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“CHARLOTTE, when will Mother get better?”
“Can’t we go to see Mother yet?”
“Your Highnesses…”
The sweet scent of seasonal flowers wafted through the air. Charlotte, sitting on the edge of the fountain in the courtyard of Kingsley Castle, was at a loss. The twin princesses were clinging to the hem of her dress and looking up at her anxiously, yet she had no answer for them.
She recalled the determination in Princess Alicia’s sky-blue eyes in the dungeon.
After the knight, Robert, started the conversation, Riddhe and Charlotte told Alicia everything that had happened the night Empress Elizabeth was poisoned.
Charlotte had shared the story she’d already told Riddhe about how she came to suspect Fritz and her father. She also confessed about the special relationship she shared with Fritz to explain how she noticed the crown prince’s strange behavior.
Her legs trembled with terror and guilt as she spoke about how Fritz had confessed his feelings for her and how they’d become secret lovers.
It was the first time she’d confided in anyone about her relationship with Fritz. He was the heir to Erdal’s throne, while she was just the chancellor’s daughter and an adopted one, at that. The crown prince had often told her not to worry about their status, but she’d never believed they could end up together.
Besides, Charlotte greatly admired Alicia and her dignified strength despite not having had much chance to interact. Thus, she felt that her relationship with Fritz was betraying Alicia and suffered from guilt.
Charlotte confessed everything with tears in her eyes, but Alicia showed no anger. On the contrary, the princess comforted and accepted her.
“Thank you for telling me. It was so brave of you to confess it all.” The princess said as she hugged Charlotte, then nodded and told her to leave everything to her. Charlotte had been dazzled by the conviction in Alicia’s eyes.
After that, Charlotte left the others and exited the dungeon. She’d sensed that Riddhe and Alicia had more to talk about but didn’t want to share too much in her presence because of her connection to Fritz and her father.
“Charlotte, big brother has been so listless too.”
“He looks so scary.”
“We can’t see Lord Riddhe either. Everyone tells us we can’t.”
“Charlotte, I wanna see Mother…”
Charlotte saw her lost and helpless look reflected in two pairs of eyes and reminded herself to pull it together. She thought of Alicia again and wished to be as reliable to the twins as the Heillander princess had been to her.
“Don’t worry, Lili and Lala.” Charlotte smiled as she took both princesses’ hands in her own. “Princess Alicia has come to us. She’ll work together with Lady Beatrix and Lord Riddhe. As for His Highness…”
“Big brother!!”
Liliana was looking behind her with wide eyes, and Charlotte stood and turned around. On the other side of the fountain, between the walkway framed by hedges, was Crown Prince Fritz, staring at them with expressionless eyes.
Her heart clenched in pain, but the crown prince spared her nothing more than a glance before calling to the twins.
“Liliana, Laurencia, it’s getting chilly, so go back to your rooms. Mother will be upset if either of you falls sick.”
“…Yes, big brother.”
The crown prince’s tone was kind but held no room for argument, and the twins walked obediently towards their maid. Before long, Charlotte was alone with Fritz.
It was their first time seeing each other since Lady Beatrix had confronted Fritz in the throne room and since Charlotte had shown the prince where her allegiance lay.
She waited for him to speak, but Fritz remained unmoving. Just as she was beginning to think of leaving, he suddenly stepped out and strode to her side.
“Your Highness, I—”
“Shut up.”
Suddenly, he grabbed her shoulders, closing the distance between them and crashing their lips together. The kiss was rough, cutting off her words and preventing her escape.
“I told you,” the crown prince muttered as he pulled away, glaring at her from between his messy blond hair. “I don’t care about your opinions. No matter who you choose to follow, even if it’s not me, I won’t let you go.”
Anger and desire raged in Fritz’s eyes, and Charlotte remembered.
Back in the throne room, when she’d declared that she wanted to be Riddhe Sutherland’s caretaker during his imprisonment, the crown prince had stopped and whispered these exact words in her ear before he’d stalked out.
“I won’t let you go.”
It was like that night at the banquet when he’d stolen her lips for the first time. The force that restrained her, his gaze, and everything about him spoke of a hidden strength but also of tragedy.
He didn’t want to lose her; didn’t want her to be taken away. That deep yearning cast a long shadow on his person.
But even so…
“No!”
With all the strength she could muster, Charlotte pushed at Fritz’s chest, glaring sharply at the crown prince when he looked down at her.
“It’s true that I’m weak. A powerless girl far beneath Your Highness, but I’m still me, and I won’t give up on my goal to stop you!”
Fritz’s face twisted in hurt. “Don’t refuse me, Charlotte,” he begged. “This empire will be mine. No one will get in my way, and no one can take away what’s mine, and that includes you… Are you dissatisfied with the new world I’m creating?”
“Yes! Very much so!”
Fritz’s grip on her shoulder loosened, perhaps frightened by the intensity of her yell. Seizing the chance, she brushed his hand off and took a few steps backward, putting some distance between them.
“Do you intend to become emperor for yourself, Your Highness?”
“…What?”
“You only think about yourself, Your Highness. If we go to war, what will happen to the weak? What will happen to Her Highnesses Lili and Lala? And that’s not all. Everyone in the city, in the whole empire, will weep and suffer!”
“And what about it? Commoners are made to obey and follow a great ruler.”
“Yes, we can’t fight back, nor can we change the world. Even if we get hurt, even when we’re torn from our families, we have no choice but to accept it without complaint.”
“That’s…”
For the first time, she saw doubt in Fritz’s eyes. As expected, he did not possess the cruelty to dismiss real tragedy so flippantly.
Charlotte didn’t miss that slight change. She believed in her prince, in the kindness of the one who once protected her, and in the warmth of his gaze towards his twin sisters.
“I’ll be waiting. Until you can truly love me and us.”
“…Charlotte!”
Charlotte dashed away without looking back, flying through the hedges with the hem of her dress flapping. Fritz didn’t chase her, but she didn’t slow her pace.
When she finally stopped to catch her breath, she shook herself and looked up at the sky as it turned dark blue. A bright star was sparkling.
“No one, not even my own mother, acknowledges me. Lost in the shadow cast by the great empress’s glory, small disappointments accumulate with each passing day. You will never understand the weight and pain of that.”
Fritz’s words ran through her mind.
He was right. Charlotte had driven him into a corner, but she didn’t understand half of what he was going through, nor did she know how to share his burden and guide him down the right path.
“Your Highness… Fritz,” she whispered. “Can you see it? The stars are so pretty. Can you see them?”
She hoped he was still in the garden, looking up at the same sky.
Hoped that the stars would show him the right path.