Trapped in his own guilt

Achilles saw that his words brought more tears to her eyes but there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't just lie to her and feed into her fantasy. He told her the honest truth and it made him feel good.

"I'm sorry princess but I can't go through with something I don't want to. I hope you understand." he turned to look at her. She was wiping her face. He felt so sorry for her. He didn't mean to her feelings at all. He stood in front of her. He reached out and wiped her tears with his thumb. She looked up at him with disbelief in her eyes.

"Please don't look surprised. I don't mean to hurt you at all. In fact, the last thing I want in my record books is to have made a beautiful princess cry." He said. This brought a slight smile to her face. He called her beautiful so many times already.

He smiled back. "It'd be great if we stayed friends." he added. She nodded, agreeing with what he said. "Sure. I'd love that." She said. Her tears had stopped at this time.

"How about a hug," he suggested. "For making thy beautiful shed beautiful tears." he tried to be humorous. She grinned and fell into his arms.

Oh how she wished she was hugging him as a lover and not a friend. She knew well that it was wishful thinking but she wanted it so bad.

Zale walked in on them in search of them.

"Achilles? Princess? Where are you-" He stopped dead in his tracks when he set eyes on them. Both Achilles and the princess turned around to look at Zale.

Zale raised his eye brows and smiled in surprise. Achilles knew that look all so well.

"Sorry for interrupting." he bowed and left.

Achilles suddenly called out. "Zale?" but he had long gone. He sighed and looked at princess Harmonia.

"Maybe we should get going." he said. "Yes of course." she agreed and they left. As they walked back to the ball room, Harmonia had a huge grin on her face. She had no reason to be smiling from ear to ear but she was. Her father and Achilles parents saw them and the only thing that came to mind was that everything went well.

They were finally back. They took a good amount of time so everything must have went well.

"Look, they're finally back." Achilles mom said. The parents smiled at their children.

"So how did it go?" King Azureus asked. Achilles looked at Harmonia before he said, "It went pretty well." His parents were surprised. They knew their son and he wouldn't lie just to make someone feel better so they concluded that it actually went well.

"Well we'll get going now." King Azureus announced. "Alright. Thank you for coming." King Cyrus, Achilles father said and with that they left. Before they walked out, Harmonia turned and waved Achilles with a smile. He had no choice but to wave back. After they had left, everyone else started to leave.

"Must've went well didn't it?" His father asked. Achilles hesitated a bit. "Yeah... you could say that." he said as he walked away. "That's not too convincing." he father complained. He turned about. "It went well." he said again. His father nodded his head.

Achilles headed up to his room to get changed and get some sleep. Zale was up there waiting for him. As soon as he entered, he saw Zale throwing him a look he recognized.

"What?" he asked him. "Mmmhm." "What's that?" he asked again. "You like her don't you?" Zale finally opened his mouth to say it. "Of course I do-" "I knew it." Zale cut through his words. "Hold up. I do like her but not that way. As a friend and that's it." Zale's expression suddenly changed.

"What!" he exclaimed. "I told you. I don't catch feelings, ever." Achilles made it clear. "So why were you hugging her like that?" Zale asked.

"Because I wanted to." "And why did you take so long?" "Also because I made her cry. I was trying to console her after I broke the news to her."

"You are so dumb you know that?" Zale yelled. Achilles cleared his throat and crossed his arms. He always did that whenever Zale insulted him.

"I'm sorry but you know it don't you?" "I don't know maybe." Achilles stayed nonchalant.

"Sometimes I wonder if you'll be a great king or not because you act so childish." Zale said. "I never act childish." Achilles counted. "Of course you do. A king wouldn't act like this. If a king saw a great opportunity, he'd take it without thinking twice but you, you only think about what you want." "What else am I supposed to think about, what others want?" Achilles asked. "You don't know what you're saying Zale. Now help me out of this." Achilles ordered. Zale shook his head and sighed.

He helped him out of his clothes and they both got ready for bed. "See you tomorrow." Zale said and left.

Laying on his back, Achilles stared at the ceiling.

"You did what's right ok. No need to feel guilty." He was feeling quiet guilty so he wanted to convince himself that he did the right thing. He did think she was beautiful but that was not the case. He just didn't want to go through with the marriage that you wasn't interested in. He continued to stare at the ceiling but sleep wasn't coming. He tried hard but he just couldn't fall asleep.

He stood up from his really large bed and went to his balcony. The moonlight was surprisingly bright tonight. He leaned on the metal railing and looked at the starry sky.

"You did the right thing Achilles. You shouldn't feel this way." He thought that it was because he was feeling guilty and that's why he couldn't sleep. He tried his convincing method again. He wasn't sure if it was working but he had to get it off his chest. All he was sure of was that he was trapped in his own guilt.