The Royal Secret

Chapter 2: The Collision

-Narrator PoV-

It was another perfect day in Dradevow, the sun rose over the same hills, the townspeople did their same work and the royal family dealt with their royal duties from the early morning.

Prince Salis was attending his swordsmanship lessons, he attacked the captain, throwing his sword to the ground and pointing his own blade at the captain's throat.

He smirked, "you are no match for me captain".

"You might want to re-think that your highness", the captain chuckled.

He tripped the prince, and grabbed his collar holding a dagger at the prince's neck.

"You lack precision", he said, letting go of his collar, making him fall to the ground, "you underestimate your opponent, your highness", he said again.

The prince was furious.

'How dare he! How dare he mock me!', he thought.

Just as he was about to attack back, the messenger walked in.

"Your Highness, the king has requested your presence in the throne room", he bowed.

The prince scoffed and walked out of the training arena. He walked into the throne room to see his father, the king, sitting on the throne with his wife, the queen, next to him.

"Father? You requested my presence", he stated.

"Salis, my boy", he exclaimed, walking down with open arms.

After a tight hug he spoke, "I have declared that you will visit the townspeople today, have a look at our kingdom, see how everything works".

The prince was shocked, "Never! I refuse to go!", he complained, "going into town is not fit for a future king, it is filled with dirty and unclean people, I am royalty".

"Dirty and unclean, they may be", his father chuckled, "but they are the people who you will soon rule over, they will be your  royal subjects when I die. Son in order to become a great king, you must first be a great human, you must know who the people in your kingdom are".

Without arguing back Salis agreed to go into town to meet the people who lived there, he hated the thought of walking through town, so his father declared that the royal carriage would be prepared at once. Salis was in his chamber, with the servants getting his clothes for the day prepared. He wore a navy-blue coat with gold embedded buttons and golden epaulettes, a white blouse underneath, with white pants and long black boots.

Once the carriage had been prepared, Prince Salis took a seat inside and was on his way into town. He was shown the upper class and the middle class. Everywhere he went he was greeted with grateful people who praised him and asked him for his blessings. He didn't bother talking to or interacting with anybody.

Once they had reached the lower class, Salis immediately ordered that they turn back and head to the palace, since he had no interest being here.

"Take me back at once, coachman! I refuse to stay here", he demanded, "I am a royal prince, not a commoner!"

"Of course, your highness", the coachman bowed.

He was about to turn back when the left back wheel came loose and fell off, the carriage fell to the ground, the prince was in disbelief. He struggled to get out of the broken carriage, once he was out, he was furious.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he yelled, "I AM A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL FAMILY!"

People started staring and the issue that had been raised.

"I am t-terribly sorry your highness, n-no one had i-intend it to come loose", he stuttered.

"Pathetic", the prince scoffed.

"Leave the poor guy alone you overly dressed peacock", someone said, from the shadows of a forge.

"What did you say to me? Show yourself coward, stop hiding in the shadows", he ordered.

Emerging from the shadows of the forge, was Charlie, a thin nail in his mouth, with a smirk plastered across his face. His hands and arms were covered in soot and coal, with traces of smudged oil on his face, and his hair was a ruffled mess just like his apron. With his hands in his pockets, he aloofly walked over to the prince.

"I said, leave him alone, you overly dressed peacock", he smirked.

"Do you know who I am?" Salis questioned.

"Probably some wretched noble, with a stick too far up his ass", he said, taking the nail out of his mouth, and inspecting it.

Salis was absolutely disgusted, "I am your future king! The heir to the throne of Dradevow! Bow down to me, beg me for forgiveness and I'll excuse you of your disgusting behavior".

Charlie lifted his head up higher, "No, I won't bow to you, whether you be the king himself or my father, I will never lower my head in front of someone".

"This is your last chance peasant, before I have you beheaded, you are insulting the royal title", Salis was furious.

"Royal Title! My Ass!", Charlie said, taking the crown off of the prince's head and circling it around his finger, he placed it on his head, "see? Now I have a royal title, Prince Charlie Kovalyov", he snickered.

The prince snatched his crown back, and drew his sword from the scabbard and pointed it at Charlie.

"I declare that this peasant, shall be beheaded, today, for insulting the royal family", he ordered.

"Beheaded?", Charlie smirked as he grabbed the prince's sword with his bare hand, "fine by me, why don't you do it yourself?"

Charlie walked right up to the prince, with their faces just inches apart.

'I can smell the coal and oil', Salis thought.

He provoked the prince as he held the sword right at his own neck, he smirked at the prince.

"Go on, I'm right here, you can slice it off clean", he sneered, "you have a pretty sharp sword, I bet it can do the job".

Salis blushed at the sight, his cheeks went a light shade of pink and Charlie took advantage of it when he had noticed. With his face right up in the prince's, he sneered.

"Aww can't you, do it?", he smirked, cupping the prince's face with a soot-stained hand, "how cute princey".

Salis shoved him off, "don't touch me!", he exclaimed.

Charlie took a couple steps back while his hand that was gripped onto the prince's slid across it, causing him to cut his hand. He looked at the prince shaking drops of blood off of his hand. The prince looked back at him, and chuckled slightly at the sight. Charlie scoffed and walked back into the forge. Salis felt proud of the fact that Charlie's hand had been cut.

Charlie walked back, with his hand bandaged up. Salis had told the coachman to find someone to fix the carriage, so while they were off to look for someone, Salis was being praised by the other commoners. They were offering him fruits and drinks, like he was some God who came down to earth to meet his creation. Charlie noticed and just scoffed and decided to just continue working. Soon after the carriage had been fixed, Salis headed off back to the royal palace.

"Son!", his father exclaimed, "how was your trip into town".

"I hated it!", Salis yelled back, "I never want to go back! The level of disrespect!"

Salis stormed off and the king slumped back onto the throne. His wife comforted him.

"Oh Evelyn, did I make a mistake when raising this child?", he asked, "he hates anything that isn't royalty, how will he ever run a kingdom?"

"Give him some time, he needed to be able to get used to it", she smiled, "he should try to interact with someone his age, which might help him understand things a bit more".