Apricots - Ruel Van Dijk

Chapter 2 - Lectures and Snapping

Tw this chapter has very brief mentions of verbal abuse

Ruel's POV

And Llord knows that this love has taken toll

I've given all of my love to this broken home

*

It was another boring, endless day of doing absolutely nothing. Well I suppose duties aren't absolutely nothing, but they surely feel like it. I had fencing lessons at 5:30am-7:00am, then breakfast with my mother, father and sister. Fencing was alright, boring, easy. As usual. Breakfast was normal. Father lecturing me about something I was only half listening to, probably how I had to 'be prepared to be king'. 

I was the first born child, so I was always destined for the throne, whether I liked it or not. So my father had been talking to me about it since I was very young. If I'm being honest, I really did not want to be King. I hated life as a prince as is. It was just so...boring, and repetitive. Every day, I would get up at precisely 5:15, get ready for fencing practice, have fencing from 5:30-6:45, get ready for breakfast, eat breakfast at 7, at 7:30 I would have horse-riding and jousting, at 12:15 I would get ready for lunch, eat lunch at 12:30, meetings and tutoring from 1-3, archery from 3:30-5, public engagement from 5:15-5:45, dinner at 6:30, then prepare for bed at 8, and lights out precisely at 9. I barely had any free time. The spare time I did have almost always either went to preparing for the next duty, or finishing up schoolwork. I absolutely hated it.

You may say 'Once you're king, you're in charge of the whole country, so it must be more interesting!'. Technically the King doesn't even make any decisions for himself. We have advisors that practically make decisions for us. Your whole life as a royal is just being told what to do. I so badly wished for a normal life, one where I didn't have to be trapped inside a castle, and used basically to force the public into the monarchy.

But it had always been this way, ever since Stella (my sister) and I were little. We had been given royal duties from before we could walk. She took etiquette classes, learning how to drink tea and sit like a lady, and I was taught every noble sport known to man. We both took several hours of complex tutoring every day. We knew just about everything a grown up knew by the time we were 13, except what was beyond the palace walls. 

Though it sounded lovely to learn all these royal things, it really wasn't. It was quite the opposite of lovely actually. We both HAD to do these things, whether we wanted to or not. Often, our father would watch us, and talk us down when we messed up until it was practically verbal abuse. Hell, it was certainly verbal abuse. He would say things like 'You are rubbish, you deserve to rot in hell.' and 'If you don't get better at this by next week, I will cut off any free time at all.'. But the absolute worst part was, we were both forbidden to go beyond the palace walls, or communicate with anyone outside of the palace. So we weren't even allowed to wave to the public. Public engagement was the only exception to that, where we would read a boring speech off a palm card for 30 minutes. I hated it, and so did Stella. I longed to say something real to someone other than a maid, to live a life normally. 

"Ruel! Are you even listening to me?" my father snapped, pulling me out of my daydream.

"Huh? Oh yes, of course I am father," I shook my head, lifting my gaze to him. I was currently having lunch with my family, and apparently my dad was going on one of his infamous lectures. I looked back down to my plate, stabbing a fork into my steak and lifting it into my mouth. I gazed across at my sister, who tilted her head towards father, her blonde hair bobbing as she moved her head. I sighed lightly. Stella and I had come up with a plan to ask our parents if we could go out on the town for a day. We were both tired of being cooped up in this castle, and were desperate to get out. "Father?"

"Yes, Ruel," he replied sternly, looking unamused.

"Stella and I were thinking, for public engagement this afternoon, maybe we could go into the town to talk to some of the public? It might help us connect better?" I asked, watching his face crease in anger. This was not good.

"Absolutely notl! You are a prince and Stella is a princess, you two are not some street rats. I will not allow it," he raised his voice, making me stare back towards my food, trying to stop myself from snapping back at him. I gazed toward my mother, who just gave me a sympathetic look and smiled sadly.

"Listen to your father," was all she said, lightly rubbing my arm. I pulled my arm out of her grasp. I banged down my cutlery, harshly standing up from the table and stepping loudly away from the table. Why was he so controlling? Stella and I had never stepped foot out of the castle grounds, ever. 

"Ruel Vincent Van Dijk! Come back here right now!" I heard him yell after me, to which I ignored and continued stomping up the spiral stairs to my room. I was done. So done. I slammed the door shut to my room, collapsing on my bed. Usually I wouldn't do this, especially in the middle of dinner. But I had had enough. Our father had been controlling us our entire lives, and I was sick of it. I had to get out of here, somehow.

a/n

this was a VERY short chapter, but i suppose i just wanted to give you all a brief intro to Ruel:). It should be like this for the rest of the book, interchanging perspectives.

I love you all, you are beautiful humans who deserve the world.

2/12/21

- Bri <3🍇

Word Count: 1023