I woke up, and turned around to kiss my fiancee good morning. As always, one of the first things I do is to check if the people reading my novel, enjoys it. That entails reading a few comments and what else you guys might have been up to.

To my despair, my first non 5 star rating and review appeared during the night.

I put my laptop down, and roll around and cuddle up to my lady. I don t have to go to university today, so I figure that cuddling up to my lady is a good way to get my mind of the terrible feeling a 3 star rating gave me.

Well... We all knew it would happen eventually...

Anastasia seems to have noticed something has happened, and turns around.

"Morning, Mikachu!", she tells me with a gentle voice.

"Hello, Nastenkachu", I tell her after giving her another good morning kiss.

"How is the novel going? I will try to finish that drawing you asked me to finish today", She tells me after snuggling up.

Norwegian universities is da shit! A few hours of classes every few days, so the both of us are free today.

"People seem to enjoy it! It makes me smile to see that", I tell her after feeling the happiness I feel every morning after waking up to the great reception I have gotten.

"Aaaand?", she asks me.

She has always been able to read me like an open book. I still wonder how she does that...

"And my first 3 star review came".

"That`s it? You know that you have had all 5 star ratings thus far, right?".

"Yeah... but it still feels bad..."

"Man up, bitch! Stop complaining!"

So that is what I am doing right now. Not complaining.

Enjoy the chapter, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Atre POV

As we exit the Royal circle, I feel calm again. I have always been edgy if I spend too much time in the castle. My father was a kind man, but he never had any understanding why a prince such as myself would long for a life other than a prince – or a king in his case.

No matter how much I told him that being here took too much out of me. It wasn’t the responsibility that follows being a prince. The responsibility I can handle.

It was the behaviour I had to adapt. I could never be me. As the general, I had to “uphold the royal image in the publics eyes”. In short; Don’t fuck up, or we will feed you to the wolves. My brother was the same, I think. He didn’t really want to be a king, but when I told my father under no uncertain terms that I refuse the obligation of leading our country, he was left with Louvian - the boy he never groomed into a king.

My father’s death was both saddening and freeing. I could finally be the one I wanted to be. The strict ways of the royal bloodline died with my father. Louvian never forced his daughter to be any other than the one she is. That is something I am grateful of. Eliyon is like my own daughter, and when I finally find myself a woman, I hope that my child will grow up to be like her.

For everyone else than her father, that is a creepy thing to say. That doesn’t mean it isn`t true.

I was happy when I saw the look in her eyes grow brighter as she got to know Akif. The shimmer of love is unmistakably visible in her eyes. Everyone except for Akif knows that look.

He is like a brother to me. He isn’t like the fake nobles you find in the inner circle. Not all of them are like that, but the few you occasionally meet will suck the life out of you.

Akif isn’t like that – he doesn’t know how to be fake. He only knows who he is, and I don’t think he even knows that fully. The girls have done a good job, so far. They are teaching him everything he needs to become a functional man in society. He literally had nothing except for the sword and dagger he came from the arena with, and even the sword was taken from him as he left.

“Property of Balfin”, the guards told him when he exited the place. He only had a dagger, some money he didn’t know what to do with and a daughter of a senator – one of the highest profile targets in the continent.

That didn’t stop him from striving to succeed with his job, however. He takes care of the girls, and they take care of him.

Eliyon is happier than I have ever seen her. I can see the love in her eyes every time she snags a glance at him when he is thinking. He doesn’t notice, but I do.

Sera is starting to feel like my second daughter. The two of them are practically twins. Their generous attitude and love is something that is rarely seen in this world. They give everything they have to Akif, and he returns all of it with overwhelming support. What he can’t do, he tries. That is all they ask of him.

When they tell him to do something, it is because of his own good. He may not see it there and then, but eventually he will, or has noticed. Even though I can see the questioning look in his face, he rarely says “Why? Why do I need to do that?”.

On the occasions he asks, it isn’t because of laziness or unwillingness. It is heartfelt curiosity. He actually doesn’t know what this will achieve. He doesn’t even have a clue what might happen if he does that.

The sight of them is a refreshing look in my eyes, and I almost gain hope in finding the woman for me. Actually… I once had such a woman. She was a commoner, and I found her in the Weeping Willow – the tavern we are going to right now. She was an adventurer just like me. What I didn’t expect was that she was already married.

She was the one for me, but sadly she was taken. She didn’t know who I was, and still doesn’t. She knew my name, and that is it. I even had to change my last name so that she couldn’t connect me with the Regai family.

Our time as adventurers were the best months I have had in my entire life. They were the worst months as well. I had to live with her and Rui Tralar. The married couple does what every single married couple does, and I had to listen. The sound of her joyful screams sent soaring pain through my heart.

Every night I had to listen, and every night I had to hurt. I remember having to move to a separate Inn at the end of our adventures. Even that didn’t help. I knew what she was doing, and I knew how she sounded. I knew that she was feeling pleasure, and I knew that I was not the one making her happy. That is the only thing I wanted. Keeping a smile on her face.

I am happy I never told her my real name.

“Atre Regai? Isn’t that the prince`s name?”. That is a conversation I don’t want to have. That is a conversation I didn’t need to have. I can have any woman in the Felis if I just tell her my last name. That is not me. I am not a prince. I am a man that was born as a prince.

Aaah… Venali Tralar… How I have missed you. I hope you are happy, Ven. I really do.

We have exited the Inner circle now, and is heading towards the Weeping Willow. The three of them have been talking the whole time, and I am left to my own volitions. I don’t mind that. Sometimes it is good to think about things.

Sometimes it is good to remember what and who you have lost.

Sometimes it is good to see what you have gained in return.

I love seeing them like this – happy and carefree. As if nothing can get in between them. Even the looming threat of war doesn’t seem to faze them. They are conscious about it, but they don’t worry about it. Worrying gives you nothing. Finding solutions to your problems do.

“Aah! Here we are!”, I tell the lovebirds as I spot the sign of the Weeping Willow. It is just the way I left it. A nicely curved wooden half-moon erected from the earth. Brown walls with thick bark - just like every other building on this street. Trimmed flowers in a bed of dark soil, and berry bushes in patches between the buildings. The homeless are lucky that they became homeless in such a palace, I must say. Berries and the occasional slab of meat they get from hunting in the forest is more than enough for them to survive on. Food in abundance is not something any homeless man or woman can claim to have.

“Aah! So that is the tavern! Well… a drink wouldn’t hurt. We want to take a look around this place before returning, but you don’t have to follow if you don’t want to”, my niece tells me with a smiling face.

“We will see. Maybe I get too drunk to actually move? It has happened before in this place… That bouncer was pretty fucking pissed when I started sleeping on the floor underneath the bar…”, I tell them with while laughing at the man’s face when he woke me up.

We walk in, and an abundance of tables and chairs are spread randomly across the floor. The Weeping Willow has never been famous for being easy to navigate when you are drunk, but that doesn’t stop people from running like headless chickens inside that place!

There aren’t too many customers there at this hour, but give it a few hours, and the place will be filled. Cheap, good alcohol and pretty waitresses does that to a tavern.

A security guard stares at us as we enter, but doesn’t offer a second glance after he deem us sober enough.

Why would you even suspect that we were drunk?

We head to one of the vacant tables closest to the quartz windows overlooking the street. A pretty, blond waitress in her middle 20`s comes over, and asks us with a pleasant smile,

“What can I give you? Food and drink?”

I can see Akif’s eyes light up as he hears the word food, but they are quickly dimmed by the sudden voice of the woman on his left – Sera.

“Nope! Give us some rum and mead, and we are happy. We just ate breakfast”, she tells the lady taking our orders.

I can’t help but let out a loud laugh at the utter crushed face Akif makes as he realizes that food is literally off the table.

No food your you, Akif! Forced diet is a bitch, isn’t it?

“Are you getting fat, Akif?”, I ask him with a hint of amusement.

“Not that I know of?”, he tells me as he questioningly looks at the ladies companying him.

“Why can’t you eat then?”, I ask him with a sly smirk on my face.

“Because he literally ate four times as much as we did this morning. He ate his own plate, and what we didn’t eat. We didn’t eat more than half of that Ice lamb meat, and vegetables…One plate of food between the two of us, and two plates of food for him. So no. No more food”, Eliyon tells me with a face that tells me no matter what Akif says, don’t buy him any food.

Akif looks gloomily at his masters, and says with the saddest fucking voice I have ever heard;

“But… Food is love… Food is life!”

“Well… No love for you them, Akif!”, Sera tells him after finishing ordering a few other drinks. I have a feeling they will be too drunk to be running around this city unaccompanied by me, so I tell myself that I should keep the amount of alcohol down to a minimum.

The servant chuckles – barely managing to hold in a laugh of her own at the defeated look Akif is giving her.

I order a tankard of mead, and start talking with the defeated man.

“So! How does it feel to be a taken man? Enjoyable right?”, I ask him with humour in my voice. It doesn’t go unnoticed by the ladies, and two death glares are sent in my direction.

“Well… uuuh… From time to timGah!”,

Sera and Eliyon sends a couple of elbows in his ribs, and give him a look that tells me he will not have any entertainment that evening if he finishes that sentence.

“It feel fucking fantastic! See? I have two non-violent ladies that only think of my well-being! Those two elbows you just thought you saw, was actually a very cleverly disguised hug! I get hugged a lot, and I love it! I am not hungry at all! It is just you imagining it, Atre!”.

The girls try to be angry at him, but they fail pretty marvellously at showing their anger. Their frowning eyebrows are betrayed by the small smile the two of them are sporting.

That small smirk tells me it is safe to laugh, so I do. Loudly.

I can feel the eyes of the small group of ladies looking at me, but I don’t care!

“Sounds like fun!”, I tell Akif. I can see him looking questioningly at someone coming closer, and a sweet voice I don’t want to hear, is heard. My heart starts hurting just by the thought of whoever is standing behind me.

“Atre? Is that you?”

Vel…

Akif POV

Why is Atre in so much pain? What did she do? Why is he hurting?

“Akif… calm down. She is an old friend of mine”, Atre looks at me with a sad, but smiling face.

Unknowingly, I might have let out some slight bloodlust, but it looks like no one except Atre noticed? Or did I? Did he know I would react like this?

Normally the people around me would have been terrified if I did that?

He turns around and smiles to the lady standing here. She isn’t too bad looking. She has the same elegant curves as Eliyon does – though her chest is a bit more filled. She has silver hair and sparkling blue eyes of happiness. I can tell that she is happy about seeing him, but Atre is in pain.

I look over at the ladies – who have noticed the same thing. They seem to understand what is going on, because they are both looking over at Atre with pity.

“Hello Venali! Long time, no see!”, Atre tells her with a cheerful voice. I have no idea how he manages to hide what he is feeling, but he does. It is something I should learn, I think.

She wraps her hands around him – leaving Atre frozen, before practically melting in her hands.

“I missed you, you know! Why did you leave?”, she asks him while they are hugging.

“Aaah… Do you want the honest answer, or a lie? I think you would prefer the lie”, He asks her after breaking the hug. I can see that he is really struggling to keep his mask on, but I figure it would be bad for me to intrude.

“Honest answer? Lie?”, she asks him with a questioning look.

“Yeah… So which one do you prefer”, he asks her with a gentle smile.

She looks over at the three of us before looking back.

“Why don’t we go and speak somewhere else?”

What sounded like a question, wasn’t. She pulls him by his arm over to an empty table in a corner opposite of where we are sitting.

I can see the two of them talking, and a tear forming in Atre`s eye. They must be very close, because I can see him opening up completely. He has never done that with me.

I want him to be able to do that with me as well.

The two girls are trying to catch my attention, but they quickly realize that it is a futile attempt.

Why is Atre hurting so much? I have to ask what is wrong with him. I can’t ignore this any longer.

As I try to stand up, I can feel two pairs of hands clamping down on my arm.

“Sit down, Akif”, Eliyon gently tells me.

“I have to see if Atre is ok”.

“SIT. DOWN”, She repeats, leaving no room for arguments.

I try to keep myself from looking over at my friend. I can see her crying right now, and he is embracing her. I have no idea what is happening with them, but I am worried.

Something is very wrong here…

I haven’t even had the time to drink the rum and mead the waitress came with. The girls have already finished their drink, and is starting to get chatty. Not drunk, but chatty.

“Akif! The annual pastry festival is coming soon! We should go there! Have you ever eaten chocolate covered sweetbread? It is delicious! And the tree sap we drink with it is just divine! I have a sneaking suspicion that it isn’t tree sap, but god’s tears. He must be crying from happiness that the …”

Holy shit! Eliyon is REALLY chatty!

“… chocolate sweetbread exists. Seriously… You really need to eat it. Wait! Why don’t we go over to a baked later? You can eat the “Upside down” cake as well! “Upside down” cake and chocolate sweetbread is the best thing that ever happened! Why my father never hired a baker to work in the castle is beyond me… I should do…”

Because you would transform from an elegant beauty into a fucking balloon if he did, Eliyon! I hardly believe you could control yourself if he actually did that.

“… that. If he had hired the baker I would never have left the castle! AKIF! When we start traveling around, I want a baker to come with us. That or we have a carriage just for pastries. We should…”

Are you sure he wanted you to stay? He practically threw you out of the castle, you know… And no. No baker is coming with us.

I can see Sera nodding her head vigorously at Eliyon’s monologue, and I feel a headache approaching rapidly.

How do I tell them that they can’t just kidnap a baker because they want a fucking cake or whatever… I can see their… something… sprouting after staying in that fucking castle for too long. We REAAALLY need to head out before it infects them completely! I might be able to cure it if I act fast.

Before I am able to tell them that we can’t just take a baker with us, we are interrupted by Atre.

“Akif! Meet Venali Tralar. She is a friend I travelled with for a while”.

Aah… the lady that makes Atre hurt…