Ace Among Jokers

V

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SHOOT THE MOON AND WATCH IT FALL

My mother summoned me to her palace. It was the first time she called for me after she was forcibly removed from my side. When she moved into the Queen's palace, she lived a different life. It was even more different from the life she lived back when father put her in that detached palace with me and Cedrin.

I sometimes get a glimpse of her through my temporary palace window. She takes a stroll with her maid and her escorts in the garden, donned in very expensive fabric and jewels glittering underneath the blare of the sun. Her appearance was much more luxurious than back then.

It only ever highlighted her beauty.

Mother was always a beautiful woman. In fact, when she was much younger, she was the most beautiful one in the empire. Bright blonde hair, deep-green eyes and very delicate features; it was enough to make men swoon. Of course, that included my father.

It was a story many in the Empire knew about. A story so absurd that it made me question if it actually happened in the first place.

He met mother when she was twenty, at a banquet held by my grandfather. The moment my father laid his eyes on my mother, he already knew he was going to marry her. He courted her for a long time, and after that, their love blossomed and the kingdom welcomed a new member of the imperial family.

It would've been a perfect story only if it were true. But I knew it was just whispers made by the fanatics of the Imperial family. Nothing as pure as that happened between father and mother. My father was and will still be a cruel man. And he is bound to my mother by a contract between the Duke and the royalty. It was nothing more than a shallow and simple thing like a written pledge.

Love is an emotion that doesn't exist between my parents.

"Sit down, Cecilia." Her voice was tender and warm. It was nothing like my father's cold and harsh tone when he spoke to me. Mother was different. "You called for me, mother?"

"I just wanted to see you," she flashed me a smile. A smile I so missed.

She picked up a block of sugar and dropped it into my tea like she usually did when I was younger. Back when mother and Cedrin used to live with me in the detached palace. Those memories were precious and we were happy. So happy to the point where I slowly believe it was nothing but a dream. "It must've been hard on you," she started. "To be staying in that detached palace for so long. You must've felt lonely"

I shook my head and met her tender gaze. "No," I said. "I have Alice, Bennet and Jane with me. You don't have to worry about me being lonely, mother."

Her deep-green eyes met mine. "That's a relief." She heaved out a sigh and picked up one cookie from the plate to give it to me.

Mother was always like this; warm and kind hearted. And it was because of that, that she was having a hard time being in the palace. After all, the palace doesn't need warmth and kindness. It is a place filled with cold marble floors and empty corridors. A place void of such gentleness. Being in the palace doesn't suit my kind mother.

"Does Cedrin come visit you, mother?" I asked, genuinely curious.

My mother slowly raised her head and looked away. "That kid..." she said. "He changed and it's worrying me. I only have the two of you in this entire palace. But my dear Cedrin seems like he doesn't want to be associated with me."

"So..."

"Do not worry, my dear Cecilia." She grasped my hand and squeezed it as a form of reassurance. "Cedrin must be busy with his duties as the heir to the throne."