My Priceless Treasure

Chapter 4

The young prince lied down in bed, wide awake. He couldn't sleep at all since talking to his father. Was the king right in his saying? "Should I really give up on my dream?", he sighed. His mind wandered everywhere, he wasn't focused on anything except the fact that he had probably been doing too much for the sake of his people. Who knew what all these people did with the money he had given up for charity? What if they really had evil intentions such as an attempt to assassinate him or even start a massacre? Then he would have given them the chance to afford weapons! His father may have been right-

"No! Quit thinking too much! This man wants you to think this poorly!", and with that Mikage rolled to his side, closing his amethyst-like eyes. "I will show him that humans behave poorly because they are treated poorly..."
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This day was quite a stressful one for the heir. He had a lot of schedules; going from the administrator of his castle to the nobles' council, from the market back home to train his sword fighting techniques. After all, as a prince and a protector of this land, he had to know how to fight for his country. He had to have an idea on how this country's laws and society can evolve and move forward. It was mentally straining the prince a lot, having to know every bit of detail to not fall for possible betrayals. Not only mentally, physically he was often knocked out, lying down on the concrete of the training area. This time though, it was not his physicality that made him lose to his teacher, it was his constant thinking about his people. Just like that, he fell to the ground without giving any kind of resistance.

"Come on, Young Prince, what's the issue today? You're not yourself. Like, at all", his teacher asked, crouching down to him. Though he didn't show it a lot, he was concerned about the teen. They may had been the same age, both still the age of 17, however, Mikage's teacher was trained to be the leading knight in possible war. "Oh Rensuke, I don't know. Well, I actually do know, I just don't know how to think about my people while not thinking about my people. Tell me please, friend! What can I do?", he looked up to his long-time friend, his amethyst eyes pleading for an answer. For any kind of advice.

The young knight sighed, feeling pitiful and just as helpless as the damsel in distress. "I don't know, Reo. All I can do for you is be by your side. You have always been thinking about others before yourself. You even helped the staff doing the chores they were assigned and paid to do! You even paid me who hasn't had any chores at all!", pretending to be mad, he flicked his finger against the prince's forehead. "Ouch! Are you kidding?! That hurt like hell, you gorilla!", he yelled and held his hand against his forehead to which the other only chuckled, "You're a good soul, Reo. If you want to, make me your right hand at your coronation. This way you can be the heart while I will be the brain." "Are you calling me brainless?!", both laughed wholeheartedly. It was nice having a friend like Rensuke.
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First thing in the morning was having breakfast with his parents, the king and the queen themselves. The prince bowed slightly, greeting them both, "Good morning, Mother; good morning, Father", before sitting down next to his mother. The queen smiled lovingly, greeting him back. It was obvious that she loved his son to bits, however, it was just as obvious as her favoring his father and his perspective over himself. Just as always, she started this blatant favoritism again: "I hope you have thought about what your father was trying to say. Dreams are wonderful, they truly are, however, you have to look reality in the eye. People will not change through the influence of one person against hundreds or thousands. Keep that in mind. No matter how hard you try, you won't ever have the outcome you wish for. It is impossible."

Not only did she say something so tasteless so poorly, this woman even had the nerve to still show this unauthentic and disgusting smile! The smile that made the young noble's blood boil to the point it might vaporise! It was that smile the queen showed the people down there to prove she was a good wife and mother, a good emperor – it was all lies; just blatant, disgusting lies! Everyone in the room knew how much of a liar the queen was and how much of a tyrant the king! Reo never saw them as his parental figures. He had Ba-ya as a mother and Rensuke as his brother. He knew that as soon as he was king, he would strip these people from their nobility and let them rot at the border where no one would ever find them. Or at least he would wait until their deaths to reveal the truth to everyone; to prove he would never want to be like them. He would gladly accept death over a life lived the way his parents did!

As much as Reo wanted to let go and lash out on them, he knew he would get in huge trouble, probably even public humiliation. So instead of going at it with aggression, he nodded lightly, responding: "While I do understand your perspective, I cannot agree. You do your thing until getting dethroned, then I will do my thing as new king. After all, it doesn't have anything to do with you since you cannot interfere anymore as retired king and queen and, above all, nobility. Please do not keep interfering with my plans."

He jolted when he heard a loud bang; it was his father slamming his fist into the dining table. "What kind of blatant disrespect are you giving me?! I care for you – as a father I care for my own blood! You are not only ungrateful, you are disrespectful and above all a disappointment! How dare you treat me like a peasant!? You disappointment! If I had another son, I would give my life to make him king instead of a selfish brat like you! How dare you be this selfish! You do not care about the people – you only care about your reputation and your own well-being; just like the little child you are!"

The young prince quickly stood up and left the hall, not even being able to make out the other insults his sperm donor was throwing at him. The young man ran outside, looking for his butler. "Ba-ya, please come..", though he never showed it, Mikage had always been a sensitive soul – he would be hurt and cry for the smallest things. That was, of course, as a child. Now that he was almost an adult, he tried surpressing his feelings because how would people take him seriously if he would start crying in front of him; if he started getting emotional? Negative feelings had to be surpressed, so that he would be taken seriously and would be liked.

A little tear escaped his right eye, he couldn't bear the stress anymore. It had always been the same. He would be out until late, helping out the poor. When eating dinner with his father, he would criticise his perspective as naïve and childish while the teen had no chance of interfering or talking back at all. Until a week ago, he had no courage to stand up to the people that had given him all these opportunities to change the world in the first place. And now that he did, well, one could see the outcome. He wished to turn back time and never have said anything at all, maybe then his parents would have loved him. If he had just agreed to their way of thinking and adapted it. Would he have been loved and appreciated then? Why did he have to love the people around him? He hated it! He hated it so much! But oh, he cannot blame anyone except himself. He knew no one except himself was at fault. He just oh so wished to not be at fault for not being loved.

Just then Ba-ya found the young prince outside, visibly concerned she came up to him. "Young Prince-" "Please get me out of here for a while – and please come with me; stay by my side", his mother figure quickly obliged. She went into the stable, getting a carriage ready.