The Prince and The Parvenu (Completed)

chapter 23

"Is this it?"

My brows frowned as I look at Ekkier, who has a small smile on his face. He woke me up this early for this? I looked at the small piece of paper again and read it out loud.

'Kindly tell Adkins to come home.
There's an urgent situation in El Suelo. Thanks.'
— Second Prince Flair Delvin

Ekkier laughed when I finished talking. My hair is still a mess, and I'm still on my pajamas. I thought he woke me up for an acceptable reason!

"Bakit kailangan saakin niya sabihin? He could've sent this letter to King Adkins himself!" My voice came out groggy but I couldn't care less. Ekkier gazed at me with an amused grin on his face that I badly want to wipe off. He's pissing me off big time.

"Baka miss ka" I scoffed and rolled my eyes. 

I saw the second Prince yesterday while training. And we see each other everyday since his brother is technically living here! Adkins decided to stay for awhile in our Kingdom even when El Suelo was already done a week ago for some 'personal issues'. I don't know what's their deal with my sister but they're not even talking to each other.

"Sabihin mo sa amo mo kung gaano siya ka gago at ang aga aga ay nambubuwisit siya" I said and took a deep breath, panting because of the long tagalog sentence. Wow, that felt so good. Ekkier did a slow clap and grinned at me widely. His chinky eyes almost in a straight line as he laughed loudly.

"That was such an achievement Princess, you're now talking in fluent tagalog!" I couldn't help but chuckle at this. I held the rim of the door and said,

"I'll tell King Adkins about this message when the sun is already up. For now, I'm going to go back to sleep. Bye." I didn't wait for his response and quickly closed the door right in front of his face. 

While walking back to my bed, I glanced at the small piece of paper again and saw something written at the back of it. It's written in cursive and really small. I walked towards the oil lantern just beside my bed and squinted my eyes to look at it closely. I felt my cheeks burn when I finally understood what it said.

"See you later mi Princesa"

I stared at it for a few more minutes while wearing a wide grin on my face like a fool. Blinking hard, I slapped myself and quickly held my cheeks because of the pain. Damn focus Herm, it's just a simple message! Sheesh.

Shaking my head repeatedly, I laid on my bed and stared up ahead where a large moonflower is engraved at the marble ceiling. I looked at it but my mind is still stuck with Delvin's message. It's just a 'See you later' for pixiessake! But it hits differently because of the 'mi princesa'. As time flew by, I have been starting to get used to being called 'Princess' or 'Mi Princesa' but I don't know why I'm acting this way. Maybe it's because of my feelings for him. Or maybe it's because it's him.

Instead of going back to sleep, I found myself getting ready for the day. I took my time in the shower and carefully picked out my clothes for training. My walking sessions with Sudie have finally ended and I couldn't be more thankful. Kuya Traq have been so busy trying to find more evidences about the royal assassination and he's been disappointed ever since. No clues. No breadcrumbs that we're going to follow. We're lost.

I wore an apricot coloured cotton long sleeve, track pants, and the training shoes that Kuya Traq gave. It's a matte black hiking boots with a moonflower engraved on the side. It's so light despite its appearance. Taking a deep breath, I looked at the mirror and saw a girl that's trying her best to be okay. A girl that tried to conceal everything. Her abilities, doubts, and feelings. A girl that badly wants to escape. A girl that can't run away from her responsibilities. A girl that is caged but somehow free.