The Game of Time and Crown

Nineteen

looked behind us in anticipation that someone may be following us but to my surprise, there is no one. I should not be worrying but now that we are just not running to reach a certain place and hide there but heading towards to someone who may know the truth about everything and would give us the evidence that we need, I felt like this is more dangerous.

People is going to come to us and try to stop us and we have to fight them off and not just run away from now. We travelles without the sureness on whether we would get the information we need, it is not even an information that we are looking for, it is validation. Validation of our instincts and theory.

I cannot even believe that a few days ago I thought all the walking and travelling and cold hard bread was so close to being gone. I thought

that day is going to come where we had to run again. But this time, we are running not away but running after the reason to come back.

It fascinates me how Darius is willing to give everything up just because he knew no one would believe him. He just lost all hope of coming back to Persia.

The only thing that bothers me is the fact that if we are right, all of us are going to face a terrifying news and realization.

The palace is safe, but the people in it is not.

Jamshid is a real blood royal, and if we are right, he just killed his mother to frame Darius up.

The only thing that confuses me is why.

Jamshid is the first born and the real son of the king. Why would he be bothered by Darius who didn't even wanted the throne but just a family?

And that is also the reason why Darius doubts if its Jamshid. He is sure that he is the one who

handed him the wine glass but the thing is, no one saw where the wine was from. What if Jamshid just picked it up or someone, preferably as servant gave it to him to frame both of them. Darius will blame Jamshid and Jamshid will do the same.

I remembered Napa's words. The palace is not a safe place. Darius even contradicted him but I think this time, Napa is correct. No one is safe in the palace.

I heaved a sigh while trying to get nasty things out of my head.

I thought that in my time, the politics is worst. Everybody is using everyone. All of them have hidden agendas but I was wrong. Politics have been this way since the beggining, the poeple and the government just get better at hiding it.

My mind flew back to Prince Darius, in the present and the accident he got in. I would have

had the perception that maybe he is a reckless driver considering that he know that he is very privellaged but after reading some articles about his foundations and everything, I begin to doubt my own perception.

A lot of royals actually had accidents that caused them their deaths and very few of them are real. Almost all of them are planned either by the royal family itself or their enemies. I have actually read a book once about Princess Diana, it says something like that the princess was still alive but the media didn't helped her at alk and instead took pictures of her inside the car while she was dying.

Sometimes, I always could think how lucky those who are in position might be but the thing that comes with the power, the position and the autbority they have? It's like a debt they had to pay, everyday.

I look up in the sky only to realize that it is about to rain. Everything above is dark clouds and if we don't find ny shelter, we are gonna get wet and might even catch a cold. That will slow us down.

Since we now have sticks around us from the branches, Darius began digging up the soil to place the sticks as the post where we will hang the cloth we have so it will act as our roof. We sat down under it and just minutes after, the heavy rain began to pour. Luckily, it was just rain and there were no thunders or even strong winds that could knock our 'roof'. I looked at the 'roof' and noticed that it was slightly tilted and tge drops of rains that is being absorbed by the cloth goes directly out from the side which is lower.

Well, I didn't even thought about that.

I was about to just keeo the silence when I remembered something that I wanted to ask Darius.

"Hey," I called him.

He turned to me.

"The thing you said about Knights? The 'they swore to protect you?"

"Yes, Knights swore protection to royal bloods."

I became silence and tried to filter out my words before asking him so he wouldn't suspect I was asking about myself.

"What if someone swore protection to a non royal blood, is that possible?"

He shook his head.

"Knights only have the duty to their country. They will protect the people, the regular citizens and everything but if they were to choose, they have to prioritize and protect the royal bloods first."

He sighed but continued to talk and explain.

"Now, the oath of the Knights consist of their duty but, they can only swore protection to someone who is of Royal blood."

I began to be even more confused. How can Amaya say the she swore protection to this body when they are both knights? And what about the necklace being part of this body's identity?

As I try to piece the information all together, it just starts to become more and more confusing and I started to feel stressed just even thinking about it. I paved it off my mind and refocused my self back on helping Darius.

My beliefs and focus are set. I am here to help him achieve the justice he deserves.

"What even made you think I would agree to this?"

"I am very sure you already surrendered your hopes on telling them the truth so that can not be the reason."

I faced him with my thumb caressing my chin.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Because whoever that person who did this and planned this, he is still out there in the palace, and everyone inside is in danger. Even father."

I nodded and smiled at him.

"So you do have a heart," I teases him.

"I wouldn't even be alive if I have no heart." He laughed me off.

"You study science? That exist during this time?" I unconsciously asked him.

"Science? I don't know what that is but we do have a teacher in the palace when we were little. A lot of them comes at the palace to teach me and Jamshid about money, currency, swords and other stuff," he narrated.

"So he did treated you equally. The king."

He nodded.

"There never was a day that they made me feel like I was an outcast. I made that feel to myself but it never came from them."

"Is it fun to be in the palace?"

"Why are you asking? You served Laleh and you lived in the palace with her and Amaya. Aren't you suppose to have an idea?"

I opened my mouth and tried to think of an alibi.

"Yes I did but she is a Princess. She have no siblings and no parents."

Amaya told me that once.

"It was luxurious. The first day I received my own room, I almost broke every single vases in there because of clumsiness." He laughed.

"But as we both grew older, we kind of get used to it. And I began to look for other kind of living. I am not happy to just sit around and order people. That is just boring," he continued to tell me.

"So I askes father for his permission for me to train with the knights. We all are knighted but since I have a position higher than that, I am more responsible to act as a Prince rather than

as a knight."

"So that explains why you just climbed our walls like you are a monkey," I joked.

He looked at me weirdly but smirked.

"There is an equipment for that, you know. I didn't climbed that with my bare hands. The other knights that are with me helped me."

That drifted me off to a topic I think he didn't want to talk about.

"Did someone really told you that we are moving against you?"

He turned serious.

"Yeah. Seven of our informants all told us the same message. There were witches in your country."

"But Laleh didn't know anything about it. What if they're wrong? "

"She can't be aware of it. Your palace's security is one of the weakest and people can enter so easily. Of course the other citizens would hide it from her because it is f*******n. You're an ally of Persia and your land is holy so Witches are not welcome."

I tried to absorb all the things he said and I ended up getting a headache from it.