The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Sixty Five

I almost bit my tongue at what my brother asked me. And he was looking at me like I was acting weird, so he pressed on. "So my source was right. You really have a boyfriend now, Rainha."

"Garreth--- I think there is a huge misunderstanding..." I said to him in the effort to stall him, but I don't think that it's effective. "What you heard is not true at all."

He looked at me with disappointment in his eyes but in a light-hearted way. "Rainha, Calyx does not lie to me. You know that he is like a brother to me."

My heart sank when he mentioned the name of the person who told him about me having a boyfriend. "So it was Calyx who told you? I think he will have to deal with me the next time we saw each other." I was kind of pissed at Calyx right now. That guy could not keep what he saw to himself and he even told my brother about it. But of course, I was expecting for this to happen. I am not dumb. I just did not take into account how fast the news will reach my brother. I thought that it might take a while since Garreth was here at the border, and I assumed that Calyx would not bother to go here just to tell that to him. But I guess I was wrong.

"Rainha, you know that Calyx likes you. Of all people he would be the least happy about you getting a boyfriend, so I don't think that he will lie to me about such a sensitive thing for him. And don't get mad at him, he is not the one in hot seat here," he added. "You are still mum about the identity of the guy that you are seeing now. Just tell me about him so that we can settle it."

"Settle? What are you talking about? We are not settling anything. And for your information, even if I really have a boyfriend, I am not going to let you get involved with him!"

"And why not? I am your only brother! You are my only sister! Naturally I will have a say about who are you dating! I am just concerned that you'll date someone who doesn't deserve you!"

"Oh really, now?" I replied at him with a sarcastic tone of appreciation. "Is that so? Then you should listen to me too! I have a lot of things to say regarding your soon-to-be-wife, so if you want to have a say in my love life then you should also allow me to have a say with yours! That's how the world should work, in the first place! Everything is fair in love and war!"

I could see that my brother was torn between getting amused and getting irritated at my response. But I am not joking. I am serious with him now. And I know that I have a point. He can't just interfere with my life when he doesn't even listen to me. He knows full well that I dislike the woman that he intends to marry, but he did not even listen to any of my complaints about Blasie. And right now, he is asking me about my boyfriend?

But I don't have a boyfriend. That's the problem right now. He is not going to believe anything that I will say, even if I am actually telling the truth. It's like the lie became the truth by itself and there is no use correcting it anymore. It sucks because I am the one affected here and I can't tell them that it's not (yet) a romantic relationship and that it is the Crown Prince. But sadly, I can't, so everyone's focus is on me.

"I just want to know who is your boyfriend," he explained, now in a calmer tone. "And I'm sorry if I look like I am interfering, Rainha. It's just natural for me as I am your older brother. And I read from Calyx's letter that the guy in question is kind of suspicious, so I have to check. Just give me a name and we will see if I will have to stop interfering."

"Calyx had so so much free time," I snapped. "And what does he mean suspicious?"

"He told me that your boyfriend was kind of shady when Calyx met him. He says that guy would not even remove the hood on his face as if he was trying to hide his identity."

"It was cold. We were walking on the Underground. Everyone covers their faces in places like that to avoid getting a numb face." I know that we were not really fighting, but I still do not like how he is trying to make me admit to a crime that I did not even do in the first place.

Garreth disregarded that even if it made a lot of sense. He then went on attacking me with another accusation. "You let him in our house at Aurville. Calyx says that he spent the night there. And then you suddenly disappeared with him."

"Dear Lord, even that is an issue? I invited him to come home with me, Garreth. He wanted to talk with Aunt Milca, so I let him come with me when I went home from work. And we did nothing that would make your eyebrows raise like that while we were there, you know. Aunt Milca went missing. When we arrived at our house she was no longer there. And then those stupid goons came too, so fearing for our lives, we went out and just came back in the morning."

"Oh... So that's what happened," he said simply. I just hoped that he would now stop making stupid ideas. "Okay, I am going to believe that, but first of all, what is the name of your boyfriend?"

I don't know which was worse at that moment. A part of me wanted to scream that I don't have a boyfriend and I am just a friend of the Crown Prince, but the other part of me wanted to play along with all of them so that they will leave me alone. Plus, I enjoy how they easily believe that I have indeed a boyfriend as if they don't know me to be picky when it came to boys.

"So you are not going to tell me," he said when I did not reply immediately. "All our neighbors and even the Royal Guards at Aurville at least had a glimpse of that guy and you can't even tell me his name? I would not be this inquisitive if Calyx just told me the name since he said that you introduced the guy to him, but Calyx also forgot the name of your boyfriend."

That was right. I had to admit that I did not think about it, but a lot of people back at Aurville had actually seen the Crown Prince, who was still disguising himself (hence the hood covering his face) so that means that I could no longer take back the white lie that I told everyone. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you for your peace of mind. His name is Travor Dubstein."

He looked confused at the name. Dubstein? Why does it sound so familiar?" he asked himself and I was now silently praying that there was actually no real person named Travor Dubstein. Because if there is one, and once my brother decides to check on him using his connections with the other Royal Guards, I think I will have a rough time.

"M-Maybe you have met him before? He works in the Palace as a Royal Researcher." I said that to him in one breath. I don't even know why I told him that when that could just make things worse, but if it does, I guess I'll just have to ask the Crown Prince's help. I'm sure he will make a way out of this sinkhole that I made for myself.

"Is that so? Maybe you are right. I think I have heard about him before. And it makes sense too. If he is a Royal Researcher, then that explains why he tries to hide his face. Everyone in the Royal Academe is like that. They have to hide their faces since they work directly under the King."

"What do you mean by that?"

He looks surprised at my lack of knowledge. "Oh, did he not told you about his job? The Royal Researchers work in secret, Rainha. They don't even tell the others their real identities. That name that he told you, I am sure that it is not his birth name. It's his codename."

"W-What? But why would he do that?"

"Their work is top secret," said Garreth. And if a while ago he did not look happy about my 'boyfriend' then right now he looks impressed that such an important person took interest in me. I would have been offended by my brother's reaction if I was not too curious about the secrets of the Royal researchers.

"You mean even you don't have a clue on what they are doing?"

Garreth nodded. "They are not affiliated with us Royal Guards. They follow orders from the King directly from him, and everything that they do for the King is extremely confidential. The most common order that they get from the King is to check on his enemies or on corrupt officials. That makes the Royal Researcher's identities very confidential as they might get harmed if people know who they are. And because of that, Royal researchers have a lot of privileges that even us Royal Guards don't have."

I was speechless again because I did not even know about this. I work in the Palace too but I haven't heard any kind of news about them, so it just makes no sense. "I have never seen one of them in the Palace... Other than Travor, of course..."

"Well, that is how it's supposed to be," Garreth explained. "Talking about them in the Palace is extremely prohibited too, so I doubt that anyone in there will just talk about them. And the King has some kind of order that punishes anyone who knows about them other than the ones who should know about their existence. It's a stupid law to be honest, as it is almost impossible for such an important job to be not discussed by people even just in secret, but still, no one talks about them in public for fear that the King might punish them."

I nodded' "I see. So that's how it works..." I felt so stupid. Why did I not think of this before? The Crown Prince had told me about it, that he is disguising to be a Royal Researcher, but I have no idea that it was such an important position. But also, it's no wonder that he chose that particular position to disguise with, as that would make him someone with lots of privileges, and if someone tries to check if he was really who he was trying to portray, they will not be able to verify if it was indeed a Royal Researcher as their identity is a must-keep secret! The Crown Prince is a genius for thinking all of that!

"So he's a Royal Researcher. No wonder I was feeling uncomfortable when I read Calyx's letter. And even Blasie was telling me that the man you were with at Aurville looked like someone who was not just an ordinary person. I guess that's why."

I did not know what to reply to that, so I just went on telling him to keep away from me and my 'boyfriend.' "That's right. He prefers his private life to be preserved so please, stop looking into him. You'll just put yourself in trouble."

"Alright. I won't. I still have many questions to ask about him but I guess that can wait for now. What is important is now that we already talked, everything is clear to you now. No one forced to me to get married earlier than we have planned, Rainha. I just wanted to live my life the way I want it." He said that with a big smile on his face and I can't help but feel proud of him too. I nodded and hugged him again.

"Promise me that no matter what happens we will be right there for each other," I asked him. "that's the only thing that I want to hear from you."

Garreth nodded. "I promise, Rainha. Promise me too that you'll stay safe for me. I don't know what will I do if you get hurt." I promised him and we cried again a bit, but at least now that everything was clear between the two of us, I can now focus on what I really have to do. I can now continue with Prince Kao's mission in finding the Snow Gypsies, which now includes finding my Aunt who possibly knows about my mother's identity.