The Princess Escaped

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: Eighteenth Birthday

I bent down to blow the eighteen candles lit on my eighteenth birthday cake.

A year had passed and I heard nothing about Charles. Everyday there is a new fight, between me and mum or between me and Alicia. I can't do that anymore.

It's a small party, only the staff sang for me, there is no other person in the hall.

"Happy birthday, Princess" Stephan said as he sat like everybody else on the feast.

"I wished Charles was here" The words just escaped my mouth remembering me of that day, but last year.

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I ran to Charles' room and knocked hard on the door for any chance that he could be still in there.

"Princess?!" Marie called me "He is not in there"

"He must be" I said under my sobs "He would never leave me" I rested on the door after I gave up that he could be in "Where is Stephan?" I asked her "He must know something" I said "Charles trusted him. He must've told him that he is leaving"

"Stephan is not here" she said.

I knocked on the door a couple of times more with no reason probably.

"What's happening?" I raised my head to find dad with mum and a lot of guards. I handed him the letter with no reason.

"Break the door" mum cried and the guards obeyed revealing and a totally empty room "Search for him everywhere, send messages to the airports. I want names of all the people who passed our boarders whether by ship, plane, cars or even buses. You-"

"Stop" dad said "Don't search for him"

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"Leave him. He knows what's best for himself"

I ran back to my room and started sobbing. I couldn't believe that he ran away. Like a child, who was afraid of facing his fear, so he just ran away. Is that the big surprise you promised me, Charles? You left the castle.

"Don't come in" I answered the knocking door, but it opened anyway.

"Can you stop crying?" Dad's voice hit me.

"You will leave him"

"He'll came back"

"How did you know?" I raised my head to look at him, finally.

"Because he ran away before" he leaned closer to me "When our mother died" he relaxed back "He ran away for a couple of days and when he ran out of food and water he came back" he smiled.

I smiled back and wiped my tears away "Okay"

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I waited for a couple of days. Then those couple of days turned into a week. Then that week became a month and that month is now a year.

"Why did you leave?" Mum burst out the door "Go down and finish the super" she cried.

"No" I said.

"Princess Victoria, I said go down"

"I said no" I cried.

"Lower your voice and speak politely, Princess" she warned.

"Mum, go out" I said.

"Don't talk like that to your mother, Victoria" dad entered the room.

"Can you leave me alone?" I cried.