The Banished Prince

Almost a month had passed since Roland had last seen Prince Marc after he had sent him off from the back gate of the small town called Winchester Town. It wasn't that he didn't want to accompany the Prince himself, but the King had strictly forbidden everyone from following or aiding the Prince in any way for the rest of the journey till he reached the mysterious shop at the peak of the Green Valley.

Roland had been worried sick about the Prince's condition since then. After all, never once had Prince Marc venture anywhere without him by his Highness's side. Even more so than the fact the Prince had to journey alone, was that the place he was heading out to wasn't the 'fairest' of all the lands in the Albastrom Kingdom.

Though Prince Marc had gone touring to many places either old or new and had even marched onto several of the muddy and bloodied battlefields before, it had been because it was part of the Crown Prince's duties and obligations to the people within the Kingdom. Even then, every time by the end of the day, Roland and all the other servants had to painstakingly soothe the Prince's anger and distress at having to go through all that. Afterward, the next day, Roland will have to patiently coax the Prince to once again make an appearance in front of the people. 'For the Crown' he had always reminded Prince Marc. And now without it...

Suddenly, just as he was doing his routine pacing back and forth in front of the back gate, waiting for the Prince to appear, Roland finally saw someone coming down the road heading towards Winchester Town. He immediately got excited as he expected it to be Prince Marc. After all there was hardly anyone that will go up this road to travel beyond Winchester Town. Despite that, he had basically reacted to anyone that had walked down this road.

Journeying up this road, and beyond the Winchester Town will only lead to two other small villages, which will require several days of walking to reach each one. There were no other ways to travel to these villages other than walking. This was because these two villages had a strange tradition that forbade any form of transportation or even horses to come up this road up and to the villages, because of that there was no traveling merchant had ever gone this way. The villagers within these two villages were depending on their own resources to proceed with their daily life. Thus, definitely, only locals and travelers searching for who knew what will go this way.

However, the person who had come down the road right at this moment was definitely Prince Marc. He was looking all sulky and frustrated as if someone had just stolen away his freedom. Evidently, based on what the King had ordered him to do, it might as well have been.

"My Prince!" Roland shouted by way of greeting to Prince Marc.

"Let's go. I don't want to stay here for even a second longer than necessary," said Marc grumpily.

"Y-yes, of course. The horses are right this way," said Roland obediently as he led the Prince's way to their horses.

As soon as Marc mounted his horse, he pulled on the rein and galloped off towards the direction of the Kingdom's Capital. He didn't even bother to wait for Roland, his manservant, to get on his horse first before galloping off, thus surprising the poor man.

Marc's mind was full of his anger, frustration, sadness and so much despair. He had just sold himself to that darn woman.

Who did she think herself was, the goddess? Just because she had happened to be born with that pretty face and had all that richness. She had him, a high-born Prince, bowed down to her, a low-born pathetic shopkeeper! Was she the world's best merchant or something? Even if that was true, she was still a mere shopkeeper.

Marc had galloped off to how many miles before he suddenly pulled hard on his horse's rein, startling the horse to a sudden stop. He screamed out loud letting all of his accumulated emotions out. "Why? Why?! WHY?!"

He then got off his horse, started mumbling and pulling his hair out in frustration. When that wasn't enough to calm him down, he started kicking the pebbles he saw on the road. His horse was completely puzzled by his rider's crazy actions. Not wanting to accidentally become an unintended victim to this madman, it went off to the side of the road to rest its tired body after that sudden continuous galloping right from the start.

After a while, Roland who had been left behind just now finally managed to catch up.

"Prince!" When he saw the Prince at the middle of the road acting like a madman, he also stopped his own galloping horse and came down from it, with a face full of concern he asked, "Prince, are you alright?"

"Of course I'm not, you stupid dog! I had just sold myself! I had-" Without even finishing his sentence, Marc once again shouted in frustration.

In his head, the words the King had said to him, more than a month ago rang out:

"I don't care if you have to use every single charm you were born with, every word you could utter through that mouth, anything that you could think of using that godd*mn brain. I don't even care if you have to whore yourself. You either need to make her yours or you become hers. At the very least, if you can't do your job as the Crown Prince properly, then make yourself useful as a kept man. After all, everyone seemed to be well informed of how talented you are in that matter right?"

"Remember, this Marc. The moment, you left through that door to carry my bidding, I am officially stripping not only your title as the Crown Prince but also a Prince. You will no longer be part of the royal family of Albastrom Kingdom. You will only be my subject from henceforth, and as my subject, you will do as you're told or you will face the punishment deserved for a traitor by high treason."