31 Chapter 17: The Funeral
His tears fell like diamond stars, raining over the pitch-black coffin. When he laid the Chrysanthemum, the flowers of farewell, on the coffin, his tears had slowed to only rolling on his cheeks. And eventually, when Raven came over to him with a pale face, Prince Kyle had a dry and stoic face.
"The Queen… The mother of this country will now sleep." The King announced, his voice quiet yet it echoed across the garden and the few guests stopped to listen, "My dearly loved wife, had made wonderful memories with all of you here, unfortunately, she passed away too early."
Oh… this scene. The otome game had briefly mentioned this, however, I hadn't been paying attention and it momentarily caught me off my guard.
The adults sat together, sitting on the table, sharing bittersweet memories about The Queen.
"You should go there." Mother nodded her head towards Raven and Kyle, who both sat on the swaying blades of grass, staring into the distance.
I walked towards them, watching Raven pluck flowers from the ground. I sat beside Kyle, watching the butterfly flutter it's white wings across the field of blades of grass.
Prince Kyle especially loved his mother and even in the otome game, he was still upset whenever anyone mentioned his mother. I remembered a line from the heroine.
"I sure she's watching over you now." I sighed, watching my breath turn to white air in the cold temperature. "I'm sure she wants you to remember her, but I don't think she wants you to mourn for her forever, she'll probably want to watch you experience life."
I glanced at my arm, a long, grey scar from my elbow to my shoulder was imprinted. Over the months, I had been noticing it had been growing smaller by a fraction each month. I wonder…
"She's not going to be the only person you'll lose in your life." Raven stood up and extended his hand towards Kyle, "You know perfectly fine that you'll be losing someone else soon. Mother definitely won't want you doing nothing except mourn for the rest of your life."
"I suppose so." Kyle stood up and dusted the grass off his clothes and smiled wryly at me. "Let's go somewhere else."
***
"…You want us, still young children, to go up… there?" I squinted my eyes, trying to avoid the sun.
I stared at the top of the palace, where Raven was already leaping gracefully from trees, seeming to drift in the air, towards the roof of the palace.
"Relax, if you're scared you're going to fall, I'll wait down here to catch you." Kyle laughed softly, standing under the shade of a tree.
"…If I die, Raven's in charge of my grave, I don't trust you with preparing my coffin." I smirked, scaling the wall.
"Raven doesn't possess a fraction of fashion, I'm afraid your grave will be very ugly." Kyle scoffed, laughing as he dodged the pebble Raven threw at him.
"You horrible person!" Raven sulked, "Our country is doomed when you become King!"
I reached the top of the wall and swung my body on top of the rooftop where Raven lay there, peering over the edge of the roof.
From Kyle's fingertips, vibrant green light twisted around a tree, and the tree's branch pulled him effortlessly up the rooftop.
"If tomorrow was the end of the world, what would you do?" Kyle asked, the wind ruffling his honey brown hair.
The sunlight warmed my face as I looked at the sun, contemplating about my choices.
"I'd do fun things with my family and friends before saying goodbye." I replied after a few seconds of thought. "What about you?"
"Hmm, I'd probably spend the whole day preparing my family's graves." Kyle muttered.
"…How boring and exactly like you." Raven sighed, looking at Kyle with pitiful eyes.
"What would you do Raven?" I asked, turning to look at him.
"Haha, I wouldn't know." Raven laughed, "Aren't you guys too young to be thinking about these things?"
"I suppose so." I shrugged, "Then, what's your greatest fear?"
Raven paused, "…Butterflies."
***
Butterflies…
Why butterflies?
I also didn't understand why he wasn't included as one of the love interests, he clearly had the looks for it and he was Prince Kyle's brother.
I had only just arrived back home after attending the Queen's funeral and the manor was oddly quiet, as the boys had left for the Academy.
It was night, the sky was an inky black. As I blew out the candle in my room, an black moth fluttered it's wings against my window.
***
A few days later…
"No." I flung the blankets over my head, "No way, not a chance."
Raven tugged at the blankets while Kyle defeated the barrier of pillows I had made earlier.
"But you agreed!" Raven whined, doing tug of war with my blanket.
"I was obviously out of my mind!" I argued.
"I vividly remembering that you promised!" Kyle protected his head with his arms while I whacked him with my pillow.
"I don't remember whatsoever." I bluntly denied, sitting cross armed on my bed as the rest of my belongings were shoved onto the floor.
"I don't recall you having a memory loss." Kyle laughed.
"You can't break promises that easily!" Raven huffed, "You're only accompanying my brother to a simple ball."
"A ball where Sardonna's family will be hosting." I raised an eyebrow at Raven's guilty face.
"Well…" Raven's voice trailed off.
"You lost a bet against me; you're coming with us." Kyle grinned, "Or we'll just drag you there in a nightgown."
"Alright, alright, alright." I quickly replied, "Go outside, wait a few minutes."
***
"I hate you all." I declared.
"We know." Kyle and Raven replied with a smirk.
Finally, the carriage halted to a stop.
"We're here." Kyle smiled, opening the door.
We all stepped closer towards the mansion and music was already playing in the distance.
"Grit your teeth." Kyle advised, "We're going to be stuck here for a very, long time."
Great.
As soon as we stepped inside, people swarmed around the three of us, hoping to gain some advantages of knowing us.
After a while, we escaped the crowd and we headed towards Sardonna's family to thank them for inviting ud.
"Hello Ivory." Sardonna nodded at me, "It's too bad that my darling Luke isn't here."
"I'm afraid he's at an Academy." I smiled, bracing myself.
"Whatever…" Sardonnna sniffed, "Anyway, meet Emilia."
