Chapter Forty Eight

For a moment I thought it was Theo, but then when I opened my eyes and saw who it was I couldn't believe it.

It was Erick, the royal boy that not so long ago seemed to want to kill me.

He slowly recovered himself and then raised from the floor. When he started coming towards me I quickly blocked my face with my arms as a reflection, wishing it wouldn't hurt too much. But then I was surprised when Erick calmly said.

"Are you alright?"

Taking my arms out of my face I got even more surprised to see that Erick seemed not just calm, but he was offering me his hand. He even seemed like he was worried about me.

Unsure I held his hand and then he helped me to get up.

"I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" He asked, looking at me worried.

"N-N-No, I-I am sorry, it was all my fault." I said, bowing nervously.

Erick chuckled like he thought it was funny seeing me nervous. "I am alright, don't worry."

I raised my head and looked at him again surprised, he seemed to be a completely different person from earlier.

"If you are looking for a red-haired boy he went this way." Erick said, pointing to the other way of the corridor.

"Thank you..." I said, still surprised by his friendly behavior.

Then I noticed a book on the floor.

"Is that yours?" I asked, taking the book from the floor and giving it to him.

"Yes, thank you." He thanked, smiling, holding his book.

"It's good." I said without thinking.

"What?" Erick asked, confused.

"T-This book is pretty good." I said, embarrassed, noticing I said that out loud.

He looked at me surprised.

"Have you read it? This is one of my favorite books." Erick said with a genuine smile on his face.

"...Yes, I did." I said, uneasy, still confused by his behavior.

"Have you read any other book from this author? Though this one is the best, his other books are pretty good too." He said, excited.

"I… I think I only have read this one." I said.

Erick seemed disappointed. "I see."

"A-Anyway, I will take my leave now. And, again, I'm really sorry." I said, bowing again.

"It's alright, I hope we meet again, then." He said smiling.

I just nodded, and I quickly left before he changed his mind.

'And I hope we never see each other ever again.' I thought, nervous.

"What is wrong with this boy?" I whispered to myself.

'Did he hurt his head too hard this time or what?' I asked myself, confused.

He was arrogant, rude, and threatening earlier, and then now he acted totally the opposite like nothing happened, even though this time it was indeed my fault for bumping into him.

'I don't know why he was so nice to me this time, but from now on I really wish to not meet this boy again. I will not push my luck.' I thought, feeling relieved to not get in trouble this time.

***

I finally found Theo. He was at the end of a corridor, probably going to his dorm, though he wasn't running anymore, he still seemed wary, looking behind sometimes to make sure I wasn't around.

But of course, he wasn't seeing me, I was invisible following him.

Before he could reach the end of the corridor, I run towards him, taking him by surprise, holding his wrist.

"Why did you run away from me?" I asked, annoyed, becoming visible again.

"A-Alex?!" He shouted, surprised. "H-How did you even…?"

"It doesn't matter. Just tell me, why did you run away from me?" I asked again, but more seriously this time.

The biggest reason why I ran after him was that I couldn't stop myself from feeling uneasy knowing that Theo, the only person that knew my secret, is trying to distance himself from me.

'I know it's wrong but Theo is a person I can't let myself be on bad terms with.'

"I…" Theo said, nervous, looking around to ensure there was no one around. "Prince Noah ordered me to not get closer to you anymore."

"He did what?!" I shouted, surprised. "When did he tell you that?"

"Last night after he made you go back to your room." Theo explained, feeling guilty.

I sighed. 'I should have thought about that… Prince Noah seemed too suspicious last night when he ordered me to go to my bedroom just to leave Theo and him alone.'

"I am sorry, Alex, but I can't disobey a direct order I received from the prince." He said, bowing apologetically.

Before I could say something Theo turned around and left, and this time I didn't follow him.

'Why did this brat order Theo to stay away from me? I will make sure to confront Prince Noah about that later.' I thought, mad.

'Prince Noah…' I thought then, feeling like I had forgotten about something.

"I-I have to go back!" I realized.

'How long have I been away? Prince Noah must have finished his class by now!' I thought, nervous.

***

"Where were you?" Prince Noah asked, crossing his arms.

"I… I was just seeing a friend… Sorry." I said, panting after running as fast as I could all the way back to the training ground.

It seems that I have arrived just in time. Prince Noah had just finished his training.

Prince Noah stared at me frowning, he didn't seem glad to hear that.

"A-Are you alright, Your Highness? You seem tired." I said, changing the topic.

"Yes… I am fine." He said, looking away.

Prince Noah was all sweaty and had an exhausted countenance, probably from his magic training and losing too much mana.

"Are you sure, Your Highness?" I asked, worried.

"Yes, I am." He said, walking away, probably uncomfortable with my questions.

"W-Where are you going, Your Highness?" I asked, following him.

"To my bedroom, where else?" Prince Noah said as if it was obvious.

I and the other maids followed Prince Noah all the way to his room. But different from the other maids I stayed in his bedroom while they were with him in his bathroom helping him with his bath.

'In a time like this, I'm glad I wasn't born a real royal. I would never be used to people always following and being around me even when I'm taking a bath.' I thought, feeling uncomfortable by these thoughts.

I sighed, bored after waiting for Prince Noah for a while.

To kill the boredom I started looking around Prince Noah's bedroom. Besides the paintings and how luxurious his bedroom was, what called more my attention was his bookshelf.

I was surprised to see that most of his books were studying books.

'I can't think of Prince Noah studying in his free time, though.' I thought.

"Well, but he is a disciplined student, after all." I whispered to myself, remembering how disciplined Prince Noah was in his classes.

The few fictional books he had seemed to be action books.

'These ones I can picture Prince Noah reading.' I thought, playfully.

But then a book called my attention. It was a small book, but different from all the others on the bookshelf, this one was the only one that was in a pretty bad state.

I took this book, curious. It was all crumpled and partially burned too. It seemed to be some sort of a children's book.

'Was Prince Noah the one that did that?' I asked myself, looking at the burning parts. I could barely see the book title of how bad it was.

"What are you doing?" Someone suddenly asked behind me, surprising me.

It was Prince Noah, when he saw what I was holding his expression changed, he became serious and forcibly took the book from my hands.

"...What happened to this book, Your Highness?" I asked, curious, seeing how tense he seemed while staring at this book.

"It's none of your business." He said mad, putting the book back on the bookshelf.

"I am sorry, Your Highness." I said, feeling guilty noticing how important this book seemed to him.

Prince Noah kept staring intensely at the book until he looked at me, he seemed to be more calm.

"Sorry… for being rude, Alex." Prince Noah apologized, surprising me.

"No, it was my fault for messing with your things without your permission, Your Highness, and I am sorry." I apologized, hoping to reassure him.

Prince Noah looked away, lost in his own thoughts until he finally looked at me seeing to be more relaxed, and asked, changing the topic. "Do you want to have lunch with me here?"

"Here, in your bedroom? Why not in the dining room, as usual, Your Highness?" I asked, curious.

"There are… Some people I don't want to see for now." He said, uneasy.

I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but I decided to not do so. It wasn't needed too much to connect the dots.

'Those people he doesn't want to see must be members of the royalty.' I realized, remembering the guests that arrived for the ceremony.

Though I wanted to know why he didn't want to be with his relatives, I knew it wasn't the best time to question him about that.

"I see, it's fine by me, Your Highness."

***

It wasn't too long until Prince Noah's maids arrived with our food. We were seated at a small table on the balcony outside his room, and the view was amazing, you could see the vast royal garden from there.

'Why Prince Noah doesn't have all his meals here than in the dining room?' I asked myself.

Prince Noah used to be all alone in the dining room before I became his servant.

'The main dining room is so big, that seems empty even when both Prince Noah and I were there, how he used to feel being all alone there for so long?' I asked myself looking at Prince Noah.

'I wish I could ask him that, but since the thing with the book, Prince Noah's mood is not that good. He didn't say a word since that.' I thought.

"Your Highness, may I ask you something?" I asked.

"What?" Prince Noah asked looking at me for the first time since we sat together.

"Why did you order Theo to stay away from me, Your Highness?" I asked.

"Who?" Prince Noah asked confused.

"Theo the page boy you saw with me last night." I explained, annoyed.

'He doesn't even remember his name, does he?.' I realized, frustrated.

"Ah, that… Nicholas told me to not let that boy get closer to you. I didn't know you were actually friends." Prince Noah explained, seeming to be telling the truth.

'Why would Nicholas…?' I asked myself before realizing why.

'Nicholas noticed Theo's aggressive intention towards me when Theo thought I was a shapeshifter monster. Maybe that is why he said that to Prince Noah in the first place.' I thought.

"Can you tell Theo that he doesn't need to follow this order of yours anymore, Your Highness?" I asked.

"Why?" Prince Noah asked as if it wasn't necessary.

"If you don't my friend will keep avoiding me, Your Highness." I said, annoyed.

"Just tell him yourself." Prince Noah said without caring much.

"If I do I don't think he will believe me, Your Highness." I insisted.

'Theo seems pretty loyal to the royal family, even if I'm telling the truth I doubt he would truly believe me. The only way for Theo to believe is by hearing that from Prince Noah himself.' I thought.

Prince Noah stared at me annoyed as if he was still deciding what he would do. Then he sighed and said. "Alright… I will send him a letter later, then."

"Thank you, Your Highness." I said, feeling relieved.

Prince Noah shrugged indifferently, looking away.

"Is everything alright, Your Highness?" I asked noticing that he barely touched his food.

"I'm fine." He said, annoyed.

But it was obvious that he was lying, he had this pensive and serious attitude since his magic class.

"You were pretty amazing, Your Highness." I said, trying to cheer him up.

Prince Noah looked at me surprised. "What are you talking about?"

"Watching your training was amazing, Your Highness." I said, truly meaning it.

Each time he used his magic it didn't seem like it was a child like him that was doing that, but more like a powerful and giant dragon from a fiction spitting fire against its prey.

Though I was expecting to at least cheer him up a bit, it seemed like it had the opposite effect. Prince Noah was frowning and seemed annoyed.

"Huh." That was all he said, looking away.

'Did I say something wrong?' I asked myself.

"You seem to be pretty powerful, Your Highness." I said, trying again to cheer him up.

Prince Noah looked at me and then looked away. "You say that because you didn't see my brother training."

'Prince Dylan?' I thought. 'I've always heard how powerful Prince Dylan was, but I never saw him training even once.'

"Are all royal members like you, Your Highness?" I asked, curious.

Prince Noah looked at me confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You seem to have a lot of mana, is it the same for all royalty?" I asked, curious.

'I doubt if I could spend as much mana for so long and so many times as Prince Noah did in his training and still be fine as he is.' I thought.

Prince Noah seemed unsure when he said. "...I think so."

'If Prince Noah is that powerful, how powerful are the other royals, the princess, Prince Dylan, or even the King?' I asked myself, not just curious, but also feeling a bit nervous.

***

Not much after we finished our meal Prince Noah dispensed me, saying I had the afternoon free since he was going to rest. He just said that I should come to find him before sunset.

'As I thought, spending such an amount of mana must have made him exhausted.' I thought after leaving his room.

"What should I do now, though?" I asked myself.

As I always do whenever I have free time, I decided to go to the library. But this time it was because I wanted to find something there.

'The burned book on Prince Noah's bookshelf.' I thought, curious.

Though I didn't see the title, I doubt I couldn't find it in the library. 'There are not many children's books there so it won't be too hard to find if there is a copy there.'

That burned book and Prince Noah's behaviors toward it let me curious. Though I knew that reading this book wouldn't help much, I couldn't hold my curiosity.

'I want to learn more about Prince Noah.' I thought.

Though Prince Noah opened himself to me compared to how he acted around me before, I still don't know much about him.

'I promised I would pay him back. If we are gonna be friends, just staying around him is not enough, I should try to learn more about him too.' I thought, decided.

But then, on my way to the royal library, I was surprised to see Erick on the other side of the corridor.

'...Should I greet him?' I asked myself unsure.

A few meters away from me Erick stopped when he finally noticed me. He was frowning, and he seemed mad when he looked at me.

I could even read his lips saying. "You…"

'Maybe not.' I thought, nervous.

I quickly turned into a corridor between us that led to the royal library. But then I heard his steps getting closer, he was running.

"Where are you going?!" I heard the boy shouting.

'W-Why this boy is so weird?!' I asked myself, nervous, running away. 'I thought we were fine!'

"Why he is suddenly so mad at me all over again?!"

I quickly entered the royal library closing the door behind myself, thinking I could lose him becoming invisible.

"What is happening?" Someone suddenly asked, behind me.

"AHHHH!" I shouted surprised not believing what I saw.

It was Erick the one behind me.

"H-How is this even…" Before I could finish it, someone opened the door and shouted, worried.

"What is going on here?!"

It was also Erick.

"Two… Erick?"