29

29-Luke

I’m not even sure if I’m in some kind of a reality show that my whole family had to act or something bad might happen, but I’m also positive that aside from us, there’s no one else inside the room that could be a potential danger to the throne. Well I’m not really sure about my step-brother but even with my doubts about his intentions, I don’t think he’ll pull something that could potentially endanger his own self.

So that leaves me with this question in mind… what in a hell is up with my family? I might just be in denial that my grandma loves drama but if this are all just an act, then somethings up and they’re not telling us anything. I tried studying the body language of every person that’s inside the room and all I could feel was confusion except of course from my father, my aunt and grandma.

While my grandma is taking an awful amount of time thinking, I took out my phone and quickly typed a message to Drey. I need to know what’s up and the only person I could trust on this is my own personal assistant. Since this is a meeting involving the whole royal family, guards are the only ones allowed inside and also some of the royal secretaries but for our butlers and assistants, they need to wait for us outside. It’s a shame and unnecessary but it was the law so they have to follow it.

As soon as I asked him he immediately told me to give him a minute to check and just as promise he sends me an explanation which made a total sense.

‘Someone tried to hack the servers last night, whole security system are still rebooting, blockers will be up again and running in five’

I smirked after reading his message and so I tried my best to hide the smile on my face while I try to applaude my families brilliant talent on acting. They must be putting up a show just incase someone’s trying to listen outside the palace. With the blockers down and the security system in pieces, its actually quite easy to penetrate the palace. Thin walls remember. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s already leaking that the family is fighting. With the prime minister under out custody, I’m pretty sure his minions are trying their best to gather up as many information as they could get.

I waited for five more minutes as both my aunt and my grandma tried their very best to keep up with their little dialogue and honestly its starting to fall apart, especially now that the whole family finally understand whats happening. It was getting obvious anyways so there’s no question there. Though I must say, it was quite entertaining.

Someone from the outside then knocks before entering. He’s one of the assistants my father has in his pay roll and as far as I know he at least have ten of this people working day and night just to make sure his reputation stays gold. Yes people, it takes ten minds just to keep the Kings image, strong and respectable.

He bowed before us before continuing his walk to my fathers side where he leans down to his hear to whisper his report. We were all silent for a while, then his highness nod at his assistants reports before excusing him to go on his own. We waited for dad to say something, even grandma is back to her sit and waiting.

“So?” Aunt Anne was the first one to break the ice which made my dad smile.

“We’re good” He gave this soft chuckle which made everyone that’s confuse earlier, a little take a back.

“Could someone please explain what is happening?” My mother directed her question to my father but she was immediately cut off by dad when he finally looked serious after the whole drama that was presented in front of us.

“I know some of you are very confuse with what just happened but rest assured, none of it was real” All eyes present in the room looked at my aunt and grandma like they’re trying to grasp the idea that this two people just pulled one hell of a drama but it turned out to be something that’s not true. A little show that had them all fooled. “Now before you all harbor evil thoughts about what’s happening here, please be open minded and accept my apologies for the little show my dear sister and my mother pulled this morning. They were both acting under my request because last night someone tried to infiltrate the kingdoms security system and that’s caused a disturbance with out signal blocker meaning for the last fourteen hours, we’ve been defenseless to those who are trying their best to listen with every conversation done inside the palace. This is why I asked my sister and the royal regent to put up an act, a little bait. If what happened awhile ago gets out to the public, then that would confirm that someone is trying to gather information.” Dad pauses, waiting for someone to start asking. But no one seemed to have the guts to ask something from the king.

“We all should relax now, I don’t think my little banter with Anne would even be considered as something trivial for tomorrows news. If it does make it to papers then it’ll confirm that their amateurs who would go for crumbs instead a the whole bread. Though there is a chance that they are just trying to gather some information to use for the upcoming events” Grandma assures and her mad tone awhile ago are now replace by her usual sweet and calm voice.

“How can we be sure that what we are discussing right now is not being listened to by anyone?” Mom asks and both my dad and grandma looked at each other like they have this conversation that only the two of them could understand. I get that they have a bond and maybe one look could explain a lot of things but thats not the case to everyone.

“The blockers are up and running, we are still not sure whether we are really safe but we can’t keep fearing the unknown. We’ve done our part and if things go south, just like what we always do, we’ll somehow find a way out of it” Dad proudly said before sitting back at his sit to look at me. I didn’t say anything because at this point saying something can make me accountable to something much bigger. I somehow managed to have so many things to thinks of and adding up another dilemma to my plate might just cause an inevitable avalanche.

The rest of the family seemed to just accept everything that’s thrown at them because not one of them seemed to wonder the carelessness my father is portraying. I honestly feel that this is not the right moment to be complacent, we are facing tons of people that are against our family. There are those who act friendly but would love to stab us at our backs so they could get what they all wanted from us from the very beginning. Power.

Whoever is behind the attack last night could be someone who just wants to scare us or warning us for what is about to come knocking on our doors. I maybe overthinking this but seeing my father so relax makes me wonder if this is really how he’ll take this threat, or is he hiding something else and doesn’t wish for all of us to worry. Its is after all the King’s duty to make sure that his people are secured and safe, even if it means lying to them and baring all the weight.

“Do we at least have suspects? Proof? Anyone we could blame and watch over?” I ask out of curiosity and its been itching me so I just had to say something.

“We do have someone in mind but we can’t say who it is, not when there’s no proof leading to this person. Right now, our head of security is doing his best to make sure that we are all safe. After that, he’ll mobilize the troops and find out who had the guts to attack the palace and live like he or she didn’t disrupt anything. Rest assured that our security people are doing their best as of this moment. So instead of that, why don’t we all move on and focus on the agenda at hand, after all we can only control things that are in front of us and not those that aren’t” Dad sternly answered my question but his words are like tapes that is trying to seal my mouth. Its like he doesn’t want me to say anything else that would make him give out information.

He’s doing it again and I just hate it. He’s making another step away from all us so he could deal with the problem on his own. His been like this since Mark died and honestly, as much as I try my best to understand his reasons, I just wish he’d share some of the burden to us.

Well now atleast we know where I get my traits from.

“Now that we know that, lets move on to a much serious agenda. The choosing ceremony will become the hole for everyone to peek through. Everyone will see and hear a lot of things during the events so it is important that we get out heads and asses straight. Though we’ll each have minimal interaction with the ladies, it is still a must that we show up as someone whose deserving of our titles. We are not some normal people who could act as freely as we wish to be so for the sake of our sanity and peaceful life, lets refrain from embarrassing ourselves during the events.” Aunt Anne steps in to explain to everyone the importance of whats to come. Though its unusual to hear this kind of things from her because she’s more of the free kindled soul than a stick to the books kind of person. The vey reason why she would usually bat heads with grandma.

I also have the same thoughts as the others so aside from me, some of us hid this smile that could pass as a smirk as we all look at my aunt doing her best to look as someone whose really into etiquette and reputation.

“I know i’m not supposed to brag this but I have to say I am the perfect example of someone who always gives the media a good impression. I’m really starting to get tired of all the things I have to do just so I could save our dying reputation to the public. So please people, don’t make me show my best qualities during the events or i’ll be very vulnerable to my followers and to those who wished to be with me. They’ll be obsessed if they witness my best qualities” Concubine Janice fans her face like she’s really frustrated with all the things she has to do so the public could make a good impression of us.

Truth is, all she’s saying are completely useless and untrue, she’s the total opposite of what shes saying. She always gets herself in trouble, would often cause the inner court a huge problem to deal with, the media hates her and she’s the most unworthy lady to be called my fathers concubine. Up until today, I still question the time my father decided to accept and marry her. Lady Janice is actually an offering from some family that my father helped during a complicated negotiation. Father was of course against it at first but eventually after a few push and honest intentions, he finally accepted her but he never once slept with her. She’s someone who has many confidence stored in her so not being able to bed with the King didn’t make much of an effect on her. I know i’m not supposed to use this word but she’s just another leech latching unto the royal family.

“As much as we appreciate your little speech dear, I don’t think this is the right time for you to actually say anything. Especially if its something irrelevant” Mom halts Lady Janice’s little monologue before it gets out of hand. I my own understanding, mothers hates concubine Janice and she hardly hates anyone. As far as my knowledge serves me, mother didn’t hate concubine Janice because she’s another lady competing for my fathers affection but because she’s too scattered. She’s all over the place and she’s just as stubborn as my sister would get. Trust me when I say that the whole family would rather have concubine Janice busy in her place than here and flaunting her so called benevolence.

As the Queen, my mother has every authority to make any of the concubines shut up but because she’s too kind for her own good, some concubines think they could undermine my mother and do whatever it is that they want to do but what they don’t understand is that in this family, my father maybe the King but when it comes to deciding how your future would be, my mother has the greatest say. So when she says your someone crossed on her list, that means you’re done.

Concubine Janice, fortunately, didn’t challenge my mothers authority over her or it would have been another drama worthy of being recorded. Mom would have to intellectually answer Concubine Janice’s useless remarks. Honestly if it wasn’t for her being my fathers concubine, we wouldn’t even dare talk to her.

Dad Dad decided to intervene and discussed the roles we’ll each have during the ceremonies. They excluded me on some since I am one of the main attraction during the events. The twins will have to attend to their training so they won’t have so much trouble during the events, my step brother on the other hand volunteered to host a dinner party with the ladies where it will be streamed live and Luis will have to ask them questions where they need to answer whether they are trivial or personal. The public has to see each of their intentions and we’ll know who’ll become the publics favorite.

Amber made a suggestion that before the actual ceremony, it would be better if I get a chance to meet each of the ladies just before the actual ceremony. This way I could build a sort of relationship with them so that I wouldn’t have a hard time being comfortable with them during the actual ceremony. In a way Amber made a huge deal about how it would make a total mess if we all appear uncomfortable during the event. In a way she’s simply suggesting that before we appear to the public, it would be better if we could at least break the ice first. Of course it goes against all protocol so as a compromise, my parents agreed to what Amber suggested, but it will only be for the day before the event and it will be a one on one date with every lady for an hour max. The soul point is so we could introduce ourselves to each other and hopefully find some common ground to be comfortable with.I should probable thank Amber later for her awesome suggestion. She really does help me a lot.

After the whole proceedings and deliberation, his highness finally lets us free. Just right on time for lunch so to thank Amber I decided to ask her for lunch. I also have something else to discuss with her and I don’t need the whole family knowing about it.

“Crownprincess, could you please spare me an hour of your busy schedule, i’d like to at least treat my hero of the day to some lunch?” I asked Amber as soon as we got out of the hall and out of any good ear. Amber adjusted her dress first before looking at me to acknowledge my invitation.

“I don’t think I have anything special planned for the day, sparing you some time would be my honor” Amber accepted my invitation which made me master up a big smile before I offered my hand so I could help her inside her car.

We can’t ride the same car together or we’ll be walking targets, it’s a standard protocol that both of us can’t say otherwise.

I walked to my own car where Drey was already waiting to open my door.

“Tell the kitchen staff I’ll be eating with the Crownprincess, so make them prepare all her favorite food and deliver them at my place.” As soon as Drey got inside the car, I informed him of my invitation to the crownprincess so he could immediately inform the kitchen people inside the inner palace.

“What’s the occasion?” Drey looks at me from the passenger sit with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

“There’s no occasion I just wish to thank her for siding with me today.” I gave him a brief but clear answer. My driver is already someone I trust so I don’t really mind him listening to this exchange between me and Drey.

“If I hadn’t know better I would say you’re just finding reasons to actually dine with the crownprincess” Both Drey and my driver chuckles at those words and they even did this little hand shake which made me look like a school boy being teased by two of his uncles.

“You both know I’m still your boss during this hours right?” I reminded them and that made my driver stop from laughing but that’s not the same with Drey, in fact he even dared raise his eyebrows at me.

“Come on now, don’t scare Nathan here. He’s the only loyal driver whose willing to stand up for you so be nice. Plus we both know the princess and you have more than just a casual friendship. Its just the three of us here so you don’t need to hide your broken pieces” I deliberately punched the back of Drey chair so he would shut up and stop making thing crazy ideas about me and the princess.

Amber and I are close, but that’s because we’re friends even before all this crap happened. Nothing happened then, nothing will happen now. Plus I have too much respect on my brother that I would never dare commit such treachery towards him.

“One more word and you’re done Drey” I warned and he finally took that seriously. But not before he gave me this little smirk which made me feel a little irritated than I was before. He should be thankful that I’m not pushing him towards his death and that I still think of him as my friend, otherwise, he wouldn’t even have a chance to smirk after teasing me like that.

If somebody hears him say this things, they might think its true and make a huge deal about it. I don’t want another series of council meetings and etiquette investigators following and questioning my every move. I have enough of their lectures back in the past and I don’t want to experience those things again out of groundless rumors.