Fed up with their strong-headed, rebellious son, the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Terrigal come up with a plan for him to settle down by sending invitations to all the eligible young women of the land, to contest for his love, much to the Prince...
Sitting at his desk, Alex stared at the photograph that was displayed on his laptop screen. Although his parents had gotten rid of all the photographs and articles from Friday about the unfortunate incident, there was one photo that still remained. It was of him protectively holding a clearly distressed and scared looking Avery and Wendy. He didn't understand why someone would publish this photograph for the whole world to see, was it pleasant to them seeing a frightened young woman and child. What was wrong with people these days.
Angry, he slammed the laptop shut and stood up running his hands through his hair. After that day, he had been completely avoiding Avery because he felt like it was his fault that it happened, because in a way, she was associated with him being a eligible and contestant.
Walking over to the French doors, Alex pushed them open and walked out into the night air, looking out over the property, it was nearly midnight now. Looking up to the navy-blue sky littered with thousands of sparkling stars and a crescent shaped moon, he wondered what the first task had been for the contestants. Madam Eunice may seem like a strict, formal and authoritative woman to people who did not know her that well but in fact that was all a facade because of her job, under all that, she was one of the most caring, understanding and selfless woman he had met so he had faith in her that she wouldn't give a task to the eligibles that was too hard for them to complete on their first day of the competition.
Realising that sleep wasn't going to come any time soon, he wore one of his grey hoodie over the white shirt that he was wearing and went outside of the palace, for a midnight stroll around the grounds. When he came towards the stables, he knew that Hercules would be sleeping as he had taken him for another long ride in the woods during the day so he walked by and continued down the footpath, over to the large fountain and sat down on one of the park benches that was there and watched the water.
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A few minutes passed before he heard footsteps approaching him from behind and glanced back, over his left shoulder to see that it was Madam Eunice.
"Your highness, you're still awake?" She frowned.
"Yes..." He muttered, exhaling through his mouth. "I couldn't sleep."
Madam Eunice pursed her lips then pointed to the space beside him. "May I?"
"Yeah." Alex nodded then looked back to the fountain. "How was today?"
"You know you can just ask me, Alex." Madam Eunice said loosing that tutor-mentor, authoritative voice and just spoke to him like she does away from public eyes. "Do you want to know about what task the committee and I gave the girls or how they did?"
Alex exhaled through his nose, leaning back against the bench. "Both, I guess."
"...They all did very well for their first real task." Madam Eunice told him, looking over at the magnificent fountain too. "It was about your family's history."
Alex pursed his lips and nodded without saying anything, prompting Madam Eunice to look his way. She had started working at the Palace when he was only three years old and considered him to be like a son or nephew, and she could sense clearly that something was on his mind.
"It wasn't your fault." She said, looking back at the lit up fountain.
Alex eyebrows came together in confusion. He didn't understand what Madam Eunice met. "What?"
"You're thinking about Friday, aren't you?"
Sighing heavily, Alex swallowed and nodded his head. "Is it that obvious?"
"No, but I know you better than you think." Madam Eunice gave him smile, prompting him to chuckle then she continued. "...We all expected that to happen sooner or later. Nothing comes easy with being associated with people who come from wealth and fame."
"I know and I wished we had warned them...it was awful."
"Yes, it was. But something tells me that she's a strong girl. Avery." Madam Eunice said then she stood up. "Well, I best be off to bed. I have a long day tomorrow."
"Good night Madam Eunice."
"Good night dear."
Alex remained out there until his eyes finally started to feel heavy then retreated back up to his bedroom at around three o'clock in the early morning hours.
