"Is Ellena here?" Gewen asked John.
The butler nodded. "Yes, my lord. Lady Ellena has been waiting for you two all day."
"Bring her to the study," said Mars to the butler. He walked briskly toward his father's study and got ready to meet Ellena.
Apparently, he could talk to the girl sooner than he expected. That worked too, he thought. Initially, he wanted to talk to other people first, like John, Mr. Vitas, his father, and then Roshan. Then, he would ask Ellena to come and speak to him.
It was important because Ellena seemed to meet Emmelyn before she died and had a conversation between them. He needed to know what the women were talking about.
Five minutes after he arrived at the king's study, John came with a servant bringing them tea. They served the tea in three cups and took their leave.
"Lady Ellena is coming," said John before he bowed down and closed the door behind him.
"Thank you, John." Mars nodded. He took the cup and sipped his tea while waiting for Ellena. He needed to calm down his heart after a long and tumultuous day. He wished John served him wine, but he was glad the butler didn't.
With his condition, Mars thought he might not stop drinking to release his stress and it wouldn't be good for him. Tea was better.
KNOCK
KNOCK
"That must be Ellena," said Gewen. Mars nodded.
"Come on in," said Mars calmly.
The door was opened from the outside and entered a beautiful woman wearing all-black attire. Her face was filled with grief.
Her appearance was disheveled from crying so much and she didn't even care to fix her hair. Ellena looked like a mess.
"Your Highness…" When she spoke, tears slowly dripped down her cheeks. She looked like she had been crying for days and there were tear marks on her face. "I came as soon as I knew you are back. I am very, very sorry for what happened to your mother. She was a wonderful woman. We all love her so much."
Mars looked up to see Ellena, and his heart was suddenly stirred again. Ellena looked broken. Seeing her in that state tugged his heartstrings.
Suddenly, all their problems in the past didn't seem to matter anymore. Yes, their friendship had ended months ago, but she was his best friend for two decades before that happened.
It was hard to get rid of such a deep connection after one big disagreement. And it was not like their friendship ended because one of them did bad things to each other. It ended because Ellena was in love with him, while he was in love with Emmelyn.
Mars knew Ellena had been in love with him since they were teenagers and she did whatever it took to win his heart.
Ellena even sacrificed years of her life to get his curse lifted, and she returned home thinking that she did… when the evil witch was actually only playing her.
Mars remembered Thessalis called Ellena stupid and gullible, thinking she did Mars a great favor by working for Thessalis for years to lift the curse that was cast on him when, in reality, it was Emmelyn who broke the curse. All Ellena's hard work meant nothing.
Ellena was open about her feelings for the prince. She honestly admitted that she did it out of love and she wanted to marry Mars.
However, Mars was already in love with another woman. So, after Ellena accepted defeat, both she and Mars knew it was better for them to go their separate ways and break off their friendship.
Mars was conflicting about doing it since Ellena had done so much for him. He didn't want to be seen as an ungrateful friend by tossing her away when he already had a woman to love.
So, all he could do was trying to stay away from Ellena. Finally, it was Ellena who decided to break off their friendship and freed him from having to do it himself.
Ellena went away far from the capital so they couldn't meet and slowly slipped away from each other's lives. But today… she returned to see him because she was grieving for his loss.
Ellena didn't think about their broken friendship. As soon as she knew that the prince had returned, she came to see him and shared his sorrow.
She knew how bad it was for him to lose the mother he loved deeply. That's why she set aside her pride and came anyway.
Seeing how much Ellena felt devastated for the queen's passing made Mars's heart soften.
Her tears also tore open the wounds in his heart that he thought he had soothed.
Mars had tried to stop thinking about his mother's death after mourning for her for the whole three weeks during his journey home, but now that was all he thought about.
"Ellena…" Mars was at a loss for words. Tears started streaming down his face again. "Thank you for coming."
"I am so, sorry this happened to you…" Ellena cried, "This is so unfair. You don't deserve this."
She came forward and naturally hugged the prince like she would her best friend in the past.
She then cried despondently on Mars's shoulder. Ellena looked so aggrieved and filled with sorrow. Her chest heaved up and down from her sobs.
Seeing Ellena sobbing uncontrollably, looking disheveled and so despondent, Mars didn't have the heart to push her away.
She was his friend long before he met Emmelyn and before Ellena broke off their friendship.
If this happened before Emmelyn entered his life, this wouldn't have felt inappropriate nor awkward because he and Ellena were best friends.
He would support her in bad times and be there for her, just like she would to him, because they were friends.
So, Ellena grieving for Queen Elara's death was reasonable. Not only was she close with Mars, but she was also close with the queen when they were younger. To her, losing the queen must feel like losing an aunt that she cared about.
