Be My Princess

Francis turned Kat's head to face him. His eyes fell on her full lips once again, and he felt as if he were pulled towards them by a magnetic force. But, halfway through his motion, he was interrupted by what resembled the sound of heavy poundings on the carpeted floor. As he redressed himself and started to turn in the direction of the source of the sound, a strong hand grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him away from the bed while a fist as hard as iron hit his jaw with a force that propelled his body against the wardrobe.

While Francis' unbalanced body heavily fell on the floor, Angel rushed to check on Kat. Grabbing her unconscious body by the shoulders, he briskly shook her.

"Changadim Kat! Changadim Kat…" He called worryingly.

Francis picked himself up and ragingly charge against his cousin. He grabbed Angel's shirt from the back and pulled him away from the bed, then took advantage of his cousin's temporary loss of balance to throw a first punch that landed on Angel's jaw.

Francis immediately threw a second punch but Angel, who had quickly regained his balance, raised his arm to block it. Angel, in turn, threw a second punch that Francis also managed to block, and for a short while, the two men grabbed and fended each other off like wrestlers.

Francis' sportive background had made him into a strong and very hard to subdue fighter. Angel, however, had learned various ways of breaking out of a stuck situation through his martial arts training. The crown prince suddenly stopped resisting, and the unexpected capitulation caused Francis to topple forward with all the force he had put in to fend his cousin off. Angel seized that opportunity to swiftly grab his cousin's arm and rotate on himself at the same time so as to perform a shoulder throw that sent Francis tumbling in the living room.

That time around, Angel did not give his cousin the opportunity to stand back up. He walked to the man trying to take support on his elbow, grabbed him by the collar and repeatedly punched him until he had ensured that Francis was no longer a threat. He then let go of his barely conscious cousin and went back to the bedroom where he carefully picked up the still unconscious Kat. He rushed past the living room without sparing his moaning cousin a single glance and took the young woman to the car he had left at the end of the paved path.

Kat remained unconscious during the entire ride back to the main palace. There, Angel found Peter waiting for him by the garage. The guard had seen him leaving in a hurry right after he had brought him back to the palace. And though maids had told him that it must have been because the crown prince had forgotten about his date with the maiden, an uneasy feeling had kept pressing on his chest and hadn't left until seeing Angel coming back with an unconscious Kat had confirmed to him that something wrong had indeed happened.

Peter motioned to help his master get the young woman out of the car, but Angel ordered him to go to the Forest Palace and check on Prince Francis instead. Though numerous questions were flooding his mind, the guard still obeyed and took the car while Angel carried Kat to the West Wing.

Surprise and worry were plastered on the maids' faces when Angel entered his apartment with Kat in his arms.

"Your Highness, is the maiden alright?" Jane asked as she rushed towards them.

"Yes, she is alright. Don't worry, she just fell asleep on our way back." Angel whispered in response, unwilling to alarm the maids.

Jane hesitated.

"We won't be needing you for the rest of the night; you can turn in." He added in a tone that suggested no argument.

All three maids curtseyed. But as Angel carried Kat up the stairs, Jane followed them with her eyes. Her mind was restless. The maiden did not seem to be just asleep… And the crown prince did seem to be worried about something. But even if he had not been truthful in his statement, she was in no position to argue…

"Wow! That's so romantic…"

Tiana's comment reminded Jane of her two subordinates' presence. She looked at them and caught them looking at Angel and Kat with envy.

"How I wish I were in her place right now…" Laure added with a sigh.

Jane rolled her eyes then smiled. Those two were really hopeless romantic…

What the maids could not notice from downstairs, though, was that Kat had started to regain consciousness while Angel was still climbing the stairs. By the time Angel entered her bedroom, Kat had her brows furrowed and fists clenched and seemed to be unconsciously battling to free herself from his hold. And when he was about to lay her on the bed, she suddenly opened her eyes.

Since she was still groggy from the inhalation of chloroform, and due to the resemblance between the two princes, Kat confused Angel for Francis and, panic-stricken, she closed back her eyes and started to feebly hit his chest while trying to pull away from his arms. And because Angel was already in a bent position, her brusque movements caused him to lose balance and topple forward. With quick reflexes, Angel placed a knee on the bed and let go of Kat in order to take support on his hands so as not to fall on her.

But having his body bent above Kat became an even bigger source of fright for the young woman who had reopened her eyes.

"No… let me go… let me go!" She feebly pleaded while trying to push him away.

"Changadim Kat, calm down… Changadim Kat…"

Seeing that the maiden was looking away, Angel took support on his elbows, took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. But as he did so, she closed her eyes again out of fright.

"Changadim Kat… Kat… Kat!"

At the last call, Angel's voice finally registered into Kat's brain. For a moment, she stopped battling then, slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Crown Prince…?"

"Yes. It's me…"

Tears immediately filled Kat's eyes. "I thought it was Prince Francis… He… he put something on my face… I tried to resist but…"

Angel wiped a rolling tear with his thumb. "I know… But you are safe now…" He replied caringly. "Look; we are back at the West Wing."

Kat looked around. As her mind gradually registered that she was in her bedroom, her expression relaxed bit by bit. When she looked back at the crown prince, they both finally realised how close they faces were from each other.

Angel cleared his throat and motioned to redress himself. "Do you need anything? I can…" He started.

But Kat quickly grabbed him by his shirt's sleeve to stop him. "Please, don't leave…"

Her terrified eyes and weak beseeching voice stirred in Angel a sudden urge to protect the woman he loved. So, despite his fear that she might rebuff him, he lied on the bed next to her and pulled her in his embrace.

"Fine… I won't go anywhere…" He whispered in a reassuring tone.

Kat clenched her fingers on his shirt and place her head against his chest. In the traumatic aftermath of her encounter with Francis, she could not even think about whether it was right or wrong for them to lie like that. All she needed was the security and strength only his warm embrace could provide in order to calm her agitated spirit.

Looking at the woman clinging unto him like she was afraid that someone would come in and take her away at any time, Angel could not stop his sore hands from balling into tight fists while he wondered how Francis could have dared to hurt such an innocent and pure woman. He could not even dare to imagine what would have happened if he had not made it to the Forest Palace soon enough to stop his cousin.

What exactly had happened to make Francis suddenly go berserk?

The oddity of his cousin's behaviour in the past week immediately came to his mind. Angel pondered the reasons for his sudden change until his train of thoughts was interrupted by the vibration of his phone.

It was his guard calling.

Angel looked at Kat. She seemed to have fallen asleep; so he took the call. "Yes, Pete."

"I am at the Forest Palace, Your Highness."

"How is he?" Angel asked sombrely.

"Prince Francis is not here," Peter answered in a weird tone.

The guard sounded hesitant; as if he did not want the crown prince to think that he was doubting his words.

"Do you have something to say?" He asked his guard.

"Your Highness, it doesn't seem like anything has happened here…"

Angel frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The place is clean and tidy. And the lights were off when I arrived. It doesn't even look like someone was here today…"

Angel did not give his guard any details but had simply mentioned that the prince was in need of medical assistance. So it was understandable that Peter might have questions he did not dare to ask.

But the crown prince did not want to discuss the matter at that moment. "All right, come back. We'll talk about this tomorrow." He ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness."

…

The slap resounded loudly in the quiet of the night…

Francis' lower lip trembled at the pain, but he remained silent, his head lowered. Josephine massaged her palm with her thumb to get rid of the tingling sensation, then clenched her fingers into a fist, feeling anger mixed with pain as red finger marks appeared on her son's already bruised face.

Right after Angel had left the Forest Palace with Kat, Francis had been surprised to see Andrew, his personal guard, rush to his side. The guard had helped him get back to the East Wing after ensuring that he was not severely injured and tended to the cut on his cheekbone. He had then gotten rid of all the compromising pieces of evidence he had collected while he was cleaning up the Forest Palace and waited until the royal consort had gotten back from the Central Palace so as to report to her what had happened.

"I warned you! I told you not to let your heart be swayed…" Josephine let out in frustration. "How could you fall in love with that commoner?"

"I'm sorry, Maaku…"

"Sorry?"

"I couldn't control it…" Francis added in a pained tone.

Josephine's expression softened at the sight of her son's anguish. How could she blame her son for falling in love while she knew too well how uncontrollable amorous feelings could be?

She stepped closer to her son and tenderly placed her palm against his cheek. "You're right, Mwaan-ikun. I can't blame you for that… Who can have control over that…? But how could you do something that irrational?"

Francis walked to his nightstand and retrieved something from the first drawer that he handed to his mother.

"What is it?" Josephine asked as she took what appeared to be a notepad from his hands.

"A sketchbook. It's her visual diary." Francis explained.

"Her? Changadim Kat?"

Francis nodded.

"How did you get your hands on it?" Josephine asked with a frown.

She really did not like it when her son took actions of his own without consulting with her first and wanted to make sure he had been careful enough.

But Francis avoided the question. "Just look at the content."

Josephine opened the sketchbook and, as she browsed through the pages, her eyes widened.

"I suppose you are coming to the same conclusion as I have." Francis let out when his mother looked back at him. "This is the reason why I did what I did. It might not have been the best of ideas, but it would have secured the maiden for me for good if only Angel had not shown up out of the blue…"

⁂

Angel had thought of staying with Kat only until she would fall asleep. But every time he tried to part from her, she held onto him as if unto a lifebuoy while murmuring in her sleep supplications that he stayed next to her. Hence, he ended up falling asleep in her bedroom.

The following day, Angel woke up a little after 4 am and immediately checked on Kat. Seeing that her expression was now more serene, he carefully retrieved his arms and left the bed. However, despite the fact that the maids could misunderstand his presence in the maiden's bedroom so early in the morning, he still decided to stay there until she would wake up because he didn't know in what state she would be in at that moment.

Kat slowly opened her eyes an hour later and was first startled to see the crown prince sitting in the armchair next to her bed. But as she wondered about the reason for his presence in her bedroom, all the memories of the night before flooded back in her mind.

Chasing away the scariest of them, she took support on one elbow to pull herself up. And, as soon as he noticed that she was up, Angel left the chair and came to sit at the edge of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" He asked when she had sat up.

"Honestly… I don't know."

Angel felt a twinge in his heart. Seeing the woman whose combativeness he loved so much be so fragile at that moment was stirring in him murderous intents towards his cousin.

"Take as much rest as you need, Changadim Kat. We will arrange to see the king…"

Kat quickly stretched her hand to touch Angel's arm. "Crown Prince Angel…" She hesitated a moment. "Can… can we not tell the king about all this?"

Angel's expression of care suddenly darkened. "Have you fallen in love with him?" He asked with a frown.

Surprise caused Kat to stare speechlessly at Angel for a moment. The crown prince misunderstood her lack of response and his expression turned even more sombre as he stood up.

"Even if you have fallen for him, you should not think of condoning what he has done?" He let out angrily. "Do you realise that, if I had not gotten to the Forest Palace on time, he would have…?"

"I know," Kat interjected, momentarily closing her eyes to chase the thought away from her mind. "I'm not about to condone what he has done… but I just don't want the matter to be known of everyone. Wouldn't this seriously affect the image of the royal family?" Kat advanced.

Angel raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "If this is what worries you, I can assure you that a case of the sort will never be known of anyone outside of the royal family circle."

Kat hesitated again. Letting the member of the royal family know – principally the king – was exactly what she was trying to avoid.

"Even so, I still think that it could seriously shake the royal family. Think about the king's health…"

"I cannot just let go of the matter." Angel declared implacably. "And the king is the only one who can make a ruling in such a case."

"I am asking you this as a favour, Crown Prince Angel…"

Angel frowned. "I can't believe that you are ready to defend him even after what he has done to you?"

"I am not defending him…"

Kat met Angel's eyes. The more she would try to convince him without revealing her real motive to him, the more he would misunderstand her.

"I really think the king should not hear about this matter…" She started hesitantly.

"Why?"

"…"

Kat was really unwilling to speak up. But Angel's eyes were showing unbreakable determination.

"I'll go talk to Maaku. This cannot wait until the king's full recovery…"

"Prince Francis is your brother!" Kat let out.

Angel stopped halfway to the door and looked back at her with raised eyebrows. "Indeed he is. So?"

Kat breathed in and out heavily to gather courage. "I don't mean brother in the African way*… Prince Francis is actually… your half-brother."

…

"Since I inadvertently stumbled upon that discovery, it's evident that I could not tell anyone about all this. Mwant Yav was so shocked when he learned that his nephew was actually his firstborn son that it seemed like he was about to collapse again. I just dread what could happen when he ears of what Prince Francis has done."

Angel kept looking at Kat without a word. He had a really hard time wrapping his mind around everything that he had just heard. He had been told that the late crown prince had died in an unfortunate car accident; so never even in his wildest imaginations would he have ever come to think that such an ugly truth was the root cause of his uncle's demise.

He suddenly stood up. He wanted to say something but felt so overwhelmed at that moment that it was as if his brain was receiving constant electric shocks. In the end, he walked out of her bedroom without uttering a single word.

Back in his bedroom, Angel sat on his bed, gripped by a fierce internal battle. At one level, he wished everything he had just heard was not true. But why would Kat make up such a story?

At another level, he thought of confronting his father for what he must have made his mother and the entire royal family go through. But what would he gain from doing that? It was all in the past and could not be changed.

And at yet another level, Angel was feeling that all of that should not stop them from confronting Francis on what he had done to Kat. But what if, as the maiden feared, bringing the matter before the king actually caused his father's health condition to worsen?

_____

*In Africa, cousins of any degree are often referred to and treated as siblings.