Season 3 Young Royals (Version 1)

43. Hillerska

It was a beautiful, sunny day. The grounds were vivid green and the flowers in full bloom at the edges of the manicured lawns.

Birds could be heard chirping along with the splash of the water from the fountain running into the pond that sat at the foot of the school building.

The students had chosen different spots to lounge and sunbathe around the campus. No one was wearing jackets, and sunglasses could be seen everywhere.

Felice, Wilhelm, Simon and Madison were sitting on the steps next to the pond.

Felice had her head thrown back, eyes closed and was resting on her elbows. She was almost draped down the steps. Her legs were crossed casually below on the lower steps and she was looking glamorous in an angora sweater and leather skirt.

Madison was in a similar position next to her, except that she was looking at her phone as she tried to absorb as much sun as possible.

Wilhelm was sat sideways on the stairs below them, leaning forward as he listened to Simon. Simon was sitting facing him on the steps, animatedly chatting about some new music he'd discovered.

Wilhelm was listening to him, but was mostly enjoying how excited Simon was as he was telling Wilhelm. He was slightly distracted by how Simon's eyes were lighting up, and he couldn't help smiling as he listened and watched intently. He would frequently go from making eye contact to looking at Simon's lips, hair and the rest of him, even enjoying his animated hand gestures.

"Whoa..have you guys seen this yet?" Madison suddenly planted her feet on the step and sat up straight, looking at her phone.

Everyone stopped and turned to look at Madison except Felice.

"What's up?" Felice asked without moving, not trying to interrupt her sunbathing for just anything.

"Well, it looks like they've confirmed that August will go to prison, but for two years, not three...and he's going to have to pay damages of 2,5 million kronor."

"For you, Simon." Wilhelm said, smiling at his boyfriend.

Simon smiled and looked down then up again at Wilhelm. "Sucks that he only got two years but at least everyone knows it was him, and he's gonna have to sell some of his shit."

"Yep! Fuck him. So much." Madison chimed in. "He deserves worse but that'll have to do...What does, um, Sara say about it, Simon?"

Simon looked uncomfortable at the mention of his sister and shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't asked her about it. She testified against him and said she saw him at the computer, so..."

"It was weird how little he defended himself but I think he just accepted he was caught...Also, um why do you think they're saying she's pregnant? How did the tabloids even know they were together?" Madison asked.

Felice sat up to participate in the conversation. "It sounds so ridiculous and I don't feel like I can ask her about it."

"There were only a few people who knew about them, but it probably got around the Manor House the day you were moving out of the room, Felice." Madison suggested, looking at Felice who returned a quick glance, suspecting the same thing. "But I mean, she can't be, right?" Madison looked to Simon again.

"Not that I know of, but would she tell me if she were?" Simon shrugged again. "We're talking again but I still don't feel like I know who she really is, and we're not as close as I thought we were anymore." The group gave him sympathetic looks.

"On another crazy subject....what do you think about the other baby rumours, Wilhelm?" Madison looked hesitantly at Wilhelm then, hoping she hadn't overstepped some invisible boundary, speaking to a Crown Prince about something so personal.

"Oh...Um, well, there is a baby, and it's a girl that Erik was seeing saying it's his, so who knows if it's true...until they get the results back." Wilhelm stated it very matter of factly, but he tried to hide an almost imperceptible smile on his lips as he said it.

"Wait, what?" Simon had intentionally stopped looking at tabloids and most news sources in general, and Wilhelm hadn't bothered to tell him because it did seem somewhat ridiculous.

He also didn't want Simon to know how much he was actually getting his hopes up and knew he wouldn't be able to hide it if he told him.

"Wille! You seriously haven't told him?" Felice looked at Wilhelm, raising her eyebrows high.

"It's just tabloids. My mom is convinced it's all a plan to get money from the Royal Family." Wilhelm tried to sound dismissive and skeptical as he explained.

"But...it's still possible Wilhelm's got a niece or nephew..." Felice bit her upper lip and smirked at Simon then, raising her eyebrows again.

"Oh my God..." Simon smiled at Wilhelm and just as Wilhelm suspected, he couldn't hide the emotion that he felt about it when Simon looked at him. "I mean, I'm sure it's complicated...but...I hope it's true. How do you feel about it?" Simon pretended he couldn't see the change in Wilhelm's face.

He felt a bit awkward in front of Madison, but she'd also been around right after Erik's accident, and seen Wilhelm at his lowest point along with Felice. He looked down momentarily.

"I hope it's true too..." He looked back up at Simon who smiled. "If it is, hopefully we can meet them, but the Royal Court will try to keep it quiet and wouldn't want us to interact with them at all to avoid rumours I imagine..." Wilhelm got lost in his thoughts for a moment and Simon reached out to touch his shirt lapel, then smoothed Wilhelm's hair back behind his ear. As they were enjoying the sun and the closeness to each other, the girls glanced at each other then went back to sunbathing.

They heard some noisy laughter coming down the path behind Wilhelm suddenly. He turned to look back at Vincent and Nils approaching with a couple of other third year boys.

As they approached and noticed Wilhelm and Simon, they quickly collected themselves and became quiet. They passed by without saying anything and Simon gave Wilhelm a questioning glance.

"They've been ignoring me. I asked Nils about it and he said I'd broken some oath by admitting it was me in the video and since that put pressure on August to turn himself in... He said I should have kept denying it and let it go away." Wilhelm shrugged. "They think I'm trying to destroy their 'traditions' too, because of what I said in my speech. They think we should all lie and protect each other or the system will fall apart."

"As much as I love their 'traditions', I'd be really proud if you brought that shit to an end, but I also think you've got more important things to worry about.
Besides that, they're just a bunch of fucking losers who want to keep drinking each other's spit from plastic cups." Simon smirked and raised his eyebrows, jokingly challenging Wilhelm to contradict him.

Wilhelm smirked at this and was reminded he'd told Simon about that recently. "You're not wrong..."he twisted his mouth as if he were actually thinking about it.

"Ugh! They drink each other's spit from cups?! What the fuck?!"
Madison sat up again and looked at them, horrified.

Wilhelm and Simon both laughed at her reaction but didn't explain.