Be My Princess 2 (FanFiction): Frozen Heart

Chapter 22

"Would you like to have tea with Prince Ivan today in his office?" Mikhail asked once we reached my bedroom.

"Did he tell you to ask me?" I said as we stayed in front of my bedroom door.

Mikhail chuckled, but nodded, "Yes, he did."

I let out a tired sigh. For some reason, I felt oddly tired all of a sudden, but I pushed the feeling down.

"Sure," I finally said. "As long as he isn't mad at me anymore."

Mikhail smiled faintly. He could see that I was forcing myself.

"If you don't feel good today, you don't have to have tea with His Royal Highness."

"I'm fine," I promised. "I'm just feeling out of my normal schedule is all. I think I slept too much for the day."

"Shall I make some of the tea that Zain had made for you in Nobel Michel?"

"Please," And with that Mikhail led me to Prince Ivan's office.

Mikhail left me in front of Prince Ivan's office, to let me enter his office myself.

Putting on a brave face, I knocked.

"Come in," I heard Prince Ivan say after a few seconds.

Slowly, I entered his office.

Prince Ivan was at his desk as usual, doing what looked like his usual load of work.

"Good Evening," I muttered as I sat down on one of the couches.

As soon as Prince Ivan heard my voice, he immediately got up from his desk chair and sat down right next to me.

"How are you?" He asked.

"I'm fine," I let out a sigh. "If you're wondering about my check up with Doctor Alina, it went...well. I'm as fit as a fiddle, or as fit as I will ever be right now."
He let out a sigh as well, he seemed to look relieved at what I had said.

"Look, I'm sorry how I acted toward you in Nobel Michel...it was wrong of me to ignore you for the rest of the night. I was just so infuriated at you. For not telling me about your heart murmur. I--"

"You don't have to apologize, Prince Ivan," I interrupted him. "It was wrong of me to not tell you, regardless of what Doctor Alina had said. I should have told you about my heart murmur, about my weak heart, from the beginning. I just hope now that you will have the same trust for me as you did in the beginning."

"Answer this for me," Prince Ivan stared into my eyes. "Why didn't you want to tell me about your heart murmur?"

"I--" I stopped as my lower lip quivered. "At first, I didn't think about it because my heart murmur has never acted up for a long time. Actually, to be quite honest with you, I had almost forgotten about it. It was only recently that I had just remembered about it."

"And when was that?"

"The first check up that I had with Doctor Alina," I said guiltily.

Prince Ivan had a straight face on. I bet that was for my benefit. He didn't want to argue, it seemed.

"When did your heart murmur begin to act up?"

"That day of the Ball, when I had worn a corset," I said. "Then after that, my heart murmur has been acting up here and there."

He nodded.

"You said that your heart murmur hasn't been acting up for a long time. When had it acted up?"

Tears welled in the corners of my eyes.

I hated speaking about my mother, but I couldn't avoid speaking about her now.

"When my mother had passed away when I was ten years old," Slowly, tears ran down my face. "Her death took a toll on me. I couldn't go back to school, so my father had to homeschool me. That was when I had become interested in baking. Was when I was being homeschooled. After that, I had become so consumed in wanting to bake for a living, my heart murmur had became better again--"

"Again?" His voice raised in concerned.

"I've always had a heart murmur, ever since I was born. I was born with it. It never did get better, but when I had found my love for baking, it seemed to have went away. Or at least I thought it had, but I guess it hadn't. Of course, it shouldn't, right? Since I've had this when I was born."

For a while, Prince Ivan didn't say anything. He seemed to be processing what I had said.

"So what's next?"

"What's next?" I repeated, confused with what he had just said.

"I mean, what did Doctor Alina say? About trying to figure out why your heart murmur is acting up again?"

"Oh," I looked down at my hands in my hand. "Well..."

I told him what Doctor Alina had said. How I needed to go through more tests, maybe a heart scan.

"She also said to Mikhail-- to tell you-- that I probably shouldn't be going to any parties for a while. For the sake of my health right now."

Prince Ivan nodded. "I wouldn't want you to be going to any anytime soon."

I nodded.

At that moment, Mikhail came in with a tray of tea and snacks.

"I brewed the chamomile rose tea today," Mikhail poured us a cup of tea, "for Kathleen."

Prince Ivan nodded and took a sip of his cup of tea.

I took a sip of mine.

After Mikhail left, we just had tea after our conversation. That may have been for my benefit-- again-- but I didn't mind. I liked having tea with Prince Ivan.

Once we finished with the tea and snacks, I took that cue to go back to my room.

That night, I had my dinner in my room.