Chapter 194 - The Play (IV)

"Oh..right..My prince..." Princess Ariana tried to sit up. Prince Ethan come forward to support her.

"No..I'm wrong again..it's my king.." Princess Ariana had a bitter smile.

"Ethan is fine. How are you feeling?"

Princess Ariana's eyes flashed.

"I am good. Thanks to someone."

Ethan smiled thinking it was because of the doctor he had sent.

[Prince Ethan has the thought that Princess Ariana was becoming softer. He just needs to coax her. Even it was for a lifetime.]

"Ethan.." Princess Ariana opened her arms. Wanting to be hugged.

Prince Ethan had a relief smile as he hugged Princess Ariana.

"I am..really...disappointed with myself..." Princess Ariana started to speak. Her face was facing the audience. There was hatred in her eyes.

"If I was given a second chance..." The sound effects kicked in. It was the fast beating sound.

"I would never have..." Princess Ariana raised her arms, her left hand was holding a knife.

"Fallen into your tricks!!" Princess Ariana put all her strength to dig the knife in one of the vital points at Prince Ethan's back. But Prince Ethan was fast. He dodged in time and the knife dug into his shoulder. He distanced himself from Princess Ariana.

"Ariana! What are you doing?!" Prince Ethan was shocked.

"Ha! Ha!Ha! Too bad!" Princess Ariana laughed crazily. There was blood coming out of her mouth.

"Too bad...I am dying and I should bring you to hell with me. Too bad I missed..." Princess Ariana cried while laughing.

"I should..bring you to hell..with..me" These were Princess Ariana's last words.

"Ariana!" Prince Ethan ran forward to catch her. But it was too late. Princess Ariana breathed her last.

"Ariana!" Prince Ethan checked her pulse all over again.

"No...no...Wake up! Ariana! Ariana! Wake up!" Prince Ethan vigorously shook Princess Ariana, trying to wake her up. If he could, he already squeezed her heart to make it beat again.

"No..no..your not leaving..no.." Prince Ethan was drenched in tears as he was trying to wake up and call out to Ariana over and over again.

[At that moment, Prince Ethan realized the weight of Princess Ariana in his heart. It was more than that of the Kingdom.]

The stage turned dark.

Linfeng felt his face was wet. He wiped his tears quickly afraid that someone would saw him shedding tears from a play. But then he heard a sob on his side. Master Lu was crying. Not only him, but a lot in the audience shed tears as well.

Linfeng smiled at this. This play was really a magnificent one. However, it did not erase the heartache in his heart. He still hoped that the two would end up loving each other. He still hoped that something would happen that would not result in their love story to be tragic.

The lights opened and it was a scene with the wretched Prince Ethan who seemed to age twenty years in just one year.

"My king, the NHEZ kingdom's troops was outside the gate. They were asking for your presence to negotiate with them, my King." King Ethan looked pale and sickly.

"Did you send an envoy-cough- to King UL?" King Ethan asked while coughing.

"Yes. Ser Francis personally bring the letter to King UL."

Prince Ethan nodded. Then he stood up.

"'Let's go. Let's meet the NHEZians." But then Prince Ethan halted.

"Oh, I will just bid goodbye to our queen." The moment he said this, the nobles and knights looked at each other.

[The nobles and officials knew that their King has unstable mind. Speaking now and then like the queen was alive. But they already gave up after two nobles died in the hands of King Ethan as they preached the king that the Queen had already passed away a year ago. King Ethan refused to believe that Princess Ariana had died.]

The scene changed and the weak Prince Ethan appeared.

He was standing beside the bed. He sat and gently touched the face of the greyish cold body of Princess Ariana.

[Prince Ethan wasted a lot of money to preserve Princess Ariana's body. He was thinking that one day Princess Ariana would wake up. Even she was angry and tried to kill him again, he would be happy. This was only the hope in Prince Ethan's heart that let him continue on living.]

"My love, I will part to war. I hope when I came back, you will wake up. There is a lot of hidden knives under your bed. Feel free to chose which one you would like to use against me. My love, I will come back and see you again." Prince Ethan kissed the dead body of Princess Ariana.

A drum sounded symbolizing the face-off of the war.

[The king of NHEZ lead the 50,000 soldiers and fought against the 20,000 soldier of the Gniox Kingdom. The first face-off lasted for three days.]

"My king!" A knight ran forward to Prince Ethan.

"Is there's news from my father? We have been waiting for three days already!"

The knight shook his head.

"Ser Frances came back but the 50,000 soldiers that king UL sent were all poisoned!"

"What?!" Ethan looked through the battlefield. He and his men could not hold on. They were only waiting for the reinforcement that his father would send to him.

"Did Ser Francis reported this to Father?"

"My king, Ser Francis passed out once he arrived in the castle. We could not question him for the time being."

Prince Ethan had a grim face.

"Retreat! Go behind the gates! Signal to tower keepers! We are closing the gates!"

Prince Ethan ran around the stage and went to the gates.

[The first face-off was a loss to Gniox Kingdom. Only two thousands soldier managed to arrive on the gates. Most of them were wounded. They were trapped as well. Once the enemy gain foot, they would instantly rammed into the gates.]

Prince Ethan gave orders before he went to the other side to exit on the stage.

The scene changed and Ser Frances was on the bed.

"What happened?" Prince Ethan asked.

"My King..I am not clear of what happened. I just woke up and all the soldiers were all dead. Maybe because I have more immunity towards poison that I survived." Ser Francis said with pale face.

"How come you all got poisoned?"

"I don't know my King. But I have an intuition.." Ser Francis looked left and right.

"Do you think there is a mole?" Prince Ethan furrowed his brow.

"My King-"Suddenly Ser Francis jumped towards Prince Ethan.

Slash.

There was huge wound on Prince Ethan's chest.

"Ser Francis! You are a traitor!" Prince Ethan said in shock.

Ser Francis smugly smiled. 

"It took you long to realized that. Now, I don't have a use for you. The Nhez kingdom is prepared to beat you and the UL kingdom. I don't need to act anymore." Ser Francis attacked again.

Prince Ethan was a trained and talented Prince. He blocked Ser Francis's attack for a while.

"How was it to be betrayed? You have already done this before right? How does it feel to be bitten by your same kind? Ha! Ha!" Ser Francis attacked was getting stronger. No. It was Prince Ethan who was getting weaker. His sick body couldn't caught up to his learned techniques.

"You are weaker now! You felt like your inside are eating you slowly right? You felt out of breath. And there's pain in your every joints! That's how exactly Princess Ariana felt before she die! But your immunity towards poison is stronger! You manage to survive the poison for a year. While the Princess only managed to survive in one month! I am truly impressed!" Ser Francis crazy laughed echoed out.

Prince Ethan's eyes went wide.

His Ariana.. got poisoned? Why..Why he didn't know?

Ser Francis attacked more.

"Want to hear something funny? Princess Ariana thought that you are the one who poisoned her. She died hating you! Ha! Ha!" Ser Francis was merciless as he attacked. His words were merciless too.

Prince Ethan lost strength and lost his grip on his sword. Ser Francis flanked it a distance away.

Clang.

The sound of the sword hitting the ground echoed out throughout the theatre.

Ser Francis put the sword in Prince Ethan's neck.

"Too bad, I thought Princess Ariana can kill you before she dies. But she was too weak. Maybe she had still feelings for you despite what she thinks of what you are. What a funny couple."

Ser Francis did not wait for Prince Ethan to say any last words as he slashed the King's neck. Blood splurted out on the stage.

[In the end, Prince Ethan could only think of how useless he was. How fool he was to fall such a trap. And a deep regret that he hurt the woman he truly loves. At last, his life ends only wanting to see his beloved once again.]

The stage turned dark. A sorrowful music was played. The narrator speak again.

[Princess Ariana and Prince Ethan's love story is bound to be tragic. These words had been said by the man himself. However, in the end, he did not truly wish for it. He was asked by the Princess before what was his dream...and he answered a lie. His dream was...]

The light on the stage opened. The cherry blossom was in the center of the stage. Princess Ariana was leaning on Prince Ethan's thigh. Prince Ethan as always was combing her hair with his gentle hands.

"Ethan..let's marry." Princess Ariana sat up and faced Prince Ethan.

[His wish was to repeat that day and answer differently.]

Prince Ethan was stunned. Then his face broke out a huge smile. It was so huge that he grinned from ear to ear.

"Yes, Princess. Let's marry. Let's unite the UL kingdom and the Gniox kingdom by our hands. Then let's have children. Many children to govern the UL kingdom and Gniox. You will teach them a lot of things. We will grow old together as we see our grandchildren ran around. We will do all things together and die together."

Princess Ariana smiled happily too.

"Mhm! Let's do that!" A wind passed by. Scattering the fragrance and the petals of the cherry blossom.

Then the stage turned dark.

The audience was left dumbfounded.