Season 3 Young Royals (Version 1)

36. Dining Hall

August sat down at the end of the long dining hall and slowly began to eat. He had trouble swallowing and soon gave up on trying to get food down. He set his cutlery down and looked up for a moment to survey the others at the table. Vincent across from him, oblivious to anything but his conversation with Nils who was chatting animatedly about something that August couldn't be bothered to follow.

He looked down at the first years' end of the table. He saw Simon and Wilhelm next to each other on the opposite side to where he sat. He wasn't sure but they looked almost as tense as he felt. They were giving each other furtive looks and whispering to each other every once in a while.

He looked directly across the table from them and saw Alexander glancing in their direction, then dropping his eyes, then looking back at them. From the angle at which he was positioned, August couldn't see his facial expressions well but could guess that they were full of hatred. As they'd walked into the hall a moment ago, Alexander had met August's gaze before they sat down and given him that look of hatred.

August put his hands on the table on each side of his plate and began taking slow, deep breaths. He slowly and deliberately pushed himself up into a standing position and slid his chair back slightly to make room. He felt his ears start buzzing again, blocking out the conversation around him. He knocked on the table three times to get everyone's attention. He couldn't hear anything except the echoes of the sounds around him because of the buzzing in his ears. He hesitated, feeling as if he might faint at any moment, then gripped the table to hold himself up. He watched the faces turn to him, most giving him confused looks. Some were just curious.

His own voice sounded like an echo.
"I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm...the one that they can't trust. I've done something terrible. I'm...I'm the one that leaked the video last term."He looked directly at Simon, then at Wilhelm. "I'm sorry." He pushed his chair out of his way and walked toward the door. There was an immediate reaction of shocked whispers around the table. The housemaster Göran stood and called out to August to wait, then told the rest of the boys to calm down as the whispers turned into loud exclamations of disbelief and some claims that they knew it was August all along. He soon gave up and quickly disappeared out the side door.

Simon and Wilhelm looked at each other aghast. Simon mouthed to Wilhelm "What the fuck?"

Soon nearly all eyes turned to them and they both stood to leave. They hurried out the door at the end of the hall where August had exited the room and quickly made their way down the steps to get outside. They saw him walking ahead toward Forest Ridge house. Wilhelm called after August who turned his head slightly at the sound but continued to make his way to his room.

"What the hell is he doing?" Wilhelm looked to Simon who shrugged. They walked faster and managed to catch up to August just as he reached his door and opened it. He turned to look at them.

"Come in, I need to talk to you both." They looked at each other skeptically but approached the door as August walked into his room without insisting. Simon closed the door behind them.
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Göran hurried, as well as he could for an elderly man, to the headmistress' office.

"Rektorn! Rektorn!" He shouted as he saw her stepping out of her office, about to close the door behind her.

"What's wrong?!" She was startled to see him out of breath and shouting for her. She wasn't sure she could deal with much more upheaval after the events of the last few weeks. She'd expected that having the Crown Prince attending and boarding at her school would have increased their prestige and drawn attention to the school. However, the attention it had drawn was not the kind anyone wanted. She suspected it was again something to do with the Crown Prince...

Göran explained the scene in the dining hall and she told him to come into her office quickly while she phoned.

She spoke into the receiver "Yes, this is the headmistress at Hillerska boarding school. There's been an incident involving the Crown Prince and his cousin, August. I need to speak to Jan Olof or Her Majesty the Queen, please."

"Okej...varsågod och vänta ett ögonblick."
[Ok...please wait a moment]
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"This has to be quick. The police are on their way. I told Alexander our deal was off but he says he still wants to bring Simon down for the drugs. I told him Simon's dad's name wasn't actually on the pills they found, but I'm not sure if it is or not. I told him that so he wouldn't say anything. I don't know if it worked. He still looked fucking pissed in there, so probably not."

"What the fuck is this about, August? Why are you turning yourself in after everything you've done?" Wilhelm asked, actually indignant at the turn of events and the fact that Simon wouldn't be able to turn August in himself.

"I don't want anything to do with the Royal Family anymore. This way I can't be anyone's backup." He looked around nervously, concerned they'd never believe him.

"But why?? You live for this shit!"

August thought that he would probably never have a better chance to tell the complete truth as he literally had nothing to lose. He also thought that if he had to know this family secret Wilhelm may as well too. He hoped in fact that it might serve some purpose for him later but didn't know which.

"They abandoned my father and let him die of a drug addiction instead of helping him because it was more convenient for their image...the Queen let the Court do that even though she was in love with my father."

"I'm sorry, what??" Wilhelm scoffed in disbelief.

August's phone buzzed suddenly. He looked at the screen and saw it was Jan Olof calling. He picked it up quickly. Simon and Wilhelm were able to hear his voice shouting down the phone.

"August, what's going on there?!"

"I'm turning myself in. I told the Queen I don't want her fucking crown but she did't listen to me. Don't contact me anymore." He said all of it in a rapid-fire tone of voice and hung up without waiting for a response. The phone immediately began to buzz again and he turned it off.

"It looks like the headmistress called the Royal Court but not the police. Seems typical for them." He gave Wilhelm a knowing look, suggesting that neither would be surprised that the staff were beholden to the Crown before the law.

"W-what did you say about our parents?" Wilhelm was going through different stages of shock as he watched August.

"She told me that they were in love when I confronted her about abandoning my father. He might have even turned to drugs because they couldn't be together. But that I have no idea about."

Wilhelm stared silently into space with his mouth agape for a moment. Simon looked at him, concerned and shocked as well. Wilhelm thought back to a comment his mother had made about an unfortunate romance...He wondered if she had really equated being in love with a family member to him being in love with another boy...

August waited a moment then told them, "You probably shouldn't be here when the police arrive just in case it looks suspicious somehow."

Simon spoke up. "Right. Um...this is fucking crazy." He promptly gave up on trying to say anything helpful.

"Welcome to the Royal Family." August gave him an ironic smile then looked to Wilhelm. "Oh, and uh, sorry Wille, but it looks like you're up for Crown Prince again." He scoffed.