{ Ehann: }
Chapter 24
The rest of the ride back wasn't one of best ones the prince has experienced in his life. The princess sat on one side of the carriage and the prince on the other.
It seemed fine at first, by that time the prince had already finished his water and he felt his face finally start to cool off.
But then the road got.. bumpy.
The road they had used before wasn't as bumpy as the one they were in at the moment. So very oftenly, the two royalties would bounce around in their seats when a bump was rougher than the one before.
But there was one bump that made the prince fall off his seat completely, causing him to pin the princess in a corner inside the carriage.
Both of the prince's hands were closely placed beside the princess's shoulders, while one knee pressed on the cushioned seat next to the end of the princess's dress.
Quite the position.
The two stayed like that for a good minute, the prince couldn't move, he had a gut feeling it would have gotten worse if he did.
The both of them wanted to say something, anything to make the mood less awkward.
"Oh, my.." The princess barely muttered out.
"I'm... terribly sorry." The prince looked away from the princess, refusing to meet eyes with her.
"No -no, um.. it- it's alright!" The princess stuttered out.
The prince glanced at the princess he currently held, her face was crimson red, and her eyes were fixated on the princes collar - refusing to look anywhere else.
And when the carriage went on a quick stop. The prince instantly went back to his seat only this time, grabbing onto the seat with more force.
Unwanting to experience the same situation twice.
Aelius glimpsed at the princess again out of curiosity, and she held the same expression but this time - she held her fingers on her lip.
And then they both made eye contact.
The prince was the first to avert the staring contest, and after a while of contemplating, he decided it was best to just look at the window and count how many trees they past by.
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...170, 171, 172, 173, 174.
The prince counted 174 trees on his way back to the castle, he almost got so invested in counting he almost forgot where he was heading.
"You're majesties, in a few minutes we'll arrive at the castle." The man from outside shouted.
"Very well!" The prince shouted back, peeking his head out the window.
Then he sat down quietly in his seat, his hands were calmly placed on his legs, and he planted his eyes at the carpeted carriages floor.
Attempting to avoid any unwanted eye contact with the princess across from him.
"Prince Ehann..?" Agatha called.
Ehann jerked up his head at the call of his name being said. The princess spoke his name?
He wasn't aware they were on a name basis already, if he had known this he would have done so a while ago.
And before he could respond she spoke again
"We do have a picnic once we arrive at the castle right?" Agatha questioned.
To be precisely honest, the prince had completely forgotten about the picnic with the princess.
With all the sentences and words he had to pronounce correctly and all the practice it took, he had slowly forgotten about it.
Not to mention the 'date' he has with Aelius that only ever slightly stressed him out more since morning till noon.
He felt a slight guilt for forgetting the picnic they had together in the day, even though she was clueless of what he was thinking of at the moment.
"Oh, yes we do... Why do you ask princess?" Ehann recalled.
"I was just unsure about it. Ive been quite forgetful today is all." Agatha giggled.
"I can say the same, hahaha!" Ehann stifled a laugh.
"Oh and one more thing."
"Of course, what is it?" The prince asked.
"That.. person you were talking to, the one with the two children?"
"What about him?"
"Are you two.. perhaps.. in a relationship ?" The princess asked.
"Oh? OH. We are not.." The prince trailed off his sentence.
"I'm so sorry then, I kind of thought you were..you know, by the way he looked at you."
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't notice? If anyone saw him look at you they'd say he's deeply inlove."
"Deeply.. inlove?" The prince questioned.
"Yes.. in a way. You kind of looked at him the same way..."
"Hmm..."
And finally after a while, the mood around them became the familiar feeling they had before the incident. A kind and reassuring one.
The prince looked at her for a little and she seemed to hesitate for some reason, constantly fiddling with her fingers and averting eye contact every now and then.
This made him even more curious of what she had to say, unconsciously; he tilted his head and leaned in a little.
And it seemed like the princess caught him doing so, her eyes ever so slightly widened and her lips lightly parted.
Ehann, clueless of what he was doing to her - obliviously inched closer out of curiosity.
Inspecting her features, attempting to figure out why she was becoming hesitant second by second.
And Agatha turned a bright shade of red, and averted her eyes and looked away. Then it seemed like she forgot what she was gonna say to him.
Now she had a dumbfounded expression on her face.
"Were you going to say something Princess Agatha?" The prince asked.
"No.. i seemed to have forgotten." Agatha furrowed her brows together, as if deep in thought.
"Okay then."
Then Ehann finally sat back in his seat, letting the princess properly cool down from his cluelessness, but then the prince looked at her again.
And noticed she was very red.
This brought his attention back to her.
"You seem to be very red, are you okay?" Ehann frowned a little.
In one swift move, he gently placed the back of his hand on her forehead. They were suddenly so close that they could see every detail in each other's eyes.
Then with his free hand, he reached out to her face; and the princess stiffened seeing how close they were, she turned an even darker shade of red.
For a moment, it seemed as if he were about to cup her face in his hand, but instead - he tucked in a strand of loose hair behind her ear.
"You're hair turned loose." Ehann warmly smiled at her.
"Ahh -ah, thank you.." Agatha's words trailed off.
"We've arrived!" Shouted the same man from before.
Both of them looked out the window, and there Infront of them stood up the castle.
The prince glanced at her then at the door.
"Ladies first." He smiled.
"Thank you, i keep feeling like I'm telling you that a lot lately huh?" Agatha laughed.
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Picnic.
Picnic, when the prince thinks of having a picnic, he imagines a beautiful place surrounded by flowers of every shade and shape.
And a little passageway that leads to the blanket or table, and the wind - that flows through you're hair; with the most beautiful scenery to exist.
And this picnic.
Was exactly like his expectations.
A beautiful garden in another area of the Castle grounds the prince was unaware of, beautiful tulips surrounded the table the prince and the princess sat on.
The knights that guarded them stood at a far distance, but close enough that if something were to happen to one of them they would be there in seconds.
The food was already elegantly scattered around the table, with napkins on each side of a plate and utensils wrapped around a bag.
It was some of his favorite desserts and meals, those including vegetable soup, spaghetti, and cake.
Agatha started getting her share of the food, one part of the plate for every other food there was.
He prince was ready to grab big portions of the food given to him, but then he remembered the date with Aelius that he had.
He had to keep some of his appetite for the rest of the food that could be in hold for them.
The prince would feel guilty if he had eaten already, and wasn't hungry if Aelius had gotten them food.
So he took very small portions and saved his appetite just in case Aelius had food.
That date with Aelius, what was the point of it anyway? Cause what if the prince actually started to fancy him but couldn't do anything about it?
Lets be honest here. He's a prince, and Aelius lives in his kingdom, he's not anything special, no special tittle to back him up aswell.
It's the main reason the prince refuses to fancy Aelius back, there's simply no way the relationship would work.
And the fact that the prince doesn't like men, is something he's starting to rethink. But that's not the point.
"How do you like the food?" The princess asked.
This brought the prince back from his thoughts.
"Hmn? Oh! Pardon me, i love the rich taste of the spaghetti" He faked showing an interest to the food.
"I'm glad. i had requested the chefs to make it for you, i see they put thought into it." Agatha smiled.
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"I'll see you tomorrow then princess!" Ehann laughed.
"Goodbye!"
The picnic was great, they laughed and had fun together - they ran around the place with not a care in the world. And they talked like anyone would normally do.
It was great.
But now came the issue with what he was gonna wear to the date.
Not that, you know.
He wants to impress a certain someone with what he will wear.
He just didn't want to over dress nor underdress for the date. Yeah.
How would they even pull it off?
People will find out eventually that the prince is in town unguarded and unannounced.
This date itself was a crazy idea. But in the end he still agreed to it.
He decided not to think much of it.
And instead think of what he was gonna wear, not that he's putting much thought on it..
He chose to wear something casual, not too expensive looking - but not too inexpensive looking with a long beautiful cape that could cover his eyes just enough so that no one would recognize him at first glance.
Now how will he sneak out the castle?
This is something he's never ever thought he would be doing.
"Guards?" Ehann peeked his head out his chambers doors.
"Yes you're majesty?" Guard #1 asked.
"I'm gonna take my good night's rest, if anyone comes asking for me to tell them I'm sleeping, oh and don't let anyone enter, thank you." The prince commanded.
"Yes, we will make sure no one disturbs you're sleep." Guard #2 smiled.
Then the prince closed his doors and started thinking, how did Aelius sneak in the castle again? Through his window right?
He opened his windows and looked down and the distance, the ground is so far..
How did Aelius do it?? Is he supposed to just jump?? Won't he break a leg doing so???
The prince closed his eyes and sat on his window frame.
'Just jump, it's not so hard, right?' Ehann thought.
And in Just seconds, the prince was laying on the ground - with his knees and hands on the grass. He was slightly panting and had laboured breathing.
The prince put on his cape and started sneaking around the castle walls. Hiding in every dark corner he could find.
He knew a way out of the castle, he'd seen little cracks in the walls that were enough to squeeze out of.
And in a broken wall he went, instantly fitting and getting out of.
In seconds the prince had made it into the town, the town was beautifully lit and the sun was starting to come down.
The sun was covered by clouds but was still visible through them.
Just as he walked by the forest, a hand grabbed him from the back of his cape and yanked him into the forest.
"Hey!" The prince called out.
And just as he was about to hit the shadowy figure, Aelius's face came into view.
"Oh my marbles.." The prince huffed out.
"Don't ever snatch me like that ever again."
Aelius laughed and sighed.
"I won't, you can count on that."
"Follow me."
2088 words.