5 Chapter Four

The sound of birds chirping could not be heard. The forest could not feel the wind. The animals were leaving the forest. It was as if the god had abandoned that forest. The trees were all died by the poisonous air around the place. But there was a man siting on a broken wood near the waterless river in that same forest, admiring his work of disaster to the forest he was in. A creepy smile played on his lips. He was a mad man.

"How long do you intend to continue doing this?" A light came next to him.

"Until the day that person dies and I can get you for myself." The man replied. "I cannot see you nor hold you. I can only see a light and hear your voice. Why won't you show yourself to me?" Tears came rolling down his cheeks as he remembered their past together. "I want to see your face again, my love."

"You know you broke the taboo. You brought this to yourself." She was referring to the curse the man had. "And your curse brings destructions to the living things. I can't let you wander around the world anymore. I can't let you kill another more of my children."

But he's a wicked man. He would not stop at just her words. If he did, he would do it a hundred years ago. He then burst out of laughter because he knew he was unstoppable. The Gods or Goddesses could not stop him. The sound of his laugh made his old love irritated.

"If you can stop me, you should have done it right now. But you haven't been able to stop me for a hundred years. Are all Gods and Goddesses this weak that can't even handle one man?" He continued laughing. She was speechless. Indeed, she's a Goddess, but she was weak. "And you're saying about stopping me from hurting your children. We are not your children! You know that well." A certain figure of a mortal human being came into his mind. He smirked because he knew who that person was for the Goddess.

"Aahh, but you do have one. Your true child. Two years ago, that child should have died during the coup d' etat but you! you! you! you interfered. If you didn't, you would have been mine by now."

"Your love for me is no longer love, Yulis. What you have for me is obsession."

"Oh Metallia, you will be mine. Before, now and in the future."

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The crown prince could not sleep well that night. Not after what he did to the beautiful lady that he fell in love at first sight. He kissed her but then she cried in front of him. He could not forget her tears.

"Why did you do that?"

Her last words lingered in his mind. He knew he was wrong for kissing her on their first meet but to him it was unavoidable. He wanted her. He desired her. But Aria was so clear that she did not want to have anything with him. She reciprocated his kiss but she was not happy by his action. She ran away before he could explain his reason for the actions he did to her. He did chase after her but he lost her in the crowded ballroom. The ladies swarmed at him. He had no choice but to abandon his wish on searching for Aria.

He sighed thinking back of the last night's event. He was even irritated when he remembered Sir James' words about him as a mad man in love. He never thought he would be just like his knight's words. Love at first sight to a woman who probably hated him by now. "Ahhh!" He groaned while lying on his large bed. He did not have any mood to go for his training for the first time ever. He was a training freak and everyone knew that. That made people in the palace worried about him, especially the knights under his command that had endured his hellish training everyday.

knock! knock!

"I'm coming in, Noah." Sir James entered the room before Noah could even respond. "How you do?" Sir James smirked. He knew what happened last night. Some nobles saw them and spread the rumors around. Everyone in the palace knew about it already.

"That smirk of yours. I hate it." Noah guessed that Sir James already knew about his actions last night. "Don't you dare laugh at me."

But Sir James was not afraid of him. He laughed to his heart content. Noah just sat in his bed, silently done with his friend's behaviour. When Sir James realised his friend's irritated expression, he quickly stopped laughing.

"Jeez, you don't have to be that mad. You should be happy that you have found a girl you like." he teased, as he dragged a chair nearby to sit next to the crown prince who was still in bed.

"Unfortunately, she doesn't like me." Noah replied. Sir James was a bit surprised to hear that. A woman who did not like his handsomely friend who was also the crown prince and a knight commander. Every woman would love a man like that as their husband. When Noah saw his friend's reaction, he knew what was going on in his head. "Yes, I know it does not make a sense especially she is one of the candidates to become my queen."

"Maybe she likes the romantic type."

"I am not?" Noah questioned, as he glared at Sir James.

"You're a gentleman not a romantic person. You have not been with a woman before. That girl is the first person you kissed. Did you kiss her correctly?"

"Wha– I kissed her gently and correctly!" Noah did not like Sir James' words. He was so sure he was a romantic type. But when he heard Sir James' question about his kiss, he started to doubt about his own kiss. Was it done properly? Was it not? Was his bad kiss that made Aria ran away? Sir James then realised Noah's change in expression.

"See, you doubting yourself now."

Noah was speechless. It was as if he agreed with Sir James about his bad action. If he was really that bad at kissing, he would be too embarrassed when meeting the eldest daughter of House MacGregory later on. He felt like his head was about to be blown thinking about it.

"You're totally not the same confident man who fight your uncle two years ago. Where's your confident go now?"

Noah did not reply. He acknowledged that he had no confident when it came to love. Sir James sighed at the sight of his troubled friend.

"Noah, let's forget about it for a while. Your brothers are worried about you not coming to our daily morning training."

"Yeah, let's go."

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"It is nice to meet you again, Your Excellency." Count Baratheon greeted. He was the first person they met at the palace that afternoon. They — referred to Duke Graham and his eldest daughter, Aria MacGregory. They were there to meet King Alfred Van Roberski in regard to the rumor about last night's event. "I was busy last night that I could not come to last night's party." Count Baratheon continued.

"No wonder I couldn't see you last night, Count Baratheon." Duke Graham reached out his hand for a handshake. "Have you finished your meeting here, my friend?"

"Yes, I am just about to go to the royal garden before going back home." Count Baratheon was a wise man who loved the greens. He would always visit the royal garden before going back everytime he had a meeting in the palace.

Duke Graham knew his eldest daugther was not in a good mood since yesterday. He heard the rumor this morning and quite disappointed about his daughter's behaviour last night. She declined the crown prince's advance when she supposed to accept it. He had to go to the palace to have a talk about it, and Aria heard his plan and intended to follow him for a reason. She wanted to tell the king that she had no intention to be part of the royals and wanted to be Prince Noah's fiancée candidates. Of course, her father did not anything of her plan. But he had a feeling that her daughter would do a thing out of his expectations.

"Count Baratheon, can my daughter accompany you to the royal garden?" Aria's father did not want Aria to meet the king. He could not declined his daughter earlier when they were on their way to palace because Aria was too stubborn to follow him but he finally saw the opportunity to leave her for a moment.

"Father!" Aria whispered to her father, not to offend the count in front of her. She wanted to meet the king no matter what. If she could win against her father before arriving at the palace, then she could win now. But, the duke ignored her.

Count Baratheon was a bit surprised to hear the proposal. He took a glance at Aria to see her reaction, and he knew Aria was not happy by her father's plan. Aria needed to meet the king now. She did not want her father to talk nonsense about her relationship with Noah.

"I don't think that your daughter would like a talk with a boring old man like me, Your Excellency." the count politely tried to reject.

"My daughter will not be bored, I can assure you that. Besides, you also have your lovely daughter with you today. Your daughter can be her playmate." The duke actually saw the count's young daughter at a room they passed by before meeting the count. "I saw her waiting for you in a room nearby."

"She is just a ten years old child. Not as matured as your daughter."

"My daughter does not care about that."

"Father, I–"

"You will meet the count's daughter." His words were cold. It was an absolute order for her.

She could not lose her composure like last time. It would be rude to do that in front of the count. Her father knew that so he was already winning.

"I will meet your daughter, my lord." she bowed. She had already lost.

"Then, I left my daughter in your care, Count Baratheon." He said, before leaving them both.

"Let's go this way, my lady." Count Baratheon brought Aria to meet his daughter. The walk to the room was silent. It was a total awkward situation for the both of them. So, Count Baratheon tried to crack the awkwardness.

"I hope this is not a boring topic for you but my lady, do you know the legend behind the blessing that the royalties received?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know about that. Mind telling me more?" She tried not to offend the count.

"The royalties are said to be the descendants of our goddess. But something came up the last two years ago that not many people know about this." The count stopped walking. He looked back at Aria with a serious face, as if telling her that what he's going to say afther this was not some legend like what he told her earlier.

"It is said that the current crown prince, Prince Noah is the true child of our goddess, Metallia. Not her descendant but her own child."

End of Chapter Four