Chapter 024: Why and Who

Elsewhere, Beatrice brought Arthur and her daughter to sit for a moment by the fountain in the Arbellion residence. Evelina, her daughter Beatrice, was busy running after the butterflies flying in the flower garden.

"May I know your name, madam?" Arthur asked politely.

Beatrice, who had been breaking out in cold sweat for a long time for fear of being near the royal family, immediately replied. "M-My name is Beatrice Valentina Arbellion, Your Highness the Prince."

Moments later, Beatrice immediately covered her mouth with her hand because she accidentally revealed the truth about her true identity that was supposed to be hidden from Arthur. Beatrice looked flustered now.

"What? To my knowledge, Count Arbellion only has a daughter named Beatrice." Arthur looked at Beatrice seriously without even blinking. "Are you the real Beatrice?"

"Yes uh no, Your Highness the Prince," replied Beatrice.

Arthur immediately smiled a little and started laughing. "Finally, I understand the joke that is often thrown by my mother."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" asked Beatrice with a confused face.

"Mother, often told me to imagine that she wasn't the real Beatrice but someone else in disguise. Even though I thought she was joking, it turned out to be real. Very unexpected."

"Then I want to know the real identity of my mother who is disguised as Beatrice. Can you tell the real Madam Beatrice? I hope you don't tell a single lie, madam," Arthur said with an intimidating smile.

"But I was forbidden by my parents to tell the truth. Besides, I will also be beaten by Her Majesty's Concubine," replied Beatrice, who was frightened again.

"I'll keep everything you say a secret. So only you and I know," Arthur said, trying to convince Beatrice.

"Okay. Actually her name is Esther. She's the best friend I've ever had. We've been friends since we were kids. Even though she's not noble," Beatrice explained.

"What? She's not noble? Then where did all that ingenuity and impeccable royal etiquette come from?" asked Arthur in surprise.

"I don't know either. Even though she's the s

daughter of a thief, she has intelligence and masters royal etiquette beyond me, who is a real noble's daughter," replied Beatrice.

Arthur started a monologue to himself "Daughter of a thief? Isn't that wrong?"

Esther suddenly appeared in front of Arthur just like that and broke the silence. "Hey! Don't think like that."

Arthur's attention immediately fell on Esther who was standing right in front of him. "I'm back. Let's go back to the palace together!"

Esther said with a sweet smile. Arthur just nodded and got up from there. The two of them immediately returned to the palace after going through a very long goodbye from Count Arbellion's family.

Throughout the journey, Arthur did not speak at all. He just stared at the view of the road that was passed by the horse-drawn carriage he was riding through the small window in the horse-drawn carriage.

Arriving at the Marigold palace, their return was already greeted by Prince Leon and Princess Ariana. Looks like they've been waiting there for a long time. Esther immediately got off her horse carriage and approached the pair of princes and princesses.

"Mother, you came home very late at night. Though I thought you'd be home in the afternoon," said Ariana, who was hugging Esther's arm.

"We've been waiting for you since this afternoon so we can eat with you, Mom," added Leon, who looked sulky.

Esther just chuckled a little at Leon's child-like behavior. "Come on, stop sulking. Come on, let's go inside and have dinner together! I'm already very hungry."

The four of them entered together into Marigold's palace. Esther immediately asked Helena to bring some dinner. After all the food was neatly arranged on the table, they all started eating together. After eating, Esther spent her time with Leon and Ariana.

In contrast to Arthur, who after finishing his meal went straight to his room with the excuse of wanting to study. Esther was even more surprised by Arthur's change in attitude. The plan, she wanted to talk to her only son. But she gave up and decided to have a serious talk with Arthur tomorrow.

The sky was getting very dark. Prince Leon and Princess Ariana decided to return to their palace. After their return, Esther immediately cleaned herself and changed clothes. All the muscles in her body were very weak.

She is also very tired now. Unfortunately, she couldn't sleep because she wasn't sleepy yet. Therefore, Esther chose to take a short walk in the garden of the Rose Palace, the garden belonging to the former Queen or Arthur's biological mother. It took a few minutes to walk from Marigold Palace all the way to the Rose Palace gardens. Esther, who was wearing a plain chemise dress, began to walk around the flower garden.

While walking around, she touched one by one the red Camellia petals that were there. Until she came to a bunch of roses. She observe the flower carefully then touched the petals gently. It felt like old memories with Caroline came back to life after being buried for so long.

When she wanted to walk further, Esther heard the sound of a large tree swinging some distance from her current position. Unlike ordinary women who would feel scared and choose to leave when they heard a voice like that. Esther even boldly walked closer to the swing to satisfy her curiosity. Esther was now close to the tree.

She saw a man who was taller than him sitting alone on the swing. Esther immediately approached the man and greeted him.

"Hello! Why are you here? Isn't this park only for the royal family to enter?" said Esther.

The man turned to Esther. "I just want to remember my best friend here."

Now Esther could clearly see the man's stature. A man with honey-yellow hair, black irises that seemed like the night sky, a stout and tall body, and a very handsome face. From his body shape, it seemed that the man was a knight. Wait! Why was that man's face so familiar to Esther?

"Esther? You're Esther, right? Why are you here and why is your hair turning brown?" said the man in amazement.

Esther was silent. She began to flash back het mind to remember this one man. Her mind was stuck with the memories of about ten years ago. Now she remembered who the man in front of him was.

"You are..."