Chapter 6
I dreamt of myself sitting on the throne; I was from another point of view. The dream was more of a blur, but I only remembered some of the details from it. It was almost a nightmare. I was holding a golden staff that was topped with a lotus-shaped jewel that was inside a crown. Two guards stood on either side of the foot of the stairs that ascended my throne. There were lower castes in the Throne Room that made a line to tell me about their complaints. I had rejected all of them. I was a tyrant; I didn't care about their needs. All I wanted was power.
I awoke from a slight chill that passed through a crack in the bedroom windows. It was still dark out, but when I looked at the clock, it indicated that I only had four hours of sleep. I grabbed my robe on the rack and shrugged it on before heading outside the empty hallways. I walked aimlessly through the halls, the only light shining was the moonlight that was piercing the windows. The night made the Roman architecture look ancient, almost as if the palace was in a state of ruin.
A guard that was on duty outside of my door had escorted me to the back of the palace, where the courtyard shone under the gleaming moon. I walked along the wide paths, the bushes, shrubs, and perfectly trimmed hedges rustling in the night wind. It was peaceful out here. I could think without getting in trouble.
I was still unsure about this whole thing. So far, I've only learned about how to get around the mansion and some information and history about Allyria. That, to me, wasn't an accomplishment, and that thought made me feel like a failure. I guaranteed myself that people were spewing negative comments about me, saying that I'm unfit to sit on the throne and rule their country; horrible things like homophobic slurs and cruel jokes. If I was going to be King one day, then I'd have to try and push those thoughts aside. But my negative vibe about this whole scenario is just pulling towards a deep endless abyss of hopelessness.
I needed strength, but where do I start finding it?
When the day finally took over, Jack came to get me for the second day of touring. This time he was going to go over some details about what there is to do around the palace and what I should expect.
"There's an abundance of things that you'd need to know while living in the palace, and since you're blood of King Lawrence, you'll need to know that he loves to host parties."
"My dad was a party animal?" I said with raised brow.
"I wouldn't put it like that. It's not the type of parties where people go and get drunk; they're more social and formal."
"Sounds pretty boring," I said blatantly.
"Not at all! You'd get to meet a lot of people, make some new friends-"
"I don't really see myself making friends with people who have lots of money."
"Well, you'd have no choice. You have lots of money now so you can add that to your new list of advantages you can use whenever you feel like."
"Advantages? How do you mean?" I asked as I gazed upon a vintage tapestry hanging from the ceiling.
Jack sighed hopelessly. "You really have lots to learn. You can use money for starting charities, giving back to the people, start a good cause, that sort of stuff."
I thought about it. Maybe for those types of purposes, I guess having a lot of money that you could burn does have its upsides to it. I could even help Mom get out of her debt. Just thinking about her makes me homesick. I wonder what she's doing right now. She's probably at the table sorting out the bills and trying to balance the checkbook, something that I'd always help her with. I should call her later.
"Anyway, back to the party thing," Jack backtracked. "There are many things that happen towards the holiday seasons now that it's autumn. There's the Masquerade, the Snow Ball, the Queen's Birthday, the charity ball for the homeless and orphanages. There'll also be many other events that you're required to attend.
The Queen Regent, your grandmother, has planned to throw you a sort of 'Welcome to Allyria' ball and has invited some of the royals from all over. It might sound intimidating, but I've been to some of these things before and I think the only thing you'll be intimidated with is the food." I couldn't help but stifle a laugh at that. I imaged myself just keeping my eyes on the food instead of the people.
“But I think your eyes will avert away from the food for the night,” he says with a mischievous tone. I raise a brow.
“What, how come?” I question curiously.
“I believe General Haven has mentioned to you about the princes who are coming in from all over the world to meet you, and they have mentioned that they were very excited to see you in person.”
The thought about real princes coming, even wanting, to see me made my heart skip beats like one of those Euro trance beats. My knee buckles a bit and I almost tumble to the ground, but I pull myself up and compose myself as good as I could, combing my hair as I adjusted my shirt.
“Your Highness, are you alright?” Jack asked with much concern as he assisted me up.
“Y-yeah, I just… I’ve never had so many people wanting to come and see me. Back home, I was a nobody at school.”
From the way Jack was looking at me, I could see that he was sympathizing with me. “Well, now you are someone, a very important someone.”
I smiled softly at him as I nodded as I exhaled a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. We took a seat on another golden couch in a random corner of a hallway. “In all honesty, I’d feel nervous, too. But we will get you familiar with the princes before tomorrow night.”
“The ball is tomorrow night?!” I exclaimed as I jolted out from my seat. I combed my hair as I paced back and forth with anxiety. “But I don’t know what to wear. Oh, what if I mess things up? What if I make a fool out of myself? I’m not good at socializing so I’ll probably like faint or something. Do you even think they’ll like me? What if I accidentally spill punch on their really expensive outfits? Or worse, what if I accidentally knock over like a punch bowl or something or-“
“Your Highness!” Jack exclaimed as he grabbed a hold of my shoulders to steady me. I looked at him with a bit of worry. What if I do mess things up? I’ve never been around royalty before because so far, I’ve spent two days here in the palace and I still haven’t seen my grandma. She must be that busy. “Sir, you need to calm down. You won’t do anything stupid, I’m positive of it. Just be yourself.”
“That might not be a good option,” I retorted. Jack just rolled his eyes.
“Come on, we’re going to head over to the ballroom and I’ll show you what’s going to happen.”
Jack gestured me to follow him after a few minutes of recovering myself from that short episode. We crossed the hallways in the palace, turning two rights, making a sharp left, and going down a few more hallways before we came to two tall wooden doors that Jack mentioned it was an expensive and rare kind of wood from the outskirts of the Allyrian kingdom. When he opened it, I was amazed at the room’s size.
You could practically fit at least ten of my apartments in here and there would still be enough room for a few more guests. The room was tall and there was a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It almost looked like it was floating in midair or something, which made it look cool. There was a part of the room where the floor rose at least a foot from the ground.
“That’s where you’re going to be seated with the Queen. But I don’t think you’re going to be sitting in that chair all night. You have guests that would like to meet you so you’ll be on your feet the whole night. The princes will make sure of it.” Jack shot me a teasing wink and I nudged his arm as I rolled my eyes.
“Anyway, they’ll be setting up the tables of food near the walls since it’s obviously a ball and they’ll need the floor for dancing. Your feet are going to be killing you by the end of the night, so we should try and find something in your closet that will feel comfortable.”
“My closet?” I asked with a bit of confusion. “But I only brought some school clothes with me, and I’m sorry to say that they fall under the four digit price tag.”
“Not those clothes, sir, your new closet. It should be ready for you by the end of the day. We got a hold of your mother and asked her about the kinds of clothes you’d like to wear so she gave us a few selections. But they also added a mix of formality and royalty to them. You’ll probably be making lots and lots of appearances on the front covers of magazines. No teenage boy would ever have a closet that would come close to yours. You’d be envied.”
“I just hope the clothes don’t take away the real me.”
“I assure you they won’t. It was specifically arranged to accommodate your tastes and since you’re a Prince, they’ve also added a slice of that to your clothing to, you know, make you live up to your title, if I might add.”
Live up to my title? Sounded like I wouldn’t even have a choice. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d say that they planned to keep me here against my will or something. That’ll all reveal itself when I meet my new grandma.
When the day was finally over and it was time for me to retire, I skipped dinner and requested for my butlers to bring the dinner to my room since my legs were too worn out from the all day walking. I wonder if Grandma was getting worried since I didn’t show up to dinner for the second night in a row. She must’ve thought that I wasn’t too happy about this whole thing.
I’m still in shock about everything. Me being a prince, my real dad being alive and is apparently dead now, which means I could’ve known him. If Mom hadn’t hid me away from him my whole life, I would’ve at least been grateful to know that he didn’t abandon us just like that. I planned on calling her, but that thought just made me a bit angry with her again. I’m sure that the staff has informed her that I was alright. Instead, I dialed Mason.
It took three rings before he answered. “Vince!” He yelled in an excited tone.
“Hey, Mase. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to call you when I landed.”
“Dude, shut up. I mean, ahem, not a problem, your Majesty.” I couldn’t help but laugh. Mason always knew how to put me in a good mood.
“Shut up, man.”
“Anyway, tell me everything. What’s it like there? Is everyone arrogant? Are there people waiting on your every order?”
I told him everything, about Jack, about how the palace looked and how big it actually was, about how I didn’t get to see the Queen Regent yet, and somewhere in the mix, I told him about the princes that were coming to see me.
“Wait, there’s gay princes?” He asked curiously.
“That’s what I said!”
“Huh, I never knew that. Then again, there are a lot of monarchies now and sexual orientation doesn’t matter to people anymore. I’m excited for you, man. When does the thing go down?”
“You mean the Welcome Ball?”
“Yeah yeah, whatever you call it.”
“It’s tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night? Who parties on a Monday?”
I rolled my eyes with a chuckle. “It’s not like a party party, it’s more like a social event or something.”
“And you’re gonna meet all of them at once?”
“I guess so. And I don’t think I have any other choice but to meet them. It’s like the kingdom is trying to plan my relationship or something.”
“Well, I’m glad that after almost three days away, you still manage to sound the same. I don’t know what I’d do if you suddenly talk like a freaking politician or a King. I’d get so annoyed and slap you into yesteryear.”
I grinned at that. “Hey, don’t worry. I’ll try my best to stay myself. Maybe if they allow me the rights, I can have you come and visit me soon. There’s a freaking arcade with my name on it and I’m dying to show it to you.”
“No way! Ask them now!!!”
I laughed heartily at his excitement. “Dude, you just have to wait. There’s probably a whole lot of other things that they need to go over with me. So I hope I have some free time in between to ask them to invite you.”
“I’m looking forward to that, man.”
“Alright, so I’ll call you soon?”
“I’ll be waiting. I still can’t believe my best friend is a freaking Prince.”
“I’m still me!”
“I know, I know. Night, Vince.”
“Night, Mase.”
We ended the conversation at that. After I ate dinner, I retired early to bed and eventually fell asleep. I’m happy to say that I didn’t dream of a tyrant-me dictating Allyria with all my cruelness, and that was enough to give me a sound slumber.