Be My Princess

Just like Angel had predicted, as soon as the king left the palace for an undisclosed location, both princes became so occupied with the affairs of the kingdom that Kat's interactions with them had almost to be suspended for that period. Francis, however, had a lighter workload, so he could manage to see her even for a short amount of time on Fridays. But Angel, on the other hand, was nowhere in sight.

When he was not out of the palace, taking care of a certain matter, he was working in the king's office. In fact, Angel would leave the West Wing so early in the morning, come back so late at night all week long, and spend so much of his weekends time cooped up in his study that the number of time Kat had caught sights of him in the span of three weeks could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Most of them made possible by the Sunday family meals. From what Francis had told her, the king's workload was heavier than that of the crown prince; and Angel was trying to lighten it as much as possible before the king's return.

By the end of the third week, on Friday morning, Kat went to the stables and asked Joshua if she could take Alizés on a little excursion. Seeing that she was carrying her drawing case, the stableman assumed that she was going in search of something to sketch up and gladly agreed. If his assumption was indeed founded, it still wasn't quite on-spot because Kat was not going in search. Her target was already acquired… the glade.

That enchanting nest of harmony was something she could not miss to capture on paper. And though she could just recreate it on paper from her excellent visual memory without a need to go on-site, the fact that she was missing Angel was the main reason why she wanted to revisit the glade. At least it would make her feel as if she were once again standing there with him.

When Kat arrived at the Forest Palace, she brought the horse inside the garage then circled the cottage and follow the small path to the glade. The place still exuded the same peaceful and enchanting aura. She found an ideal spot under the shade of a mango tree, from which she had the best view of the entire landscape, and set herself down.

Halfway through her drawing, a muffled sound of footsteps attracted Kat's attention in the direction of the small path. But the person she saw was regrettably not who she hoped it could be.

"So this is the undisclosed location…?" She thought.

King Angel II walked up to the riverside and stood there a moment to contemplate the surrounding décor. Wishing not to be seen, Kat quietly assembled her stuff and slowly moved behind the tree. She was not sure whether the waterfall was also included in the restriction, but the Forest Palace was a place exclusive to the crown prince. If it were indeed the same with the glade, she would have no right to be there unless she had been invited by Angel.

From behind the tree, she assessed her escape route. But she could not leave discreetly because her only way back was by the small path that was unfortunately in the king's line of sight. In conclusion, she had to wait for the king to leave first.

"Your Majesty seems to have regained most of his health in so little time; the doctor's prescription is really efficient."

Kat froze. That voice! She took a peek… Lady Josephine was walking towards the king.

"I knew you would come here." Josephine continued. "What better than this place can re-energise you? A place full of so beautiful memories…"

"Those memories lost their beauty twenty years ago." The king replied without emotion.

Josephine chuckled. "So you say, Angel. Yet here you are; standing at the very place where we spent the best of our time."

Kat placed a hand on her mouth to stop herself from expressing her bafflement out loud. "Angel?! The best of our time…? Could it be…?"

"What brings you here, Lady Josephine?" The king asked, establishing a clear boundary between them. "I know you did not come all the way here just to reminisce a past long gone."

If she was taken aback by the king's cold retort, Josephine did not show it. "Did you really mean it when you talked about taking the crown away from your son?"

The king slightly frowned. "Why do you concern yourself with that?"

"Because your son is already set on a trajectory that will come to jeopardise the stability of the Throne with time. And I want to make sure that you will not be swayed by your emotions once again, and respond objectively if the situation calls for a change in the crown."

The king looked at Josephine with mist in his eyes. "The last time I let my emotions have the best of me, my brother died. Trust me, I've learnt my lesson."

"So you would not hesitate to give the crown to Prince Francis if needed?" Josephine asked, relentless.

The king stayed quiet; hesitant.

Josephine smiled. "I knew it. You haven't changed at all, Angel. Even though succumbing to the yearnings of our hearts had resulted in your brother dying and me being banished for 20 years, you still dare to let the calls of your heart take precedence over sound reasoning?"

"That's not true. And please, Lady Josephine, refrain from dropping the honorifics while talking to your king."

"Your son resembles you so much." Josephine implacably pursued. "Just like Your Majesty, his heart lies away from the woman you have chosen for him. And just like Your Majesty, he is letting his heart speak louder than reason… Your Majesty knows well that this can only lead to disaster."

"I will not let that happen!" The king exclaimed with determination. "I have learnt enough from my mistake to be able to stop my son from going down the same path."

"And what if you can't? I'm sure you too can see that Prince Francis shows more sensibleness at bearing the weight of the crown without the risk of him being swayed by the outbursts of his emotions."

The king frowned and looked at Josephine with suspicion. "So this is the real reason why you came here… to further your son's cause."

Josephine was gradually getting irritated by the king's stubbornness, but she still kept face and smiled. "I am here because I want to ensure that you are sensible enough to be able to make a rational drastic decision in order to stop your son if the situation ever calls for it. I just want to be sure that the sake of the kingdom takes precedence over anything else to you."

"The sake of the kingdom is of utmost importance to me. And so is Angel. That's why I will first try my best to help him not to walk down the wrong path as I did before making any drastic decision."

Josephine snorted. "Your majesty's judgment is so biased by sentiments that you come to disregard what is demanded of the heir to the throne."

The king slightly shook his head. "You are wrong, Lady Josephine. I know that Angel is capable of everything that is demanded of a crown prince that I won't just let his emotional temperament get the best of him. This is my duty as his father; because, before being the heir to the throne, he is my son."

"And what about your duty toward the son I gave you?!"

Eyes widened, Kat placed her hands on her open mouth again. From her hideout, she could see the king's expression of disbelief.

"What are you talking about? What son?"

Josephine also had a hand placed on her mouth and her eyes widened in feigned surprise. She had not intended to reveal her wild card that soon; but their discussion had just revealed how strong the king's resolve to help his son was. Therefore, she was hoping that her revelation would have the effect of shaking that resolve by making him realise that passing the crown onto Francis still means having a son taking the throne after him.

"Do you know me to have more than one son?"

The king shook his head repeatedly. "No… Impossible… I don't believe you!"

"Whether you believe me or not won't change the fact that Francis is your son as well… Your firstborn son at that… and in one way and the other, the rightful heir to the throne of Ruund."

The king was disconcerted at first, then his demeanour turned cold. "Is this what you have found to make me lean towards your son?" He asked in disgust.

Josephine's face was now distorted by a rictus of anger. "I can understand that this is a hard pill for you to swallow, but this doesn't give you the right to insult me. How low do you think of me to consider that I could make up something this grave just so I can further my son's cause? If you want proof, I still have the results of the DNA test your brother had had done after our affair was discovered."

The king's face turned ashen. "J… John knew?"

"As soon as he discovered how long we had been entertaining our affair, John arranged for DNA samples to be sent to a laboratory in Brussels under a fake name. And two days after he had brought the matter before the king, he confronted me with the test results…

That night, he left the West Wing very distraught, after asking me for a divorce. He told me that he would never let the family know about this; that Francis would always be his son; but in exchange, I would have to leave the palace no matter the king's ruling. Only, the next morning, his car was found at the bottom of the ravine…"

The king's voice was now almost a whisper. "Are you inferring that my brother did not take his own life?"

"It's true that he was not in his right mind on that night, but I can state without a doubt that he was not suicidal. The heavy rain had washed off all the tyre marks; so it was impossible to know for sure whether he had lost control of his vehicle or willingly driven off that cliff. The circumstances had just pushed Taatuku to conclude the latter, and there was no way for me to refute his hypothesis without revealing the real reason why my husband had left the palace that late at night."

A deafening buzzing sound filled the king's ears and his vision became a bit blurry. That was way too much information to process at once…

For twenty years he had been feeling guilty towards his brother and his nephew. One mistake from his part… one foolish decision to follow his heart's desire had been enough to lead his brother to death and deprive his nephew of both his father and what was rightfully his by birth: the crown. But the truth was even worse… More than his wife, he had even taken his son from his brother.

The hill where John had met his death had always been his escape hatch. Whenever he would need a break from life, he would always go up that hill; sometimes to scream out his frustration, and some other times to look for answers to complicated questions. The way up that hill was narrow and abrupt. Though one could take it in a car, it was still safer go by foot; especially on rainy days. Could it be that, in his distraught state, John had overlooked safety in his eagerness to reach his haven of peace…?

King Angel II rubbed his temples in an attempt to relax his throbbing nerves. "Why are you telling me all this now?" He asked after he had regained his countenance.

"This was not intentional," Josephine replied defensively. "I just got emotional and could control my mouth, so don't think that I'm expecting you to recognise Francis as your son. He is and will remain my late husband's son. Your nephew. Our mistake has caused enough damage already. And our mistake is enough of a lesson to make you understand that matters of the heart are very hard to deal with.

I do understand that you would want to do anything in your power in order to stop your son from jeopardising the Throne, but I want you to keep in mind the possibility that taking the crown away from him might be the only way to achieve that."

At that, Josephine turned and walked away, leaving the king to mull over her words.

Even long after the king had walked back to the cottage, Kat could still not get herself to leave her hideout. Prostrated behind the mango tree, she had great difficulty digesting the information she had been inadvertently fed… Francis was the older half-brother of Angel born from the affair between the king and the royal consort!

When she was finally able to reignite her power of concentration, Kat followed the path back to the cottage with staggering steps, then passed by the back of the building to reach the garage because she did not want to risk being seen of or bumping into the king if she were to pass by the front.

In the garage, Kat found Alizés quietly munching on hay; and for a moment, she envied the horse's serenity. How she preferred not to have stumbled upon such a heavy secret!

How was she supposed to behave in front of both princes from that moment on? She definitely could not say a word to one or the other. She had only accidentally acquired that information and was in no right to decide who should or should not know about it.

Kat pensively rode back to the palace, then walked to the corral after she had brought Alizés back to the stables. Tornado was clearly enjoying his daily moment under the sun, swiftly galloping then dandily trotting along the round fence of the corral. But as soon as Kat reached the fence, the horse immediately made a diametrical cut through the enclosure to get to her. She placed one hand on the horse's muzzle and presented him an apple with the other. She smiled and stroked along the horse's long face while it quietly munched on the apple.

Suddenly, Tornado made a movement back and neighed aggressively in a direction behind Kat. The young woman turned around and noticed Francis standing a few meters away, and holding up his hands in a way to show the horse that he was not stepping further towards them.

Kat smiled and looked back at the horse. Tornado was still holding a defensive stance. Kat handed him the other apple Joshua had given her then stroked his forehead.

"Don't worry; I got this." She said to the horse in a comforting tone. "You better take a few steps back if you don't want him to jump off the fence and come after you." She addressed Francis as she walked towards him.

"Can he really do that?" Francis asked disbelief.

"Better not try and find out," Kat replied with a chuckle. "But there must be a strong reason why Joshua always says that no one other than Crown Prince Angel and he can approach Tornado."

"That is because the fair maiden has been able to win over the most untameable heart in all Ruund in a way none of us can explain even now."

A Joshua carrying a toolbox walked up to them and bowed before Francis in a curtsey.

"Is that so?" Francis replied in an amused tone. "And is it the heart of the steed or its rider?"

The question was asked playfully but still held a genuine concern deep down.

"Francis!" Kat let out as she nudged his flank.

Joshua laughed at Kat's embarrassment. "I'm talking about the steed. But who knows… it might be both."

Kat looked at the stableman with a mix of disbelief and hope, her heart pounding faster and harder in her chest.

"I highly doubt that." She said in a tone that, fortunately, hid how moved she was by Joshua's statement.

"So do I!" Francis seconded.

Joshua smiled at the young people standing before him. He was mature and observant enough to be able to notice the budding love triangle that none of the three persons involved were able to see yet.

"Well, I will now take my leave. One of the corrals' fence needs repair." Joshua said with reverence before stepping away.

Kat turned to Francis. "Did you come here to ride?"

"Oh no. I was looking for you and the maids told me that you had gone for the stables in the morning." Francis eyes then fell on the large rectangular case. "Did you come here to draw Tornado?"

"Actually, I took Alizés on an excursion around the property in search of a beautiful landscape to sketch."

"You seem to have mastered horseback riding," Francis remarked.

"I wouldn't say that I've mastered it; but with so great teachers, I'm learning fast," Kat replied with a smile.

A smile that somehow made the prince uneasy. More than satisfaction, some sort of admiration could be read in it; and Francis had a strong hunch about whom that admiration could be directed to.

"And did you find that beautiful landscape?"

"Not today," Kat answered way too fast.

During her ride back, she had seriously worked at presenting a natural front so as not to raise suspicion. But practice was proving to be way more difficult than she had thought.

"Did something happen?" The prince asked with a frown.

"No. Why?"

Francis had the feeling that Kat was hiding something, but he did not have a way of discovering what it was if she did not want to talk about it.

"Just a feeling… Maybe I'm wrong. But since you couldn't find a beautiful landscape to draw, how about a handsome prince instead?" He proposed, holding up his chin between his thumb and index finger in the most selling pose he could possibly strike while repeatedly moving his eyebrows up and down.

Kat could not restrain the laughter that Francis immediately joined.

"You know you're going to have to pose for a long time without moving?" She said when she had stopped laughing.

"I don't mind."

They left the stables without noticing the horse still standing by the fence of the corral, who kept an aggressive eye on the male intruder until they had disappeared from his sight. When they reached the palace, Francis signalled a servant to get a chair and follow them as they roamed through the garden in search of a suitable spot.

"Find a pose you will be the most comfortable in," Kat advised as she sat on the chair and opened her case.

Francis took a look at the content. On one side, elastic braces were holding her sketchbooks; and on the other were elastic holders purposed for pencils, brushes, erasers, etc.

"You also paint?" He asked.

"Rarely. I prefer sketching."

"Do you use all these sketchbooks at the moment?"

"I do. The big A2 one is for the sketch album of landscapes I'm working on. I would like to have them exhibited in a gallery one day…. The A3 is the one I often use to do sketch portraits."

"What about this one?" Francis enquired as he picked up an A4 sketchbook.

Kat snatched the book from his hands so fast that Francis was slightly startled and looked at her with curiosity.

"Sorry about that." She said apologetically when she realised that she had been too brusque. "This is my visual diary, and it's private."

Francis raised his eyebrows. "Visual Diary?"

"It's much like a normal diary. This is where I draw all the memorable moments of my life." She explained.

"Do you draw them on the spot? I mean, how do you manage to capture those moments? Do you walk around with that book, just in case?"

Kat chuckled. "Of course not. I just have a very good visual memory."

"Whoa! That's impressive."

Kat smiled at the compliment. "Sit down, please. And take a pose you will be able to hold for at least an hour and a half."

"That much?!" Francis let out as he took place on the bench.

"Well, if you want it to be perfect, you will have to suffer a bit," Kat replied as she selected a pencil of light tone to start the rough outlines.