-Rowan POV-

The town of Rida was nothing like he’d expected.

It was worse.

The place smelled like shit and he could barely breathe, even worse than normal, the smoke from the death factories clogging his throat and making him want to cough with each step. His parents were insane for even wanting to come to such a place. Why would he want to know where he was going to be burned and turned to ash at some point in the next year?

It was so boring also, being driven from one factory to the next, seeing equally miserable people doing equally miserable jobs, but he knew better than to even look as though he was bored. His parents would kill him if he did. The royal prince was to care about all his subjects no matter their status and to always have a smile on his face.

When they stopped at the last factory, Rowan thought he’d die of happiness. The end was in sight, he was almost free of this publicity stunt and idiotic show. God it was disgusting

This factory was like all the other ones, nothing special. A bunch of young workers, around his age or so, all looking half dead inside, many of their fingertips turning black, their clothes far too big for most of them.

Her.

She looked at him with her dark eyes, back and forth between him and her work, and again he felt like he couldn’t breathe, but in a different way this time. His heart was racing but he couldn’t look away. What was wrong with him? Was this some new symptom of his illness that he hadn’t had before?

He forced himself to look the other way at some other workers, but he could barely see anymore. The world slowly became blurrier and blurrier and he could feel himself falling, hitting the pavement head on. Was this what death was like? Was she the grim reaper himself in disguise coming for him finally? He had thought that he had another year at least, but at least now he’d be free from everything.

He could hear faint screaming and shouting, flashing lights everywhere from people rushing around. Probably some of the noise came from his mother and father calling for the royal doctor who had come with them on the trip. Call her, it wasn’t like she could do anything now. The factory was probably in chaos, and he wanted to smile at the thought that at least he’d made something happen with his death. He tried to force his lips to curve into one but it was too difficult. It was time to rest now.

Someone was hovering over his body, probably the doctor, pressing their hands to his chest. They were rough and calloused from a lifetime of work, so it couldn’t have been Doctor Evers. Perhaps one of the workers was trying to check for a pulse?

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He could slowly feel himself regaining strength. How could it be? He was dying, almost dead and now he felt like new. Rowan sat up, looking at who could have done such a cruel thing to him, robbing him of the peace he had so longed for.

Of course it was her. The girl with the dark eyes and hair, as dark as it was outside during a midnight storm.

Curse her.

But how could a commoner like her save him? Only royals had such powers, and even then, a royal with healing powers had been unheard of for centuries, even before the third wars.

The prince stared at her with shock,

“How did you save me?”

The girl opened her mouth, about to say something, but instead crumpling to the floor. He caught her with his left arm, her head in its crook.

“Typical,” He whispered, slowly setting her down as everyone in the room stared at them with shock.

“Your Majesty, Prince Rowan Amadeus Lucios Polaris, are you okay?” The doctor rushed over to him, starting to check his vital signs. Rowan swatted her away,

“I’m fine. Check on her however,” He pointed to the girl on the ground, still unconscious, “Somehow she managed to save me.”

The royal doctor nodded as his mother walked over to him, announcing to the death factory workers who had all gathered there,

“Thank you for your kind gestures and words. However, we will now be leaving. We will take this young girl with us in return for her kind acts, and will ensure that she receives the best care at the royal palace.”

The crowd that had gathered gasped in happy surprise for the girl; all but one of them, a short girl with long braids, looked worriedly at the girl that the royal security forces were now carrying out on a stretcher.

Rowan raised his eyebrows at the sight, but said nothing, instead walking away, smiling at the crowd. Confidence was key. He had to reassure the girl that her friend would be perfectly fine. The girl with the dark eyes probably would be. The palace had some of the best physicians as they always needed some to treat him.

They were useless for him though, but he pretended that wasn’t true as he waved, smiling graciously. What were the tabloids calling him these days? Emperor Congeniality or something like that. It wasn’t for no reason.