blood, dust and... you

Chapter 4.

Not so much that the prince was given the most terrible tasks to do. Moreover, he was alone. Alone for the whole damn castle, which was too huge. In addition, instead of waking up like a normal person after sunrise, no. Of course he was woken up before sunrise. And this whole advisor to the king named Ma, it's really obvious that he doesn't like the prince. He is there all the time, one could say that the prince feels like he is being held back. It's obvious that Ma has a hard time with him, he has absolutely no respect and no sympathy.
How long have the servants been gone? It's all just begging to be cleaned up. Although it would be easier to burn it all. Unfortunately, the prince has to work because he is a damn slave! Plus he was put into this shit by who?! By his beloved brother! It's best to get rid of it. Best. His brother never liked him. All this worrying about him was just simple manipulation. What a fraud. At least he could have shown him straight away that he didn't like him. No, it was better to send him to some forgotten, dusty place with the strangest king he had ever had the nerve to meet! And what?! Yesterday a prince, today a slave. His future is looking great. Damn world, stupid family, stupid castle.
Macaque was currently cleaning the throne room, specifically polishing the floor. What an irony. He muttered his grievances and dissatisfaction. Even though Ma is gone somewhere. Macaque feels that he is watching him. He doesn't even know where, but he knows it's true. Does he care? Definitely not. If he could, he'd tell everyone here that they're hopeless, that's not the way to treat a member of the royal family... but does he have any valid, overwhelming argument on his side? NO. Because he's a damn slave, and he's a slave!
  After finishing washing the floor. His next task was to do the laundry, dust all the rooms, wash the floors again, and replace the candles in the candlesticks. Slavery!
And so the whole day flew by. Cleaning, getting angry and cursing all over the place. Really, for what sins did this happen to him?! Ah yes.. for the sins of his brother!
At least now he has some rest before dinner. Is he hungry? Yes. Will he eat with this king? Definitely not. He was too angry today. He's here to stay. In fact, he could make a rope out of these sheets and climb out. This is the plan.
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The golden-haired monkey was already waiting to meet the prince. Today he was in a much better mood than last time. He was excited about this new... toy. They could walk together in the garden in the moonlight. He'll definitely like it. Oo.. and then maybe... hmm.. weird what does he like? The monkey king thought.
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There was a knock on the door and it was Ma. Macaque looked at him with irritation.
" Time for dinner." Ma said.
"I'm not going anywhere." replied the prince.
"I don't think we understand each other. I'm not asking you if you want to. I'm telling you to."
"Oh? Indeed. From what I remember. I'm the king's property, so only he can order me." he said ironically. So irony is his new weapon in the fight against these monkeys.
Ma got irritated. "I'm still nice to you. But my kindness has its limits. So for your goodness, move and let's not prolong this."
"You know what, if your king is so keen to have dinner with me, then let him come here in person."
"Have you gone crazy? Him? To come to you? You're lower in the hierarchy now, as if you didn't know it. So, for your own good, it's better you don't upset him and don't push him to the limits like in my case."
"Or what?"
"Because I can still control myself."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That even though you are extremely irritating, I can stand you"
"Oh.. gracious"
"Already? Are you relieved?"
"NO"
Ma rolled his eyes. "Come on, calm down..."
Ba entered the room. Ma looked at him questioningly. "What are you doing here?"
"The king ordered to check if everything is OK," replied Ba.
"Yes, it's okay. Now you can tell him that I won't have dinner with him," Macaque said. Ba looked at him with pity.
"You see what I have to struggle with," Ma added.
"I know it's hard for you," Ba began.
"I don't think any of you know"
"But don't bring our king's wrath upon yourself. You are... the first person to intrigue him."
"So what? Should I feel honored by this? I'd rather be free."
Well, he sighed. "But you are free"
"I don't feel it, you made me a slave," he said indignantly.
"Oh.. Sorry, but it wasn't us who offered you to the king, it was your brother," Ma said. Macaque clenched his fist.
"Calm down. You'll see, everything will be fine, but you've only been here for one day. I understand your frustration. You're here alone. You don't know us. Your life has changed drastically, but understand, for the good of all of us, have dinner with our king. Dinner for him with you is really important. Our king cares about this" Ba tried to convince the prince.
"Somehow it doesn't look like that," Macaque said.
"But it is true, trust me. Deep down, he..."
"If he has one..." Liu interjected as he entered. Macaque looked at him skeptically.
"What are you doing here?" Ma asked.
"You know, the king is starting to... worry about him," Liu said, pointing to Macaque. "And you know, when he gets worried, this time it's not my fault."
"Don't make him wait any longer," Ma said with a hint of pleading.
"Do you care about that too? It's just an ordinary dinner," Macaque said.
"Maybe for you, but for our king..." Ba said.
"It's just lonely. There hasn't been anyone here for a long time... an outsider who has survived, has been here for more than a day," Liu said.
"And why should I feel sorry for him? Let more people leave this dusty palace," said Macaque ironically.
"It's not that simple," Ma said.
"So maybe you can explain to me? Because since I've been here, everything has been... weird."
"We would like to, but..." Ba began. And at that moment the king will stand in the doorway, with his hands held behind him. Looking at them seriously. How did he get there? Macaque didn't even hear him come.
"What's going on here?" he asked, dominance evident in his voice. He went inside. Ba, Ma and Liu moved away, their heads lowered. The king stood before Macaque. They looked into each other's eyes. Macaque could have sworn he saw worry in his eyes. But worry about what? Probably not about him.
"Did they do something to you?" he asked and his voice was more gentle.
"Please?" Macaque didn't understand.
"Did they hurt you?" the king said, his voice still gentle.
"NO?" replied Macaque, unsure what he meant. The king sighed in relief? He turned to his generals.
"So what was the reason for being late for dinner? Hmm?" he said, but with no emotion.
"We..."
"They were just about to take me to dinner... it's my fault, I just asked them... if I should change for dinner and..." Macaque said. The king turned to him.
"Really?"
"Sorry you had to wait," Macaque wanted to say it ironically, but stopped himself. The king smiled. "Oh.. but there's nothing to apologize for, now let's at least, the food is probably already cold, are you hungry?" he said calmly and took Macaque's hand and they left. Ma, Ba and Liu breathed a sigh of relief.
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Macaque looked at the king. The aura of domination and terror disappeared and was replaced by gentleness and friendliness. Today the king was obviously in a very good mood. He talked an awful lot, but Macaque didn't mind. The food was the same as yesterday. The king did not eat again, only drank. It was weird, but well...
"What do you like to eat?" asked the king.
"Oh... I like mooncakes," he said shyly. The king smiled and drank.
"And you?" asked the prince.
"I... well... I liked anything that had a peach flavor. Everyone told me to stop eat peaches all the time, but it was too strong. It was actually too good. Sometimes I miss it." he said sadly.
"Why did you stop?"
"Hmm... I had to go on a diet."
"oh..."
there was an awkward silence.
"So... how was your day?" asked the king.
"Honestly?"
The king nodded.
"Wrong. You turned me into a cleaner. Why don't you have servants here? They would take better care of all this. Besides, do you know how dusty this castle of yours is?"
"Sorry. It hasn't been cleaned in... you could say forever."
"This is what it looks like"
The king chuckled. "None of us wants to clean up, and there was no need for it before"
"And now?"
"There's you," he said with a smile.
"And what am I cleaning for myself? Do you know how much there is?"
"Yeah... from what I know, yes, it's a big, old castle. You can ask one of my advisors for help."
"What? They don't even like me"
The king sighed. "Baby, you've only been here one day"
Macaque fell silent. The king looked at him with a faint smile.
"But... I think I like you," and he took a drink.
"There's something... attractive about you. Plus, you smell nice," he said with a smile.
Macaque blushed. The king chuckled.
"So what? Shall we do something? I can show you the garden."
"It's already night"
"So what does that have to do with anything? It's a beautiful night. The moon is full."
Macaque looked at him. He sighed. "If you want to show me the garden so badly, there's nothing better to do anyway."
"You can start cleaning if you want," he joked.
"NO!"
The king chuckled.
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It was dark in the garden. No wonder it was night. The king was very good in the dark. It was quiet. Macaque could hear the conversations of the king's advisers. About him and the king, of course. Did they say anything else about a curse? He didn't understand this. He listened more. Until he fell into the king and they both fell over. Macaque was now lying on top of the king, he felt terribly stupid. The king smiled. They stared at each other. Nothing mattered at that moment. They. Now. Moonlight.
"You look pretty in the moonlight," said the king.
Macaque blushed. They were still lying down. Macaque was stunned.
"I'd think you'd want to kiss me," the king joked. Macaque blushed even more and realized the position they were in. He quickly got up and looked away. The king chuckled and stood up as well.
"It's a pity, I had hope," he said and smiled slightly.
Macaque was ashamed of this whole scene.
The king approached him. They looked into each other's eyes. The king smiled and quickly touched the prince's shoulder.
" you are chasing," the king said quickly and quickly moved away. Macaque needed a moment to comprehend what had just happened. He probably thought that the king really wanted to kiss him, and now he wants to have fun? Is he a baby or what?
"Hey? Are you okay?" said the king and came closer.
If the king wants to play, Macaque will play with him. He smiled and touched the king on the shoulder and said "now you chase" and quickly ran away from him. The king chuckled. Macaque couldn't see where he was running, but he ran and giggled. This one was kind of funny. But unexpectedly, the king appeared before him with open arms and Macaque fell into his arms. They fell over. The king started tickling the prince. Macaque began to laugh loudly and tried to drive the king away, but to no avail. The king also started laughing. The king's advisors watched this entire scene, waiting in the shadows. Then after a while they returned inside.
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"You know what, I like him," Liu said.
"Yes, it gives life to this place," said Beng.
"Oh... what about you, it's only been one damn day," Ma said.
"And it's a good day. It's obvious that the king is infatuated with him. It's a good sign," said Ba.
“Or a recipe for disaster,” Ma said.
"It takes time"
"I honestly thought they were going to kiss. Do you think a kiss would work?" Liu said.
"It should work"
"Or it's just a fairy tale," Ma said.
"Hey, do you want to be free? Or not? Because I'm tired of all this waiting in the dark, I want to go out into the sun," Beng said.
"But you can leave," Ma said ironically. Beng rolled his eyes.
"We see it, Ma, that you don't like him... but" Ba said.
"That's not the point..."
"Yeah? What is it about?" Liu asked
"Never mind."
"Say, you've already started," Beng said.
"Haven't you thought about what will happen when he finds out the truth about us... about the king? We can't hide it forever. He'll find out sooner or later. So what then?" Ma said.
"And yet you are worried?"
"Maybe? I don't want the king to break his heart on him. It's obvious that when he finds out the truth about the king, he will want to run away."
"You know, love is powerful. Maybe he'll want to stay here after all," Ba said.
"Are you blind? We are bloodsuckers. He is alive and his smell disturbs all of us."
"He's right, he's right," Liu said. "He won't last long here"
"What if it survives after all?"
"What if we don't? And we get too attached? What will happen to the king? He's already attached."
"Don't despair. Everything will be fine," said Beng. Ma rolled his eyes.
"Changing the subject. We'll have to replenish our supplies and find something to eat for our living one," said Liu.
"We'll do it when the hurricane comes," Ba said. "Then there will be confusion in the city, we will be able to take something for ourselves and something for the living."
"Yeah... the only problem is that they still believe we exist and they still have their rules."
"We can always use the secret passage," Beng said.
"It would be good if we eliminated this old woman, she causes only problems," said Liu.
"That's why we shouldn't play with our food," Ma said.
"Oh... stop. It'll be different with him," Ba said.
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Hi 😊,
What's your opinion? I can't wait to write the hurricane chapter😆. But for now there will be chapters like this, you know, description of the situation of the days, slowly love, etc.
(Comments welcome)
Bye.