MY LOVER

"U-Uh... Greetings.." Ashleah did not know how to react, her eyes were just widened and when she moved her head to the other side, her mouth slowly went hanging open.

"Her Imperial Highness, Princess of Genry. Greetings!" Prince Enver who had a bright smile plastered on his face and gave her the flowers, Axis' eyes almost popped off because he did not expect that things would go this fast.

"May I ask why are you all here.. uhh,, in front of my room?" Her gaze landed on the bouquet of roses that the Prince was giving her. She sighed and just took it with an awkward smile on her face.

"Your Highness, we were here just to.." Axis wandered his eyes for a second and quickly finished his sentence "to ask you about t-the party! Yes, right?" Axis puts his hand on Nash's shoulder and widened his eyes, it was like he was giving the Duke signals.

Nash nodded his head "Mmm, yes we were here for that." He said, as his eyes quickly glanced at Prince Enver who was also looking at them. He was about to speak up once again but suddenly, the Prince spoke up a little earlier than him.

"Your highness, I wanted to talk to you personally. That is why I went here is it okay?" Ashleah looked at Axis and then on Nash, and finally her eyes landed on Prince Enver as she sighed deeply and nodded her head with a soft smile on her lips.

"Let's talk inside the garden, shall we?" Ashleah looked back and widened her eyes when she saw how the maids gave her cheeky smiles and for Nanny Riley, she just shrugged her shoulder and pursed her lips.

As they silently walked side by side, no one dared to even open their mouths. As soon as their feet landed on the grass, Prince Enver sarcastically chuckled at himself as he shook his head, his hands found its way to his face, as he groaned out in frustration making Ashleah crease her forehead and narrow her eyebrows.

"I am deeply sorry that I am acting like a child, but really to be honest-" Before finishing what he was going to say, the Prince took a very deep breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds "-I actually don't like her highness, I was just brought here by my Father, threatening me that something might happen to my lover."

She took a breath before smiling at him. "It is fine, please do tell your lover that I am deeply sorry, I can even go to your wedding-"

"It's not like we can get married, your highness." His eyes held depths of sadness making the Princess soften her look as she moved closer to him and sighed. "And, it is not like that society would accept us in anyway."

"Why? Is your lover a commoner? I can pull some strings for you-" Prince Enver and pitifully wiped the tears that were one by one dropping down his cheeks. Ashleah's eyes widened and quickly helped him wiping the tears away, yet they both failed miserably as it continued to fall down.

"Again, I am so sorry for crying like this in front of her highness." He chuckled to himself, even though they both knew that the pain he was feeling was more than that. "Can I tell you the secret why I cannot marry my lover?"

"If it's okay with Prince Enver, sure. I do think that I can think some solutions to your problem." She then gave her a warm smile that Prince Enver responded with a nod as his eyes looked up the blue sky as he smiled.

"I trust her highness this much to say this to her.. My lover.. is.." He stopped and took another deep breath before looking at Ashleah again and smiled softly. "My lover is a man, your highness."

This time, her eyes did not widened, she did not gasped, instead Ashleah smiled as a single tear escaped her eyes for she suddenly felt sad for both of them since this era does not support same sex marriage.

"I am kind of surprise that her highness did not seem like she was shocked, yet I felt the sadness in your smile as that single tear escaped your eyes. The man is a count at our kingdom, we first met at my coming of age ceremony." They were now sitting down on a bench, Prince Enver quickly faced her and giggled. "I really did not expect that I would fall for him, but guess what? I did and I do not have any regrets about it, yet the only regret was I cannot tell the whole world that I love him so much."

"I am extremely happy that Prince Enver has someone that can make him feel like that, and yes, I won't judge you because you love someone as the same gender as you. What is so wrong about it? You are just in love with another person, and it does not make you less like a human being, it does not make you less as a Crown Prince, we are just getting chained by these traditions that we should only love a man when you are a woman, and when you are a man you can only love a woman."

Prince Enver could not contain his emotions, he covered his face and finally the tears his been hiding for a few years poured down as he sobbed beside her. "W-Why? I was really scared of coming out to other people yet when you warmly smiled at me, I felt like I was at ease and that you would understand my situation no matter what."

"I do not judge people, Prince Enver for I am also a mere human being like them, everyone feels pain, everyone sometimes do things that are quite embarrassing, and many more. I cannot judge you just because you like a man, it's your life not mine, it makes you happy and that's what's important."

"Ha, how I wish that my Father told that to me too. I only received a slap that made me fall unto the ground and make me lips bleed, Nicolai received some beating too. Father told me that I was just confused with what I like, that this was just some kind of phase to me- to us." His voice cracked making Ashleah cover her mouth, for she was very shocked with what she heard.

"Once I become an Empress, I will quickly establish a rule that anyone can marry who they love, either a man or a woman, I am not making promises Prince Enver, I am going to do it." With her held high as she slowly caressed the back of the Prince, she was now more determined to become an empress and finish their mission quickly.

"Words cannot express the feelings that are juggling inside my mind and heart right now, can I hug her highness as a sign of my thankfulness?" Ashleah quickly nodded her head, Prince Enver softly hugged her and whispered thank you.

After a few hours, Ashleah sighed and puffed out some air as her maids hummed while fixing her hair and face. "Can you please stop humming like there was something good that happened to me?" She blurted out.

"My, your highness if you were here after you walked out with Prince Enver and saw how the Duke reacted-" The maid could not even finish what she was saying when another maid interrupted her from talking.

She wore a pinkish ball gown with a neckline of a v neck and slit sleeve, a waistline of basque waist. "If you are kind of confused with what happened, just look at that satisfied smile of our head maid, Riley." Another maid pointed.

"Our Princess looks so dazzling, does she not?" Nanny Riley squealed and smiled at her. "Duke Deoncan would probably be so surprised and head over heels to our Princess!"

"Stop it, it's not like the Duke likes me right?" She then looked at herself again in front of the mirror, meanwhile the maids looked at each other as they sighed and shook their heads.

"How can she not notice it?" Another maid said as she faced palm her self.

"Her highness is quite dense, I see."

"Everyone! Just finish this okay? I do not wish to be late at my Father's birthday celebration." They were like puppies as they pouted and nodded their heads, making Ashleah chuckle.

Meanwhile, Axis was still trying his best to cheer up his friend who still had this annoyed look on his face. Theo, Nash's butler chuckled as he puts the glass of juice in front of them. "Come on Nash! In a few hours we will celebrate his Majesty's birthday."

"I do not want to go to his Majesty's party anymore-"

"And you would probably surprised when rumors starts to spread around that Ashleah is finally engaged to the-"

"Theo, please do fix my outfit for tonight's party." Nash said before walking out, making Theo and Axis laugh.

"So you do know that Duke Deoncan has some kind of feelings to her highness?" Theo asked Axis, the man nodded his head and sighed. "I do think that they like each other secretly."

"I think so too, how long can they keep this up seriously?"