"Come on, we don’t have time to waste," Elys said as she climbed onto the back of one horse. "Cordelia, you’re with me. Henry, you go with the prince."
Henry thought it was without question that he went with the prince.
The old man turned to the prince and said, "Your highness, you can have the horse for yourself. I will find another way to return to the manor."
The prince nodded without actually listening to Henry. Instead of taking the other horse for himself, Aleksander put on his hood and climbed after the princess.
Cordelia let out a bewildered puff of air, while Henry’s jaw practically dropped to the ground.
Aleksander was pretty stubborn not to ride with the princess before if Henry’s memory served him right. He couldn’t believe the prince would actually ride on a horse together with Elys at all.
Perhaps it was due to the fact she was actually of royal blood?
"Your highness?" the attendant asked in confusion.
Elys scoffed and was just as confused as everyone else had been. The prince reached out for the horse’s reins, pushing Elys a bit at the front when he leaned forward.
"The princess and I will go together," Aleksander announced. "I have urgent matters to discuss with her."
"You can just talk about it when we all arrive at the manor," Elys said, a bit flustered that Aleksander’s chest was leaning behind her.
"No," the prince said adamantly. "It must be just you and me."
Without waiting for another protest, Aleksander flicked the reins and kicked the horse forward. The beast let out a surprised neigh, and it galloped off to the main road, leaving Cordelia and Henry behind.
"So? Do you want to walk or shall we ride together?" the maidservant teased Henry.
Remembering how embarrassing it would be if Cordelia took the reins instead of him, Henry scurried over to climb up the horse first and plaster himself as the horseman.
"Come on, let’s follow the prince and princess," the old man reached out a hand to assert some kind of dominance.
Cordelia smiled at his attempt to look manly by offering her his hand. She chose to humor him this time around, and reached out to grab his hand and let Henry help her up.
"Humph!" the old man struggled.
Cordelia kicked her legs to jump up the horse with ease, letting Henry think he was able to pull her up all by his arm strength. When she was settled behind him, Henry grinned as if proud that he helped Cordelia who had always been the one to support him.
"Wipe that grin off your face, old man. Let’s go," Cordelia said.
Kicking the horse to move forward, the pair went off to chase after the royal couple they served.
+++
Elys was quiet all the way that Aleksander and her rode back to the manor. The guards that were stationed at the capital gates were oblivious to their identities, as when the royal emblem was flashed at them, it was given the person holding it should never be questioned at all cost.
They passed through the gates with ease, and then made their way towards the all-too-familiar rundown manor a few kilometers away.
The princess jumped off immediately as they arrived by the manor’s entrance with Aleksander quickly following her after.
Before they could even enter, Elys crossed her arms in front of her chest, raised a brow and then asked, "So what is this really important matter that you felt the need to separate us from Cordelia and Henry?"
Aleksander didn’t reply and went directly for the doors. He opened them and then beckoned her inside, to which the princess followed with a bit of apprehension. Her hand lowered to where she hid the dagger in her dress – just in case.
"You won’t need that here, princess," the bastard prince said as he turned around to face her.
"Why?" came Elys’ quick response.
Aleksander’s eyes wandered away from her face and landed on the large portrait he destroyed himself. His hands threatened to tremble but he forced himself not to break down in front of the princess.
He was about to swallow his pride with what he has planned ever since they escaped the Eastern Kingdom – at the very least he wanted to still look regal while doing it.
The princess, on the other hand, wasn’t oblivious to the changes in Aleksander’s expression and body language. She had noted his uneasiness since he decided to ride with her. His body had been tense, and his grip on the reins were tighter than it should be.
"Are you supposedly going to apologize now?" the princess asked, wanting to take a wild shot at guessing what he wanted to talk about privately.
Prince Aleksander suddenly wheezed. He coughed as if he had choked on a large clump of saliva that got stuck in between his throat.
"Actually..." he hesitated for several seconds.
"Actually what? Stop mumbling and begin saying what you need to say before Henry and Cordelia arrives at the manor," Elys scowled. "If you aren’t saying anything coherent, I will just go to my room and wash. God knows how much I need it."
She was getting impatient with the prince stalling. She already had a hunch of what he was about to do, but she wanted to hear him say it with his own volition.
’Shit,’ Elys thought to herself, ’maybe it was wrong for me to ask him if he was going to actually apologize.’
Elys’ shook her head – that wasn’t the problem here. Anyways, the damage had already been done. She just hoped he’d push through so she could gloat at his pathetic face when he finally asks for it.
To her surprise, the prince slowly let go of his clenched fists, and turned to look Elys in the eye as he went down on his knee.
In Aleksander’s head, he was trying to convince himself that what he was about to do was for the best. It might bruise his pride, but the damage wasn’t going to be that fatal.
He will apologize to the princess and get her to join his side.