THE SMITTEN CROWN PRINCE

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"YOUR MAJESTY!" MA CRIED OUT of shock when the King slapped me out of impulse. But Pa's expression remained stern without remorse. It sting. My cheek was throbbing after the hit. It was painful I wasn't able to hide how it really hurt.

"How dare you be this rude?" Pa was roaring mad over me. "You're not a celebrity, you're a princess! When will you realize that and start behaving like one?"

"That's not reason enough for you to raise your hand to your child, George!" Ma yelled back while I was already in her arms. I felt mostly infuriated that I was being humiliated like this especially in front of my younger brother, the Crown prince, Derick. But I felt relieved to cry in my mother's warm hug. I wasn't particularly crying because I was humiliated. If anything, I sort of already gotten used to it. I was crying because it hurt a thousand times.

"It's more than reason enough! Not just for a princess, even as a daughter!" Pa bellowed and angrily plastered a set of pictures in front of me. It were pictures of me and Jeremy looking immensely at each other with his hands on my shoulders—from the time we were together sneaking out. "Explain this to me, Andrea. What is this? How could you recklessly wander off by yourself with some stranger—a foreigner!—and create this kind of ridiculous scandal when you are already engaged! You should consider yourself married by now!"

I was flustered myself. I did not know the paparazzi would be following me. Although I am a princess, I was never the eye catcher so there wasn't must attention directed at me until... well, until my eighteenth birthday ball.

"That photo is not—it's not like that Your Majesty!" I tried to explain but the King completely shut me off.

"Do you think it matters what it really is like?"

"George, that's enough!" Ma interfered once again. "The princess just got discharged from the hospital today. She's not exactly in good shape right now to handle your aggravation. Let her rest!"

"You should listen to your wife, son." Gramps joined in the heated conversation. "Out of all of us, your daughter's caught up in the middle and I'm sure she's the one having a hard time the most. This is just a small issue to focus all our attention to. We have far more pushing problems on our hands right now. Besides we already stopped the media from releasing these photos."

"But the media is watching the princess' every move!" The King reasoned.

"Let them follow the princess. Let the people see only the princess in front of them. I am sure you understand what I'm trying to say, your Majesty."

A short silence filled the room after. Pa calmed down after hearing gramp's words while Ma called whoever was guarding outside the door. Much to my comfort, Simon came in.

"Simon, please escort the princess to her room and have Mary and Jane attend to her injury. I'll call the doctor to come check on her as soon as possible." Ma ordered to which Simon obliged.

My face was throbbing it probably looks red and swollen. Simon was just calmly walking one step behind me. I had my head down while walking until we reached the hallway. I stopped on my tracks and finally asked him he most important question after 3 days.

"Why are you still here? I thought you already left." He didn't answer so I turned around and looked at him. "What are you still doing here?"

He looked back at me steadily. His face isn't as bad as before anymore but the bruise on his left eye is still pretty obvious and he covered the cut on his nose with a bandage. I suddenly felt like I asked the wrong important question.

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