The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Six

"Calyx?" I said out loud. I could not believe that I will be seeing this guy right now, at this very moment.

"It is you!" said this guy who walked fast towards us. He came from the nearest stairs at our left, which I saw were the stairs that lead to the Aurville Academy, the school where he works as a teacher.

Calyx is a childhood friend of mine that used to be one of my closest friends back then, except that he became Blasie's boyfriend too back when we were still at school. Since then, I distanced myself from him because I hated Blasie to the core but Calyx still talks to me whenever we see each other.

He is a tall guy with shoulder-length hair that makes him look a lot more mature than his actual age. Jang used to have a crush on him too but gave up when Blasie came into the picture. And according to Jang, Calyx seems to like me that's why he's always trying to talk to me. This is the main reason why I am panicking inside right now because it would be a big scandal if he saw me with Prince Kao, but the Crown Prince was quick-witted. The prince immediately covered his face with a handkerchief that he pulled out of his pant's pocket. Of course, he has a lot of things in his body and at this point, I would no longer be shocked if he pulled out a full meal from his coat.

"Why are you still here outside at this hour?" His voice was cold but also sounded concerned, much like how Garreth would act whenever I did things that made him angry. "And who is this?" he pointed at the Crown Prince whose eyes were the only part of his face that we can see. "Rainha, what is this? Why are you with a man at this late hour?"

"Oh, he's a---"

"I am his boyfriend," said the Crown prince to Calyx and I almost shrieked with delight at what he just said. Seriously? I could die any minute now. "And who are you?"

Calyx could not believe what Prince Kao said that he was rendered speechless at that. Even I was speechless. I did not know that lies could be beautiful just like this one. And what would I not give just to make this lie come true?

"B-Boyfriend?" Calyx said who was flabbergasted by what the Crown Prince just said. "You have a boyfriend?" He was looking at me with disbelief and I could not look at him in the eye because of that. I don't know why but it made me feel so shy and nervous.

"She has a boyfriend and that is me," said Prince Kao again pointing at himself so Calyx looked at him from head to toe. The two guys were in a staring contest and it just made my imaginations worse. I think I would daydream about this one for months. "Now who are you?"

Calyx also looked offended that my 'boyfriend' does not know him. "My name is Calyx. Calyx Encore. And who are you?"

"Travor. Travor Dubstein. A researcher at the Palace." Prince Kao offered his hand at Calyx for a shake and the latter took it but reluctantly. "Now excuse us Calyx, as we are about to head home to Rainha's house."

That did not sit well with Calyx, because he seemed furious. "What? Rainha! What is this? You are letting a man inside your house? Does your Aunt know about him?"

My head hung at his questions. Of course, the answers to all his queries were all 'no' but I would be in big trouble if I come clean with Calyx. I decided to just go with the Crown Prince's made-up story. "Well, my Aunt did know that I liked someone but she still doesn't know who it is, so now that it is my off from work Travor and I decided to go home and introduce him to her."

Calyx was still skeptical about all of this, and I knew why. My family and close friends knew that I was not interested in having a boyfriend, but right now I was introducing one to one of them. "And what about your brother? Does he know about him too?" He glared at the Crown prince and I badly wanted to tell him to stop doing that because if he just knew who he was being rude to, he would probably wet his pants with fear of getting punished.

"I have yet to tell him about Travor. So if you'll excuse us, Calyx. We're going home. It's late now..."

"Oh... Yeah..."

I nodded at him and Prince Kao and I started walking away again. There was an awkward silence as I looked back at Calyx who was still standing at the spot where we left him. He was looking at us as if he just saw a ghost.

"Who was that bastard?" said the Crown Prince when we were far enough from Calyx. "I did not like the way he looked at me. It was like he hated me for some reason."

"Well, he acts like that to me. He acts like he's my older brother---"

"Is that it? Why do I feel like that guy like you?"

I coughed at that. "Me? No! Calyx does not like me like that!" My cheeks were again flustered by the topic that we are having now.

"Rainha, I may be the Crown Prince but I am still a guy. I know when a guy likes a girl."

"I told you, that's not it," I denied, as I don't want it to be true. I really don't. "He' s just a close friend."

"Maybe to you, but for him, I think you are more than a friend to him."

I stopped walking because I have to admit, that what the Crown Prince just told me was possible. All these years that he acts like that, Calyx might actually have feelings for me just as Jang suspected. But the problem is, I don't feel anything for him.

"I think I am right," said Prince Kao a matter-of-factly. "He does like you."

"But I don't like him," I finally said to stop him from teasing me more.

Prince Kao laughed at that. "Poor guy. No wonder he looks so hurt and confused when I introduced myself to him as your boyfriend."

"Don't make fun of him. He's a family friend, and Aunt Milca likes him."

"Your Aunt does? Why?"

"Not for her, though. She likes Calyx for me. Actually, my Aunt had been talking me to marry him."

It shocked the Crown Prince. "Your Aunt wants you to marry that guy? You should protest it. He looks like someone who will control you when you get married to him."

I have to chuckle at that because back then when Aunt Milca was still persistent in marrying me off to wealthy guys, this was exactly what I told my Aunt. "I don't like him. He acts like my brother, bossing me around. That's not something that I want to endure for the rest of my life."

"But you have to!" said my Aunt who just wanted to marry off so that she could have the house all to herself. "It's for your own good, Rainha. I know that you know that. Calyx may not be as rich as the others that courted your friends but he is a good person. And he is a teacher. He lives at the academy where there is enough supply of Coalstones. Don't you want to live in such a place?"

"My dear Aunt, if that alone is my criteria in choosing my future husband I might as well just stay single and just work at the palace for the rest of my life. The palace is warmer and the Prince is there."

"The Prince will not even know that you exist, you silly girl. Why don't you just think smart, just for once? Almost all girls your age are starting to marry anyway! You'll be left behind if all the bachelors in town get married!"

"What an ancient custom is it right there," I told her and she just frowned at me and went out for work. I was used to my Aunt acting as she hated me half of the time, but that may be because I resemble my mother and she is always reminded of the tragedy that she brought to our family, as Aunt Milca puts it.

"I guess every woman your age is encouraged by their family to get married," said the Crown Prince who was now walking with his head bowed down. It looks like he was thinking about something.

"Yes. Almost every girl in Aurville gets married at my age. And it is very understandable. Marrying someone who can earn and get Coalstones mean that you will live a comfortable life for the rest of your life. No one wants to live working forever for Coalstones you know, so I guess marrying off your daughter this early can't be helped."

"But you keep on refusing your Aunt."

"Well, yeah. I just don't like the idea that I have to get tied to a man to be successful or so that I could live comfortably. What I want is to become successful with my own hands. My Aunt and my brother don't like that."

"Maybe because they don't like seeing you working so much for something that you could easily get if you just marry a guy who has a lot of it?"

I shrugged. "Could be. But still, I would still prefer to work my ass off than to play the role of a parasite." Prince Kao remained silent at that. Maybe because he disagrees with me, as his mother was married off to his father to pay the debts that his mother's family owed the Palace back then. Everyone knows that story, and that would have been okay if not for the fact that no one in the whole country thinks that it was a bad deal for Prince Kao's mother. In fact, maybe I might be the only one who thinks that Prince Kao's mother was so unlucky for having to pay her family's debt by sacrificing herself and marrying a man that she did not know.

"So you don't want to get married just because you need to have security for yourself," said the Crown Prince to me with an interesting tone in his voice. It was like he was trying to figure out if that made sense. "That's a very admirable trait there, Rainha."

"Yeah, I know. But don't get me wrong. I do want to get married, but not just to anyone who has enough warm pebbles."

"I see."

"One of my friends at the Palace, Kaylie, is already engaged to a businessman. If that kind of marriage happens to me, I will even be the one who will drag the groom to the wedding ceremony."

"Why? What's with your friend and his businessman boyfriend?"

I sighed. "Kaylie and Sir Ralphus love each other. That's what I want. I want someone who loves me. I want romance to be the foundation of our marriage and not just an agreement by our families."

"But that's what everyone wants, isn't it?" he says, then looks at me again with such intensity that I had to look away from him. "I also want that to happen to me. I want romance."

"But you are the Crown Prince," I told him flatly. "Surely, you can just pick a girl you want to date and see if you hit it off, right? I mean, at your age you should have a wife already!"

He laughed again, but this time it was not as cheerful as his earlier laughs. "My father will marry me off to a girl from a wealthy family, I bet. But not yet. Not this time, as he still likes to sit on his throne."

So it's true then. It is true that his King father indeed likes to reign over the kingdom as much as he can, therefore letting his son stay single as a King needs a Queen to ascend to the Royal Throne.

"And how do you feel about that?" I asked him before I could think of how personal was that question. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should not have asked you that---"

"It's okay. If I have to be honest with you, I kind of liked that he still wants to be the King despite his age. That way I'll have more time for myself and other things. That way he will not force me to choose a woman that I'll have to marry in order to be pronounced as the new King of Aure."

I nodded at that. "You have a point. I guess the Crown Prince has his own battles to fight too. This is all the Eternal Winter's fault. If the winter would just stop, then we don't need to marry someone just for a large supply of Coalstones, or that you don't have to marry someone to make sure that your bloodline stays alive. If the sun would have just shown itself to us then maybe we are living different lives now."

"I guess so," he replied with a sigh. "But I have to tell you, I also feel excited about the time that I'll get married. I always wondered who will my bride be."

"You don't have to worry about that," I told him. "Every girl likes you, so you'll have no problems in getting a wife. What you should worry about is the fact that your wife will become the most hated woman in the kingdom. She'll have a tough life, that's for sure."

That made him c***k up. "Why? Because everyone will desire to be in her position?"

"Exactly. It must be terrifying to be your wife. Good thing I am just a Court Servant." I almost bit my tongue when I said that because both of us looked at each other after that. It was so awkward and I was starting to have goosebumps and they bare not the good kind of goosebumps.

"So you don't like me then, huh?"

I now bit my tongue. It was painful. "That's not what I meant. I just said that it was impossible for me to be put in your wife's shoes as I am just a Court

Servant."

"That's not very open-minded, Rainha," he told me and my whole being was just started to crumble with the stare he was giving me right now. "I have decided just right now that I will be the one who will choose who am I going to marry."

"Your father will kill you for that," I warned him because it was part of our kingdom's tradition to let the King and Queen choose the wife of the prince that's next in line to the throne.

"Thanks to you, I do not care anymore. I have decided to only marry someone who I will like to be with for the rest of my life. I don't care if she's from a rich family or if she's like you," he said with finality that my body felt like it was exposed to a dozen warm pebbles.