Drayce was having a quiet breakfast all by himself within the large dining hall of the Queen’s palace. His nanny, Lady Saira, was faithfully standing by his side, sighing to herself as she watched over the little prince eat as if he’s not tasting the food.
Ever since he returned to the palace, the prince had stopped speaking on his own, and he would only respond with short replies if asked for anything. If left unattended, he would merely stay in a daze inside the Queen’s study or the Queen’s chamber, or shut himself inside his own chamber while hugging his pet eagle. Even so, he would only listen to what his nanny or grandmother asked him to do.
Great Lady Theodora would normally join Drayce in his meals, but she had left the capital the previous day for some urgent matter related to the kingdom. In the absence of the King, her role as the Regent had to take priority over her role as a grandmother, and thus, Drayce was eating on his own today. Despite her reluctance, she left Drayce knowing his nanny and Lady Tyra would take good care of him.
“Your Highness, the Great Lady promised to return after a day or two. Till then, please make sure to eat well. Her Excellency would surely scold me if she finds out you’re not finishing your meals,” Lady Saira said.
Drayce’s reply was nothing but silence, though he continued to eat like an obedient child.
After his morning meal, Lady Saira offered to take him out to visit the lake so the little guy would feel a little better. Just as they stepped out of the Queen’s residence, Drayce’s sharp hearing caught the conversation of the passing servants whispering among themselves.
“His Majesty is back?”
“Yes, I saw his personal steed in the royal stables early today”
“I overheard from the guards that His Majesty returned last night.”
“Did he find the Queen?”
“Are you stupid? If he had, then Her Majesty would have been here.”
“What are you getting angry at me for? I’m just curious.”
“Me too. I wonder after searching for an entire month if His Majesty got any clue about her disappearance.”
Lady Saira looked at Drayce who abruptly stopped before riding his prepared carriage. “Your Highness, are you alright? Is something the matter?”
Drayce looked at his nanny. “Father. I want to go to Father.”
Lady Saira was aware that the King was back but she didn’t tell Drayce as she had heard the King had locked himself in his chamber the moment he returned. She felt it was not a good time for Drayce to go see his father.
“Your Highness, His Majesty has just returned from an expedition. He must be tired and still resting at the moment. This is not the right time to meet him,” Lady Saira tried to convince him.
Drayce didn’t listen and turned around to run towards the King’s residence. Lady Saira could only follow him in panic.
“Leia, inform Lady Tyra about the situation immediately. Hurry!” Lady Saira ordered the maidservant to follow them as she knew in the absence of the Great Lady, only Lady Tyra had the ability to control the little prince.
Drayce reentered the Queen’s palace and ran upstairs to cross the connecting hallway between the two residences.
“Your Highness, please calm down!” she begged but Drayce didn’t listen to her.
“Halt! You may not cross beyond this point!” one of the royal knights used his spear to block her way as soon as she was about to reach the other side of the hallway.
Though Lady Saira wanted to continue following the prince, she had to stop as she was not allowed to cross that side of the residence.
“Let me be quick. I need to bring His Highness back. I will be punished if the Second Prince disturbs the King’s rest.” Lady Saira didn’t care about the punishment, but she had no choice but to use that excuse. She didn’t know how the King would react seeing Drayce when he himself must be in a terrible mood. She needed to stop the Second Prince from meeting him.
“Only the royal family are allowed to come to this side uninvited.”
“Let me stop the Second Prince, please,” she begged.
“His Majesty is not here so the Second Prince will not be able to meet him,” the knight replied. “Just wait here till the Second Prince returns.”
“The King is not here…” Lady Saira mumbled in relief. “Then let me take His Highness back. I request you.”
“You will be punished for this,” the knight warned her, despite knowing her situation.
“I don’t mind, but please let me get His Highness back,” she requested once more.
The knight allowed her and thoughtfully gave her the direction of the King’s chamber where they guessed Drayce must be headed.
“Father!” the little prince called out as he entered the King’s chamber. He looked around but there was no one in that empty bedchamber.
Lady Saira caught up to him but dared not step past the doorway. “Your Highness, your father is not here. Please come back to the Queen’s palace.”
With a sad face, he looked at her. “Where is he? I want to see Father.”
“I am not sure, but I’ll have the servants ask around. For now, let’s go back.”
With great reluctance, Drayce nodded and stepped out of his father’s chamber. As they walked back towards the connecting hallway, he stopped in front of the royal knight guarding it.
“Sir Knight, do you know where my father is?” Drayce asked him.
“His Majesty has gone to the Grand Palace, Second Prince,” the knight replied promptly.
“I am going to meet Father,” Drayce told Lady Saira.
His nanny, of course, couldn’t let that happen. “Your Highness, we can—”
Swoosh!
The knight and his nanny felt a strong gust of wind hit them, and when they opened their eyes, they found that Drayce had disappeared in thin air.
Lady Saira panicked. She knew Drayce must have gone to the Grand Palace using his powers. Without even explaining anything to the bewildered knight, she crossed towards the other side of the connecting hallway and hurried to ride the carriage still waiting outside the Queen’s residence.
“To the Grand Palace. Fast!” she instructed the coachman with a face of distress, causing the man to obey without questions. How she wished she too could disappear like the prince and catch up to him whenever he pulled a stunt like this. Sometimes, being a powerless human made her feel helpless when she had to handle the prince who was extraordinary. It was an exhausting affair, but she was someone who didn’t want to let down the trust the Queen placed on her.
Drayce appeared out of thin air and landed at the large lawn outside the front entrance of the Grand Palace, and his sudden appearance startled the royal servants and guards around.
“What the—”
“Who goes there—”
“That boy with the black hair, isn’t that the Second Prince?”
His mother had instructed him to not display his powers in front of others, and aside from the few trusted retainers of the King, only the servants within the Queen’s residence were aware of the special abilities of the prince.
This time, the little boy had momentarily forgotten his mother’s words as all he wanted was to see his father. He wanted to ask if he found Esther and brought her back. Even if his father had yet to do so, in his young mind, maybe if they would go beg her together, his mother would listen to them.
Due to the shock of witnessing Drayce’s powers, the guards did not question or stop him from going towards the entrance of the building. In fact, the people near the path he’s taking were slowly backing away from him as if they were staring at a dangerous monster.
Only after he passed by them did the people let out sighs of relief. Some of the servants even discovered their knees trembling, while the others found the strength to run away, either in disbelief or to spread the news around. Others gossiped among themselves.
“So the rumours were true. The Second Prince truly wields powers.”
“Is that sorcery? Witchcraft?”
“I thought my eyes were playing tricks. I can’t believe it’s real.”
“Why are you so shocked? Isn’t he blessed by the Black Dragon?”
“Yes, I did hear he had even caused earthquakes and fire.”
“No wonder last time, the young masters of the noble families claimed that he’s a monster.”
“I’m getting goosebumps just seeing him appear all of the sudden like a ghost. Imagine how scary it must have been to those poor kids. I heard that he’ll hurt you if you make him upset.”
“I wonder if the Queen’s disappearance had something to do with the Second Prince. For a woman to raise a boy who could kill you if you make him upset, she must have spent the last few years in terror. Maybe it’s because she could no longer bear it that her son is a monster that she ran away on her own?”
“She must feel guilty for giving birth to a monster.”
“Guilty? Are you a new servant? Do you think the apple falls far from the tree? There were rumours about the Queen that she is a witch who enchanted the King.”
“I heard that too. The Queen must truly be a witch to have given birth to such a scary freak.”
“Hush, let’s not talk about this any more unless you want to be beheaded by the royal family.”
“It’s not like anyone can hear us…”
But in fact, someone could.
Drayce, who was walking towards the entrance of the building, could hear the low murmurs of the people talking behind his back. As he walked on the stone path surrounded by the green lawn on both sides, each of his footsteps seemed to feel heavier with each accusation and hurtful words from those brazen servants.
Drayce wanted to turn around, to scold them for disrespecting his mother, but he swallowed his anger and walked ahead until he reached the two royal guards standing by the main entrance of the Grand Palace.
The men bowed before him.
“Greetings, Your Highness the Second Prince. May I ask what brings you here?” one of them asked.
“I want to meet Father,” he informed them. “Is he in the throne hall?”
“His Majesty had left for his office a while ago,” the guard replied.
Drayce was disappointed, but he cheered himself up with the thought that at least his father had returned to the palace.
“Should I have someone escort you to his office, Your Highness?” the guard asked carefully.
“No need. I know my way.”
His father’s office was not far, just on the other side of the throne hall. This time, he didn’t use his powers to teleport and simply walked, somewhat feeling embarrassed and troubled since he recalled Esther’s warning about him using his powers in front of others.
On the way to the King’s office, he once again felt eyes on him. It wasn’t just the royal servants. The gazes of the members of the royal court, the guests who came to seek an audience with the King, and even the low-ranking palace officials were on his small body.
“Why is there a child walking by himself in the palace?”
“Don’t you recognize him? That’s the Second Prince.”
“That boy with the black hair? Doesn’t the royal bloodline of the Ivanovs give their descendants brown hair and eyes?”
“Rumors say the Second Prince is not the King’s son.”
“He truly does not look like an Ivanov. Look at the portraits of the past kings in the hallway, none of them has red eyes and black hair.”
“Yes, you were from the countryside so you must have not heard, but years ago, there’s a rumour that the Queen betrayed the King, that’s why the King stayed away from her during her pregnancy with the prince. But the King loved the Queen so much and allowed her to stay.”
“How scandalous! She gave birth to someone else’s child.”
“It’s good that she’s gone. How dare she tarnish the royal family with a bastard?”
“Maybe she didn’t leave on her own. Perhaps she was thrown away by the King, and they’re just saying she left to save the reputation of the royal family?”
The little prince could no longer take it and he looked toward the group of gossiping guests in anger.
“Hmm? Is he looking at us?”
“He looks angry. Hah, would you look at those eyes? Is he going to hurt us?”
“Ssh! Lower your voice! We’re still in the palace.”
“You’re being nonsensical. We’re so far from him. He couldn’t have heard us speaking about his scandalous mother.”
“I’m not talking about him. He is standing far away. There are servants around. What if they overhear us?”
“Pfft, so what? That little bastard’s mother is gone now. Maybe she’s dead. The new queen would probably be the King’s second wife, wouldn’t she? Lady Clarisa who has a noble background will probably do better as a queen than that lowly common-born woman.”
“Well, what can I say? The King’s first wife might be of lowly birth but she’s truly beautiful.”
“All she has is a pretty face, but she dared raise a bastard as a prince. Disgraceful shameless woman.”
Drayce gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. His red eyes turned into a deeper shade.
“Don’t say bad things about my mother!!!”
As he shouted those words, the ground underneath their feet started to shake. The pillars and walls of the building showed cracks, and the carpet and the decors caught fire.
“Aaaah! An earthquake!”
“Fire! Help! My clothes are burning!”
“Water! Someone bring water!”
“Stay away from the glass windows!”
This time, it was not a short earthquake but a strong one that managed to shake the foundation of the Grand Palace. The men who were talking bad about his mother, their clothes were put on the fire. The furniture and decorations around were not spared as well, as if he wished to destroy everything.
As the Grand Palace was the most important building in the entire royal palace, there was a huge uproar everywhere with panicked screams from the people.
