The Cursed Prince

"How did your men find him so fast?" Emmelyn asked Maxim as they rode toward the royal palace with the king's guards riding around them to protect the king. At that moment, Emmelyn could finally see Maxim was really the king of this country.

"Long live the king!"

Someone started shouting from the crowd and immediately followed by the others. Soon, they could hear the people shouting cheers and acknowledgment to their king and his entourage.

"Long live the king!!"

"Long live the king!!"

Emmelyn started feeling overwhelmed. It was different from when she was in Draec. Mars was quite reclusive and didn't show himself a lot in public.

When he appeared, the royal family made sure nobody could get closer or touch him since they wanted to maintain his ruthless persona in public.

The Draecians could only see the crown prince from the distance and many didn't even like him since he was known as a monster who hated women. Only Emmelyn knew the truth.

Before knew him personally, she also thought Mars was the devil reincarnate himself as what the court wanted people to believe.

Emmelyn felt sorry for Mars and thought the public must know the truth. She wondered if Mars still maintained his old reputation now that he was already the king. Maybe she would never know.

Here, in Summeria, it was the opposite. Maxim didn't distance himself from his people. Yes, he looked aloof and overbearing, but the people seemed to love him and admire him. Their shouts and cheers accompanied the king and his entourage until they reached the palace gate.

"Welcome back, Your Majesty. I hope you are well," a middle-aged man, impeccably dressed, came to greet them by the entrance and bowed down to the king.

"Hello, Horatio," Maxim greeted him back. He pointed at Emmelyn and Kira. "These are my friends. Please take good care of them and give them the best rooms in our guest quarter."

"Welcome to my home," Maxim said to Emmelyn and Kira, then introduced his butler to them. "This is Horatio, our loyal butler. He will show you your rooms and get you everything you need."

"Nice to meet you, Horatio," said Emmelyn politely. "My name is Emmelyn."

"Princess Emmelyn from Wintermere," Maxim added. 

Immediately, Horatio's eyes lit up. He understood what the king meant. So... this was the woman that King Loriel had been looking for?

He looked at Emmelyn and admired her beauty. No wonder the king fell head over heels for this woman.

She was beautiful and looked very attractive. Her eyes looked intelligent and she also had the gracefulness of a royalty. 

"I am honored to meet you, Your Grace," Horatio bowed down a little, to show his respects to the king's guest. 

"And this is Kira Grim," Maxim introduced Kira. "She is with Emmelyn."

"Nice to mee you too, Lady Kira," Horatio nodded toward Kira and smiled.

He thought this woman was quite impressive. She didn't look like a noblewoman, because she carried a sword on her waist and her arm was decorated with a scary snake tattoo.

He was wondering where the king met these ladies and what was his relationship with them. However, Horatio was not nosey. He respected his master's privacy and didn't try to pry into his personal relationship.

"Please follow me, your grace," he opened his arms and respectfully motioned Emmelyn and Kira to follow him. The two ladies lightly jumped down from their horses and walked to follow Horatio. Maxim walked behind them but after they entered the main building his steps halted.

"I'll see you tonight at dinner. I am going this way. Rest well!" Maxim waved at Emmelyn and then walked to the opposite end of the royal palace.

The woman nodded and then turned around to follow Horatio. They were brought to the second floor of the massive building and led to two beautiful chambers at the end of the corridor.

"Please enjoy your rest. Several maids will come to bring you water so you can wash up and other necessities," said Horatio after he opened the door and let Kira enter the chamber. Then, he turned to Emmelyn and pointed at the chamber beside Kira's. "This is your chamber, Your Grace."

"Thank you, Horatio." Emmelyn entered her chamber and looked around her to admire the design. She loved the big and comfortable bed in the middle of the room.

However, even though the chamber looked amazing, deep inside her heart, Emmelyn was missing her own chamber back in the crown prince's castle. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her mind on where she was now. 

It was useless to keep thinking about the past. She had many important things to do here. Soon, she would be able to meet Edgar and talk to him. After leaving Draec for so many months, it was nice to see a familiar face again.

***

Emmelyn had dinner with the king himself at his private residence, together with Kira. It was a smaller dining room where the king had intimate dinner with people who were close to him, which were very few in number.

They ate good food and the best wine in Atlantea. Maxim asked Emmelyn if she liked her chamber and the woman said yes. They then talked about their plans for the next day. Kira was excited when the name Edgar came out in the conversation.

"So, you will be meeting your friend?" She asked Emmelyn with a beaming face. She had seen Edgar's face on the sketch and she liked what she saw. She was looking forward to meeting the man.

"Yes, Kira. Maxim, uhm... Loriel has sent his people to find Edgar and they found him still in the capital. They already invited him to come here tomorrow."

"That's wonderful!" Kira smiled broadly. "I want to know if he is a handsome as the picture."

"Well, he is..." Emmelyn responded with a smile. She looked at Kira and was wondering if Edgar would be attracted to her. "However, I need to send him home to Draec as soon as possible. So... you might only meet him for a short time. I hope you don't mind."

"Yeah, sure." Kira shrugged nonchalantly. "I am just curious. I am interested in exploring Castilse and other places around it. Meeting your friend, Edgar, is just a bonus."

"I am happy to hear that." Emmelyn was relieved to hear Kira's response. She was worried Kira would demand to meet Edgar and spend more time with him to get to know each other.

Fortunately, Kira was more sensible than she thought.

"Where is your family, Max?" Emmelyn looked around them and noticed that there were only the three of them enjoying dinner. She remembered Maxim said he had several older sisters and his mother.

"My sisters are all married and live with their own family. My younger brothers passed away two years ago from a strange illness," Maxim sighed. "My mother said she was tired and couldn't see guests. Maybe you can meet her tomorrow."

The truth was, Maxim had not told his mother about Emmelyn's arrival in Castilse. He wanted to make sure his mother was in a good mood before he brought Emmelyn to meet her.

The queen dowager was against Maxim looking for Emmelyn in the first place. It was he, who insisted that Emmelyn was the right woman for him to marry.

His mother didn't know how special Emmelyn was and didn't approve of Maxim's choice. However, he hoped her opinion would soon change after she met Emmelyn in person.

.

.

******************

You are all amazing! Thank you for the Golden Tickets in August! This is the second chapter. I will write 3 more.

Let's have a weekly goal for Golden Ranking in September. If we can stay in Top 3 Golden ranking until Sunday, I will publish 3 chapters per day for the whole next week. If we keep our #4 position, I will give 2 bonus chapters on Monday (a total of 4).