The Cursed Prince

"Maxim?" Edgar caught the word that came out of his friend's mouth. Somehow he thought the name sounded familiar. Where did he hear it before?

"Yeah..." Mars nodded. His expression now looked very annoyed.

He was very convinced that the king who was after his wife was actually the man whom Emmelyn always told him about. The guy named Maxim that she claimed to be more handsome than Gewen, so resourceful and fun, yadda yadda...

Ughhh!!

Mars didn't want to think about how Emmelyn met Maxim and ended up with King Loriel in Summeria. His blood would boil and it's not good for Harlow to see her father angry.

"Who is Maxim?" Edgar asked Mars again. His brows furrowed as he kept trying to remember where he had heard of the name before.

"That's Emmelyn's old friend," Mars replied. "I think he is the king you saw in Summeria. What did he say to you? Did he want Emmelyn for himself?"

Edgar was astonished to hear Mars's questions. This was a question that was difficult to answer.

Why did Mars have to be so direct? he thought. The young king was very smart and could immediately connect the dots just from little bits of information he heard from Edgar. So, he immediately concluded that King Loriel Ashborn was Emmelyn's old friend.

Come to think of it, Edgar vaguely remembered Emmelyn did call King Loriel as Maxim several times. So, it looked like Mars was right.

Edgar Chaucer knew the answer quite well, but he didn't want to incite Mars' anger. So, he chose to change the topic. "Your Majesty, actually, the reason why they lent me a dragon to reach home faster is that Lady Emmelyn asked me to do something."

He added, "She wanted me to reach Draec as soon as possible. Normally the journey would take me 4-5 months. With a dragon, I managed to reach home in less than four weeks."

"What... what did she ask you to do?" Mars asked Edgar urgently. "And why didn't she come home with you...?"

"Lady Emmelyn told me she met someone who claimed he could revive Queen Elara," Edgar explained. "She said when the queen wakes up, she would be able to clear Lady Emmelyn's name. Everyone would know that she was not the killer."

"So... she would only come home after her name is cleared?" Mars asked again.

Edgar regretfully shook his head. "She didn't say."

Emmelyn didn't say if she would ever come home to Draec, at all.

"Oh, Emmelyn.." Mars massaged his temple. He asked Edgar again. "So, she said she met someone who can revive my mother... Let me know where to find the person. I will send some people..."

"There is no need for that, Your Majesty," Edgar quickly took out his leather bag from the sofa and opened it. He took out a  wooden box from inside the bag and presented it to Mars. "Inside this box is a scarf that belongs to that person. Lady Emmelyn said we just need to cover Queen Elara's face with it."

"And my mother will live again...?" Mars looked at the scarf with narrowed eyes.

Somehow, it was so hard for him to believe Edgar's words. He saw his mother in the ice cave so many times already. He had confirmed this. Queen Elara was really dead.

Even though she looked like she was sleeping, she didn't breathe and it had been like that for months. No humans could live again after they died.

Right?

"Yes, that's what Lady Emmelyn said. She seemed very certain," Edgar added. "She didn't want me to waste time on the road. So, she asked King Loriel if I could use one of their dragons to take me here. She wanted me to do the task as soon as possible."

"Who gave her the scarf? Did you know?" Mars looked at the grey scarf and thought it didn't look special.

How could this scarf bring back his mother to life? He looked at it again and decided to trust Emmelyn's words if she said the scarf brought magic and could revive his mother. Mars knew Emmelyn was smart and wouldn't fall for a scam easily.

So... maybe, it was worth trying?

"She didn't tell me. Your Majesty, I believe we've got nothing to lose," Edgar looked at Mars seriously. "Maybe, we should just keep it a secret from your father. If he already harbored hope to see your mother revived, and the scarf failed... he would be so devastated."

"Yeah.. you are right." Mars took the scarf from the wooden box to check it. His eyes suddenly saw the scroll under the scarf and wondered what it was. He turned to Edgar and asked him, "Is this a letter?"

"Yeah. Lady Emmelyn said I have to give it to Queen Elara after she wakes up," Edgar explained. 

"Oh..." Mars looked at the letter longingly.

He missed Emelyn so deeply and really wanted to hear something from her. The last thing he got was the secret letter that Emmelyn wrote with lemon. It's been a long time ago, and he had been missing her so badly.

He asked Edgar with a sad expression. "She didn't give any letter for me?"

Edgar felt so bad when he had to tell Mars the truth. The man shook his head weakly. "No. She told me she has already said everything she needed to say in a letter she left behind for you before she left Draec. If you haven't found the letter, she hid it inside the book in her chamber in the Grey Tower."

Mars sighed. He felt very sad because Emmelyn didn't want to say anything to him. She only wrote a letter to his mother.

He knew Emmelyn must hate him now because she thought he believed her accusers and betrayed her with that stupid bounty.

The king felt his knees turn weak. His chest was literally pained when he imagined the worst possible scenario. Maybe now Emmelyn hated him so much and didn't want to come back home.

Did she decide to stay in Summeria and married that other guy?

But... was she really that heartless to leave Harlow behind?

"Thank you for this, Edgar," Mars clutched the scarf tightly, feeling so emotional. This was a gift from his wife, so he treasured it wholeheartedly.

Mars was moved by the fact that, even though Emmelyn must be hating him at the moment, she still cared about his mother that she made all those efforts to make sure Edgar could come home quickly and revive Queen Elara.

His wife was such a kind woman. He was so lucky to have her.

Mars thought he couldn't love Emmelyn more but, apparently, he just did.

His love for her grew deeper and deeper, and not having her by his side now felt so painful

No... he didn't want her to go. He must do something to get her back.

.

.

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From the author:

Yes! Queen Elara will be revived in the next chapter. It's now 11 am in my place, Saturday (and I will sleep soon). I hope you will have a relaxing and restful weekend. 

To dear Toya Bravo, THANK YOU so much for gifting a dragon to this book today. You are so kind T_T.

I will spend time with my kids today at the beach. I haven't been to any in months even though I live in Bali.. ahahah. I hope after I take some time to relax, ideas will come flowing and I can write more, so we can still end this book by October. Take care!