Chapter 3: Responsibility

Erden Pov

It was a decade ago when I met Esteffan. He was somewhat a happy go lucky kind of person. He was an Intelligent, strong, and obedient prince. When we were in training he would always laugh at his mistakes, annoy me in times, skips training sometimes and always had that smile on his face. He was literally like a ball of sunshine. He took care and protected me from bullies while in training. He was always been a Big brother to me also he had this 3 years age gap from me.

One day, when I was 14 that always smiling person. Looked like he was disturbed by something, he became so quiet. He has that dark aura around him. It was the first time I saw the other side of him. I tried to call him out but he always walk away. I was worried so I followed him

"Esteffan! wait!"

I shouted and ran towards him and tripped. Then Esteffan run back towards me looking at me worried. He helped me get up and pat out the dirt on my clothes. All of a sudden he flicked my forehead

"Ouch! that hurts !"

"You dumbhead! Stop following me"

" You are not in your usual lately. What happened? I understand if you dont wanna talk about it"

I complained . I walked to the nearest bench then sat. He sat beside me and let out a deep sigh

"My father arranged a marriage for me"

"With whom? when? why?"

I was shocked when I heard the news.

"You have too many questions. Well, to ensure peace and to spy over the descendants of Tyros I must marry the daughter of Soreka.".

"What kind of plan is that? that's almost like you have no freedom to choose whom you love and what you want to do".

I was dumbfounded. He just sat there. Emptiness can be seen in his eyes.

"Responsibilites are first before anything else. This is for the safety of the Kingdom"

It was the last line I heard from him, he then disappeared from the training camp after that day . As months went by, At the age of 18 Esteffan was crowned as the new ruler of Sydonia and the Region of Vastia with his new queen.