The Crown and The Rose
Chapter 24: He Is Lying

Chapter 24: He Is Lying

The Crown

"I am sorry, my lord." I blink, my heart pounding against my heart like it is dancing for some reason.

"I said, you should come to my office to get a good night’s sleep." Vermilion rises from the bench and takes two steps away from me, "I don’t want you to lose your life in the festival just because you didn’t sleep properly. The festival is going to be more intense than you think it is. You won’t be able to sleep during the time the festival lasts."

And the festival will last for five days straight.

"So I want you to be at your best during the time and prove your worth to me." Vermilion casts a swift glance at me, his expression blank and as unreadable as forever, "I don’t want you to collapse, Your Highness." The last sentence is rather soft, and my heart leaps. "I will expect you in my room tonight, my prince," Vermilion concludes and starts to walk away, away from me, leaving me here alone with hundreds and thousands of haphazard thoughts swarming my mind. My breath stutters and the butterflies in my stomach are on a rampage.

Vermilion cares for me...?

And everything is silent. Not even a bird seems to be chirping and not even the wind seems to be flowing. Everything seems to have left me with Vermilion.

A sudden anticipation arises in my chest and I am about to let my soul body and mind drift away in the storm of the anticipation. But I quickly pick myself up.

I can’t be like this... I am a prince...

That’s right. I can’t let emotions guide me. I am scared. I am scared the Vermilion is changing me. I am scared that I will lose myself if I let go. I will turn into something that I never want to be. I will turn to something I can never never imagine. I am scared... that my heart will make a stupid mistake and I will get hurt.

I take in a deep breath, trying to calm down the desperate palpitation of my heart that seems to be consuming my hearing. I am trying to calm my racing thoughts that start with Vermilion and end with Vermilion. His eyes...his eyes are doing something to me that they shouldn’t do. My heart... my heart is relentlessly trying to break free from the restraints that my mind is binding it with whenever it hears the deep, cold voice of the demon lord. When it sees the perfect face of the cold lord. When his cold red eyes engulf it within them.

I shouldn’t be like this. I shouldn’t feel like this.

I shake my head, in a futile attempt to keep my mind clear. I start to slowly step out of the woods. The night is closing in but the students are still swarming in and out of the ground like ants. The curfew seems to have been lifted due to the festival. I whip my head around and squint trying to find two familiar faces but I see nothing.

Where did they go?

I stand on the edge of the woods for another few good minutes and try to make out the students who are practicing at a distance. My head is still filled with Vermilion is this, Vermilion is that, and blah blah.

I shake my head more violently this time. I need to clean my head. And something comes to view. There is an archery ground that can be seen in the distance. The whole grounds have been lit with bright cold mage light, so it’s not a problem to see objects set up in the distance.

Even though my family signet is blade or sword, for some reason I have always liked archery better and I am excellent in that sector. I languidly make my way to the long archery ground. A very few students are practicing here. I pick up a bow and arrow and position myself in front of a target.

I take in a deep breath and position the arrow on the bow. My eyes sharpen as I scan the distance, angle, and flow of the wind and pull my arrow. I let go and the sharp object pierces through the wind and lands on the bull’s eyes. A faint audible sound of slashing wind could be heard in the process.

I exhale and hear a clapping sound approaching me. "You are pretty good at it, Jonas." Peter smiles and approaches me.

"Oh, hey Peter." I smile back, my eyes narrowing briefly at his shoulder tassel where at least six silver badges are pinned. I wonder if Vermilion gave all of them to him just like he did to me. Irritation flares in my chest. "What’s up?" But I don’t let my smile flatter.

"Erick and Edward were looking for you over there." Peter looks over his shoulder in a certain direction, "Maybe you should go and meet up with them."

And something clicks in my mind. Why are they looking for me?

Erick was the one who told me the place to take a nap and if he is with Edward then they should know where I am. There is no reason that they look for me. The only two things they’d do is go into the woods and fish me out of wait outside the woods. There is no reason they’d be looking for. Peter is lying. But why?

"Oh, I see." I pick up another arrow from the case and place it on the thin wire off the bow. "If you are going that way then tell them that I am waiting for them here. Will you do that for me?" I turn my head in Peter’s direction and smile as I let go of the arrow which pierces my last one and hits the bull’s eyes.

Peter’s smile wane a little as he understands that I am not falling for his tricks. But he soon pulls his expression together and smiles sweetly again "Of course, I can do that."

"So Peter," I try to change the subject as I see that Peter is being wary of me. I can’t let that happen, "How did you get all these six badges? Did the lord give them to you himself?"

"What are you talking about?" Peter shrugs, "The lord is barely seen around here. He doesn’t even bother to give out badges. These were given by Seraphina. She is the only one in the entire school who has access to approach the lord except his servant Phillip. Seraphina is the lord’s sister after all."

A wave of unknown relief washes over me at Peter’s first part of the statement. But thunderstruck over my head and I froze on the spot at the last part of his statement. "S-Seraphina is the lord’s what?"

"His sister." Peter repeats, amazement glinting in his eyes, "Everyone in the council knows. Oh sorry, you are not in the council."

So this is why Seraphina wasn’t abducted...

Realization draws to me. And I am suddenly mad that the lord didn’t tell me an important such as this. Well, not his fault, I never asked him about the thing in the first place.

So this is the thing Phillip was trying to tell me the other day... maybe? But why didn’t he tell me about it last night when we were alone? Did the lord forbid him? Why?

Too many questions and no one to answer them. My brain is going to give up on me if this keeps up. Ugh.

And so this is the reason Seraphina is so desperate for her position. She is just like me...

She is desperately trying to prove herself to her brother. But I can’t be easy on her just because of that. I have a goal too.

"Oh." This is the only thing that I can get out of my throat through the clogged thoughts in my mind and conflicted feelings in my chest.

"Okay, then I will see you around." Peter smiles for the last time before disappearing out of my sight.

I let out a breath I didn’t know that I was holding in.

"Lush," Edward’s voice approaches from the, "We were worried when we didn’t see you in the woods."

"I was worried too, Your Highness," Erick says in a flirty tone.

"I was waiting for you outside the woods," I say as I put down the bow, "So you guys were looking for me?"

"No actually." Edward shakes his head, "I knew you would be here. You like archery."

I chuckle and am quite amused that my predicament is quite accurate about Peter. Seems like I have a new headache. "So are you guys done with the training?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Edward replies, "The dinner will be served let us head back."

"Okay." I nod and start to follow them.

Erick is as flirty and chatty as ever and Edward is quiet. Meanwhile, I am just trying to control the anticipation building in the pit of my stomach and making the butterflies in there go wild. I am really looking forward to spending the night with Vermilion but why does it sound so wrong...?