Love & Duty

Chapter 32

The following morning, the King enters his daughter's chamber and finds it empty... A slight panic starts to well up at the bottom of his stomach.

He goes out of the room and asks the guards about her whereabouts. "She left with Rowen last night, your Majesty. Prince Eric ordered us not to stop or question them." they report, fearing his anger.

"Your Majesty? Everything alright?" Tyler asks as he and Valerie arrive on time to wake up their Princess.

"That Rowen guy took Sophia somewhere, and no one knows where! How could he do this?" he says; the panic was gone, but anger replaced it.

"Don't worry, I have an idea of where they would have gone. Rowen wouldn't just take her away. They are still within the Castle." Tyler reassures him and starts walking to their destination.

"What makes you so sure?" the King couldn't help but ask.

"His code and values matter a lot to him. Respect is also a big thing. He's such a goody-two-shoes sometimes; he makes me sick." Tyler pulls his tongue out in disgust.

"They are the complete opposites, you could say, your Majesty." Valerie clarifies.

King Winston doesn't comment; he takes in their words and thinks them over. He wondered if there was a single person out there that could say a bad thing about Rowen.

"Oh! But don't let him deceive you, he may look like an innocent little lamb, but he is a vicious wolf on the inside." he makes claws with his hands while Valerie facepalms her face.

"Okay, that was a different comment." the King thought... A bit worried about the meaning now.

~~~~~~

They arrive at the entrance of the Castle Forest. Tyler was sure they would go back there to be alone and have no one disturb them.

"The forest is huge, Tyler; how will we find them in time?" The King asks as he rubs his temple.

"From here, I'll track them. I'm a hundred percent sure they are here." Tyler starts walking into the forest, following tracks that belong to them.

In a few minutes, they came to a clearing with a lake. The King stops in his tracks at the beauty of the scenery. Before the King and Queen passed away, they spoke of making a place like this to relax with their family and close friends.

Seeing how their project ended up looking brought a smile to his face. It really was beautiful.

"Well, I could see why they keep coming here." Tyler looks around and finds the couple under the tree. "There you go. Found them." he points to them and directs everyone's attention to the tree.

Valerie covered her mouth with a silent gasp; she was thinking how cute they looked like that. But she didn't comment out loud, knowing the King would disagree with her thoughts.

The King squints his eyes at the scene and stomps his way to them. Once he is in front of them, he clears his throat, trying to wake them up.

Seeing his daughter sleeping peacefully under a tree in a man's arms. The way he had his arms wrapped around her waist and his head resting on her shoulder. While she hugged his arms and rested her head on his chest. He didn't know how to feel; he just knew he didn't like it.

They were too close to each other.

He hears his daughter mumbling as her consciousness comes back. However, she just fixes her position on his chest and hugs him again, getting comfortable.

The King's eye twitches.

He clears his throat again, louder and rougher. "Am I disturbing you two?" he says in his low voice.