The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Twenty Four

"It's the very same bracelet from the photograph!" I said excitedly to Prince Kao, who took it out and held it in his hands to examine it closely.

"It is pure gold," he said with awe in the tone of his voice. "This is impressive. Do you know how much this costs?"

"How much? It's that rare and precious?"

"It is," the Crown Prince replied while still checking the bracelet on his hands. It was glinting when he turns it on a particular side, the side which was directly facing the luminous windows of this house. It gave me the impression that it was indeed an extraordinary gem of a bracelet. "This will probably cost about half a million Aurean coins," he added.

"A m-million?" I could not believe it. "That's too much! Is that really how expensive it is?"

The Crown Prince nodded. "Minting coins is a very expensive process since you need to melt the metals to make coins. That's why we have used the metal that melts the fastest for our coins. Do you know why?"

I nodded. "I think I do. Garreth told me about that years ago. He said that we can't afford to use coalstones in things other than giving us warmth, and that includes the making of coins, right?"

"That's right. We'd rather use the coalstones that we have for its main purpose--- to make us warm, than to use it in melting a lot of coins. That goes the same as to making and molding things from gold. That requires a lot of coalstones, and we can't afford it."

"I see. So it is more of a logistics issue."

"Yes. That is why this gold bracelet will be very valuable in the market. This will be considered an ancient accessory as no one makes anything out of gold anymore."

"Oh. So that's why," I said nodding. Besides his good physical features, the Crown Prince is very smart and he explains everything easily that I feel like if he was my teacher at school back then, I feel like I would have gotten higher grades. I think I would even have received honors. That's how good he is with explanations and lectures.

"This is probably why your parents kept it there, behind that old tapestry. It is extremely valuable, so maybe they were just keeping it safe for future use."

"That could be true," I agreed with him. "But where did they got that, do you think? And how on earth did they got their hands with something as valuable as that?"

Prince Kao was scratching his chin as he was in deep thinking. He kept on examining the gold bracelet on his palm, turning it around his fingers and touching it. I wanted to touch it too, but I was afraid that I would disturb him and his concentration. "I have read all about cultural accessories of Aure in the different eras, and this might belong to the era a hundred years ago."

"Woah. That's how old it is?"

"I assume, yes. Because ever since the whole kingdom was enveloped by this eternal winter, molding and making things from gold and other metals were prohibited. So this must have predated the Ruthless Blizzards."

"Then it should be more expensive if that's true," I said with glee. "Can I have a look at it?"

"Oh yeah. I'm sorry, I was holding it longer---"

"It's no problem," I said, and finally, I was able to touch and hold the golden bracelet. It was not as heavy as I thought it would be. It was not also brittle, despite how thin it was. But it was undeniably beautiful. I don't know why, but I feel so happy when I was finally able to examine it closely too. It felt like I was touching something of great importance (which it is, if I think of its age) so it was both exciting and nerve-racking to hold it in my hands.

"Prince Kao, I want to keep it," I told him. "I can do that, right?"

"Of course," he said without hesitations. "It's yours. I have no right in keeping it for myself. And I don't need it anyway."

"But don't you want to study it more? You're really interested in it, right?"

He nodded. "Only because it is shaped like that flower that Mitaur called as Phoenix Petals. It made me think of a lot of things when I saw it."

"Like?"

"Like why it is shaped like that. And why do your parents have a bracelet like that in their possession."

"That's what's confusing me too. Something tells me that my mother is the one responsible for this bracelet, since she was an Outsider, right? But it was my father who was wearing it in that photograph. So there is also a chance that it is actually his."

"You're right. We could not be a hundred percent sure. That's why we need to find your Aunt as soon as possible. She might have an idea of where did that bracelet come from."

I nodded. "Then I will keep this for the meantime. Just tell me if you want to examine it further, okay?" He nodded to that so it was already agreed upon. But still, we checked the other parts of this house in case we missed something again. But we did not find anything else that was as interesting and as rare as the gold bracelet. So we decided to leave already.

Personally, I would have wanted to stay a little longer. I would have loved to at least spend one night there, just to bring back those memories of that house back when we were still living there. I was so young back then so I have already forgotten about a lot of the things that I did there. So it was kind of heavy when I started walking away from the door, the cold wind slapping my face with the reality that sometimes we cannot really bring back things that have been since long gone.

"I'm sorry we have to leave right away," Prince Kao told me as we walk back to the spot where the private snow carriage was parked. "We can't really stay here any longer. We don't want getting found out."

"I know. I understand, Your Highness."

He glared at me the moment I said that, but I found it cute. He really hates it when I call him that now. I could not help but laugh a little at his antics, which also made him laugh a little bit. "I swear, you always forget about that."

"I'm sorry! I'm just still not used to that."

"That's fine," he replied but he was kind of half-annoyed, half-uninspired from that response. "But if you can, just call me by my name. Or by Travor. By that, at least I could experience how to be a normal person."

"Okay. I understand," I said. We were now in the part of the snow where my feet sunk to the knee-deep snow again which gave me a hard time. Prince Kao again carried me on his back and this time I was able to control my emotions better. I was not biting my lower lip from trying to hold a squeal.

"You know what, sometimes, I envy you, Rainha."

"Me? You envy me? Why?"

"I envy your freedom. You can go to places freely, anytime you want."

"That's true, but I have to work hard in order to have that freedom too, you know."

"I suppose you are right," he said too while he continued on carrying me on his back. "But I think that would be okay for me. I always wanted to work too. But I know that might sound very privileged to you."

"It doesn't," I told him honestly, as that was what I feel. "I guess it's just natural for us to yearn for the things that we don't have that others have easy. We are humans like that."

"But still, I feel bad that I don't have to feel hunger or cold or fatigue just like you and most of the working force of our kingdom. It makes me feel so unhappy."

"It is unhappy, to have no choice but to work your ass off," I told him softly while leaning my head on his broad back. "But you know what? I don't think that it is a bad thing to have something that others don't, especially if you worked hard for it."

"That's worse. I did not to work for the privilege that I have now."

"That's true. That's why when the time comes that you become the King, just promise me that you will try to solve or maybe just alleviate our hardships, you know. We at least deserve better, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I promise I would not be the same as my father."

"Thank you for that. That sounds very reassuring." I did not know that I still have the ability to like him more, but I do now. He just promised to be not like his father. That alone was giving me hope. "Hey, if for instance, you were just born in an ordinary family, what do you think would you become? What is it that you wanted to do if you were not a Prince?"

"I think I would have been a Royal Guard," he said easily.

"Why a Royal Guard?"

"Besides from being good at fighting?"

"Yes, besides from being good at fighting."

But Prince Kao was no longer able to answer that because at that same time I noticed that we were already surrounded by men in hooded cloaks and they were holding weapons.