“Your Mommy was once the princess of the city-state of Key. No, I was once the princess of the Kingdom of Key. Remember this Kan, no matter what, our nation will always be known as the Kingdom of Key. Never lose the pride in the founder and ancestors who staked their lives to build this kingdom. If we were never betrayed that day, you would have continued on to be the prince of this kingdom. It was all that man’s fault. He betrayed all the trust that my father had in him! He didn’t even think twice when he killed my father and brothers!”

Kan was stunned at everything Claire just told him. His family was part of the royal family who ruled the nation. This thought had never even occurred to him, he had lived his who life as a simple villager. Finding out about his bloodline wasn’t what really shocked him though, it was the amount of hatred in Claire’s voice when talking about her father and brother’s killer. He had never heard her openly curse and loathe someone from the very depths of her soul.

Kan could feel her shaking from anger. Kan turned around and saw Claire’s hatred filled eyes. Seeing Claire like this, Kan felt scared of her. He had never seen Claire so angry before and he didn’t like it. This wasn’t the Claire he knew, the Claire he knew was a kind mom who scolded him when he needed to be scolded, she would always comfort him whenever he felt distressed, and even bickered with Clive over small things. All he could do was give her a hug and try to console her grief.

“It’s ok, Mommy. I’m here for you.”

Feeling Kan embrace her and trying to comfort her, she calmed down. Just the thought of her most hated enemy had blinded her with anger, but her loving son had brought her back to reality. Claire sighed and hugged Kan back.

“Mommy, how many uncles or aunts did I have? Who was grandpa? Were they all nice people like Mommy?”

“Yeah, they were all kind people just like Mommy. Mommy had 2 brothers, Lance Renner and Tristan Renner. Lance was 8 years older than me and Tristan was only 4 years older than me, which made me the youngest out of the 3. Since Lance was the first born son, my father raised him strictly so he could be become the next king of the country. Tristan on the other hand was more mischievous and free spirited. He would always get me involved in his pranks, and whenever we got into trouble, it would always Lance who protected us. Although Lance seemed cold and distant towards others, Tristan and I knew that he was a kind older brother because he would always dot on us. Once in a while, although he was busy, he would take time to bring us snacks and play with us. They...they were the best brothers I could have had.”

Claire momentarily stopped her story and began to cry. Kan could feel the sadness in Claire’s voice as she remembered her brothers. Kan felt a tinge of pain from within him as he listened to Claire cry. Hatred was slowly building up within him for whoever made his Mommy so sad.

“Sorry, Kan. I’ll continue my story. Your grandpa’s name was Rike Renner and your grandma was Victoria Renner. I didn’t know my mother that well because she died soon after I was born. From what my brothers have told me, although she was part of the royalty, she never discriminated against the lower class. She treated everyone the same as her own kids. Haha, my brothers also told me that she would walk around the castle treating all the maids, butlers, and even soldiers like children. She would check if they were sick and even gave them candy for their hard work. I wish I could have met her once in my life.”

“My father, Rike Renner, was a kind but also strong person. Even after my mother’s death, I heard from my brothers that my father was unfazed by it. That is what they initially thought, but over the following years, they found out that our father was the one most affected by it. Sometimes at night they would peek through his room and see him crying while holding our mother’s ring. Even when he was going through so much pain, he tried to seem joyful in front of us so we wouldn’t feel worried. My brother Lance began to further increase his knowledge and experience so he could help alleviate some of our father’s stress, Tristan also took his studies more seriously even though he still played pranks here and there, and I was too young to understand how to help them, so I did my best as a princess and didn’t bother them.”

“Everything was fine for our family until my brother Tristan disappeared. This was the downfall of our family and the nation.”

……

I still remember that day very vividly. I had turned 8 years old not that long ago and my father had thrown me an extravagant party. During the party everyone was having fun, but I could see that my father had not eaten much at all. So the week after that, I wanted to try cooking something for him. I heard from my brothers that our mother would always cook cookies for him to eat, so that morning I had asked one of the maids to teach me how to bake cookies, but all of them ended in failure except for one. I was proud of this cookie and was on my way to my father’s room. Before I could even get to the room, I could hear my father angrily shouting.

“What do you mean the second prince disappeared!!! How can he disappear out of thin air like that you fucking idiots!! Weren’t there any traces left behind!”

“I-I-i’m sorry your highness. We couldn’t find anything within a 50 mile radius. No traces of the carriage and no traces of any of our soldiers at all.”

“Incompetent idiots!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!! Tell Jonathan to come to my room immediately!!!”

I was shocked hearing that Tristan had disappeared. I was worried and scared, the kind brother who would always play with me and get me involved with his pranks had disappeared. I ran into my father’s room hysterically asking where my brother was.

“It’s ok, Claire. Don’t worry about it, Daddy will find Tristan and bring him back home.”

My father couldn’t do anything else to calm me down. He kept on reassuring me that Tristan was going to be back home before I even knew it. Looking back on it, he was even more distressed than I was. His reddish brown hair was disheveled as he had been pulling at his hairs out of anxiety, and his face looked even older.

In was in that moment that the doors opened and a man with a rugged face full of scars came in, and following behind him was a young boy with light brown hair just a little bit older than me. The two of them were both wearing light armor that only covered their vitals and they weren’t carrying weapons. That boy I met that day was your father, Clive, and your grandpa, Jonathan.

“Jonathan greets you, your highness.”

“Quit the act and stand up. It’s an urgent matter.”

“What’s the problem Rike?”

This was the first time I had ever heard my father be called by his first name. I didn’t know who this man was but I could tell that he was very familiar with my father. I looked at Clive and he smiled and waved at me. Back when your Mommy was 8 years old, I didn’t have any close friends besides my brothers. All the other maids and butlers treated me with respect and never got close to me. This was the first time a boy had acted so intimately towards me so I didn’t know how to react. I looked away from him, but I knew that I was blushing. That was when I remembered that I still had my cookie to give towards my father but I wasn’t able to give it to him.

“Tristan has gone missing from his trip to the Kingdom of Shields. I want you and your men to do whatever you can to find him. And let me tell you this Jonathan, I don’t want this to ever happen again.”

“Ok, Rike. I’ll do everything in my power to find your son. Clive, your new mission is to stay and protect Princess Claire with you life. Do you understand.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Rike, i’ll report back after i’m done with my investigation.”

“Good, hurry and find my son, we don’t know if his life is in danger or not.”

Jonathan and Clive left the room after they were given their missions. I was left alone with my father. This was the perfect chance to give him my cookie. My brothers told me that our mother would always bake cookies for our father whenever he was stressed. I thought that my cookie will help him but I couldn’t give it to him.

“F-Father, I made some…”

“Sorry, Claire. Can you leave me only for the time being. Father is busy at the moment.”

I wasn’t able to finish my sentence and left feeling dejected. The moment I left the room, Clive was standing right there.

“Greetings Princess Claire, my name is Clive Lock and from now on I am your personal guard.”

I wasn’t in the mood to listen to his introduction and left before he could even finish. I ran towards my room with tears dripping down my face. In that moment I was depressed that I wasn’t able to give my cookie to my father. I wanted him to eat it and praise me on how good it was, but that didn’t happen. I ran towards my room as I cried, and along the way I threw the cookie away.