CROWN PRINCE | LES MISÉRABLES

02.

The trip to Paris was wonderful. I got to see the sunrise over Paris, lightning up the dark city.

"Annie, sit down.", Father scolded.

There were so many things I wanted to see.

"What do you want to see first?"
"A park, maybe even a book shop.", Delilah answered.
"What about you Annie?"
"I don't know, there are so many things I want to see."
"Where are we staying?"
"A small Café. I met your mother there for the first time. She was an adorable waitress.", he said.

His face changed into a sad expression. You could tell that he was close to crying but chose to ignore his own feelings for us. Her death was hard on all of us.

I looked out of the window again. The trees were one of the prettiest green shades I've ever seen. The flowers were extraordinarily beautiful and different. Not a single one looked identical.

"Annie, we're almost there."
"Is this the Café you were talking about?"
"Yes, yes it is.", he said smiling.

The carriages came to a halt. The doors were opened and we stepped out of it. I looked around. The trees were gone. We stood in the middle of a busy city with many poor people. Children were begging for money, and they reminded me of my own siblings, maybe even myself.

A nice woman, about 50 stepped outside. She looked happy to see us, almost as if she knew us.

"Oh, Clayton, I am so glad to see your face again. It has been years."
"Who's that Papa?", little Caroline asked.
"This is your grandmother."

"Oh my, Delilah and Annie have grown up a lot. My son is inside if you wanna go play.", she said.
"Raphael, I remember. He must be 13 now, am I right?"
"Yes, he misses his sister dearly. Tell me, how are you doing?"
"I miss her, a lot. There's not a day I don't spend missing her.", he said.

Delilah and I walked away from them. We wanted to explore the city. We still had plenty of time, Paris just woke up.

"You need to stay next to me. These are guards, to protect the king and his son, the crown prince."
"What's his name?"
"Whose? The crown prince? I think it was Bastien."
"Oh, how old do you think he is?"
"14 I assume. At least the newspaper says so. Nobody knows what he looks like. Some people even say he doesn't exist.", Delilah explained.

Why would he not exist and why would he never go outside? So many questions came up. If no one knew what he looked like, how could they possibly know his age or his appearance? The newspaper stated that he was a brown-haired boy. Was this a lie?

"We should go back now."
"But why?"
"Because I don't know Paris. No one knows what occurs here. And Papa doesn't know where we are.", she said.

I sighed. She was right.

"Oh well, then let's hurry back."

***

"Girls, where were you? We were looking everywhere for you?", our father exclaimed.
"We took a walk."
"A walk? Without telling me?"
"Delilah was with me."
"Annie, you are ten years old. It does not matter if you are with Delilah or not, I have to know where you are."
"I'm sorry Papa. It won't happen again."

***

"What do you know about the prince?"
"Not much, rumor has it, that he doesn't exist.", Raphael said.
"But why would they lie?"
"Why wouldn't they? It's the royal family. It's King Louis-Philippe the first."
"Oh, I didn't know that.", I said, rolling on my back.

And while Raphael was softly snoring, I kept thinking. Things didn't add up. If he didn't exist, then why would he have a name? I firmly believed that he was real and that he might long for the company.

Just like me.