ROYAL DUTY

46. Traitor or Savior?

Hayes was confused.

But confusion wasn't all he felt. He was also nervous. He was terrified. And he was exhausted.

He looked around him, at the palace charged with festive energy. Servants moving around and preparing for the busy day ahead. It was just a few minutes into dawn, but they all moved as if they hadn't been woken up at midnight to prepare things for the engagement function.

He knew the absurdity of his thoughts. But, for just that one day, he wished he were a servant. A mere servant, whose only worry was putting the right ornament in the right place. He didn't want to be a prince; he didn't want to hurt his brother, nor did he want to break the heart of an innocent and sweet girl.

But even he knew that his wish was futile. This was his life. He had to live it. He had already done so for twenty-two years. He could do it for one more day and the days that followed.

He walked into the Imperial jewelry room and scanned the jewels with his eyes. But his mind was elsewhere. The nagging feeling he had been having since the meeting with Curran wouldn't leave him alone.

If anyone asked him, at any hour of the day, who was his favorite brother? Hayes wouldn't even think about it. It was Curran. Hands down.

Curran wasn't perfect, no. He could be cruel, Yes. But he was the most reliable brother he had. And Hayes liked him.

But that didn't mean Hayes agreed with the way Curran thought or acted.

Case in point: Curran thought they shared a mutual hatred for Tyren. A hatred well deserved, after all the painful and traumatic things they had endured at his hand, with no help from their parents.

With how Tyren treated them like animals than brothers, hatred was such a mild result.

But, if he was being totally honest about his feelings. That burning hatred he felt for Tyren had been slowly dissipating since the contest started. That is, since Natalia got into Tyren's life. Every time Hayes saw Tyren and Natalia happy and looking alive, he felt the anger and hatred make way for joy.

Of course, the moment he noticed it, he had sat down with himself and wondered.

Why am I not enraged?

My enemy's happiness is supposed to have me fuming, not happy.

After days of thinking, observing, debating, and reflecting. He realized that seeing his unfeeling, ruthless, cold, and calculative brother happy, gave him hope.

As it so happened, other than Hayes' inability to hold on to hate, he also believed in love. If Curran knew of his thoughts, he would have said that Hayes had listened to one too many fairytales. And maybe he would be right.

But, maybe, he would be wrong.

Hayes had long decided that, if there was a power that could change the hearts of the most wretched of men, he wanted to believe in it and then take part in it.

He honestly believed that the reason his family was made of unhappy, lonely, and angry people. Was because it was not built on love. Their parents were never in love. They didn't know it, nor had they ever experienced it. So, of course, their children couldn't love each other. Or love others.

You can't give something you don't have. And they had no love in them.

Shockingly, their brother had experienced a miracle—something he had long lost hope of seeing or experiencing. Tyren had fallen in love with Natalia.

Hayes had watched his brother change into a whole different person. He had seen Tyren grow a soul and develop a heart. He had seen Tyren capable of mercy, forgiveness, love, and happiness. Things he had long written off as possible for him and his family.