The mistake.

The courtroom was filled by the officials waiting for the prince to arrive. Their faces painted their curiosity.

Prince Asa stepped inside the hall, they watched him approaching the throne.

He went directly and sat on it , the whole crowd of officials stay silent and gasped for the few seconds which seems like forever.

They were shocked by the situation , how could a prince sat on the king's chair while his father is still alive. Sitting on the throne while the king is still alive , doing this you define yourself as a king which was a treacherous behaviour.

But the prince seems not to care , he did it on purpose.

He informed them about his father's sickness before the meeting started.

" Shall we " he said starting a meeting.

The meeting went by while the officials protesting here and there in every of his decisions he made . He became tired of the situation, and forced himself to remain silent and let go of the rest.

"They're crashing me in every sentence I make"

Asa spoke to his guard when he came out of the hall.

"Maybe they are challenging you, your highness "

"Yes , challenges. I know they are testing my patience but I think there's more than that "

"Like what ?!" Cosmos asked surprised as he failed to acknowledge the other more reasons.

"More like..."

Before he finished his sentence, his eyes darted somewhere , someone was approaching them.

"Greetings from your humble servant , your Highness " Minister xavier bowed hypocritically to the prince.

Asa stopped him in a midway.

"Lord Xavier , this is inappropriate . I'm only a prince , a long way to become a king "

Asa spoke in a convincing tone.

"I'm a servant of the royal family , your Highness. It's my duty to serve you in the court " he said.

Asa doubted his words and looked him in the eyes before he said.

"Fine then " he chuckled.

"I hope you are being honest with me. I'm looking forward to your service as a servant of the court " Asa nodded in appreciation.

"Your humbleness is immeasurable, your highness "

After prime minister Xavier exchanged few words of greetings with prince Asa , he bid his farewell and walked away but something stopped him and walked back to the prince.

Asa turned facing his side again.

" Lord Xavier , Is there something you forgot to say ?!" Asa asked after he saw him approaching to them .

"Forgive me , your Highness. I thought if you are having a hard time handling things in the palace , Well..my daughter could give you a great company. She is well-mannered and educated in many things , she maybe of great help when it comes to advices"

"I..I am grateful for your concern, Prime minister. I know your daughter since she was young , she was beautiful and talented in many ways. It will be a great honour if I could meet her , arrange an appointment with her."

"I will , Your highness "

He excused himself and disappeared from their sight. Asa doubted his offer since he knew this man never go back with his words but anytime he could betray his words if he wanted to and he could be hiding his true colour behind his pretentious smile.

He ignored his offer just thinking since when he started to care about him.

"He run the court today , I'm surprised " the queen said.

"After all he is the son of the king , the only prince of monocot , you shouldn't be surprised". Prime minister Xavier replied to the queen when he came to visit her after she invited him to the lunch in her quarter.

"What do you mean by saying that , prime minister? " she asked in surprise.

"I mean , he might be wanting to be the future king and his father is supporting him"

"I won't allow that " she said in shock.

"May I know why" he asked her after scrutinizing her face for a while.

"He is my enemy, the moment he becomes the king he will destroy me and my daughter"

"I can't believe if someone heard that her majesty is afraid of a little kid " he chuckled.

"So what's your plan?" the queen asked.

"Leave it to me Melissa , I will be going . Have a nice lunch"

Prime minister bowed graciously to the queen before he turned and walked away but before he reached to the door the queen spoke behind him.

"You forgot the words 'my queen' in your last sentence " she said in a bitter voice.

Prime minister turned and looked at the queen, embarrassingly he smiled before he bowed again.

"Forgive me , my queen " He turned around and strolled out of the room.

He went on his carriage and driven back to his house.

At the entrance his daughter was waiting for him. she runs over his father after seeing him coming off from the carriage.

"Father , how was the meeting " she said after giving him a hug .

" You are not a kid anymore , it doesn't suit a grown-up lady hugging her father "

"You are my father and I'm still your daughter, nothing changes "

" If you say so , it is alright "

"You didn't tell me in the morning that you are going to the court today , I could go with you "

" It's cold outside let's go and talk inside"

"Yes , father "

They entered the mansion , the food was already prepared and set on the grand table for the prime minister and his daughter.

"I already eat at the palace " He said after noticing the food on the table but after seeing his daughter pouted her mouth, he decided not to ignore the food.

The maidens help him remove his coat and sat down along with his daughter around the table.

He was eating partially and seemed to be stressed a bit , he looked up to his daughter . She stopped eating and looked back to her father.

" Father , is everything alright ?!. You don't look good . Did anything happened at the court ?"

" Nothing happened " he cleared his throat before he said. "Daughter , I have good news for you , Prince Asa agreed on an appointment to meet you "

"Really ?! "

"Yes , my daughter "

" I'm so glad he agreed " she chuckled.

"And the food is so delicious " she stepped out from her chair and kissed his father on the cheek before she happily run to her bedroom upstairs.

She came down with few dresses in her hands

" Father , look which one will I look beautiful in it if I wear when I go to the prince "

" You are already beautiful my daughter , you will still look beautiful in whichever the dress you choose"

"Still father , you didn't tell me when can I meet him and this is the prince I'm talking about , he is not like those suitors who you set up to me before "

Prime minister was off the mood since he came back from the palace , he was irritated by the queen's words earlier. He kept shading a smile to her daughter while hiding his anger. He said , "I'm tired , daughter. We will discuss later "

He patted her daughter on the shoulder before he walked to his room.

Cosmos was training soldiers on behalf of the prince since prince asa was running the court after his father feels unwell for the few days.

" How is the training " Asa asked him when he came to report back to him.

" Everything is going well as you ordered , your highness " he stressed a bit in his sentence.

"Tell me cosmos , what happened " he said after noticing cosmos's face full of guilty and sorrow. Cosmos seemed to be contemplating whether to tell him or not before he speak.

"It's zayn , he hurt one of the soldiers during training "

"Where is him ?"

Before he answered to the prince , Zayn rushed inside the court room.

"Your highness ! forgive me , it was an accident "

"How bad is the soldier " he asked them.

" He was taken to the infirmary , the sword cut through his eye but I'm not sure if it doesn't touched his eye "

"Take me to him " he spoke to Cosmos.

They walked to the infirmary while zayn tagged behind them.

When they arrived , he flinched after noticed the soldier's condition, the bedsheets were soaked in blood and everywhere around him , his wound seems to be bad, blood flowing from it. But the soldier seems to be enduring the pain . He was showing the sign of braveness , he was gritting his teeth in pain stopping himself from crying.

Asa bent over to him and held his hand.

"I'm sorry for what my friend did to you , It was a mistake " The soldier turned his face to the prince when he heard his voice.

"I'm the one who should be apologising, your highness and not you " zayn said in his knees , bending his head to the soldier who was laying on the bed.

The soldier turned his face to him but failed to say anything.

"Take care of him until he healed " Asa said to the doctor before he strolled out of the room.

He called zayn to follow him .

zayn got up from his knees before he timidly followed him behind , he could sense his anger from behind his back.

When he reached to the barracks , he took the whip in his hand.

" Did I tell you to train the soldiers?" he asked him in fury.

"Forgive me your highness, I...I only wanted to fight him"

"When did you ever fight , don't you know the moment when you held an iron sword in your hands it means blood "

" I'm sorry , your highness. It was my fault, I allowed them to fight with the swords " Cosmos came into sight trying to defend him.

"So both of you deserve the punishment then "

" I'm willingly accepting the punishment " Cosmos replied.

" No , your highness , he is only defending me . I was the one who suggested it. I'm the one deserved to be punished" zayn cried in guilty.

He tore his shirt and turned his back towards the prince.

Other soldiers around them were trying to assess the situation, some felt pity on him while others were anticipated to the punishment.

Asa held the whip in his hand tightly , before he landed it on zayn's back. He looked away when he landed one after another. He didn't want to be the one who held the punishment on him but also he didn't want someone else to punish him either.

He was hurting inside but decided to follow the rules.

Every soldier who made mistakes in the army should be punished according to the law. In case of zayn's mistake , he should be punished infront of his comrades so as to strengthen the law and redeem the respect to the protocols and orders of the army.

Cosmos lifted zayn on his feet after prince asa dropped the whip aside. He furiously stepped out of the barracks and went back to his quarter. He looked at his hand which he used to whip his closest guard. He clenched it into a fist and bumped it to the wall.

He cursed in guilty after what he did. He regretted it but he didn't have a choice.

" How is he ? " he asked him when Cosmos came to visit him in his room.

" He slept for now , I left the doctor attended to him" Cosmos replied to his question.

He looked down , afraid to look him in the eyes.

"What are you thinking of me , Cosmos, am I doing great to my people ?" He asked without lifting his head to him.

Cosmos came and sat beside him. He patted his shoulder before he speak.

" You're doing great , your highness. Don't blame yourself too much , it wasn't your fault . It was mine"

"Until when will you stop put all the blame on yourself even when sometimes it is me who did wrong" he looked at him now , crying in pain.

" You didn't stop me back then , I hope you will do the same even now " he smiled.

Prince asa sobbed and hugged him in his shoulders.

"What is the soldier's name" he asked after he stepped off from the guard's embrace.

"Ravius"