I am Alexander Manier, third prince of the Manier kingdom and third in line for the throne. Or so my teacher has instructed me to introduce myself when meeting someone, but quite frankly it’s a hassle.

I’m just Alex. Sure, I happened to be born into the royal family, but I don’t want any part of that life. Me being a royal is nothing more than dumb luck, it’s not some obligation I have to fill or a purpose to pursue. At least that’s what I decided.

I don’t fit into that life anyway. Royals in Manier are expected to be powerful gifted, who can lead the country from the top down, regardless of what the commoners think. I don’t fulfill either of those expectations, I am not powerful and I can’t bring myself to lord over people just because of my birth, something that my siblings and other nobles I meet seem to have no problem with, given that I can feel their true feelings.

Right, that’s my ability. I can read people’s feelings, if I dig deeper I can also kind of understand what they are thinking, but that takes a conscious, strained effort. It’s not a strong ability; it won’t let me protect people or fight for my country like my siblings could, but it does let me see people’s true character. Something that I’ve grown all too sick of.

Because of this ability I am not only unfit for what’s expected of a royal here in Manier, but I also constantly get bombarded with their greed, their disgust, their arrogance and all those dishonest feelings they don’t admit to openly. As a result I’m spending less and less time in the castle, sneaking out whenever I can to go play around with children in the capital. The commoners are, while not all of them, in general much more honest and warmhearted. They care about one another and don’t think themselves superior by birthright or something absurd like that.

So today like many other days I am currently on my way to play around. My goal is a local blacksmith shop. That's where the siblings Sam and Tim live, who I recently made friends with.

I arrived at the door. From inside I can hear the clang of metal hitting metal so I guess their father is in at least.

I walked up and loudly knocked on the door a few times. I could hear the clanging from inside stop and a person walk up to the door. The man who opened the door was tall and muscular. He had a rough look about him, but smiled at me.

“Ahh Alexander. I take it you’re here to meet Tim and Sam?” He asked me.

“Yes I am. Can they come out to play?” I asked him. I might be a prince but this man doesn’t know that and I am the one knocking on his door, so I am trying my best to stay polite.

“Of course. As a matter of fact they are already outside. Just walk around the smithy.” He said softly.

“Okay, thank you.” I smiled and thanked him.

He waved and closed the door. Soon I could hear the sound of smithing resume from inside the workshop. I didn’t wait around long though, instead making my way around the house.

There in the backyard I found Tim and Sam sitting around next to a tree. When they saw me they both jumped up.

"Alexander! You came around today!” Tim replied. He was more outgoing than his brother, though that doesn’t mean Sam was shy by any means. Both were fairly social only that Tim was a lot more energetic about it.

“Of course I would. I promised that we would go explore today, didn’t I?”

“That’s right. It’s just that we waited so long we thought you wouldn’t show up.” Sam replied this time.

“Ahh yeah sorry. It took some time to finish up with my family stuff.” I apologized.

“Must be rough to be the heir to a company like that.”

“Haha, yeah it is.”

I told them that I was the heir to a merchant company and that my family was educating me in the ways of trade. I don’t feel good about it, but I didn’t want them to know that I am a royal and start treating me differently. Knowing that they fully believe me and actually feel bad about my made up story makes it even worse, but I fear losing them as friends once they find out, so here we are.

“Anyway, let’s go!”

“Yeah, let’s go!”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Sure!”

Last time we all played we promised we would go exploring the city today. So now our plan is to reach the east gate, since we are on the east side of the city, and come back here! I’m really excited to see the city for myself, since my family never lets me set foot outside on my own. I wonder what we’ll see.

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We made our way through the city, observing the many sights on the way. We met a lot of animals, like cats, dogs and rats, saw a lot of different stores selling all sorts of things, from clothes to food and met a lot of people.

On our way I tried my best however to stay out of sight. If the soldiers patrolling saw me they’d probably recognize me and take me back by force. Worst case scenario they’d hurt Tim and Sam, so I did my best to stay hidden. Tim and Sam, though I am not sure they knew why I was hiding, followed suit and it kinda turned into a game of staying hidden all the way to the gate.

By the time we finally made it to the huge city gate the sun was already past it’s peak. All three of us looked up at the huge gate in awe.

“Woah! It's so big.” Tim said.

“Yeah, it’s easily 3 times as big as our house.” Sam echoed his brother's amazement.

I on the other hand had seen even bigger buildings up close before. Namely, the castle that I was living in, so it didn’t feel all that special, but coming here on my own, with friends that genuinely cared about me felt special.

Every time in the past I came here to leave the city it was on some official business with my family. Being surrounded by people who speak the opposite of what they think. It wasn’t very pleasant, but this time I could feel nothing but amazement and wonder from the people I was here with, it’s refreshing.

“What’s wrong Alex?” Tim looked over to me.

“Oh nothing, I was just lost in thought at the sight.”

“I get it.” Sam said.

Suddenly while looking at the gate I had an idea. We already made it all this way, how about we sneak our way out of the city, is what I thought, after all the guards weren’t always paying attention, half the time they were just dozing off anyway.

“Hey, I got an idea. What about going outside the city? Seeing the wilderness beyond it by ourselves?”

They both looked a bit uncomfortable at this suggestion and I could feel unease coming from them.

“I don’t know Alex. Our father wants us to be back before it’s dark and it’s already well past noon.”

“Yeah and what if something happens while we are outside?”

Both protested. I could feel that both didn’t like the idea of disobeying what their father told them, as well as a bit of fear at what might happen outside of city walls.

“You don’t have to follow me, but I will go outside.”

I made up my mind to go outside by myself, without my family telling me what to do, telling me how to act, all the while actually looking down on me. I will get away from it all, if only for a day. Of course my friends didn’t feel the same way. They liked their life, liked their father and like their home. They had no reason to want to join me aside from curiosity I guess, but I could clearly feel that being overshadowed by the anxiety, so I won’t force them into it.

“That sounds dangerous Alex. What will your family think if you aren’t back by evening?” Tim worried.

“Screw what my family thinks. And besides, what do you think will happen? Do you think I will get eaten by a wolf just cause I am outside for a hour or two?”

“No…. but still…” Tim still wasn’t convinced.

“Look, I am not asking you to join me if you don’t want to. You can just go back home and tell your father that I went home as well, okay?” I interrupted him.

“Alright then, Alex.” This time Sam answered. I could tell he wasn’t fully on board, but didn’t want us to argue. Sam is a good guy. “We’ll go home, but please be careful.”

Silenced by his brother’s sudden declaration Tim didn’t say anything more. They waved me goodbye and told me to be careful on my way back. Their father had told them that some bad people were apparently walking around their neighborhood at night. I took their genuine worry and made my way to the gate.

The huge stone gate had two soldiers stationed at each side who kept watch of who entered and left the city. They would no doubt recognize me if I just walked out like that and I don’t want that. Maybe they’d let me through if I told them to, but then my family would no doubt catch wind of this, so instead I waited around for a carriage I could hide in.

A lot of merchants with various goods came in and out of the city all day long - it’s the capital after all - and some of them have carriages with roofs that I can hide in. I waited around until I found one of those carriages with a driver who wasn’t paying attention and hopped on in.

There were mostly clothes in here. I suppose the merchant is one of those that sells special produce from around the country in the capital and then buys things like clothes and accessories from the capital to sell them as ‘the latest fashion’ from the capital. Can’t say I ever had an interest in fashion, since my family always tells me what to wear though.

The merchant himself was an older man. He probably has been doing this for many years now and sure enough when my ride made it to the gate the soldiers gave him one quick look and then waved him through with a “Be careful on your way”, so my now bumpy ride continued outside the capital wall. After a handful of minutes I carefully looked over the edge of the carriage to make sure that I was far enough from the capital that the guards wouldn’t just spot me immediately and jump out.

I don’t know if someone saw me when jumping out or if the merchant noticed, but I quickly made my way to a nearby hill to get a good look over my surroundings, before the sun set.

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