Hello, RIN. You don't know how much happy I was when I read your comments. I don't know why I can't reply but thank very much for appreciating this story :) ♡
Here's my new update! Might be short but please enjoy reading! :)
"Why are you stopping? Get the food ready right away. I'm famished." Damek said while still drying his wet hair, jolting Elyse awake.
"Your highness!" Elyse exclaimed as she placed the food on the table and turned to face the crown prince. "You should have called me your highness so I could take better care of you and prepare your bath more thoroughly."
"May I, your highness?" Elyse asks, offering her both hands to dry the crown prince's hair.
Damek made a tongue-clicking motion. "Am I a child who doesn't know how to prepare his own bath? You're acting like Rouge now, worrying over nonsense things," he said, still handing Elyse the towel.
Damek approached and sat in the chair, making it easier for Elyse to dry the Crown Prince's hair. "No, your highness, you are not a child, but you are the Crown Prince of the Empire, and you must be treated with special care so that you do not feel uncomfortable."
'His hair is very nice and shiny. It's so nice and soft to touch.'
"What you mentioned about special care is what makes me feel uncomfortable."
"Please accept my apologies, your highness."
"You are quite different now than when I first found you; I was planning on killing you right then and there because you have no use for me, but I'm not sure why I spared you."
"Am I supposed to thank you, your higness?"
"You should be."
"Then, thank you for your kindness and hospitality."
"Are you making fun of me, the Crown Prince?" Damek asked Elyse.
"No, it must be your imagination, your highness. I would never, but I suggest you start eating before the food gets cold, and don't worry, I made sure that food doesn't have any poison on it," Elyse said with a smile.
Damek didn't respond, instead focusing on the food in front of him. Elyse just stood there staring at him. It's strange how the situation before now has changed. They are able to have a normal conversation. Yes, saying they'd kill Elyse had become very normal to her. She keeps hearing it while she's in the palace, so she's grown accustomed to it.
"Oh yes, your highness, while you are eating, I must begin reporting what I have seen in the kitchen; the head kitchen maid and a young girl maid are probably among those who received compensation from the second prince's palace to spy on you."
"I saw them put suspicious powder in your food, but I immediately got a new meal for you, and I didn't act hastily to accuse them; I haven't received your order on how to deal with them."
"Hmm... leave them alone. Don't be suspicious. Rouge will take care of them."
"I understand, your highness."
"These rats just keep crawling in my palace; those halfwits must think I'm an idiot who doesn't even recognize what's going on in my own palace."
'Probably. Those motherfuckers must believe they can fool the crown prince. They paid some of the crown prince's servants to spy on him, believing that the crown prince only has a few servants in his own palace. They had no idea they were dancing in Damek's palms. Of course, Damek purposefully hires a few servants so that he can observe them more closely. It would be a pain in the arse if Damek acquired a large number of servants, and the second prince would simply take advantage of it.'
"I must move now, Your Highness; I still have to prepare your afternoon tea with the Commander of Imperial Knights."
"You should leave right now."
"Thank you, your highness, and blessing upon the Lleuad of the La Creburg Empire," Elyse said as she bowed and walked away.
It was a peaceful and quiet day as she walks down the long corridor. The rooms she passed through were extremely quiet. Only the kitchen and the crown prince's chamber were likely to be disturbed.
Elyse believes that the palace could be used as a setting for a horror film.
Nonetheless, the palace was dripping with gold and glistened in every direction. She is still unable to adjust to her expensive surroundings.
"Elyse, where is the crown prince?" a voice from behind her asked.
It was Rouge, who just arrived at the garden.
"Oh, your excellency, the crown prince is still staying in his chamber."
It was a rare situation. He was holding some papers, which were most likely full of reports on everything the crown prince desired. He abruptly sat in the chair in front of the table with the ready-to-drink tea. "I'll just have to wait a minute."
"Would you like a drink, your grace?"
"Stop being so formal; hearing you speak to me like that, even though I know what you're thinking, gives me the creeps."
Elyse suppressed a laugh. "Ha.Ha.Ha. Of course, I should address you formally, your grace, because you are from the house of the dukedom, which I learned from you, the noble ranks, if you don't remember."
Rouge irritably clicked his tongue. "...Haa... nevermind. Being a commander was tiring. Since morning, the imperial knights has been busy in every palace, preparing for the welcoming of the second prince, making my work harder." Rouge continued blabbering, while Elyse was just preparing the tea.
She first tasted the tea, then the not-so-good taste of it. She hasn't gotten used to drinking tea yet. She didn't like it in the first place.
"Heh. You're not even working; you're just wandering around the palace," snorted Elyse.
"What?"
"Nothing, I mean, I agreed your grace, I've been seeing many knights since morning, is the welcoming for the second prince that important and needed to be grand?"
"Yeah, it's another war victory, of course many people will be overjoyed," Rouge replied flatly.
"Doesn't the crown prince go to war?"
"What do you mean, and why would he? He's in charge of the de—"
When the crown prince interjected, Rouge was cut off. "Seems like you two are having a nice and fun conversation," he said, revealing himself in formal attire.
His dashing appearance, combined with his gleaming long hair, makes him appear to be a walking sparkling gold. He does have a lot of money and good looks. A walking example of perfection. Fuck. 'I mean, he could literally pay all of my bills.'
'If this person greets me in that formal attire every day. I'm ready to die. Stop being so attractive, man!'
Rouge rose from his seat and greeted the crown prince right away. "Greetings from the La Creburg Empire's Lleuad."
"I greet you, his highness, the crown prince."
Damek kept walking towards the table and sat in the chair. "So, let's hear what you were talking about."
Rouge muster a laugh. Well, he looks bizarre in it. "It was nothing, your holiness. Just a bunch of nonsense talks," he said as he sat in front of the crown prince.
"Hmm, don't you just want to bring me into your conversation?"
Elyse said nothing and simply poured tea into both the crown prince's and Rouge's tea cups.
As usual, Elyse stands there waiting for them to give order as their conversation begins.
"No, your highness. You know that slave traders were using slaves to hunt demons! They will use any means, even people, to bait and catch the demons that were lurking around in the South. This was a serious problem in the Empire." Rouge's face was angry as he spoke about the topic they were currently discussing.
'Ha? Demons? What does that mean?'
Before responding to Rouge, Damek sipped a cup of tea. "Did the Emperor's palace intervene?"
"... No, your royal highness..."
"If this wasn't important enough to catch his attention, do I need to move even if the Emperor's palace didn't?"
"B-but, your highness, we need to find a cure for this; they are still the people of this Empire, the Empire that you will someday rule!"
"I only need the crown and the throne; let us move on to the next item on the agenda."
Rouge continues to oppose, but the crown prince, as always, triumphed. Rouge's face was filled with annoyance. He appears to have a strong desire to discuss this subject, but the crown prince is refusing to do so.
"The Aristrocats Party in the second prince's political group made a move. It indicates that the situation in the north was also dangerous, and the noblemen were requesting the Emperor's presence to hear their suggestions for this situation. It looks likely that they want to take this chance for the second prince." Rouge read the papers he was holding earlier while talking with the crown prince.
Damek's brow furrowed. "That's fine. Even if the second prince used this opportunity to brag, that's all. There's no point in wasting my time in that dick. Rouge, handle the rats. Seems like they added a new one. Now, Let's stop for today. This topics don't interest me," Damek said boredly.
Rouge, on the other hand, immediately stood up and said, "Your highness, I will visit you later on your chamber, but first I must deal with those rats that were bothering you, and then I will go on my endeavor now. Blessing and Glory upon the La Creburg Empire."
Rouge had already gone, but Damek had not. He had just closed his eyes since Rouge had left and hadn't said anything since. Elyse believes the crown prince is deep in thought.
"Elyse," Damek said as he opened his eyes and looked at Elyse.
Elyse was taken aback. Damek says Elyse's name in a cold tone that makes Elyse feel chilly.
"Yes, your royal highness?"
"Sit."
"Would you kindly pardon me?"
"Sit," Damek said, motioning to the chair Rouge had been sitting in earlier.
"Ohh... okay, your highness."
Elyse sat down slowly. She's still troubled as to why the crown prince wants her to sit in front of him. It was her first encounter with Damek in such a situation.
Damek just stared at her after Elyse sat for a few minutes.
"Your highness... do you have anything to say or ask?" Elyse broke the silence between them. She's starting to feel awkward as a result of the crown prince's intense stare.
"What?"
"I mean, you keep staring at me, your highness, so I assume you want to ask me a question."
"I'm not, but okay, I'll just say anything because you said so," Damek replied, hiding his slight embarrassment for a second.
'Agreeing with me must be hurt his pride. Lol.'
"You heard what I talked about with Rouge; do you think the lives of people you don't even know are important? I'm not aware why their lives are important."
Elyse's eyes and face were devoid of emotion. Even if she thought Damek couldn't recognize or feel emotions, she didn't give him a sympathetic or pity look. She simply responded to Damek's concern.
"Your highness, you are the crown prince. The one who will become Emperor someday. You needed people to rule the Empire. Yes, you must feel that the lives of the people you didn't know weren't important, but you don't need to feel any emotion towards their lives. You don't need to force yourself to learn emotions just to understand them. You just need to rule over them."
"I don't understand. They aren't important; they're just significants who have been given the opportunity to live in the Empire; I only want the crown and the throne, not the people."
"Let me tell you this, your highness. The people can move forward without an Empire, but the Empire can't move forward without its people. You must know that the people in the empire will be your people someday. In my opinion, I don't really care whether they die or not. It's not my problem to bear. But it's yours to bear."
"I mean, how can someone be an Emperor if that person can't even protect his people? That would be hilarious. Wouldn't you agree, your higness?"
Elyse gave a genuine smile. She is aware that Damek does not have a wide range of emotions. She doesn't have to be a hypocrite and pretend to be a good woman in front of the crown prince. But all she did was state the facts. She doesn't care if the people perish. She is responsible for her own life. If she can't be happy in her own life, how can she bear the lives of others? She may be self-centered, but she is never a hypocrite.
But it's a different story when it comes to the crown prince. The crown prince is Damek. He should be able to protect his people because that is how an Emperor should think and act. Elys doesn't know why Damek was obsessed with the throne, but she wanted to tell him how important the Emperor's position is. Everything she said is truly the case.
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