidently while the queen was tasting it. After one spoon full of soup, the queen had a bland reaction to the food.
Dina got worried. Her soup shouldn’t taste bad. She put ingredients on it in moderation. “Is there something wrong with the soup? Does it tastes bad?”
“It didn’t taste bad but I can’t taste anything. Lolita should be the one to do the cooking. You can always watch her cook and learn from her skills.”
It should be constructive criticism but the queen had compared her again to Lolita. It’s Lolita again! Her favorite servant of all time!
- Writer
