The Royal Revenge
Chapter 101: Hold My Hand

Elys’ face was clearly in shock back then. She had just about stopped scanning through all the documents and organized her notes as she decided to go to bed. Her head swam with the prince’s parting words after he brought her dinner.

She wasn’t able to write down much, her concentration wandering towards the prince’s plead for her help.

"Should I just accept and help him fight?" she mused as she picked on her cold food.

A thunderous knock suddenly erupted outside her door, and the princess jolted with shock. Was it Cordelia? She never heard the maidservant knock that hard even when it was an emergency.

The princess walked towards her door and opened it, thinking it was probably something urgent that Cordelia had to talk to her about.

But to her surprise, the face that met her was not of an old lady with white hair and brown eyes. It was that of a pale face, dark raven hair, and cold silver eyes that stared back at her.

"Your highness?" the princess asked in shock. "What brought you here?"

The prince made a sudden movement, and with a swift movement, grabbed the princess’ hands. He pulled her closer to him and suddenly proclaimed, "I will prove to you my sincerity, Princess Elysianne. Help me get the crown, and I will give you your heart’s desires."

Elys was at a loss for words. She could feel the intensity of the prince’s words. His eyes burning with determination to get her to his side.

She must have gone crazy, but the princess suddenly found herself nodding in agreement to the prince.

Aleksander flashed his sharp canines as he smiled at the princess’ non-verbal response. It didn’t matter to him that the princess didn’t utter a word after, but her nod had been uplifting for him.

+++

The day came when the royal funeral was finally held. A grand procession had begun from the abbey towards the sacred burial site of the royal families, several hundred of people spectating the final moments of their monarchs.

Elys and Aleksander attended just as planned. Like the rest of the vampire nobilities, both of them had worn the traditional mourning clothes of red and black robes and laces.

Tradition mandated that only the face of the deceased was to be seen during a royal funeral, which deemed to be an advantage for the couple. It was far easier for them to hide in plain sight with men and women wearing masks and veils as a sign of respect to the late king and queen.

People gathered on the side of the streets to witness and bid the late crazy king and his wife farewell for the last time. Murmurs and gossips still spread out far and wide, some quite believable, while the rest were just utterly bizarre and macabre.

The church’s bells tolled until the procession reached the burial site. It was like a never-ending reminder that the king and queen were now gone.

Aleksander noticed Elys had been too quiet. He felt the stiffness of Elys’ movements beside him, which caused a bit of concern for him. Was she backing out of her word from last night?

He could still remember how his heart abnormally raced as he held the princess’ hand.

The prince leaned towards her and spoke to the princess softly.

"Wife, don’t be too tense," Aleksander whispered.

The two of them had stood quite a distance away from the open casket that displayed the prince’s father beside his queen. Aleksander’s hand reached out for Elys’, and the princess raised a brow at his little act.

"I don’t think this is necessary," Elys spoke but didn’t make much of a fuss with vampire nobilities and high-ranking officials of the kingdom all around them.

"Don’t worry," Aleksander responded as his eyes stared at the ongoing rituals held by the vampire priest. "This will definitely go as planned."

"I am not pertaining what we have discussed back at the manor, husband," the princess sighed. "I am saying that you holding my hand isn’t necessary."

"Why not?" the prince asked, "I want to be assured of your presence beside me."

The princess shook her head in disbelief. She still couldn’t find the reason why she had agreed to come in the first place. The prince and her had discussed her notes last night, and they arrived to the conclusion that the best time would be after the funeral.

All nobilities would gather in one place to discuss who the rightful heir was now that the royal bloodline was totally gone. The Farvar family were sure to nominate themselves, and not to mention other noble houses vying for the top at the world.

KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG

The church bells rang louder, signaling the lowering of the casket into the ground. Elys felt Aleksander’s hand squeezed hers, and she couldn’t help but speculate that the prince just wanted to be comforted.

"Don’t you want to say goodbye?" Elys teased the prince.

"I don’t have any feeling of regret," Aleksander replied instantly to Elys. "He wasn’t much of a father after all."

"Right," the princess raised a brow. "I don’t think you are entirely speaking the truth, but I’ll accept those words since it came from your own mouth."

Elys observed as the rituals slowly came to an end, the processional starting to return towards the palace.

"Come on," she tugged at the prince, "it is almost show time."

The bastard prince let out a huff of air, and the two of them promptly followed the processional back to the capital center. As they approached the palace by foot, the crowds that joined the processional thinned to only the nobilities, high-ranking officials, and palace knights.

Arriving at the palace, the prince and princess found themselves in the midst of nobilities from different prominent families. A presiding officer stood in the middle as he raised his voice for everyone to hear.

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