Chapter 117: Her Own Interest

Cian observed his sister as he offered her a light smile. Though he had never seen her face, he was sure his sister was sure so pretty that she had to cover her face with the veil.

Cian looked at the nurses. "You two can leave. If there is any need, you will be informed."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

The two siblings walked away from the bedchamber with only his personal knight, Sir Eliot, following behind.

"If you feel tired, you can tell me," Cian told her and Seren just nodded in response. 

As they walked, she took the chance to look around and observe the grandeur of the palace. Although she was a royal, she had spent her days either inside her tower or in her garden. On rare times, she would be invited by the King to the banquet hall or the throne room when there were special occasions. Therefore, she had never been able to see this part of the palace. 

The hallway was quiet, and she could only hear their group's footsteps echoing within the walls. As per the King's decree, this wing of the palace was prohibited for others to enter and the royal knights guarded the entrance leading to her chamber, thus causing this situation. 

Soon after, their group reached the area guarded by the royal knights. Beyond them was the part of the palace where servants and guards were able to freely walk about.

Seren was observing each and everything carefully. She came out to take a walk as per her brother's request, but she had her own intrest in it.

When the people saw Prince Cian in the lead, everyone moved to the side to make way for him and lowered their heads. Even the royals who saw their group didn't disturb them and just bowed when they walked by. 

The people were initially surprised to see Seren with him but no one dared to utter a single word as everyone had heard about how Cian had fiercely protected Seren in the royal court's session the previous day. They also heard how he beheaded an assassin just because he talked ill of the Third Princess. Some of the royal guards even heard tales from their colleagues of how Prince Cian tortured those men who attacked the Third Princess in the market. No one wanted to get skinned alive.

Seren was surprised that she didn't hear any one of them whispering ill about her or looking at her with a hateful gaze. 

'Seems like my scream has scared them a lot,' she thought, 'Serves them right.'

The entire trip towards the lake was peaceful. 

When they neared the lake, Cian said wistfully, "Years have passed by since you last came here."

Seren nodded as the memory of visiting this lake almost blurred from her mind. She was so young back then when Cian took her out of her residence without the permission of their father. At that time, Martha had gone outside of the palace and Cian had fooled the knights saying it's his father's order that he should take Seren out as Martha was not there. The younger Cian was a pretty naughty boy and did not care much for the rules,wanting nothing but to spend some time playing with his youngest sister. 

"I remember getting punished by our father for carelessly taking you out." Cian laughed a little.

Seren didn't know about what happened after. She grew curious. "Did he beat you?"

Cian couldn't help but laugh loudly, "Father? No, he would never do that. I just had to spend an entire week locked up inside the royal library,studying an unending pile of books."

Seren could not help but imagine the young Cian with his face buried in books. Before she knew it, the two finally reached the lake. 

Cian led her to stand inside the gazebo by the lakeside.  It was connected to one wooden pathway built over the water that allowed one to go closer to the water. Seren looked at the seemingly average-sized waterbed whose end reached the palace wall, and from her guess, the water of this lake should be connected to the river outside. 

The place was peaceful and scenic, and Seren loved it.

The lake was surrounded by beautiful greenery, but unfortunately, there were no colours other than green as none of the plants had flowers on them. 

As she enjoyed the view, Seren walked along the wooden pathway over the water as Cian walked alongside her.

"Be careful," he warned.

She continued looking around, appreciating the place in silence, and Cian didn't disturb her. For someone like him who had seen many places, this lake was nothing special to look at, but his sister was different. She was someone deprived of even the most common and ordinary things in life; as such, everything was new and special to her eyes. 

She looked at the water that was just below the wooden pathways. She saw her reflection on the still water, only to see that veil-covered face. 

She stared blankly at the image, and no one knew what she was thinking.

After a while, Cian said, "Are you not tired? You should not stand for long. Let us rest in the gazebo."

Seren understood and turned to leave, not without looking around everything as if she was seeing it for the last time. 

After all, she was determined to run away.

The two returned inside the lakeside gazebo. There were chairs and a wooden table in the center of the gazebo where one royal servant had already arranged newly-brewed tea and light snacks for them.

Seren and Cian accepted the tea served by the servant. Seren was quiet as usual while Cian was quiet due to anxiety. All these while, he had been contemplating over how they would inform his sister about her wedding being fixed with the King of Megaris. 

'How will she react? Will she think they don't love her and plan to send her away? Will she think they used her to benefit their kingdom through this political wedding?' 

Cian was torn on whether he should tell her the truth now or whether he should wait.