The Lone Prince

Chapter 2 - Expedition

"Takahiro, I have some news for you" it was an early morning, and he only wanted to have some more sleep than usual. Why the world must hate him so much? He opened his eyes and looked at his mother.

"What is it?" He hoped that it was something that could wait so he could go back to sleep.

"We received an invitation from the neighborhood kingdom, prince over there is in similar age to you, maybe you could finally have a friend your age?"

"I doubt that, people seem to rather run away from me instead of wanting to be friends with me"

"Well maybe this time it'll be different. Now get up, you can sleep on the boat, were leaving in two hours"

"Then I have an hour more to sleep now"

"Getting ready will take you more than that and you know it"

"That's the whole point, if I won't be ready then I won't be able to go" he intended to peacefully go back to sleep, but his mother had a different idea. She grabbed his leg and dragged him off and left him on the cold floor. He wasn't happy about it but finally, he got up. He knew he had to get ready and accompany his parents on their trip to the other kingdom. He was an heir to the throne after all, at some point he'll be the one to go on meetings and expeditions.

It took him somewhere around two hours to get ready for the trip. He knew that if they'll be late it'll be his fault only. He had to learn how to dress up quickly. But deciding what to wear is hard and complicated.

He walked out of his room and walked towards the throne room. No one called him so he guessed that he still had some time left. When he entered the throne room he saw his uncle there.

"Hey Takahiro, how are you?" His uncle walked over to him and smiled.

"I'm well, although I don't think that I'm needed on this expedition today" his uncle laughed quietly.

"I'm sure you are needed there, you're a prince after all, and someday you will be the most important person on those expeditions. And if something were to happen you should be closer to your father and knights, you are safer outside the kingdom than over here, here everyone may want your head just to take your place" that was true, people would kill him without hesitation. There was one assassination attempt already. He got a scar on his left arm after that.

Before he managed to answer that his father came to tell him that they are leaving. He said goodbye to his uncle and left. There was a long sailing waiting for them.

After a few hours they arrived at their destination. The castle was huge. It looked amazing and beautiful. It was also bigger than the castle he was born in. He wanted to see it on the inside already. It must've been equally beautiful. He wondered if they had a garden.

He was going to find out soon. They already left the ships and were going inside the castle. But before he will have a chance to see if they have a garden there was going to be an official dinner with both royal families and some other people. He just needed to survive the dinner and then he would be able to go and hopefully spend the rest of his time there alone.

They entered the castle, it was indeed beautiful. It was bright inside, it didn't have as many flowers as his castle but it still was looking beautiful. As soon as they entered the throne room, where the dinner took place, they were officially introduced.

"King Hayate, of house Hanamaki, his lady wife, Queen Hiroko Hanamaki, and their son and heir, Prince Takahiro Hanamaki, future King" the crowd cheered as they walked forward. The king of this kingdom greeted them and showed them their seats at the table. Takahiro was seating the closest to the end of the table and no one was seating near him beside his mother on his left.