The Royal Scandal (editing)

Chapter 2 (edited)

Chapter 2 [He’s the Prince?]

I stood there quite dumbstruck.

My bike had just been stolen by a totally hot stranger.

As I started to break into a run for my bike, my arm was grabbed by a man in a black suit that had appeared out of nowhere.

Again, what the hell?

“I got the girl but the prince is gone.” He said to a walkie-talkie. There was a short buzzing sound before a voice issued from that thing.

Wait, did he say ’prince’? Or did I hear wrong?

“Vision of his majesty has been lost. Repeat, vision is lost. His majesty was last seen on a bike heading to exits.”

“Hey mister, what’s going on? Let me go, let me go.” I struggled, but the man in the suit kept a strong hold of me. It was nearly impossible to get loose. I could, of course, bite his hand, stomp his feet or kick him somewhere the sun didn’t shine… but Fay Lara wasn’t that type of girl. I didn’t approve of violence and I was not the kind who started it either. This man looked sane enough so he wouldn’t grab me without any apparent reason. Plus, with the black suit and the walkie-talkie he looked legit; must be the school security or something.

“Secure all exits.” The man that was grabbing me spoke to the device again. Not long after, there was a buzz, some huffing, like the men on the other line had been running. And then finally there was comprehensible sentence.

“Exit secured.”

Some more buzzing then another voice was issued, “Northern exit secured.”

“Eastern exit covered.” Wow, how many exits did this school have?

Then, the man who had his grasp on my arm spoke to the walkie-talkie again. “The weak spot near the botanical garden walkway, who got it covered?”

After a few seconds of silence, there was a buzz and a man reporting as Raven Six – what a weird name, wasn’t it? Who were they to use codenames anyway? – said that he had the ‘weak spot near the botanical garden’ secured.

It was totally bizarre but I found myself hooked. I wanted the black heavy- looking walkie-talkie to make that buzzing sound again. I wanted to hear what had happened. The ‘his majesty’ stuff was a part of the reason. Plus, I was sure the guys were talking about the handsome jerk who took my bike.

I wanted to know if he had crashed my old bike or fallen down and broken his perfect nose or something.

“Vision acquired, his majesty is heading toward the Northern exit.” Another lapse of silence followed the information. Then finally, “His majesty is secured.”

There were some other words of confirmation but I guessed the riveting manhunt was all over. The man loosened his grip on my hand and looked at me for the first time.

“What’s your name?” he asked, removing his dark shades at the same time.

“Fay Lara Addams.” I said firmly, looking back to meet his astonishing silvery grey eyes which stood out with his dark black hair. The man looked back at me and kind of smiled. As I continued to look at him, he didn’t look old at all. He looked like he was in his mid twenties. Barely out of college, or like he should have been.

“It’s nice to meet you, Fay. Now, if you will just behave and follow me, I’ll let go of your arm.”

“How is that deal weighed in my favor? I have to register myself and get to my first class!” I complained. “Plus, you haven’t even told me your name. I’ve told you mine.” I continued. The young man smiled, he seemed amused.

“Oh, so you’re new here. No wonder…” his voice trailed. “I’m Ryui.”

“Ryui? That’s a strange name.” he ts-ked me and I grinned apologetically.

“I’m half Japanese.” He explained, looking down at me. It just dawned on me how very tall he was; about six foot three?

“So, what about the deal huh? You follow and I’ll let go.”

I pretended to sigh heavily and nodded my surrender dramatically. Ryui chuckled and loosened his grip but he did not entirely let go.

“Hey, you said you’d let go!” I whined.

“You’ll run away once I let go.” He said as he put on his aviator sun glasses and marched forward with me dragged in tow. I found it was hard to keep up with Ryui with his long casual strides. But I thought that I had complained too much for a morning’s worth so I decided to just shut up and took longer steps. It was kind of hard though, seeing as I had no longs legs like he had. I stood at five foot one and was nicknamed pixie all my life.

“Where are we going anyway?” I asked, looking up at Ryui. He had his sunglass in place and I could not see his mesmerizing eyes anymore. Which was a shame really; those eyes should never be covered. They were too beautiful to be hidden.

Wait, I stopped myself. I should be worried about missing my first class and not be contemplating whether I should tell this young man to remove his dark shades. This new school was affecting me.

“We’re going to His Majesty’s lounge.” Ryui replied crisply.

“His majesty?” I repeated. Ryui looked down at me and nodded.

“I suppose you want your bike back, right? Let’s hope that it’s not damaged or something.”

“Wait, do you mean that his majesty was the one who took my bike?” Stupidly, I questioned. Ryui nodded again this time as he removed his dark shades and looked at me with mild amusement dancing in his eyes.

As far as I knew, the Royal Family of Claymore these days were in crisis of not having enough male heirs. The family tree of the Royal Family nowadays was mostly dominated by girls. The queen had birthed three daughters and a son. Three of the daughters, dictated by Claymore law, couldn’t claim the throne which could be passed down from father to son only. And currently there were only two people in the country addressed as ‘His Majesty’ and one of them was the King. And the other was…

The Crown Prince. The seventeen year old Crown Prince.

The crown prince was the stranger I had met earlier… the one who had also stolen my bike. The Crown Prince of Claymore stole my bike. Boy, wait till I told my friends about this!