I'm Forbidden To Love You

Chapter 10

“I’ve never been this proud, my son.”

The pride smile she had, the happiness her face expressed, was betrayed by the suspicious glint in her eyes.

Nowadays, Ryan felt like he didn’t know his mother as much as he prided himself.

It all happened because of his, what the castle gossip dubbed as the most courageous and honourable act, two days before.

He had been the main witness when Prince Perro Hoich was subjected to Avera’s royal court for judgement.

A case that had shocked the entire royal court.

There has never been an event like this for years; that was why everyone was shocked.

Perro Hoich stood as proud as a peacock at first; then, as the session proceeded and seemed like turning against Hoich’s favour, he soon started stuttering and whimpering, embarrassing himself even more, making everyone disgusted with him.

The King personally thanked Ryan for stepping up and not hiding it under the rug. He appreciated Ryan for bringing this to the royal court.

The King had promised the Mermaid Princess that nothing like this would ever happen as she was adamant about attending this and not let this injustice that happened to her maid go.

The look the Mermaid Princess gave Hoich, God! If looks could burn you, Hoich would have been dead.

After that, His majesty had announced that he would withhold the punishment until the arrival of King Hoich from the falcon land. But, he would surely be punished for it, as Prince Hoich would be withdrawn from every courting session.

Everyone was appeased and happy about justice being served but not Ryan.

Ryan was stupefied at the injustice done to all the maids who were subjected to dance that day.

Ryan could clearly see that after the arrival of King Hoich, this event would be held by the King of Avera as blackmail of sort till King Hoich accepts some of the terms His majesty would bargain with. After that, Prince Hoich would probably be sent off with a slap on his hand.

It was all bloody politics from here on.

If it were a Princess or some relative to the King, Hoich would be too deep in Avera’s Hell prison that he wouldn’t see the light of a day again.

Everyone applauded His majesty for his stand on justice as if he was the human born God among the commoners.

Ryan was speechless at how the world worked and how cruel it was sometimes to people like maids and servants.

He didn’t know how he admired his uncle, His majesty before.

Ryan didn’t know what had changed in him that he saw everything related to royal in a different light. He didn’t know if it was Zelda who opened his eyes or his stay away from the castle for almost a year that had changed him.

And to top it all, the King, His Majesty, announced to the entire court that Prince Ryan had done a great service to Avera and that Avera would always be grateful for him.

Ryan did what any decent human would do. He didn’t know what the big fuss was all about.

Ryan knew what the King was thanking him for. Ryan had just offered the falcon land in His Majesty’s hand to play and manipulate them with, just to gain some sort of power.

Ryan watched Hoich being dragged away by the guards. But, the King had stopped the guards, asking them to treat Prince Hoich well and safe until King Hoich reached as his title required.

To a fool, it might seem that His majesty was a kind person, even to treat the enemy well, but to Ryan, he could understand that it was another sort of play to appease King Hoich and avoiding future conflict with Falcon land. It was not as if the Falcon land would retaliate on a vast country like Avera, but he wanted to avoid it all the same.

And, Ryan had also been one of the fools who believed in the King’s kindness before. But, not anymore as he cannot un-see what was happening right in front of his eyes.

How naïve he had been.

As the court was dismissed, his father came towards him and expressed his happiness about Ryan finally getting into royal politics and that he would guide Ryan if he wanted to learn more.

His father, who took steps to leave the hall, turned towards him and said,

“Don’t get too involved for a maid of all things next time. I don’t want your reputation built on that.”

The words of his father left him cold inside.

Was his father had always been like this?

Or he was realizing all this now only?

Ryan moved away from the court hall, not believing that Prince Hoich was being left off with bare minimum punishment.

If it were up to him, he would smash his head or something that would cruelly kill Hoich.

Maybe, he was biased because he was involved in this personally.

No, it was not just that. He cannot imagine his sister Joy like in situations like that ever. He would kill anyone who misbehaved with her.

He had spent the day on sword practising, not returning to his rooms and spent his time on the practice field and armoury room.

His friend Nora must be confused about why he was angry as he could clearly sense Ryan’s anger behind his fierce attack.

As he had reached his room this morning to freshen up and get ready for the day, his mother decided to visit him and express her happiness regarding his actions.

But he could see the suspicious glint in her eyes.

He cannot blame her for that as he had never been involved in any conflicts, nor was he an outspoken person.

From his childhood, Ryan had always been like that; he preferred to stay in the background and not draw attention to himself.

But, seeing him drawing attention from everyone was new to him. And, don’t even get started on the attention he got from girls, which somehow seemed to please his mother very much. Not that he was enjoying the giggling and whispering gangs of girls that followed him around.

His mother’s smile was so fake that he wanted to look away.

“I did my duties as a servant of Avera, mother. Nothing great.”

Ryan gave the same answer he gave to His majesty and his father. It was the most polite answer he could find.

Ryan always played it safe. As the second Prince, he had to mind his tongue. He didn’t want to upset the balance.

Even to his mother, he didn’t want to share his real thoughts. Their relationship was not how it was before. He wasn’t a child to idolize his parents, thinking they never did anything wrong. They were humans too, and they had their own things just like he did.

He decided to skip breakfast because he would have to chat with his relatives if he went to the dining hall. That would ruin his entire day.

Ryan bowed to his mother and moved away before she starts something else, which he was definitely not in the mood for.

To think, he would feel this suffocated in the presence of his own mother.

It hurt.

No matter how much he wanted his mother to be happy, he cannot help but feel how strained their relationship had become.

He loved his mother, but he cannot dance to her tunes all his life.

As he exited his room, he moved towards the tributary he first saw her. It was a calm place where there would be no royal relatives trying to stab him behind with words or suffocating parents and giggling girls.

On his way, he grabbed an apple and a plate of strawberry tart.

He ate it while thinking about the most shocking thing that happened in the royal court.

A human slave….

She was a human…

Not mermaid…

The happiness he felt when hearing that she was a human was ruined the moment he came to know that she was a slave.

When His majesty asked how Prince Hoich would jeopardize the treaty between mermaid land and Avera, Hoich whimpered that he knew she was not a mermaid and that she was just a human slave brought by the mermaid Princess. That was why he organized for them to dance in his gathering.

Even though s*****y was abolished in Avera, it still thrived on in some countries, and they didn’t know anything about mermaid land. They didn’t realize that merpeople would buy human slaves.

They cannot do anything about s*****y in other countries without going to war with them. And, they didn’t know what magic merpeople had or if even humans can stand against them.

Slave…

Slave…

The word repeated in his mind over and over.

God!

What all she must have gone through in her life, and to top it all, they could not even provide safety here.

The way Hoich uttered the word slave and the mindset of the people around him disgusted him as if it was okay to misbehave as long as it was a slave girl.

It disgusted him that people were like this.

He wanted to see her. He really, really wanted to see her and ask her what had happened in her life that had made her a slave and was living a cruel life even though he didn’t have any right to.

He cannot just go and ask her about this and do something about this situation as he didn’t want to create conflict between Avera and the mermaid land.

It seemed he wasn’t any better either. After all, he was a royal member too, worrying about war and things instead of freeing a girl.

But, he cannot put countless innocent people in the war with his single action. He gave his plate to the servant in the garden, washed his hands and moved towards the path that would lead to the tributary.

The past few days had been crazy. He wanted to relax now.

He wanted a nice and calm day without worrying about anything. The last few days had been full of ups and downs.

The sun was up today; even though it was nearing noon, the weather seemed nice; he would find a shade to lie down near the tributary and relax for a while in the chill air.

As he reached near the tributary, he was shocked, just like that day, to find her here of all places again.

He had been waiting to see her. He had thought it would be difficult to find her, just like the last time, so he thought he would use this day to relax and find a way to meet her tomorrow.

She was startled at the sound of footsteps and whirled around to look at Ryan standing there with wide eyes.

Ryan didn’t know how much he had to get used to seeing her before he got over being stunned by her beauty.

It has been two days.

Two days of torture.

The type of torture he could not share with anyone else to seek comfort.

Ryan could still remember the feel of her waist against his hand.

If he closed his eyes, he could still see the tantalizing memory of her in that pale blue dress standing in front of him in his mind.

The way she hugged him.

Her breath against his neck, her hands around his torso, her hair tickling his cheeks, the unknown perfume on her body, the press of her bosom.

God…

Nope….

He cannot let his mind go there again.

But memories of that day had refused to leave his mind, making him restless. She had occupied his mind, dreams and everything he was.

He cannot hide behind the excuse of thinking that she used some sort of mermagic to bewitch him after knowing that she was a human.

It felt like there was no turning back from this.

There was no turning back from her.

Those turquoise eyes looking at him distracted him just like they usually did.

He felt like he would drown in them with the way her eyes looked at him.

God! How could anyone slave her was beyond him.

How can anyone hurt her?

He wanted to get to know her and help her if he can, in any way possible.

From the looks of it, she had washed the clothes and put them to dry and was waiting for them to dry by sitting under a tree’s shadow from the looks of it.

“Your Highness..”

If he had a jar that could hold voices, he would use it to store all the words that left her mouth and hear it back again and again.

Definitely, he had gone mad.

There was no turning back from her, no way with how deep he was in this.

She gave him a deep bow just as his title required and refused to look at his eyes, casting her eyes down.

Nope. That won’t do.

He wanted that eyes to look at him, only him for as long as he lived.

“Do you remember me, Miss?”

She looked up at him, startled by him speaking with her. From the looks of it, she expected him to treat her like a slave, just like everybody else.

Ryan clenched his fingers in anger but didn’t show it to her. He didn’t want her to think he was angry with her.

To free her, he had to know about her. And to know about her, he has to converse with her and gain her trust.

“Of course, Your Highness. I can never forget what you did for me that day throughout my life.”

It felt like she was giving polite and formal answers.

Ryan smiled at that and moved towards the cloth she used to sit under the tree and sat down on it.

This would get nowhere if it went like this.

Ryan admitted, at least to himself, that he wanted to know about her and be close to her. It doesn’t matter why.

Liar! He knew why but he didn’t want to think about that. Ever.

“Come here, Zelda..”

Her eyes widened at the informal use of her name.

“I… I.. My Prince…”

“Just come here, Zelda.”

She looked flustered as she took steps towards him ever so slowly.

“Come and sit here, Zelda.”

“Your Highness.”

Ryan suppressed a smile at her nervous reaction.

She was probably shocked and confused about how a Prince would invite a maid like her to sit near him. The difference in their status doesn’t allow it. If anyone saw this, it would be punishable.

Since no one was here, and even if anyone were here, he wouldn’t care. He was the one who wanted her to sit by him, and that’s all that mattered.

He patted his hand on the space nearby, inviting her to sit near him.

She looked like she wanted to run away.

“Is that how you want to repay me for helping you, Zelda?”

Ryan was not selfish to use what he did that night against her, but he would do anything if it made her stay.

She hesitantly sat near him, looking at him with wide eyes, nervously glancing around to see if there was anyone nearby.

“How can I help you, My Prince?”

“Relax. I am not going to bite you.”

Not now, but he would surely like to bite and nibble the swan-like neck of hers. And the way her lower lips was begging to bite...

What in the f*****g Hell!

What did he just think of now?

Mind out of the gutter right now, Ryan. He scolded himself.

“I just wanted to know how you’re doing.”

“I am well, Your Highness.”

He wanted her to stop addressing him like that.

He wanted to hear his name from her lips.

Now was not the time for those things.

“I am waiting, Zelda.”

“What is it, Your Highness?”

She looked confused.

“I want repayment for helping you that night. You have no idea how much trouble I had to go through after that.”

She looked shocked at his atrocity.

Her eyes left him and turned downcast as if she was ashamed about something.

“I… What can I possibly give to a person like you, your Highness?”

“Your friendship Zelda.”

She looked up at him with widened eyes.

“Can we be friends, Zelda?”