☾☾☾
CALMING the uninjured guard and hearing his side of the story took until late into the night. The guard who had been attacked would often gossip about the rumors circulating around town. Today was no different. He had been discussing what had happened with the duke’s daughter when, suddenly, the second prince charged out of his room and punched him.
He could scarcely remember what he had said, let alone that he had mentioned that girl’s name, but I recorded the details and turned them over to the crown prince just the same.
And so, even though it was the middle of the night, the crown prince read over my report and made his way into the dungeon.
The night guards, who were noticeably less talkative than their daytime counterparts, saw the crown prince’s face and quickly granted him entry.
We opened the door and found the second prince sitting on his bed. He turned to face us.
“I have lost my mind, Brother,” he said softly.
The crown prince nodded, then turned to me and ordered me to record.
“Is there anything you have to say for yourself?”
“I have but one request.”
“Say it,” the crown prince urged.
“I would like to leave this world in exactly the same manner as Annerosa did, the day I turn seventeen, exactly the same age she was when she died,” the second prince conveyed with slow but steady words.
Even as I dutifully inscribed his words, I could not genuinely grasp what the second prince was trying to say. Exactly the same manner as she? I tilted my head and watched the crown prince. Wrinkles formed on his forehead, and he looked as if he might cry.
“I suppose there is no other way,” he replied, “if it is the only way for you to truly be happy...”
“Happy... Ah, yes, perhaps this is it. My happiness lies with Annerosa. So that is all I require.”
For as long as I live, I shall never forget the look on His Highness’s face as he spoke, that even, gentle smile.
After that, the second prince cocooned himself in the shallow shell of his vacant happiness. No matter what I asked him, he would merely answer ambiguously. His eyes gazed far off into the distance as he watched the days slip away.
✦ ✦ ✦
☾☾☾
“THE crown prince has sent some sweets for you,” I said, pulling a small box from my breast pocket with flowers preserved in sugar inside.
“Won’t you have one?” I asked, holding one out for His Highness. He innocently reached out and plucked it from my hand.
“Ah,” he said, the way lovers did when feeding one another.
I watched over him, then finally made my way to the heavy door. Opening it, I gazed back at him one last time.
For the first time in ages, those eyes were at peace, vacantly reflecting the world around them.
No, he truly had not lost his mind.
He had simply been waiting for this day. When he would be the exact same age as she.
I bowed deeply to the young man I had come to know over three years and gently closed the door behind me.
Ascending the stone steps, I remembered those words he had said three years ago. On that day, his eyes had looked the same as they had today.
“If I am ever reborn, I pray Annerosa and I will be born the same age. If it is to be so, I will choose her, and only her.”
That was the first time the prince’s face truly seemed to match his age.
And so, if the smiling prince, who patiently bided his time until he had reached that same age, were truly crazy, then so, too, must I be, for tears began to form in my eyes.
I prayed that his last wish reached the heavens. The tears continued to flow as I made my way up the steps to give the crown prince my final report.