Ophelia and The Dragons

Chapter 27

"The saddest thing about love is that not only that it cannot last forever, but that heartbreak is soon forgotten."

-William Faulkner-

***

Ophelia's P.O.V

This morning I woke up and heard a noise from the hallway.

I checked it out and heard the staff lining up in the hallway as they greeted a guest who had just arrived.

It was a young woman. She looked somewhat familiar. I thought about where I had seen her before and realized she was one of the woman who attended the winter ball.

"Who is this woman?" I wondered.

"Greetings, Lady Clarice." The head staff greeted her with the utmost respect.

"Where is his majesty, the crown prince?" She asked.

"He is having his morning briefing with the emperor, he should be out when it's time for breakfast." He explained. She looked a bit irritated but tried to maintain her composure.

"Okay, is my room prepared?"

"Yes, the maid will guide you there, my lady." One of the maid stepped forward and guided her to her room.

I went to ask the maid who had been assigned to me about the young woman's identity.

"Who is that lady who just arrived?"

"Oh, that? She is Lady Clarice Luvenia. Luvenia is one of the greatest noble families in the empire. Their family position is only second to the royal family. However, Lady Clarice is special, because she is the fiancee of his majesty, the crown prince."

Upon hearing that, I felt a tightness in my chest I have not felt in a long time. It's like my heart was ripped and shredded into pieces.

Helios opened the door and saw me standing in the hallway with the maid. He noticed immediately that I was not okay.

Once the maid was out of sight, he approached me and asked me if I was okay. I tried to hide the sadness in my eyes and forced a smile.

"No, it's nothing. Let's head back to the mountain today. We don't need to stay here for any longer."

He was a bit surprised by this decision of mine since we were still supposed to stay here for the next two days.

"I will ask the crown prince to prepare a carriage for us today." When breakfast time was over, I looked around the palace to find the crown prince.

When I finally found him, I saw him having a conversation with Clarice. I remained outside but I could still eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Lady Clarice, I don't know why you insist on visiting the palace, but I have things to do." Nicholas did not seem too interested engaging in a conversation with her.

"Nicholas, don't be so formal toward me. We are engaged to each other, after all. Don't cast me away. Other matters could wait. You should focus all of your attention of me." Clarice demanded.

I felt incredibly awkward standing there listening to their conversation. I planned to leave and tell the crown prince about it later, but just as I turned my back, I heard his voice behind me.

"Ophelia, what are you doing here?" I turned around and saw Nicholas standing there with a surprised look on his face.

Perhaps he didn't want me to eavesdrop or overheard his conversation with Clarice.

Before I could reply, Clarice stormed out and stood beside Nicholas. She eyes me up and down with a judging gaze.

"I remember you, you are the woman who danced with Nicholas that evening during the winter ball. What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Lady Clarice, I have an important matter to discuss with her. If you don't mind." Nicholas grabbed my hand and pulled me inside the room and closed the door.

"I apologize for overhearing your conversation. I didn't mean it."

"No, that's not a problem at all. Anyway, why did you look for me?" He asked.

"I want to head back home today. Could you prepare a carriage for me?" I asked. He seemed a bit confused.

"Why would you do that? I thought you are going to stay for a few more days. There are still placed around the capital I need to show you and we haven't spent a lot of time together. Is there anything wrong?" He asked.

"Yes, I didn't know you had a fiancé. I thought it would hurt her feelings if she knows you have a female guest around in the house." I reasoned.

He instantly fell silent. Perhaps he didn't think I would find out about it so soon.

No matter what we had been through together, he was still an engaged man and I should not disturb a man who was about to get married to someone else.

"Please, it's all a misunderstanding. Yes, I am engaged to Clarice but it's nothing but a political engagement. I do not have feelings for her at all but I realized that I have developed feelings for you."

His confession made things even worse for me. It would have been so much better if he just kept those feelings for himself.

"Please, your majesty. It's not right. I simply request for a carriage to carry me back home but if that is not possible, I can just ride Helios back to the manor."

"Ophelia, please, stay for at least another day." He grabbed my hand, pleading me.

"Please excuse me, your majesty." I walked away before he could say anything else.

I tried to maintain a flat face throughout my walk back to the room and when I finally reached the room, Helios walked over to me.

"Lia, are you okay? You don't seem too well." Hearing him ask me the question, I could not help but cry.

The tears I had been trying so hard to hold back just poured down without control. Helios didn't say anything else and just pulled me into a warm hug.

He gently caressed my back, trying to sooth me.

"Helios, I want to go back." I told him.

"Okay, Lia. If that's what you want, we will go back." Once my tears subsided, both I and Helios headed outside and he transformed into a dragon.

I climbed on top of him and we quickly departed from the area. I didn't even care anymore if anyone saw us, all I knew was I wanted to be out of the palace as soon as possible.

A few hours later, we arrived back at the manor and I quickly headed inside to the comfort of my own bedroom and buried my face in the pillow.

Helios quickly followed behind me and this time, he finally asked a question.

"What happened, Lia? Who hurt you?" I didn't answer, instead, I just walked over to him and something came over me.

Without thinking much, I pressed my lips onto Helios' and he was taken aback by this gesture, but he didn't refuse or rejected my kiss.

Instead, he accepted it and kissed me back. We remained like that for a few seconds until I snapped back into reality and realized what I had just done.

"I'm sorry." I apologized to him. Instead of saying anything, he suddenly pulled me again for a second kiss. This time I was the one taken aback by his action.

"I've been waiting for this moment for so long, Lia. I can finally kiss you like this. I'm so happy." He admitted after we were done kissing.

"Helios, what are you saying?"

"I love you, Lia. I love you so much. Not just as your familiar, but also as a man."

"I'm so glad you returned my feeling, Lia. From now on, we are officially lovers, okay?"

Oh lord, what have I done?