PROTECT ME OR PROTECT YOU?

"That's how it ended up being like this," King Gerold ended the story while taking his eyes off the pink-haired teenager. "You must know about the Moon God, but you don't know anything about the prophecy related to the Crown Princess, right? It's because I didn't let anyone in the palace talk about the prophecy. We told them that we didn't want to pressure you with that prophecy, and that's why they didn't dare talk about it at all."

Elennora only listened to his father's long story, and he couldn't even say anything and just listened intently.

When he thought about it again, the people in the palace had indeed never talked about the Moon God's prophecy. Sometimes, he heard how the palace maids gossiped about how they were waiting for the Crown Princess, but he didn't know the reason behind their enthusiastic attitude.

The palace was beautifully decorated for tomorrow's ceremony, and it showed how important the Crown Princess was to the kingdom. Elennora felt like laughing at himself.

He was not only a puppet, but he was a clown too. His existence was only to make his people laugh, but they didn't even know the feelings in his heart.

"That's also the reason why you restricted my movements outside the palace, Your Majesty? You didn't even allow me to attend the school like Princess Frederica, and that's because you didn't want me to know about all of this from outside the palace?" Elennora once again connected the dots.

This time, King Gerold couldn't answer and just stared at the table in front of him.

"But I still don't understand why you would lie to me. You told me that I was a girl since childhood, asked me to wear a dress every day, and also asked me to let my hair grow. Do you think you will be able to deceive me forever, Your Majesty?"

"..."

The pink-haired boy continued to press the King, and the King remained silent because he couldn't find a proper answer for his son.

He was the King of Grinia for many years, and he was able to handle any problem he faced. But now when trouble came to him in the form of his son, he knew that it was not the same as when he dealt with the problems of his people.

"Why are you acting like that towards your father, Elennora?" The King could not answer, and it was Queen Richenza who responded to the boy. "It's not that we lied to you for a bad purpose. We only want to protect this kingdom, and we want to protect you too!"

Unlike King Gerold who looked guilty for lying to his son, the Queen looked very angry instead. Glowering at the boy, her pair of brown eyes showed no guilt at all.

"You want to protect me?" Elennora turned to his mother. "Why do you have to protect me?"

"You still don't understand?" Queen Richenza replied again. "The Moon God's divination said that I was going to give birth to a baby girl eighteen years ago, but I gave birth to a baby boy instead. What do you think people would do if they found out the truth? Don't you think they want to kill you?"

Queen Richenza had always been strict with Elennora, and the boy was not surprised by his mother's current attitude.

His father had always told him that his mother was strict with him because she wanted the best for him, but now that he saw his mother's stern attitude even after he knew the truth, he couldn't help but think of other possibilities related to his mother.

"Weren't you the one who wanted to kill me because I'm a boy, Your Majesty? And I thought you only wanted to protect yourself by using me. You were afraid that people would punish you because you couldn't give them anything they wanted, no?" Elennora didn't feel pressured by his mother as he immediately countered the attack.

Queen Richenza gnashed her teeth upon hearing her son's counterattack. "You—"

"Enough."

The pink-haired queen couldn't finish her words because King Gerold suddenly let his voice escape thin lips.

"You're right, Elen," The King then turned to his son. "It was just because we were too scared to reveal the truth that we decided to lie. I was young then, and I didn't have many supporters in this palace. When we found out that we couldn't fulfill the Moon God's prophecy, I could only think of lying to you and our people. You're right that your mother and I just wanted to protect ourselves."

"Your Majesty!" The Queen looked at her husband in disbelief, but the husband did not waver as he continued to stare at his son.

The pair of blue eyes were filled with a hint of guilt, and Elennora could see that his father was sorry now.

Turning his head to the side, Elennora could no longer see his father's pair of eyes. "If you do feel guilty, then I hope you can reveal the truth to our people, Your Majesty," he said.

Elennora didn't even say that he was angry, nor did he say that he would not forgive his parents. Instead, he directly asked his parents to reveal the secret to the people in the kingdom.

"ELENNORA!" Queen Richenza was furious, but the King immediately held her hand to calm her down.

"We've come this far, Elennora. We can't reveal the truth to our people," King Gerold tried to reason with his son.

Elennora felt like laughing to himself again when she heard his parents keep calling him 'Elennora.' Years ago, he thought that she had such a beautiful name that he felt proud about it.

However, after learning the truth that his parents used that name to cover up his true identity, he felt disgusted by the name.

"Tomorrow is the ceremony to bestow the title of 'Crown Princess' to me, but I don't want to be the Crown Princess, Your Majesty."