Chapter 216 - Traitor

It was brighter than the summer noon when she smiled. Her cheeks were flushed like it was touched by the pink rose. That's what Edgar remembered of the Princess that his brother wooed. Who wouldn't fall in love with such an angelic face? But that angelic face turned into a facade of a devious, twisted woman. 

Edgar couldn't sleep as he remembered that traitor who twisted his wife's head that he must be cheating. He couldn't forgive her for that after he read all of his wife's letters. His wife in the end realized that he had cheated on her. In the end, his wife died. She left him alone. And so were his children. 

"My love, my children. You won't die in vain." He said as he caressed their old photo in his pocket watch that his wife gave to him. He caressed the letters engraved to it. Love, Etrama Family. 

"Grandpa?" The door opened. He didn't realize that his granddaughter knocked. Victoria entered with a smile and curtsied. "I brought you a chamomile tea." She said as she put it on the coffee table. 

"Thank you, my dear." 

Victoria smiled as she poured the tea on two teacups and she put the clean silver spoon on. 

"It's already night. You know." She sighed. "Why can't you sleep?" She asked. 

"Well, I still can't forget about those unfortunate things that happened to us after Aljur got married. I only realized it late." 

"There are things that we are unable to control, grandpa," Victoria said and took out the spoon to check each of the teacups and she gently pushed the teacup toward Edgar. 

"I'm glad that you are with Kenzo." Edgar smiled. "There were a lot of people that would always try to ruin the love between the two of you. I want you to be a strong Victoria and have faith in your husband." 

"I will always have faith in him, your majesty. I was never loved by anyone as Kenzo does." Victoria smiled. "I already missed him today. He left early and he hasn't come home yet." 

"He's still outside, probably planning on how to track them," Edgar said. 

"Is that your wife?" Victoria asked. 

Edgar showed her the photo of his wife when they were young. 

"Wow," Victoria's eyes dilated in awe. "She's so beautiful." 

"Indeed. Aljur's wife was beautiful too. But it was just a facade. Aljur noticed it after they got married. I should have listened to him more." 

"You have lost your love and your children but it's not too late, grandpa. I am here and I will help you no matter what. I will help you, Kenzo, and our family to get that justice." 

Edgar reached her hands and held them tightly. 

"Thank you, Victoria." 

She smiled and gestured to the tea. She reached for her tea as they sipped on it. 

"I will wait until you fall asleep." She told him. 

"You don't need to darling. Kenzo will be home soon." 

She sipped on her tea and nodded her head. 

"I hope that I can keep you company." She shrugged. 

Edgar laughed and shook his head. 

"But," She grinned and took out her tablet and gave it to him. "I think you weren't into social media. But don't get mad." 

Edgar squinted his eyes toward his granddaughter and sneered. 

"Those are the journal files from the castle." She smiled guiltily. 

"What has he been doing?" He asked. 

"You weren't on social media that's why I have to give you the compilation of the vlog." 

"Vlog?" He asked and took his eyeglasses and put them on. He clicked the file. 

"It's a video blog short for the vlog." 

"Got it." He frowned when Prince Philip started talking about how to swing the golf club. The ball hit directly the armored display that made the King pissed. "That's my very own armored!" He exclaimed. Victoria giggled. She's already filming her grandfather's reaction. He looked at Victoria and the camera. "You little scum! You are just older than me, Philip. But I'm gonna spank you with my sword." 

Victoria giggled. Then, there's another video in which he looked thrilled. 

"That's right." He nodded and sipped on his tea. "There were lots of girls who were after her. But also bisexual and gays." He added that made Victoria laugh so loud. "I remembered that so well." The King smirked at the camera. "Wait until I get back home, you little scum." 

"So, grandpa, how do you feel that your precious collection was being ransacked by your oldest brother?" 

"I feel," The King inhaled and exhaled to calm himself. "I feel my chi radiating through my body. I am ready, my dear granddaughter." 

Victoria couldn't stop laughing. Making her grandfather happy was something good. He then watched more videos. 

"This is why lots of women fell in love with him except Lily. He's good at being poetic." He said as they watched Prince Philip talked about his dear Lily. "He even tried to charm my wife but of course my wife would always get charmed by my poetic language." 

"So, grandpa. How do you exactly charm Queen Annie Grace?" 

The old man grinned at her. 

"I know where this is going." He pointed at her like a smart man. "It started in the job that I took. I wasn't acting as Prince. I want to be like commoners, like normal people. And so, she was in a shop to buy wine. The first thing that comes into my mind is to charm her. I was like 'milady, my condolences' She grimaced at me. Then, I go on. 'I'm sorry. It's not for the dead? She replied. 'No, my lord.'. 'I can recommend you a better wine if you like.'" He goes on with his story. "She wanted to buy wine for her boss as a gift. And so, I recommend her something a little expensive. But I told the counter to sell it at fifty percent off as I would pay for half of the price. In the morning, we bumped into each other and she smiled at me. She was thankful for the wine as she had a lack of knowledge about it. That's where we started seeing each other." 

"That's beautiful." Victoria nodded. 

"Instead of telling it to her personally and every day. I wrote to her every day. But I can't show you the letters now. Some of them are explicit." 

She giggled and nodded at him. 

"It was just a jest, my dear." 

"You were so in love with each other?" 

"She's my first love and it also turned out that I was her first love too. She's a daughter of a Baron but then, the Baron dies and their wealth was taken from them by the relatives. She was working hard to earn money. She's smart and very compassionate." He moved closer to the Duchess. "I remembered when I saw her buying food for the homeless from her first paycheck. She distributes it to them and also volunteers. She told me that she was once one of them. But she got lucky that she has a job to find a better place. That's why the first shelter that was built was because of her. I asked my father to build something like that for homeless people and that's also the reason why people of the Great Greivania are happy. You, Kaisley, and Stacey reminded me of her." 

Victoria never expected to hear it from him. Her heartfelt like it's been touched by a warm hand. 

"The project that Kaisley planned was also your project, Victoria?" He asked. 

"Yes, grandpa. I happened to see children stealing on the streets. Those children shouldn't steal just to have something to fill their stomachs. They should be playing out there as their parents take care of them. Some rogues left the other country because of war and probably because of the crisis. I had seen enough and so, I invested my money to grow it and so we could build something for them even if it's temporary." 

"That's what we need, your grace." The King said and reached her hand. "You and Kenzo are perfect for each other." 

She nodded her head and suddenly a knock on the door. It opened as Kenzo came looking tired. 

"Love," He called. "Grandpa!" He frowned. "You are still awake? It's past your bedtime!" 

"You and Philip should stop treating me like a damn child! I don't care if it's past my bedtime, you little rascal!" 

Kenzo was surprised by his outburst as Victoria covered her mouth. 

"Grandpa. I'm sorry." He mumbled. "But finish your tea, at least. So you could sleep. I'm taking my wife from here." 

"We are still talking." He waved him off. "You can come back tomorrow. We are busy on our vlog." 

Victoria giggled as Kenzo titled his head, looking utterly puzzled. He realized that there's a camera in front of them.

"Love, let's go." 

"We are still chatting." She said, "We haven't finished our tea yet." 

"Fine, I'll join you." 

He sat beside her and kissed her cheeks. 

"So, where were we?" The King asked. 

"Uhm, about the building?" 

"Yes, that's right! I'm also proud that you have those restaurants for free. I will buy lands so we could have another branch. What do you think, dear?" 

"That would be perfect, grandpa!" She was overjoyed by it.