The Unworthy Prince

That afternoon, she had lunch out at the garden gazebo with Dante. As the servers came and went with plates of food and

"I want to go see Slate."

Dante sat calmly peeling an orange for her.

"Do you hear me, Dante? I want to go see Slate."

"I heard you, Candace, but you can't. Not yet." He placed the peeled slices of orange on her plate.

"Have some orange. It comes from our orchards right here inside the moon. I had to ensure the light within the moon was sufficient in everything that was needed to grow oranges. It was quite a challenge."

"Why I can't I see him?" Candi frowned as she chewed on the bright sweet orange slices. It had been three days since the incident and Slate was nowhere in sight.

Dante sighed with frustration.

She was sitting here with him and thinking about another Prince even as he was peeling fruit that he had grown himself and peeled especially for her. Wasn't he also a Prince of Erenveil? Wasn't he good enough for her?

He rubbed his fingers through his damned spiky blue hair. It always came back to the plebeian blue hair.

All his life, Dante had tried to the best of his ability to overcome his mother's non-royal birth by acquiring as much wealth as he could get his hands on.

Although he was the son of an Emperor, he had exited his mother's womb at such a low standing that he couldn't even secure the Crown Prince position that was his, by right of birth order. Instead, the Empress had seized it and placed it on her own son, declaring him the Crown Prince.

Dante's mother, unable to fight against the powers of the Empress, retreated into her own tiny world to raise her infant son. Not even the Emperor could entice her to emerge from that cocoon she had wrapped around herself, although of course, he could visit Dante any time he wished.

It was within that environment that Dante had grown up. He had known exactly what had happened, and he had known why and how everything came to be.

He did not blame his mother on her inability to fight the Empress for his Crown Prince position. His mother's family were common goldsmiths, with the blue blood of blue haired peasants running through their veins. She was powerless against the Empress.

Dante however, had a distinct advantage from his mother. He was born within a royal family which made him a Royal Prince. It was still on him to prove his worth and to gain power, but at least he had a fighting chance.

To prove that he was just as good as the other Princes who were born from mothers of a much higher caste, Dante set out to work twice as hard in everything, from physical sports and fighting skills, to the higher learning of all the subjects required of a Prince. He had to be twice as good as they were just to be recognized as their equals.

There was however, something he could do that would allow him to surpass them. It had to do with the power that he could wield.

Since money correlated very tightly to power, he had set upon himself the goal of surpassing his brothers in wealth. This meant he had to double his efforts since he came from a much poorer Mother.

His supreme efforts had paid off handsomely.

He had finally reached a point at which he felt proud of his accomplishments and hopeful that he was a strong contender for Candace's affections. All he had to do now was convince her that he was worthy of her love and affection in return.

Dante looked at her and doubled the dosage of his masculine charm.

"Slate is injured and needs time to heal. You being there is not going to help anything. It will only make him more anxious and delay his healing process."

"At least let me do that visual thing so I can see how he's doing. I'm truly worried about his health," she implored. Her hazel eyes were so beseeching and assaulting to his senses that he almost gave in to her request.

Dante broke his gaze from her face and looked away. He understood why she was anxious to see Slate. Dante was worried about his Baby Brother too.

But the truth was, Leonardo and the physicians had been keeping Slate unconscious to more quickly heal him. The extent of the damage done to him was something that not even Dante was fully aware of.

Leonardo had covered everything under a thick blanket of silence so as to not alarm the royal family or to tip off any possible enemy strikes at a time when the Prime Warrior was not able to defend the Empire.

Dante turned back to face her.

"You will have to trust me when I tell you that he is improving day by day. Give him three more days of healing, you will be able to meet him in person."

"Three days?" Candi glanced at him.

"Yes." Dante affirmed.

Candi nodded, apparently satisfied with his promise.

Dante had built his iron-clad reputation as a man who was as good as his word. It was how he did everything and how he grew his businesses to the empire that it had gotten.

He could only hope that in three days' time, he could make good on his promise and it would be possible for Slate to be well enough to see her.

Dante threw his napkin onto his plate. He could not allow her to continue focusing on this situation. He had to distract her with something else.

"Be patient for three days. In the meantime, I do have a surprise for you." Dante gave a small mysterious smile.

That did it. Her eyes glowed with anticipation.

"If you're done with lunch, then follow me."

As the servers cleared away the lunch dishes, Dante stood up and took her hand, leading her away from the gazebo.

The direction they took led to an area that Candi had never explored before since it had been walled off by a gate.

As they walked down the stone paved path past the pond and the old gnarled oaks, they reached a brownstone building with a hexagonal sunroom that protruded from the main structure.

As old as the rocks and hills surrounding it was, the structure looked brand new.

The two attendants who stood outside the doors bowed to the Second Prince and opened the doors for them.

Dante smiled at her and led her through, into the darkened interior.