Go away!
"I greet Crown Prince Blair," Selah greeted as calmly as possible.
Blair smiled slightly as if he was hiding something. "I heard you are helping with the street policing, Princess Selah. Thank you for your hard work," he said softly.
"It is my duty, Your Highness," said Selah. "Well then, excuse–"
However, Blair quickly caught her wrist. Selah was shocked and unconsciously brushed it off harshly. Selah was surprised by her own reflex, while Blair looked satisfied.
At a time like this, Aeneas is not around. Selah must find a way to get away from Blair.
"No need to be so surprised. Everything was just being taken care of," Blair said.
Selah looked at him warily. "In that case, please return to take care of anything left, Your Highness. I will come back and accompany Queen Consort Catalina," she said.
"How can I let you walk alone at a time like this?" Blair smiled again. "Where are your maids and knights?"
Selah really didn't like being followed, so she left Janette and her knights earlier.
"Let me walk you back. Aeneas would hate to see his pregnant wife walking around alone," added Blair.
"Take a walk alone," Selah repeated sarcastically. "This is only within the Palace, Your Highness. Except, if the Palace's security is that bad, to the point where I'm threatened inside."
Blair just chuckled at that, then held out his hand to Selah. There was no reasonable reason for Selah to refuse, so she was forced to accept the helping hand.
For the first time, Selah expected Aeneas' presence. She was looking around for her husband.
Selah felt too wary. Was this a mood effect from being pregnant? Or because of Blair's overly calm presence beside her? The wrist Blair had once held in ill will felt stiff; Selah feared. She wanted to escape from this man beside him!
Please don't take me to the room. Please don't get there. Someone please appears, thought Selah during the trip.
"Here we are."
Their hands slowly let go, or maybe Selah subconsciously let go of Blair's hand slowly because she didn't want to be suspected. But that must have made Blair suspicious.
Because the man was now smiling meaningfully at her.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Selah said. She looked as fearless as possible. "I'll go in first."
Selah turns around, about to go into her room while thinking how cowardly and loser she is in front of Blair now. Just because of the slightest harassment, Selah became shrunken and overly vigilant. How did Aeneas face King Tristan all this time? How can Aeneas still be so calm whenever he has to meet someone who has abused him?
And, at that exact moment, the thing Selah had been afraid of happened.
***
Azel knew something was wrong when he saw him walking confusedly down the hall of the Royal Palace.
"Why are you alone? Where's Princess Selah?" Azel intercepted quickly.
Janette shook her head quickly. "I'm also looking for Her Highness because she doesn't even come out of the meeting room, even though the meeting has already ended," she told him. "Is Her Highness not with you or Prince Aeneas?"
"No. I was just from Prince Aeneas." Azel immediately thought quickly of places where Selah might be. "I go first. You try to keep looking for Her Highness here."
"Yes-?"
Azel ran from the Royal Palace to the Queen Consort Palace. Currently, the Palace is busy welcoming the funeral procession of King Tristan. At this time, Blair might do something to the pregnant Selah.
But could Crown Prince Blair be capable of harming a pregnant woman? thought Azel.
No…
Maybe. Hadn't he observed that Blair had been a bit out of his mind lately?
Hope I'm wrong, Azel thought whenever he asked the maids if they saw Selah.
"Princess Selah? I saw Her Highness with Crown Prince Blair earlier. It seems they were headed that way," answered the umpteenth maid Azel asked.
The indicated direction is the direction to the bed chamber. There were many rooms in the direction indicated, but Azel was sure they were going to the bedchamber.
And, indeed, they are there. The alley was quiet because everyone was busy doing other things. Therefore, Azel's ears quickly picked up voices he shouldn't have heard. A second later, before Azel could even run into the room, the door was already thrown open, with Selah holding a sword with a bloody arm.
"Princess Selah!" Azel shouted, then immediately jumped in front of her just as Blair was about to attack.
"Sir Azel," Blair hissed.
"Crown Prince Blair, go away," Azel said sharply. "Leave if you don't want Prince Aeneas to know!"
Blair's target now shifted to Azel as if he didn't hear it. The attacks were so powerful, that it was obvious that Blair wanted to kill them right then and there. If Selah hadn't helped, Azel would have fallen long ago.
Of course, now it was better for Blair to kill them both. While their surroundings were quiet, they found two bloodied corpses. Blair would easily argue that Selah and Azel's deaths were someone else's.
Fortunately, the fierce battle caused a commotion of its own. Shortly after, Azel faintly heard a maid scream. In an instant, Aeneas' knights arrive and surround Blair.
Among the people who gathered, Aeneas's face was pale white.
"BLAIR!" roared Aeneas angrily. He charged forward.
Blair quickly changed her expression to guilt as if just coming to his senses. "Aeneas–no–listen to me…"
"What should I listen to when I see you fighting my wife and knights?" asked Aeneas sharply. "Leave! LEAVE!"
"AENEAS!"
Fearing nothing, Azel pushed Blair. "I don't know what caused it, but it has been proven that you attacked Princess Selah," he said. "Crown Prince Blair, you just declared war on Prince Aeneas."
"You, lowly knight. I'm not-"
"Blair, get out. Now. Please," said Aeneas falteringly. "I… have to–" He closed his eyes and glared at Blair angrily. "I'm not going just to let this go. Blair, you disappointed me."
From his expression, Azel knew that those words tore Blair's world in an instant. The Crown Prince looked pale and suddenly shocked.
Azel called someone to take Blair away and saw Raul among them. The bald man only briefly nodded at him as a final greeting before leading Blair away.