ARIA

Chapter Seven

King Alfred Van Roberski was having a break with his queen at the royal garden. His right hand trembled when he tried to reach his cup of tea. He was not that old to have trembled hands. But he was poisoned two years ago during the coup d'etat. That's the side effect of the poison he had before. He had a hard time working for two years now but he was grateful to have his wife and son helped him out.

King Alfred was too nice to be a king. People loved him for that. The previous king chose him as the next king because of his nice personality even though he's the second son. This lead to the coup d'etat by his older brother.

His older brother who was known as a ruthless duke gained his own military after so long to overtake the throne. He could not wait any longer because he was ill since he was a young adult. And cursed — because he sold his soul to the devil to extend his life. He needed to be on throne before his death. And he wanted his only son to take over him after that. He then poisoned King Alfred and raid the palace.

But his plan failed. His own daughter, Liliana Van Roberski stopped him. Prince Noah who was only nineteen acted as the knight commander for Liliana. But after Liliana won against her own father, Prince Noah went missing during the attack. Liliana had no choice but to take over the throne.

When the royal family came back, the king decided to let Liliana hold her throne. Of course, there was no objection from the queen and Prince Noah. But Liliana said she heard the goddess' voice. She gave up on the throne and married a duke from the neighboring kingdom. King Alfred resumed his duty while waiting for his son to prepare himself to be the next king.

"My love, you're okay?" Queen Mary was concerned of her husband's condition. "You should just give the throne to Noah. You need a rest."

The king chuckled. "He can't even handle his own love life, I can't give him a kingdom when he can't even handle his own problem." King Alfred then remembered the day he met Duke MacGregory. When he heard about the rumor, he quickly called for the duke.

"She indeed have a heart for the prince. She's a sheltered child so she was shy when the prince danced with her. I'm sure if they are given a lot of opportunities to meet, they will be comfortable with each other. I believe the prince will take good care of my daughter." The duke told the king.

King Alfred had no choice but to believe the duke. The duke seemed confidence that the prince would choose his daughter in the end. If his son, Noah to say he would marry Aria, the king would give his blessing as long as his son happy.

"He has many experiences when he acted as your stand-in. He surely can handle the kingdom now. As for his love life, it's a different thing than handling a kingdom, you know that. Even you have a hard time chasing me." The queen giggled when she remembered their young days.

"You were playing hard to get."

"I did not." The queen exclaimed. "I was — I was clueless."

The king laughed looking at his queen's flustered reaction.

"Greetings, Father." Noah bowed his head to the king. He then turned his head to looked at his mother. "Mother." he bowed his head to the queen. Noah who was just finished his training came to the royal garden to greet them. It had been a week since he last met his busy royal parent.

"I heard you're going for a hunting next week."

"Yes, Father. Are you coming too?"

The king snorted. "I'm too weak to join one now." He showed his weak arms to his son. "But I will visit that place if I have a time so make sure you capture a dragon." King Alfred teased his son.

"That's a myth." the queen interfered.

"It might be true." the king replied. "If we can have a reincarnated first king as our son, the dragon may not be a myth."

Noah blushed when his father referred him as the reincarnated first king. "I'll get going, Father, Mother."

"If you can't even handle a tease, you can't even handle a woman. If a woman likes you, they will always tease you. Take my words, son." The king was surely having fun teasing his son.

"I will."

🍁🍁🍁

"Red indicates passionate love. White indicates pure love. Ahh, all colors are perfect." Riana was holding the red ribbon on her right hand and the white ribbon on her left hand. She was excited to pick a ribbon for her sister, Aria. She had always wanted to bring her sister out for shopping but would always got rejected. A great opportunity came for her to drag her sister out from the mansion and Riana was too happy for it. Her eyes then locked on the black ribbon. "Sister Aria. black ribbon is a big no. It indicates obsessive love."

"I won't give him that. I won't give him anything." Aria replied.

"You really trying hard to get with the prince. If you continue doing this, he might get bored of you and choose another one." Riana sighed. "Just choose one and give it to him." She pushed the box contained the ribbons. "Choose one."

Aria remembered she used to give him a red ribbon. She only knew the meaning of red because that's the only thing she ever bought for the prince. She never considered any other colors when buying it. He accepted it but he did not wear it on his wrist like it should be. Aria swore she would not give a red ribbon anymore.

Aria then reached out for the purple ribbon. Riana's face lightened up in delight. When Aria saw Riana's delighted face, she felt like she chose the wrong move. "A perfect ribbon for a prince! He's going to love your ribbon."

"Why?"

"Purple means understanding love. It's also associated with royalty. I think it suits him right although I have never meet him before."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Aria was surprised to hear that. Riana did not meet Prince Noah during the royal party? They should be! They should have met by now. They should already in love. If they never met before, why would he got close to her if it was not for Riana? Did the prince fell in love at sight for Riana and did not even try to talk to her during the royal party? "You didn't meet the prince during the royal party?"

"I did not. I was after the food at that time. I have no reason to meet him." Riana was confused with her sister's reaction. "Why are you acting like this?" Riana leaned to see Aria's expression. "You look so scary. Are you okay?" Riana tapped Aria's shoulder lightly.

"Yes, I'm okay." Aria replied. But her expression showed the opposite. She was worried that they might not be a couple like they should be. But in the furthest corner of her heart, she felt a little relief.

Was Aria still hoping for the prince's love? But if she did, she would fall for despair again like in her first life. She's conflicted. "I shouldn't fall in love." she mumbled.

End of Chapter Seven

A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than the previous chapters. But there are few good news.
1. The Brave Lady (the prequel to this story will begin early this August)
2. I actually planned to make only these two stories but my imagination are wild so I decided to make another two stories (spinoff) — 'Something about Her' is about Riana's love story and 'The Runaway Bride' which is about the love story of King Alfred and Queen Mary before the coronation. But I have no exact date to post the spinoff. For now, I will only focus on Cupid for My Love and The Brave Lady.

That's all from me. Chapter Eight will posted in the nearest time.