The Dandelion System

Chapter 17

"I know about you, Oscar," I said. "And I want to talk with you."

"About what?"

"Its not safe here." I looked around. The guards were gone, and no one had searched the staircase. "Should we return to the tower or—"

"I will never return." He turned around.

"Wait—"

"Follow me."

I was surprised. He was agreeing to listen to me. He walked slower, and then I trailed behind him until we were at the hallway were Oda had brought me, and then he stopped in front of a room. He opened the door and I felt the cold air.

The room was dark and too big for my comfort—and I was still wary about being alone with him—but I stepped in reluctantly. The room has no furniture save for a couch, making it look empty and disproportionate.

"You don't trust me, right?" he acknowledges coldly. "If the prince rapes you though, both you and your family will be given several amounts of money to keep the matter silent. Not that bad of a deal, right?" He chuckled.

"That was a terrible attempt of persuasion."

"The guards aren't allowed to enter this room," he said as he closed the doors, stealing us of any light. "Even the Queen can't."

In the dark though, his albino white face could still be seen, and his face was emotionless, no longer aggressive nor sadistic. In fact, he looked almost—almost sad.

"Why is this room so different?" I asked instead.

He laughed drily.

"This was my room."

He walked around the room, his footsteps echoing. His steps are slow and steady until he stops before the couch and sat on it. He draped an arm on the armrest.

"Your room?" I think of Oda's room with the silk canopy bed and wide gold-rimmed wardrobe. It was like another world compared to this one. "It's different from the princess's room."

"It's Oscar's room, not Prince Otto or Prince Oda's." His voice again, sends shivers up my spine. I had forgotten this was someone who lived a life different than Otto and Oda.

"It's an empty room."

"It's like the tower, only it was in the castle," he said.

"How?"

"I was always locked in here. Locked! Otto did bad things and he would be forgiven, but I would be locked here. Otto was loved by the king and queen and everyone. He had control over them all and I—I would be locked here."

"I'm—I'm sorry."

"Did you know when they found out I had the disease, what they did to me?" he asked instead, ignoring my apology.

It was horrifying, hearing someone who died talk about their experience like that. The room felt cold and so did Oscar's words.

"They locked me up."

"When you had the disease?" I blurted out. Oda had told me about his disease, but not that the sick twelve-year-old child was locked up.

"Unbelievable, right? For the Royal family to do such a thing." I remembered when I first hear of the rumors about the prince being locked up. I, like the other ladies, couldn't believe it. It was absurd to even think of such a thing.

Oscar stood up from the couch abruptly and walked towards the curtains; my eyes were adjusting to the dark and I could see better.

"They knew I would die, so I might as well just die right then and there. The very day I was diagnosed, my existence was erased."