(Just as the title of the chapter states, this chapter is in Jorne's point of view.)

Relief flooded through me as I see the little brat of a servant help with the feathers in Lady May’s garden.

I had been so eager to know that it was her that I demanded that Lady May was to get help from all the maids, just so I could be certain that the maid I had seen just an hour ago in the late Princess’s quarter’s, was really her! That it was really Oliver, the little brat…My Crowned Princess…My Queen!

From a distance I had not been sure, but now, seeing her just a few metres away, I was certain!

She hadn’t died that day…It seemed instead…That she had runaway and had no intention of coming back to her real position!

Luckily, I had seen her, or I would still be thinking that the most interesting woman that I have ever met was still ‘dead’!

I had to repeatedly tell myself that I had done the best I could to keep her safe, that what had apparently ‘killed’ her, had not been of anyone’s doing and that I had been unable to stop it.

Having seen the motionless body of the ‘Princess’, with her face looking as though it had been eaten away, I honestly felt like my world had turned upside down!

I knew that I had been falling in love with her, that even though it had taken me a year to realize this fact, I started to feel that what we had promised to the little brat’s father…May just be something that I was going to break!

It had been just the night before her so called ‘death’, that I realized that I was certain to break one particular promise!

Having her in my arms had been pure torture for me, wanting more as she had kissed me back!

When we had parted that night, I knew she was fighting herself, I just knew it!

I felt pride over knowing that I’ve somehow accomplished on carving myself into her heart somehow…But…I just had no idea upon how I’ve done it!

Oliver was taken by me, somehow, and I had been eager to try and get more of her attention, more of her responses! Perhaps find out what it was that touched her heart, so that I could repeat it and dig myself even deeper into her.

The next day, I had already gotten over what we had said to one another. It was strange how she continued to anger me and then I’d get over it like this, but I had no way to explain why it happened. I’d much prefer to go back to her and fight with her, then to continue to be angry…

I was wanting to make more of an advance, somehow, but it seemed like the biggest problem in my recent life!

…Only to find that body…

Those clothes were hers, that hair color…

Her face was totally unrecognizable, and I had been too shocked to think that she had become a maid and escaped the calamity!

It doesn’t matter now, as she is right in front of me, but I still fear it…I don’t want to go through those feelings again…

She was indeed a weakness that I could never let another take to get revenge on me. I just know that her potential death would probably make me accept being someone’s puppet or not be able to put someone into prison when they belonged there!

That was why, to a small extent, I was sort of glad that she had died. That my weakness could not be used against me now but…It was not something I wished for, it was not something that I’d prefer to now. Even if she needs protection, more protection, I would still rather her alive and well, then dead and no longer something I can watch or touch…Or tease…

Since that horrible day, I had gotten into my duties, ignoring anything to do with women. She had really made my mind somewhat blank and my heart empty. I didn’t want to think on how to live, when I had so many things to do but…I knew that I was going to be lonely for a while. I hoped that I would get over her soon, that I will not miss her so much one day and be able to let my heart be opened to take another’s love…

It all felt so hard though, hard to accept and adapt to!

Then, only to find now that I was completely relieved upon seeing that familiar body, with a familiar bird…

My world has suddenly turned once again, feeling now like it was the right side up!

Oliver…

Thank god! Thank you for surviving!

Not only because of the promise we made to your father but because…Well because, I finally feel like my feet are on the ground again, that my mind can now wonder away from my duties to think of any other refreshing subjects!

I was now hungry, I was tired, I was willing to just stand here, like today, and be able to spend a minute just watching one particular person…

It was nice…

I felt like I could work for hours, sleep for hours and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once!

It really was a bit scary to how happy I was!

Oliver, I might put you in danger, by showing you how much I’m glad that you’re still alive, but…I don’t want to live without you again!

***

Three years ago, I had not cared much about my new Crowned Princess, as she entered into my residence through my father’s orders.

Knowing who her father was and how much he had done for us, the royal family and our country, I had no want to disobey my father’s orders.

Her father’s real name was Travis Stack, but we call him by another name of ‘Wedge’. Wedge was the one that had helped us take the south eastern country, by travelling into it as a merchant and taking on a few extra methods to help us take the country with the least number of casualties.

Separating the people, to know who would accept a new ruler, then voicing the real troubles of the current ruler of that time, Wedge was the mastermind behind it all.

After these shortcomings becoming known to the people, more and more people were separated, and the country would start to fall apart.

Money would be harder to obtain for those who were known as noble and staying loyal to their unjust leader and the merchants ended up becoming the leaders of the second group within the country. That was when not only plans were made to assassinate the ruler and any others that would be trouble, but I, the countries militarily leader of Setchra, would come and finish the job and take the country as our own.

‘Wedge’ was known about, that was why he went into hiding and became Travis Stack once again, but he was not able to keep his son and wife. Sadly, his wife died giving birth to his son but his son had not made it either and even my royal father was upset to this knowledge.

Staying out of the fight for making Gelmain non-existent, we had asked him to play a part of the last remaining opposing country left and he had done so.

In order for him to do as he last did to the south east, he only demanded that his one and only remaining family member was to be well protected and stay untouched so that she will be able to live a life in harmony for whomever she wished to spend it with…And…

I was going to protect this little brat, just as I was ordered too!

…But I never thought that I’d fall into the trap myself!

Her father had hoped to place his daughter for protection within the palace, but he did not think that we would take her in as the Crowned Princess herself! That had been beyond his expectations!

My father’s idea to make her the Crowned Princess and have not only I but himself as her protection, was to not only repay her father’s help from a previous war, but the coming one of taking the Icklish country and making the whole of the continent under our one rule…We were uniting the land as one and we were going to rule over it fairly and make it as great as it could be!

…But…The promise was not only for protection, but also that of not touching her…As she was to remain innocent…

It seemed that this particular promise was the one that gave me the most trouble!

My father, whom had done this, I believed that he had done this on purpose.

Perhaps he thought that I was going to break the promise, or that even if I didn’t break the promise, he seemed to not be worried.

I obviously had never thought at first upon why he would order Oliver to have such a status. I understood that she was to have no power and that there would be other daughters that I would marry, that could help them gain the trust of someone whom we needed to make sure this united country stays fair and great!

And just like I had thought back then, a number of people had not been satisfied to see a nobody take the Crowned Princess’s position, yet, my father boldly took this problem on without any of my help at all…

To have progressed as far as my father has in being a King, an Emperor, he indeed did not show his flaws, but he does show his strengths, and the people could only accept what has been done. The problem was, through discrete means, ‘Wedge’s’ name had been used for Oliver to keep her status.

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So, now people knew of the person who had helped a great deal to the growth on Setchra and the future growth, making them unable to come up with anything else to claim that Oliver still did not deserve to be the Crowned Princess.

My royal father and Oliver’s father had indeed a friendship that had lasted many years and I seem to understand something here…

Yes, I had noticed that my own royal father had indeed taken interest in wondering when my first child would be conceived…And with whom!

Now…Now, I wondered if he saw the future or perhaps wanted it for himself, but it became more and more obvious that he probably wanted me to break the promise of his good friend…And a lot earlier!

If I had known that I would become so attached to my Princess, I probably would have broken this promise a lot earlier anyway, but I understood too of why she had tried to stay distant from me.

She knows nothing and with her father’s sudden disappearance, I could tell that she was worried about him and therefore did not think of me as much as I’d like her too. Well, there was not just that but other antics that stopped her from thinking of me too!

But in any case, it had taken me a year to grow fond of the little brat…

Her strange antics made me angry at first!

She acted like she was above this palace and above it’s people…But later I came to find that she didn’t feel comfortable. No, she did not feel comfortable because…It seemed like she did not belong here…

Having to leave to take Gelmain and make it a part of Setchra, had taken a lot of my time away from her and I came to realize that her little antics, even though they had made me angry, also made me laugh…

She was most definitely not one that should be stuck inside a palace! She was a female merchant, always thinking of getting the best out of something and for the least amount of dollars! She was someone who wanted to make things easier, by adding one or two things to a particular item, to make it work faster or work more efficiently.

To be honest, some of her ideas have been quite remarkable!

She had come up with an idea of storing items in her own quarters and I have to admit that I have taken up this idea myself in my own quarters!

She has also stated a few things about how the residence has been spending its money and I couldn’t help but agree to what she had stated!

Bringing more money to those with smaller markets, didn’t mean we would be doing something that was beneath us, no…She stated that using the less expensive places, that held items that were just as good as the other, would move the money around a lot more and give a chance for people of lower status to be seen for their products.

It was stuff like this, that made me see her. Then…I started to see other things about her…Not just how she dresses and talks, but how she acts…

I never thought that I would like a woman with less make up on. Seeing my second wife with make up on all the time, then seeing Oliver with less or not at all, made me realize this fact.

She was indeed beautiful and didn’t need make up, yet, I couldn’t help the tiny and hopeless part of my male self too, where Oliver looked even more amazing on those few days that she had worn make up.

Her simple clothes really did not state who she was with her social status, reminding me of how I felt about it at first…Yet, having talked to her about how she dressed, she stated that she had not seen anyone and that she will dress as her status if someone where to see her, otherwise she wanted to dress comfortably.

She told me that she was used to dressing as comfort first, when she had been with her father, making me a bit speechless because…Back then, I still preferred her to dress as her status but…She started to look better in her ‘comfortable’ clothes. She would be more herself and over time, I came to understand that the more she did as what made her comfortable, the more she would smile…So…I ended up doing nothing…

Her bird, Theo, was someone that she was different with as well and I have seen it often. She would talk to an animal, stunning me at first, but it seemed that Theo gave responses to show that he sometimes understood what she was saying.

That bird…Seeing how close he was to the little brat…Sometimes I disliked it!

It was only a few months ago that I realized that I was jealous of that stupid bird!

She spoke back to me more then spoke to me in conversation and that bird was someone that she never spoke back too!

I liked how she fought me…But sometimes, I didn’t want to fight with her. I wanted her to hug me like that stupid bird and speak to me while ‘patting’ me.

When I found this out, I was so frustrated at myself that I didn’t know how to speak with her and did not open conversation with her for a few months.

How could I ever admit to anyone that I was the most envious of a tiny, little bird!?

I may have gotten a lot done in those few months, but I was also starting to miss the little brat and could not continue to stay away from her…This was the fact that made me realize that I wanted more!

Upon finding out that the little brat became a maid, I nearly marched straight up to her, to tell her to stop it!

I hadn’t found out straight away, having thought that she had been a good girl and stayed in her quarters a lot…But, as soon as I found out, she had already been a maid quite a number of times and it had been terribly hard to bare!

She was the Crowned Princess! She was my Queen and no Queen of mine was going to act as a maid!

Her job was to entertain me, her husband!

The problem was, I started to see what she was doing and found that maids don’t really have it easy. I saw that they were like slaves and could even be used as someone to blame and be hit for something they didn’t do! They held no power and weren’t able to talk back to state their innocence.

Seeing problems with the maids, and wanting to protect my Crowned Princess, I fixed up a few problems so that Oliver would be better protected as she continued on her way.

So, I let it go, she was protected, and she was smiling…How was I to tell her to stop!?

Hearing more and more times of when she would laugh and when she would smile, now that I had fixed a few of the maid troubles, only frustrated me more but I kept the knowledge of my knowing what she was doing a secret. I don’t know why I didn’t tell her that I knew, perhaps I liked the fact that she thought I didn’t know…Nonetheless, now it was coming in handy! I will spend more time with her, hopefully enough time that she will accept me as her marriage partner once again and once father and I find a way to reinstate her position, she will once again become my Crowned Princess…Not just in name, a promise, but to be my real Princess, where I will be able to grow old with and continue to see her smile every day.

I don’t know how she does it though and I will make things easier for her while she will be a maid for me but…I never thought, that lowering oneself could bring someone more happiness…But it seemed that was what Oliver liked to do. She seemed to like secrets and felt like she was happier to be in charge of something, even if it was a chore…

I didn’t have the heart to stop it and…I’m so glad that I hadn’t!

Becoming a maid had saved her life and I was extremely grateful to that!

Seeing myself obsess over her more and more, when I was free, I realized that I became more and more dissatisfied with how we acted.

She might be my Crowned Princess, but we kept a distance. That distance was large at first, but I have tried to shorten that distance in the last three years.

At first, Lady May was someone that I had indeed been with. I may have ignored the little brat, but Lady May seemed to be someone that could give me some release from the pressure of being the Crowned Prince, especially when so many people were watching my every move.

I should have known why I started to detach myself from Lady May, I should have realized sooner, but I hadn’t…I hadn’t realized that my taste in women had changed. Well, I hadn’t realized that I’ve slowly become one that only wanted one woman!

I had not gotten intimate with any other woman besides Lady May, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t looked and hadn’t thought about them…But, slowly, it all changed!

Becoming someone that was only wanting one person’s bed, one person’s body, it scared me!

So, instead of thinking to deeply into how I was feeling, I instead started to use Lady May…

Finding out that I was watching the little brat’s face and actions, I realized that at some point, I was hoping to get her jealous…

It seems that Lady May had not told anyone that I had stopped sleeping with her quite some time ago. She obviously wants to get pregnant with my first child but…I found her bothersome in that respect. She did not meet my requirements to be the mother of my child. In fact, there was not one time that I let her conceive at any time, by giving her a tonic that would stop any child from growing.

I know many people are speaking of my heir, my first male child, and growing a family, but through what I had seen in my years, with my uncle and my father’s past, I had thoroughly thought of how my family was going to be and…I had known for quite some time that I was not going to let Lady May get pregnant! Not with how she acts and how she would use a child…I could see it already, even though it was never going to happen!

I didn’t want a repeat for an attack to the throne!

As it was, I was already worried about the woman that was marrying Elijah! It was obvious to me that she was materialistic and would be another woman that would use their child as a pawn!

I couldn’t help but be relieved in another way, that Elijah was too young to have sexual relations and glad that royal father had already stated that Venus will not be the first wife of Elijah.

No, I will look hard to find the right mother for my children!

Yet…Someone who smiled and laughed, able to handle matters with ease and look after a tiny bird…Seemed to be more and more someone that could indeed be who I could see as the mother of my children.

Gentle with authority…She was someone who has loyalty but didn’t even know it!

Did she even know how many people truly wore mourning attire because they felt upset in their hearts that she had perished?

My royal father, whom had asked about his daughter in law frequently, had been severely upset to know of Oliver’s death. Even some guards had been upset to see the smiling face of the Crowned Princess gone…

The little brat, Oliver…She stole not only my heart without even knowing it, but others as well!

And as time went on, my heart wanted more of hers…

Giving her flowers, hoping to soften her thoughts towards me, I still was not satisfied!

Giving her chores to do as my Princess, seeing her do them and making me feel proud of her, I was still not satisfied!

Giving her no choice but to take over what Lady May was doing in the way of feeding me or even giving me company…I was still not satisfied!

I wanted more…I wanted all of her!

Tending to what I must as the Crowned Prince changed slightly over these last few years. My position, and what I must do, used to be a lot more fulfilling to me and took up a lot of my time.

I came to notice though, that perhaps I was more like every other man then I had originally thought!

I may not object to leaving and taking a country, but I was indeed someone now that did want to return in a rush!

I wanted to see a specific person, whether they are in a maid’s uniform or if they were coming up with what would sell more between a handkerchief or a candlestick. I wanted to see her for myself, that leisure girl that spoke volumes of comfort yet could act very well at being the Crowned Princess…And upon seeing her, upon coming back home, I found that I would not regret rushing home and missing some sleep and some meals…

I had indeed changed…

I become someone I hardly knew, as I often watched this specific person from the shadows.

Never before did I relish in getting feed by another!

Never before did I laugh over something so stupid!

Never before did I rush back home for any other thing!

Who was I now!?

Yet, watching the maid look at two different feathers, I smiled knowingly.

There was hardly any doubt in my mind!

Right now, she was probably wondering which one would sell for the most and for how much!

She fixed a spot on a feather and I watched her smile and nod her head. Again, I had no doubt that she was most likely thinking that it’ll sell for more now…

While she had gone, I can’t remember the last time that I had smiled like this…I can’t remember feeling so content just watching a particular person from a distance…

Relief…I was obviously very glad that I had been wrong!

The person that had died was the maid Diane, not Oliver…Not the little brat that I can’t help but look forward to getting her to work for me now.

I will continue to protect her…I just can’t promise any other thing now!

Her father had wanted a future of her being able to marry and live her life with a person she chooses…I will just have to have her choose me!

“Memphis, you see it?” I asked my bodyguard.

Being beside me for so many years, I was sure that he understood…

“Is she really the Crowned Princess, Your Highness?”

“Mmm, don’t pronounce that she is still alive, I will talk to father secretly about this. But…For now, get her to work in my personal quarters.” Turning to Memphis, I gave him a nod and walked away.

Now that Oliver will be with me again, I felt a lot better!

The days didn’t look so bleak anymore!

I could already see her fighting me and even though I used to wish we didn’t fight so much, I felt glad that she will fight me again.

…I couldn’t wait!

Hearing Memphis obey my orders and scurry off, I walked back to my personal quarters and sat down at my desk.

How long would it take for her to come here?

Looking towards the entrance, I waited…

How will she act when she sees me?

Will she understand that I will know that she is still alive?

Will she pretend not to have met me before?

I gave out a small chuckle…Perhaps this was why my duties as Crowned Prince wasn’t as important anymore…Well, they were important, they just didn’t feel as important.

It was like something bigger came and I had to spend more time figuring out the little brat! And I felt happier with that thought!

How will I get her to choose me? How will I act to show her that I know her, I know her to a point that I could nearly say that I know her more then I know myself!

Should I get another gardenia? Would that tell her that I knew who she was?

…I do know that the flowers still meant something to her…

Seeing her look at them earlier, as she found Theo and made me go crazy with relief that she had still been alive, I noticed that I had a small chance…A small chance to still make her completely mine!