Royalty Exposed

Chapter 8

Things seemed to get a little better with the prince after that. I don't know if it was just because we were by ourselves and there was no one around us to but in and remind us that he was a prince or if it was just because we were at the beach. Either way I think the ice broke between us and I didn't feel like I had to be so guarded around him. Sure there were things that I wasn't going to tell him since I was still getting to know him, but I was feeling more comfortable around him and not feeling like I had to be so formal with him all the time.

Although every time that I called him Prince Carter, he would tell me to call him Carter and I just couldn't seem to drop the prince part of his name. It hard to call him Carter when he had always been Prince Carter. I never thought that I would get to know him more on a personal level since I had always thought that he'd just be this far away person that would never be within my reach.

"I don't want to offend you again, but I had always thought that the people lived comfortably. I knew that not everyone was rich like my family is, but I didn't think that there were people who only made enough to get by and didn't have extra money to spend. I had heard rumors that there were poor people, some even with less money than your family has, but since my parents seemed wanted to shelter me from the outside world, I had no idea it was actually true and I couldn't actually see if it was. Until now that is," Prince Carter said.

"Your parents have done a good job of keeping the poor out of the city. The farther you go away from the city, the more you will see poor people. So even though your parents have kept you from straying too far even when you do go outside of the palace, you'd only see people who looked like they had money. Most people living in the city do have money, but the further out you go, the less money people will have. I don't know if that's exactly their doing or just how it is," I replied looking over at him. He was staring ahead at the ocean.

"I heard those rumors from some of the staff my parents hire. They all come from families that don't have a lot of money, but they're not allowed to talk about it. They're just supposed to do their jobs and obey all orders," Prince Carter said looking over at me.

It wasn't surprising that all the people who worked for the royal family where in the lower class. I didn't think any upper class people would work as a servant. That would be too beneath them and probably lower their reputation, which is something that most rich people liked to keep intact. I knew that there were some people from the upper class who did care about those who were less fortunate and didn't have as much money as them, but most upper class families wanted to only associate themselves with people who had the same standing as themselves.

They would look down on people like me. People who didn't have much in the way of money but did have good families you'd be proud to be associated with. In my opinion those were the better people except the few who were upper class and didn't mind hanging around anyone who had less money than them. They were good people as well.

"It kind of sounds like your parents don't like to be associated with those who are beneath them, as I've heard some rich people say," I replied while watching him. Prince Carter sighed and then said, "They don't like to be associated with the poor. I don't think they feel like they need to help out those who don't have a lot of money like they do."

"I've noticed they don't like to help out people like me. They prefer to help out people like them, who don't really need the help," I said.

"Do you think my parents are good rulers?" Prince Carter asked me. I wasn't going to mention how I didn't like his parents as rulers because I didn't want to offend him, but now that he had directly asked me I couldn't really ignore his question.

"No, I don't. A ruler should take care of everyone in their country, not just the ones who are like them. I think your parents are quite afraid of the poor. And I know that people like me are worried about what kind of ruler you're going to be like. We're afraid you're just going to be like your parents and that you won't do anything to help us," I said.