Lairs of Heir - Vol 1 // Young Royals

Chapter 26

"Okay everyone settle down, there's enough snacks to go around." Ace says as she laughs at Madison and Felice who had been arguing near my sweet drawer for a while now.

"James, do you not have more of those sour worms?" Madison complains.

"Unfortunately, this isn't a shop, just grab something and hope for the best." James throws another chocolate button into his mouth, as he watches Madison grab something, before making her way over to James, and sitting in between his legs.

James had just finished editing the video, and it was set to go out within the next hour, but before it does, their group decided to watch it together for the first time. Now they're all stuffed into James and Wille's room, waiting to watch a video on James's laptop that was sat on a stool in the middle of the room.

"Everyone ready?" Ace shouts, they all reply with a yes as they all snuggle into the mound of blankets that James had on his bed.

Ace pressed play, as she made her way to sit between Sara and Wille, who both had people laying between their legs, just so everyone could fit on the tiny bed.

The video started out with a few clips that James had captured of their group of friends with Wille, most of them just videos of the group goofing off.

(Everything in italics is in the video)

"How do I even start this?" Wille says as he sits the desk.

"Hello, I'm prince Wilhelm of Sweden." Wille says With a blank face.

"Wow mister personality over there!" James shouts in the background, making everyone laugh, as Wille breaks into a smile.

"Hi, I'm Wille, and I'm ready to tell the truth about my life."

The group laughs at Wilhelm's uncomfortable position in front of the camera, knowing that it had all worked out in the end.

"A few months ago, I was sent to a boarding school called Hillerska, after I had done a few things that I hadn't been particularly proud of. At the time, I was genuinely convinced that this would be the worst experience of my life, and while at some points I think that was the truth, at other points, I couldn't have been more wrong."

"It was no secret that at that point in my life, I felt like I was spiraling into a person I didn't want to be, yet I had no choice but to deal with it, because as a prince, it was my duty to not put myself first, or make it look as though I was selfish, self-centred or just an asshole. It wasn't until I arrived at this school that I realized that even if I was far away from the castle and my normal princely duties, I had to constantly be in a state of caution, as I was now surrounded by people who were watching my every move."

"Luckily, I found a few really awesome friends during my time here, and they really helped me to see that I am allowed to be myself, I might not always be perfect, but when people start seeing me as a person and not just some prince, I am able to let down my guard and let the people see the real me. That includes my flaws, my controversial opinions and my mistakes."

Wilhelm adjusted in his seat, knowing that the words he had previously been saying was just the buildup to the actual confession.

"A few months ago, a video circulated worldwide. This video was something that changed my life forever, and not in a healthy or amazing way."

He takes a deep breath as he tries to find his words.

"The video in question, brought up a lot of questions about my sexuality and how it would affect everything in regulated to the country being run my me in the future. It made headlines, that all came down to the question on whether the prince was gay. I was stared at, mocked, and provoked by people online and in real life, for a while, my world felt like it was so broken, that it was beyond compare, so I was advised to release a statement about the video in question, and after reviewing my options, it was clear that I had no other choice but to deny it. So I did."

"I was interviewed about the video a few weeks after it's release, where I completely denying being in it, unfortunately in doing so, I hurt a lot of people, most importantly, I hurt the one person that I had promised never to hurt. It took a long time, and a lot of tough love from the support system in my life, but I knew that I would eventually have to come clean, so here I am."

"I was the one in the video, and unfortunately, I was unlucky enough to have someone very close to me completely betray me by releasing it to the public. It hurt, but in the end, it is what pushed me to do this."

"What happened in that video, was never supposed to be seen by anyone. It was a private moment between myself and someone that I love very much. So, today I come here, admitting that while that video was private, and people had no right to see it, I can't keep denying that it was me."

"Although this video will explain some questions that people had about the video, I will not be addressing rumors about my sexuality, nor will I speak about anyone else involved in previous situations, as those are personal topics that I believe should be kept private. Thank you."

Wilhelm gets up off the chair and walks off screen, as the picture fades to black, as the list of credits roll.

Everyone in the room stays silent for a while, mainly wanting Wilhelm to have the chance to speak first, as it was his video.

"It's perfect." Wilhelm finally speaks, making everyone breath a sigh of relief.

"Time to publish it." James gets up from behind Madison and wakes his way over to the laptop, opening up the YouTube account that he had made earlier.

He loads the video, before turning to Wilhelm, letting him do the honors of uploading the video himself.

Once the video uploads, the whole room grabs their phones, and puts them on silent, knowing that they'll probably be blowing up the second the video is up.

Simon gets up and walks toward Wille - Wille opens his arms, anticipating a hug, but instead Simon leans up and kisses Wille for the first time in a while.

James grabs Madison and dances with her around the room, trying to get rid of the adrenaline that had built up in their systems.

The group stayed in that room for the rest of the day, not caring how much damage the video might've done, because all they knew was that they had each other, and that's all they seemed to need.