taste of freedom(1)

Back to the present, Richard returned the drawing back to it's previous position and after some minutes, he left the attic.

He used to run around the very same corridors that he was now walking on years ago and It was funny how people quickly forgot as no one remembered him. "You must be the man from the general council that father was talking about." A young woman stated while approaching him from opposite direction.

Her black hair was let down to freely rest on one side of her shoulder as her red gown swept the white marbled floor. "And you must be...?" Richard asked while reducing the confidence that the woman carried as they came to meet halfway.

"Princess Agatha, the first daughter of king William." She proudly introduced herself with hope that the latter would do the same but he didn't. "It was nice knowing you princess Agatha, I should get back to the hall." His words left her mouth hunging open as she watched him leaving for the main hall.

Just like many other women in the hall, she had not failed to notice this handsome mysterious young man who had danced with her future sister in law and when she asked about him, she was told that he worked for the general council which got her interest piqued and when she had thought that she got a chance to speak to the man alone, he did not show any interest with anything that she had said. But that did not mean that she would stop pursuing what she was interested in, she thought.

Getting back to the main hall, the first person to appear in his presence was lady Sofia who left the group of three people she had been talking to. "It seems like you love Playing with fire." Lady Sofia said when she came to stand next to him and for the briefest moment, her line of sight came to settle on prince Wilson who was speaking to queen Aubrey.

"Life becomes more interesting when you take risks. Don't you think?" He replied and the woman could only smile at his words. "Maybe it's much better to play safe. Where your head is not too close to the sphere."

"I like the way you are always worried about me Sofie. Your undying love for me makes me so happy." He remarked sarcastically.

"Maybe the king won't be the one to kill you because your ego will do that to you." Her words held annoyance but Richard did not take any offence in them. Even as they continued speaking, his eyes kept on searching for her and it did not take long for him to see her talking to her mother and with the way the queen was speaking to her seemed like he was giving her an earful.

"See you around Sofie."

He could tell that she was being reprimanded because of dancing with him while in truth it wasn't her fault. "Queen Aubrey."

The woman who was busy scolding her daughter turned to look at Richard who stood there expressionless as if he had been standing there for a while with his hands in his pockets. "Richard." She uttered his name sternly. "How have you been?"

Though his words were directed to Queen Aubrey, his eyes were on her daughter who was trying to be as invisible as she could. "I had been doing great until someone did something I didn't like. Stay away from my daughter Richard." The woman warned him and before she could say anything else, a woman appeared and whispered something into her ear whereby the two women walked away from there.

"Princess." Lilith who was about to leave heard him calling and in an instant, he had closed the distance that was between them. "What!"

She was already tired of her mother's stinging words and all she wanted was to disappear from everyone's sight but it was literally impossible for her to have her own space which made her frustrated.

"I was just checking on you. No need to be so hostile."

"As you can see, I am more than fine." She replied while trying to control her frustrations.

"I can tell that you need a shoulder to lean on. I know that it will make you feel much better." His tone was serious as he continued to gaze at her.

"You know nothing about me or what I need!" All the decisions were always made for her starting from what to eat, what to wear, how to behave with people and who to marry which made her feel suffocated.

"I know that you have a sweet scent, like a honeysuckle and that you have a tiny delicate waist. It makes me want.._"

"Don't." She warned him as his words made her blood rush to her face.

"And I also know that you want to be free even if it's just for a while and I will make that happen." He could see a slight interest in her eyes when he mentioned freedom but that spark did not last long because she quickly extinguished it.

"I..._ I can't. Even if I wanted to." She stuttered.

"I will come to check if you have made a decision at night.

"What.._" He was no longer in sight and princess Lilith who was left speaking to herself sighed.

When the celebration came to an end, most of the people were tired with all the dancing and talking and while others went to their own homes, others had retired early to bed in the palace' guestrooms.

Wishing her parents goodnight, she headed to her chambers and when her personal maid came to attend to her, she dismissed her since she seemed to be very tired.

Coming to sit in front of the mirror, she remeved every pin that.was on her hair and untied it where it fell freely on her shoulders and her hands moved to her back so that she should unzip her gown but before she did, she felt a breeze sweep her back which made her to reflexively turn around.

"You!"