Chapter #23
Derrick, after startling me by grabbing my hands, drew me over to a small room that I had not noticed before. The room was covered by a curtain, and he opened it swiftly but secretly to let me through. The chamber was unlike any I had seen before, and although elegant, it also seemed as though there was uncovered yet evident pain and torment buried deep below, waiting for someone to unveil.
“Princess,” he questioned, searching my face for any kind of reply. “Would you help a lost man?”
I did not know what to do but answer, “Prince Derrick! Why would you need help? You are a prince of a powerful land, after all!” However, when I told them this, he only looked as though he was despairing. “I thought you, of all people, would understand my trials. What I go through, the pressure, everything.”
“HUH?” I declared, now with plain confusion plastered across my face. “Why would I understand anything about you? All we have in common are our titles, and those are even slightly different because of our gender. You have a future, I don’t even know if I will ever make it home.”
He took his time to reply to this. Rising from his chair, Derrick began pacing across the room. After several minutes passed, he ruffled his hair, sinking back down into the chair.
“Yes, but you, like me, have seen adventure. You know what it feels like to feel the wind rush through your hair as you ride a horse bareback through a fielf of swaying wheat. You also are aware of how it feels to be limited, told that you are not allowed to do something because it is not regal and unbefitting of someone destined to wear a crown one day. All of these expectations! No one could fulfill them to the highest extent!” Derrick stormed, shoving over one of the gilded chairs in the process.
As I stared at his face, the outline dark, furious, and almost wicked in the flickering candlelight, I realized that I did in fact realize what he was talking about. “I do understand, Derrick. All my life, I have felt the weight of the whole kingdom weighing down on me. It is not like we asked for all this pressure!”
This seemed to relieve Derrick, because he replied, “exactly! So someone at least knows what I have to go through every day. Will you help me break my chains?”
I found that I did not quite understand what he was asking of me. “Why would you, the prince of this whole underground nation, need my help?” When I asked this, he seemed as though he was almost fighting a battle with himself in his mind.
After pacing quietly for several more minutes, he finally calmed down. He threw himself down in a chair, and put his head in his hands.
I decided to try to help him if he truly needed my help. “So how can I help you?”
“Yes! I knew you would realize what the good thing to do was. That was the whole reason why I brought you back here.” He looked out the curtain to check whether there was anyone spying on his conversation.
Satisfied after seeing that the hall appeared to be vacant, he muttered, “I need to get out of this prison cell.” He pleaded for me to help him with his eyes. Oh, those eyes. Derrick’s eyes sucked you into his life. Now I knew what was so different about them, though. They appeared dark and dangerous because of the sorrow and suffering captivated in those two small orbs. “Will you help me escape?” he whispered.
I pondered how I should answer. “What about your mother, the queen?” I guessed that this was the relation between him and the odd lady who never appeared in daylight.
He grunted, “that’s the problem. You see, she would never let me leave. Trust me, I have begged her on more than one occasion. She thinks my duty is to stay here with her, protecting, guiding, and being worshipped by our people here.”
So together we devised a plan in the back room of the ballroom, next to the room where many of the men had retired to play billiards or cards while talking and taking a smoke. Before I knew it, the time to leave had appeared as the clock struck midnight. Derrick escorted me back to the ballroom, where Daffodil and Petunia found me; they dragged me back to my room.
When they had found me with the prince, I saw Daffodil cast a disapproving look at me while I was earnestly conversing with Derrick. Later, while she was helping me undress and change into my night clothes, I asked her why she seemed to not like the prince.
“Oh. Him. Well, there is nothing that you need to know about. However, you should have been dancing and enjoying the entertainment instead of frolicking about with your little princie.”
She looked away as she told me this seething with either anger or disappointment, and I could tell that she was done talking about the subject. When she left, I changed into my nightgown and snuggled into the bed to read the book I mentioned before one last time.
In the morning, I was wonder up by the sound of someone rapping on my door. I threw a robe on over my nightgown, thinking that it would be either Daffodil or Petunia. To my surprise, the prince was the one that had knocked on my door so early in the day. I let out a surprised, “oh!’’ while instinctively drawing the robe closer to my body. My cheeks turned bright red yet another time. Every time I was around the prince I found that my feelings were spiraling dramatically up and down.
“May I enter?” he asked, also looking justifiably embarrassed at what I was clothed in.
“Sorry, but first would it be okay if I changed? Then, sure?” I asked him. He nodded his head curtly, and I closed the door in his face quite rudely but still justifiably.
After I had changed into a purple morning gown with butterfly embroidery all along the edge that I had found pre-made in my closet, I opened the door. Prince Derrick was leaning against the wall, whistling and flipping one of the golden disks that served as currency underground. He did not notice me for a while, so I watched him. He looked so relaxed, with no cares in the world. If I did not know him, heard his longing to escape, I would have thought that he was a normal person living in my country.
Then, I noticed for the ninetieth time how incredibly handsome he was. His dark, brown hair laid down in a short cut which curled delicately in wisps below his ears. His blue eyes, set off by his dark hair, pierced me, as they had many times before. His body was built strong and athletic, and judging by the bow and arrows that he always carried with him, as well as a sword, he was an excellent fighter.
As I was still examining him, Derrick turned around, noticed me, and then bowed reservedly in my direction. “May I enter now?” he asked with a smirk on his face. He scanned me in my dress quickly, before acting as though nothing had happened.
“Most certainly,” I replied in mock reverence, gesturing towards the door. He continued on with our little act, and held the door for me even though it stayed open until you slammed it shut. After I entered, he closed the door tightly and locked it.
Author's Note: Thank you all for reading, but now i have to go mid-uploading to get a pedicure. Well, I don't have to go, in fact, I'm excited, but now half of it is uploaded and the rest is not. Oh well, sorry for the inconvenience!
Love
Loviedovy12/Hannah
:) Have a good day!
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