Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

Chapter 81

"You're not going back there."

"But you said if the investigation finished, I could-"

"Wilhelm, you really thought you'd replace Anette and we'd just let you go back?"

He felt stupid and knew he should have realised they'd never let him, precisely because they wouldn't be able to control Wilhelm there anymore now that Boris was headmaster. 

"So you decided to trick me into going to this other place?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

The driver and Malin both glanced up nervously at Wilhelm in the rearview mirror as he spoke to his mother over the phone. Wilhelm noticed and lowered his voice.

"Does it even matter where you go, Wilhelm? Grennaskolan is the best option. It's an excellent school and I'm sure you'll be happy there."

Wilhelm knew it was pointless to argue with her.  He was thinking of Simon getting further and further behind him as he was driven through the countryside.  He thought about Linda and Sara too, and felt that he was leaving his actual family behind in Bjärstad.  

"You want me out of the way so you can back August as the Crown Prince once he's acquitted." He was surprised that he'd said it but she was silent for a moment and he knew he was right.  

"Wilhelm, it would do you good to get away from all this. You've been stressed and sick and you need to rest and get away from the press coverage and the public attention."

He felt more certain than ever that she hardly saw him as her son anymore.  She couldn't control him at Hillerska and she couldn't count on him not to jeopardize the family's image, and eventually their lineage, so she'd decided to discard him in the end.

There was nothing else he could say to her while in the car with Malin and the driver within earshot.  He didn't say goodbye or try to argue with her anymore.  He slowly flipped his phone closed and clutched it in his fist glancing out the window at the landscape as it flew by. 

He was tempted to speak to the driver again, but Malin was there in the passenger's seat and Wilhelm assumed that the driver probably wasn't allowed to change destinations or even listen to Wilhelm anyway.

He held his phone down below the seat so that it wasn't visible from the front and he pretended to continue watching the landscape. 

He discreetly flipped it open, trying not to look at the screen at all.  He made sure that his ringtone was off, found the contact he needed and then shared his location.

He sat and waited just a moment and then felt the phone buzz in his hand.  He quickly glanced down to read the message then waited a few minutes before he spoke to the driver and Malin.

"Um...I need a bathroom.  Can we pull over somewhere?"  He saw Malin glance over at the driver and the driver glance back.  He wondered if they would actually refuse him access to a toilet. He insisted, worried they might actually ignore him.  "I feel sick.  It's urgent."

"It'll be a few minutes, Kronprinsen.  There aren't many places to stop."

He could see Malin was right.  It was an expanse of green countryside and very few small buildings dotted between wooded areas and pastures.

Finally a small, wooden building with white painted walls and a red roof appeared ahead on the horizon.  It was a quaint, roadside restaurant and Wilhelm felt the car slow.  

He slipped his phone into his coat pocket as they parked and Malin walked around to open the door for him.

He stepped out of the car and wrapped his coat tighter around himself against the morning chill.  He touched the soft wool of his colorful scarf briefly before he hurried toward the front door.  Malin followed behind him.