Chapter 8

‘What is this?’

Euphil was suspicious if the place he found really was the princess palace. The princess palace was beautiful except for the garden. It’s roof was in arch form covered in marble. The stairs in the entrance was as if it were in heaven and that every view was different in each step. It was doubtfully built under strict calculations by a famous architect. But the inner zone was different.

‘Did I come to the wrong place?’

He would be in trouble if anyone knew he was in the palace so Euphil was trying his best to sneak in.

“Oops.”

He hid himself when he saw a maid passing by. He was behind a white pillar. Something was definitely strange.

‘There is a maid and the building is luxurious.’

But why is it so shabby inside? He first, headed to the kitchen where Mirthy probably should be as she loves to eat. However, in the kitchen only one person was inside. There wasn’t an aroma of sweets nor a scent of any bread there. There weren’t even a smell of fish cooked with soup or lemon.

‘That’s strange.’

Her palace wasn’t abundant. The handmaiden tried her best to save the budget as to serve her the best food. However, she was eventually replaced by someone else. Anyone who served for her disappeared quickly. But even in that episode, she wasn’t deserted in such  a poor palace.

There were only embers left in the fire pot and inside the cupboard, there were only spilled flour. He searched inside the cupboard. He could only find a cup of honey covered in spider webs.

‘What? What do they even eat? What about Mirthy?’

He was starting to feel that something strange was going on. However, that shouldn’t happen. Who dares to treat the princess poorly? He was starting to feel that everything was out of place.

“What about Mirthy?”

The rooms were mostly empty or seemed it hasn’t been used for a while. His palace was the same too so he didn’t care. The problem was that it wasn’t cleaned. Euphil was starting to feel upset. He started to speed up and kept looking for Mirthy. When he went deeply inside the palace, he heard a familiar noise of someone crying. He could remember the sound and the face, he recognized it.

“Uaaaah!! Ante I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!”

He made a cold face and headed to the room. The sound was coming from that room. As he got closer, he could hear the sound more clearly and Mirthy was just screaming out one name.

‘What?’

The door could only be opened from the outside. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Just behind the door, Mirthy was on the ground with her eyes swollen and red from crying.

“Euphil?”

“Mirthy.”

He didn’t know it at first, but it was the first time she called out his name. Every piece of puzzle was coming together in his intelligent brain. Empty kitchen and unclean palace. There was the absence of the maid and the poor supper. Mirthy’s clothes weren’t shabby because she wanted it to be. It was the only clothing she had. He learned to be angry for the first time. Something burning inside was coming from his stomach to the top of his head.

“Mirthy.”

“Euvil? How are you here? Can I meet you now?”

Euphil could only nod his head. He knew he had to say sorry for telling her to not find him but he couldn’t say it out. Mirthy was also alone like him. No, she was definitely deserted brutally than him. He approached closely and wiped her eyes. Her tears made him feel terrible. This little girl grinned happily, not noticing how pathetic she looked. The maid entered the room  just in time. After Mirthy saw the maid, she was intimidated. He knew right away the name Mirthy was calling out was her name. Ante was holding a bowl. He was astonished to see what was in inside the bowl. Ante only had some soup with little vegetables on top.

“Is that dinner?”

His red eyes became cold. His eyes looked cruel regardless of his age.

Ante was desperate after noticing who was standing in front of her. The soup fell to the ground.

“Oh my god, Prince Euphil….!”

“Gather up all the guards and maids in this palace.”

“Your Highness, it isn’t…”

How could they be feeding her such a thing. He couldn’t forgive them. He wanted to lock everyone in prison. Of course he won’t get away with breaking into the princess’s palace, but it didn’t matter. He wanted to punish everyone. As his anger was becoming intense, Euphil grabbed Mirthy.

“Right now!”

His bellowing voice spread throughout the palace. It was the sound of calling the guards.

It was a frightening sound. I was confused to see Euphil so angry.

‘What? Where did he come from? Is he here for me?’

I saw Ante shivering so hard.

He sure is a tyrant in the future. He was shouting crazy even though he was young. I felt weird as he was still covering my shoulders. I was terribly hungry. I don’t know how long I have cried. As I wasn’t mentally a young girl, I wasn’t feeling terribly anxious by being locked in a small room, but there was still a problem. I couldn’t see Euphil.

‘I’ve just started to get to know him.’

This made the situation strange. I know I should try harder to be closer with him even though he refused. I should have got closer to him faster. My stomach should be aching but I felt nothing as I was shivering. I could hear the sound of guards assembling. My stomach started to ache. I think my bruises are hurting me. As I cowered, Euphil hugged me harder with his soft touch.

“Are you hurt?”

“No…”

“Let me see.”

As I couldn’t say the small bruises in my stomach hurt so I refused, but I could only say the truth as he stared intently at me.

“My stomach hurts.”

“Stomach? Of course it hurts. Let me see.”

He looked furious. I shook my head as a no. I don’t know. Things are going crazy now, I should tell him this now.

“Look at my stomach, it’s blue and it hurts.”

“Blue…. Bruise?”

Ante was deadly desperate now. She ran into me to stop me from saying anything, but the guard stopped her. I lifted my cloth a little so others couldn’t see and showed it to Euphil. Old bruises were turning green and the new bruises were purple. He was furious.

“Who is the head of the guards?”

“It.. It is me, your Highness.”

“State your name.”

“It’s Valk! Is there anything….”

Valk seemed he knew what was going on. His expressions explained everything. He could feel the cold atmosphere. To be honest, the cold bloodthirstiness from Euphil felt devastating. But when he turned to me, he looked soft. He felt sorry for me.

“Mirthy.”

Since when did he call my name? But it was nice to hear. Regardless of his anger, his voice was sweet.

“Was your palace like this all the time?”

“Yup…. This is Mirthy’s house.”

“The meals were like this the whole time?”

“Meals?”

“Food.”

“I am hungry, but the rice was spilt on the floor.”

Sobs.

Everyone was shivering as I said every word. All five maids gathered in the room. Valk quickly held the spilt white soup on the floor that Euphil was pointing at.

“Your Highness!”

“You know what you’ve done.”

He was cold as ice. I was feeling somewhat happy to feel his anger. I knew the food wasn’t normal and that there wasn’t anyone in the palace. But, I never knew someone would be mad at this. I mean at least Euphil wouldn’t.

“Euvil, are you mad?”

I whispered, while grabbing his clothes. I could only say it quietly as I cried too much. Euphil lifted me up, like I was a precious baby. My eyes dilated in surprise. Euphil said brutally:

“Even though I didn’t see and hear about this before, there are no excuses for such a situation. All of you will be beheaded.”

“Please wait for a moment, your highness!”

Me and Valk said at the same time.

“Euvil?”

I whispered this more than shouting, but the other maids couldn’t do anything. But, one of the maids stepped forward and kneeled down.

“Please forgive me! We only followed that woman’s orders.”

Other maids and guards were kneeling down too. It was natural that all of them would be executed any moment now. Although I grabbed his clothes and his blonde hair, Euphil didn’t respond.

‘Oh my.’

Euphil was angrier than ever. I put my face on his shoulders since I was frightened. Euphil whispered to me in a much softer voice.

“Shh. It’s okay. It’s nothing. Wait for me. I will get it settled.”

Euphil seemed to be full of determination.