The Cursed Prince of Italy - Volume 1 - The Cursed

Chapter 18- The Others

Despite days passing, Ronaldo did not appear in Romina's life. She wondered why, and at times wanted to go and find him. However, she also did not want to go looking for him. She was reluctant to give him hope of any sort.

She carried on with life as usual. She still worked at Valentino's restaurant. One day, she left her apartment like normal and waited for the lift to arrive. When the doors opened, she saw Ronaldo. Seeing him brought a smile to her face. She had never seen him dressed this way. He was wearing light brown khaki shorts, a white t-shirted with green printed leaves and a dark baseball cap with brown loafers. He looked casual and nonchalant.

'Are you laughing at the way I look? I thought I was matching the current trend' he said, somewhat subconsciously. He seemed pleased at his new outfit.

'No, you look great. I laughed because I haven't seen you dressed this way before' she said, getting in the lift with him.

'Where have you been these last few days?' she asked, letting her curiosity take over. They got out of the lift and walked out onto the street. Ronaldo followed her from behind without saying anything. Romina stopped in the middle of the street, reached into her handbag and pulled out some headphones and connected them to her mobile phone. She placed the headphones in her ears and looked at Ronaldo who was watching her.

'There, now you can talk to me and no one will be any wiser' she said, proud of her creativity.

'Hmm. Not bad at all mi amore. We didn't have those kinds of things in my day' he said.

'So tell me, where have you been for the last few days?' she asked again.

'It's a bit busy at the castle' Ronaldo said, placing his hands in his pockets, looking a little deflated.

'Why? What's going on? Have the renovations stopped?' Romina asked, not knowing what had been happening since she left her role at the castle three months earlier.

'No... they're actually going better than expected. I reckon they will be done in a few more days. The place looks really nice now. You should come and have a look.'

'So what's the problem?'

'It's my family.'

'Your family?'

'Yes, they found out about you. And well, now a lot of them are now at the castle. I've had to look after them all, make sure they have a place to stay, food and it's been a bit tedious to say the least. They also don't really like me, given that I am to blame. You could probably even use the word "hate." So I have had to deal with their snide comments and what not. They are very excited to know that the long awaited heroine, who can save them from their existence is finally here. '

Despite his words, Romina could not wrap her head around it all.

'Oh my! What? How do they even know?' she asked.

'When you opened the door into my chambers, they all received some kind of sign I'm told. And now, they're all making their way over to the castle, my castle!' he sighed emphatically.

'Do you think they will come looking for me? Am I in any danger?' Romina asked, stopping in her tracks. He smiled wryly at her reaction.

'No they won't harm you. Just the opposite. They would probably be very protective of you, even from me!'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, like I said, they blame me for what has become of their existence. And they don't seem to trust me or like me very much. They just don't seem to have much faith in my ability to get along with women.'

'Well that's fair enough. That is the root cause of all of this' she said, teasingly. Ronaldo scowled at her.

'So I think I need to know more about your family' she said.

'Well my father had a few wives. I think five...'

'Five wives?' Romina interrupted him, raising her eyebrows.

'Oh come on now mi amore. Keep in mind I come from the royal dynasty and this was centuries ago. It was what they did. My great grandfather has even more wives... anyway, what I am trying to say here is, that I have a lot of family. That's my point' he explained.

'Yes, I guess that's consistent with my knowledge of Roman history and also seems to explain your behaviour too' she said, making it clear that she did not condone his behaviour.

'Are you going to continue to judge me or do you want to hear what I have to say?' he asked, sharply. He was annoyed.

'No, I am sorry. Go on' Romina said, sheepishly.

'Well, after being cursed in the fire, when we are all returned back to the earth, we are allowed to live wherever we want. Not many of us remain on Elba. Most of my family live elsewhere. And because we all have supernatural powers, they seem to do well for themselves - they have houses, cars, money, food, everything. It's only me that can't eat. Our bodies don't need it. We don't need food to sustain us. The curse means that our bodies don't need sustenance, don't age. But it also means that after a while they need to relocate because people will start noticing that they don't get old like normal people do. Does that make sense?'

'Yes so basically, your bodies are frozen in time, the time of when you were cursed?'

'Exactly. So did everyone get cursed? What about those who had small children? Did they all get cursed too?'

'Yes. That's probably been the hardest thing to bear. They all were cursed, some of them were expecting at the time. And now they remain in limbo...' he trailed off sorrowfully.

His words made her halt suddenly.

'My God! I can't believe it. So when they are burnt, they burn while carrying a baby?' the mere thought of it brought tears to her eyes. The curse was so powerful, more powerful than anything she could have imagined. And Ronaldo was the cause of it. No wonder they hated him. She would have hated him too.

'Romina, mi amore. Please don't look at me like that. I don't think I could bear it. It's already too much knowing that I am to blame for their lives, for their lost dreams and hope. I regret everything that I have done and I wish I could take it back. I sometimes wish I had died alongside my mother and then none of this would have happened' he said, breaking down. He bit his lip to hold back the tears.

'I'm sorry Ronaldo. All of this is... I just can't process it.... Maybe, your family is living through this all because of their own karma, not just yours' she said, hoping to console him.

By then, they had reached the restaurant. Already there was a line waiting for it to open.

'Woah, it's going to be a busy day again' Romina said under her breath.

'That is why I argue with them. They are keeping you busy, making you tired. I've told them so many times to leave you alone, but they won't listen - morons!' he said, growling at the crowd. His words made her stop in her tracks.

'What do you mean?'

'Mi amore, the restaurant has been super busy as of late because of my beloved family wanting to get a chance to see you, meet you, interact with you' he said, exasperatedly.

'I've told them so many times not to come here and disrupt things. Some of them are just idiots and won't listen. They seem to like you and just keep on coming. I don't know why, maybe seeing you from their own eyes, it gives them hope.'

She smiled at him. 'They aren't doing anything that wrong you know. They probably keep coming because unlike you, they must like me. Anyway, I like working and meeting new people, so they haven't done any harm. And thanks to them, Valentino seems to be getting lots of business which he definitely isn't complaining about. It means I am getting more shifts too. You sometimes can be an idiot too, you know' she laughed, teasing him gently.

'So am I now in the wrong for trying to look after you?' he said, annoyed at her. He watched her walk away and muttered under his breath 'I just can't catch a break. I give up' he said, before turning around and walking back.