Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Who is Seraphina?

"Seraphina?"

"Yes, Princess?" SHE"S A MAID? WHAT ?!

Not only that she"s a maid, she"s Demitry"s maid!

She gave me a puzzled look, a question why I know her name. I was surprised when he suddenly knelt in front of me, what the-

"I'm so sorry Princesss, Please don't punish me!" She begged.

I stopped and thought for a moment. She"s Seraphina Clement? Right? The future Queen of Gem Empire? But why is she a maid of Demitry? I thought she was a foreign princess from another country.

"Princess?" She asked me with a scared voice, I always wanted to hear this kind of voice from her before. But I don't have time to punish him, I need time to think about who he is and where he came from.

I don"t really have information about her before since her information is limited. All that is stated is that she is a foreign princess from another country and she was a daughter of a wealthy family, did they lie about those information?

Who covers the information though? Dang it! Why was I focus from the competition anyways !? I should have focused more on the participants!

I knelt down and stared at him for a long time, I might look weird right now but I need this.

Seraphina as Queen has blonde hair, this maid have brownish hair. Weird, does she have a twin or something? She wear large glasses to cover her excessive beauty.

Same name and same face... hmmm.

"Do you have any relatives?" I asked in a calm voice, other people busy with broken plates and discarded food. But I was busy examining this girl. Something"s off.

"N-none, Princess"

"What is your Family name?" I asked again

"Ma-maids don't have last name, Princess." He replied. Oh yeah I forgot, maids that aren"t born decent doesn"t have any last name, like Maddy.

"Oh I forgot, you're beautiful." He was surprised by what I said.

"A-are you going to punish m-me? Im so sorry your majesty. " I was shaken. As much as I want to hurt you right now... I just can"t. You didn"t do anything to me, yet. It would be unfair too.

"Of course not, it was an accident." She heaved a sigh and thank me again and again.

I got up. Also shake off the remaining crumbs of food.

Seraphina and Demitry left first, Demitry dragged Seraphina into the palace. Many princesses have returned home and only a few are left.

"Princess! Are you okay? Are you hurt? " Maddy rushed to me and checked everything. It is forbidden to let the maid of another Princess in as long as there is a tea party.

"I am fin-

"THE PRINCE OF THE GEM EMPIRE IS HERE."

Well shit. What is he doing here now?

"What happened here?" he immediately asked when he saw the big clutter. He looked at me from head to toe. "Did you get into a fight?"

I heard the remaining Princesses whisper from each corners. Dang it, this can cause bad rumors again. Belle will get gossip or weird rumors from me, then I need to defend myself.

"No, your-

"Did you start this mess?" I raised an eyebrow at him. Maybe you saw that there were some things in my dress, right? Is this guy for real? Blaming me in front- shit. "Can"t you behave like-

"No, your majesty. I did not cause this mess. There was an accident. " What is he even doing here anyway ?! He was supposed to be busy. Why is he here, does he have a business with Princess Demitry?

But today is supposed to be a tea party, Maybe Demitry won't have a tea party if the prince is going to go to her?

"Then who caused it?" He asked me and crossed his arms.

"A maid cause it, your highness." My eyes widened as Maddy answered. I don"t have any plans to tell him what happened here today.

"Where is this maid now? She must be punished. " I was slapped on the forehead. THIS IS NONE OF YOUR FREAKING BUSINESS! Why would he meddle on something he"s not involve on ?! "Are you ok? Were you hurt? " he asked me.

I gave him an annoying look. I do not wish to see him any day of the week or month! In the past he didn"t even appear to me for years. Not even in his father"s funeral, he"s clearly avoiding me. I just saw her again in the Queen Candidate.

This is new

"No, it was an accident your highness. No need to make a huge fuss about it. " He glared at me when I answered. What? He wants to punish Seraphina? His future queen and wife ?!

I have mixed feelings, I don"t know If I want him to see Seraphina or not. I don"t know if this is jealousy either and Im not sure if what I feel is true. I promised myself to stop... chasing for him.

"I asked if you"re ok Ash..." He said with a warning voice. I stopped thinking when he said my nickname back from we were just kids. I have never heard of it since my childhood.

I missed that nickname, the past where I call him Al And he called me Ash. He gave me a nickname, it"s a little close to my real name but at least he gave me a nickname.

But he stopped calling me that when I saw him again. Memories hurt a lot. I wished to be called by that name again, in case I was annoying according to him daw. He was so harsh and mean, I don"t know why he changed.

Maybe I'll find out what really happened? To him? To us?

No wait, stop. You"ll end up dying again. He won"t save you just like before, he didn"t love you right? will you waste the second life you have been given?

WHY AM I OVERTHINKING ?!

"S-stop" I said with a nod.

"What?"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" I snapped at him, I can feel the tears building up in my eyes.

He was surprised when I shouted, no- some other people were surprised.

I ran and wiped away my tears. I was about to enter one of the carriage cases when suddenly someone pulled me.

"I-I"m sorry Ash. I didn"t-

"C-can you just stop calling me that nickname?" I don"t want to remember... anything from the past.

"But you like it when you I call you by your nickname." I withdrew my arms and approached her.

I tapped his shoulders and whisper:

"Not anymore."

Chapter 5: Promises are meant to be Broken

I sat outside the palace where there were many flowers and trees. I always loved this place, its peaceful and I am the only one here.

But it is still not enough to give me calmness when I remember what happened to Alistair and me. It"s been 4 weeks? Wow time flies fast, the entrance is near

I don"t want to see him though, I"m used to not seeing him but why can"t it be that way instead?

Bat he always comes here to the palace? He doesn"t have any business here except checking the garden. He kept checking the garden like every 3 days of the week, this never happened in the past.

But today is the day he is busy. I can go out and have some peaceful tea time with myself. I always stay inside my room when he is there because I don"t want to see him or talk to him or feel his presence in any way.

When he is there, you always need to greet the prince. And me who didn"t see him for 4 weeks made an excuse. It's just that he can't be seen.

"Princess." I looked at the speaker, it was Maddy. She was bowing while calling me. "The King informed me about the course you want to take in the Academy."

I sighed and answered "Continue"

"I have all the schedules you need to attend this Monday, it will be next week Princess." Hmmm, next week is the entrance? I have 2 years to study in the Academy. I thought deeply when I remembered that the dear King had died.

Wasn"t the king murdered before the competition started? It will be in 2 years? When was the exact day? Wait

I remembered, someone was screaming. It was at a party, they found the King dead in his own room. They never told me any details because we aren"t that much involved in the party. It was rumored that he was stabbed and other rumors said he was poisoned.

Clearly I didn"t want to get involved but it was the King, the one who raised me. I will probably avenge his death, or much better, prevent him from getting killed. But is this going to be enough to change me future?

"Princess June?" I immediately looked at Maddy.

"Ah- sorry, I was bu-busy. Thinking. " Maddy was surprised by what her boss said.

The princess never thinks of anything except paying attention to the prince" Maddy thought. What happened?"

"What was it again?" I asked him while drinking coffee.

"You will be arriving early at the dormitory at school, Princess. We will travel tomorrow, we are already busy packing today. " I sighed at what Maddy said.

The Academy is so far from the Empire, there are also many other students from other empires. Not only here at Gem Empire, I might meet familiar faces again. The famous group at school and some famous people too. Of course don't include Alistair since he always tops the political course.

"Okay." My short answer.

"Also, Princess June. Princess Demitry is coming here today, she wants to discuss something about you. Probably about the incident yesterday. " He added.

I made a face. Dang, I need some peaceful time with myself and I. I really don't want to see the other princess because I'm always in a bad mood with what's happening to me, pure misfortune. First is I died, second is the prince is acting weird, third is Seraphina is a maid and now this Sapphire princess wants to discuss something.

What is wrong in this second life! They weren't like that before ?!

This better be good.

I will not leave my place because I am sending Demitry here, he is the one who visited so he will adjust.

I'm really not in the mood to see him now, he didn't do anything to me but... I remember the past. The way they treat and pity me while I was slowly dying.

"Greetings to the future-

"I already told you to drop that kind of greetings, Princess Demitry." I was cut off when he greeted me.

This made more annoyed than ever. She was surprised then, I mean maybe it"s her first time seeing me angry.

In the past, I never showed anger as a teen. I always keep my anger to myself so that they won"t hate me. For many to want to be friends with me, even if they throw bad words at me. I always laughed it off. The goody good shoes that is, they thought I was a saint.

But when Seraphina arrived, I lost my posture as a goody good shoes. They saw me as a nuisance to the Queen. I didn"t even act like a bitch in front of Seraphina, but they always gave me a bad rumor that I hurt the Queen and treat the Queen badly. Of course Seraphina enjoyed that too because she had the spotlight.

"I-I'm sorry, Princess June." He will forgive me. I haven"t mentioned that her family has the lowest wealth in the Empire, so she"s probably scared to have rumors about her. Even though she has such status in the empire, she"s popular.

"It's ok, as long as you don't say those words again." She gulped at what I said. I better change the mood. "So, how are you Princess?"

I smiled sweetly at her, I also don't want to have any rumors about me. She gave me a puzzled look first before she answered and smiled.

"I'm doing well, Princess" he replied while smiling. I nodded and drank coffee.

"So? What brings you here? " I asked her. She looked around before she answered.

"U-uhm ... It's not really a secret, but." She looked at Maddy who was busy serving us tea and food.

I sighed and looked at Maddy, "Maddy, you may leave us alone."

She just agreed to it, since we are protected in this palace. He left immediately.

"I"m sorry for making your maid leave, Princess. But this was about the incident that happened the other day. " I stared at her, how is this a secret that she made my personal maid leave though.

"Oh? Go on, continue. " I answer with him.

"Ah, I already punished the maid who cause you the problem and I'm terribly sorry about that." I sighed and just waved my hand.

"It's no big deal, where is this maid now?"

"I have fired her right away." I'm depressed because don. What? "Princess? Are you ok? "

I smiled at her and nod. Well shit, how can I get information when he's already gone somewhere ?! It will be hard since she is a maid and she doesn't have a last name!

"Ye-yes of course." so Demitry is no longer involved in becoming Seraphina's Queen? We"re not sure about that, Demitry is one of those people who looked down on me.

Did this kind of incident happen in the past? Did someone bumped me in the past?

In the past, a tea party did happen in the Sapphire Palace... and I was enjoying myself at that time. But- wait. Someone DID bump me, I made a small fuss about it and gave the maid a punishment. Case I didn"t even know who it was, was it Seraphina?

After that I no longer remember and continue to move on Like it was just a normal day. Maddy did report to me that the maid's punishment was over and it was Demitry who handled it. It didn"t bother me that much in the past but now... something"s off.

Shit, this might"ve been a plan after all. A plan to make Seraphina the Queen of Gem Empire.

But who was it?

"Did you really fire your maid?" she looked at me nervously.

"O-of course, Princess. I- "

"Good morning ladies." I was about to blow out the coffee I was drinking when suddenly someone spoke behind me. This familiar voice...

"Pr-Prince Alistair! Good morning, your highness "We both stood up suddenly, damn his presence.

"Good morning, Prince Alistair." I can feel him staring at me, I was bowing at him at the moment.

What the actual F is he doing here, shouldn't he be busy now ???

"About what happen in your tea party, who caused it Princess Demitry" he asked. Can you come here to ask that? Edi would have gone to his palace instead here.

"I might interrupt your discussion with the Princess, Prince Alistair." I told him. "I will leave im-

"I didn't ask you to leave, Princess." He looked at me with cold eyes. Duh? "You were the victim. So Princess Demitry, who was this maid who caused the incident? "

I raised an eyebrow at the prince, is he kidding? Why did he even ask if he knew the answer, you idiot sizst?

"She was full-

"The incident already happened and the maid was already punished your majesty. No need to make a huge deal about it. " Are you the one who spilled the coffee? Am I right? Why are you interfering?

"I didn't ask you-"

"And I didn"t want to discuss about it either, My Prince. Like you said, I am involve and I was the victim. Me, as the victim. Dropped the incident already, this doesn"t concern his Majesty. " I cut with him.

We were having a staring contest, first one to look away lose.

"I- I will leave now Princess, Prince. I have something else to do. Good day to both of you. " Demitry said hurriedly with a bow.

"Wait-" I stopped Demitry from leaving.

"Yes... you may go." This- the more I look at him badly.

What did a to eat?

Far away Demitry I was surprised when he suddenly took my hand.

"I"m sorry. If I did something wrong. " I was even more surprised by his words. What? "I thought you like it when I call you by your nickname."

I withdrew my hand from him.

"What is wrong with you? You weren't like this before, were you? Shouldn"t you be happy now since I didn"t bug or annoy you or anything? " I asked him angrily. "You said you don't want to see me?"

"I-I was not ser-

"Oh please, can you just stop? I already heard loud and clear, you told me you didn"t like or love me right? "

"No wait-

"No, just stop!" I shouted at him, I looked at him with sadness in my eyes.

"But did you forget our promise?" He brought that up again, which made me feel guilty. But I shouldn"t be guilty, he was the first to break the promise. Why can"t I do the same?

"Which one? We have made many promises. " I lied, I knew which promise he meant.

"You promise to marry me and be the Queen of the Empire." I bit my lips, weird.

Don't you hate me? Didn't you say you don't like me? Why bring that shit up?

"No, you misheard." I answered him weakly. "I promise you that I will marry the man I LOVE "and I will be his Queen. The man I love, wasn"t you. "

"What?" His voice cracked.

"I don't love you anymore."

Promises? They were made to be broken.

"That will be king and you will marry someone." I add to what I said. "You will love her all your life."

You will love her more than anything, more than your childhood friend that you"ve made a promise with. More than... the empire.

"What did I do...? Did I do something wrong? " He asked. I gave him a puzzled look.

To be continued...