Chapter 3

The whole Castle was alarmed. The Prince was nowhere to be found. The butler searched everywhere that morning, nobody knew where he was, nobody saw him coming out of the room since the evening. What could have happened? Where could he possibly go?

"Are you sure... That the Prince is no longer in his room?" the King's voice boomed in the court room, where the emergency meeting was held.

"Y-yes... Your Majesty.." the butler replied quietly.

"And the army which were sent in order to search my son... Returned empty handed with no sign of my son's whereabouts."

"..... Y-yes.... Your Majesty.. Terribly sorry for that. I hope you will give us more time-"

"Enough" he said, slamming the armrest, making everyone in the room flinch. " If the word-that my son is missing - goes out of the castle walls.. I'll make sure that nobody mourns your body. The meeting is dispersed."

Everyone quickly stood up and left the room. "Except for you, Mr Heartward.. I have something to talk about." Ralph Heartward was the King's advisor.

"Yes Your Majesty." he said politely. Despite knowing the fact that the King never listened to his advice throughout his life in the Castle, and his dirty tricks to get what he wants, Heartward always remained loyal to him. Many who knew King's real identity wondered why. He had his reasons. Especially Wilfred Clifton, the Prince's Butler- who was secretly listening to the conversation going on inside the court room-he never supported the King in his schemes and pitied the Prince.

"Do you know why I stopped you?"

"I assume it's because of the Prince. You must be worried." Said Heartward , keeping his gaze low.

"I'm not."

"H-Huh?" He couldn't keep his gaze on the floor anymore. Heartward was shocked to hear that. He knew the king was heartless towards the kingdom's people, but he hoped he wasn't like that towards his own son. The King laughed out loud at his reaction. The poor advisor thought that his reaction might be amusing to him.

"You, my dear friend know about the rules alot. Don't you think that the Prince running off to somewhere in the wilderness without anyone, even not considering to tell it to somebody just in case, be considered a royal behavior?" He said, turning all serious in one second.

" N-No. Your Majesty." said Heartward , lowering his gaze once again.

" See! You know it too! I wonder what was going in his mind before doing this."

"But you can't be so sure that His Highness ran away... He could be a dangerous situa-"

"Are you saying that someone abducted him Heartward?"

"I... I-Yes Your Majesty... I think we have to take action as quickly as possible. His Highness will never do something against your decisions. He never had thoughts about living the royal chambers even once! I believe that you should notify the Kingdom before anything happens! Please, take my words into consideration."

Just once, he thought. Just once make a right decision, for your son at least.

" What if I don't want to." the king said it as a matter of fact

"What!?"

"Heartward ... You are looking at me as if I committed a grave sin. You know that I am doing this for good. My son, has embarrassed me and the royals. If this gets out, not only will the people think that 'the king must have offended the Prince' or 'The Prince must have hated the decisions the King was making so he revolted, so we must follow him' but they will also criticise the security of the castle. Do you think anyone in my place could bear such hatred towards the royals?"

" Y-You are right Your Majesty but what about His Highness's life?" Heartward never knew his real motive behind this absolutely reckless decisions. But he wished that the king would stop

" However, if you think that the Prince is in real danger, I'll give you and Clifton full authority to control the army and troops in search of him. But remember my words, this must never ever go out of the castle walls."

"Yes Your Majesty!" he said as the king passed by him sending a chill down his spine.

He came out of the room, wiping his forehead full of sweat and saw Wilfred

"Are you seriously going to agree with His Majesty again? Are you seriously risking His Highness's life just like that! Just because of his stupid decisions!? Are you in your right mind Heartward?!" Wilfred whisper shouted at Heartward.

"I know what I am doing Wilfred. You don't have to remind me." he said keeping his hankerchief back in his pocket. Wilfred scoffed

"Do you what happened because of this?! First the people of the Kingdom, then Her Majesty now His High-"

"Wilfred!" he shouted for the first time in his life and that also at Wilfred, his friend. "Like I said, don't remind me of my sins for no one can forgive me for it, not even God! Reminding me will only increase my pain and your anger. Do you think we can reverse what has been done? After all, His Majesty has given the full control over the army, we're going to bring the Prince back. Don't worry. " and he just walked away without sparing Wilfred another glance, while Wilfred just massaged his head out of frustration.

" You couldn't even save your sister... What makes you so sure that you can save him? "

Ralph stopped on his tracks.

" This time, I won't repeat the same mistake Wilfred. If something happens to Curtis, I'll do something I should've done when Wilona was in danger. I won't risk another of my family, and you know that very well. " Ralph said and continued to walk away.

"I really hope you do that Ralph. I really do..." Wilfred mumbled as he watched him walk away from him. Ralph has gone through a lot.... He wished his friend gets what he wants.