Chapter 2 - CHapter 02

A few days had passed since the speech and farewell ceremony for Ennwn’s father. And that meant today was Ennwn’s birthday. Today he would be eighteen years old, a full-fledged adult, with the ability to become king…but nothing more then that. He was still be refined to the palace, he was not allowed to pick whether or not he wanted to study in his books or fight. He still had no choices. He was told what to do by the servants his father was in charge of. He couldn’t boss them around, only the rest of the castle; some ‘happy birthday’ he was having already.

“Prince Ennwn…!” There was a knocking at the door. Essiel.
Ennwn woke up a little and heard his name called again, “Prince Ennwn! Please open up! I have urgent news…!”
“Urgent news from a cook?” He asked quietly as he sat up in his bed. He brushed the hair from his face and drifted over to the door, opening it up.
Essiel practically attacked him as he pushed through into his room, “Oh my Prince, I’m afraid we have grave news…”
Ennwn just shut the door, “Would could possibly be worse than turning into an adult?” He asked coolly.
Essiel panicked more, walking around in a circle, “Oh my…ooooh my…” He stammered, “My Prince, this is not good…not good at all…” Essiel paused, “Prince Ennwn…you might become King today.”

Ennwn looked at him funny, “But I’m still a Prince even though I’m an adult. Are you saying I’m engaged or…?”
“No, because then I would kill the dog,” Essiel said with a deep sigh, “This is much more of a grave situation than you can imagine…!”
“Essiel, spit it out already,” He snapped, “If you’ve woken me up at this ungodly hour to stammer about how terrible /something/ is, I will have you put to death!”
“Forgive me, your highness…I forget you’re not a morning person…”
Ennwn grumbled, “/Essiel/…”
“Your father might be dead…the camp he went to was attacked…and because it was that one camp out of the many along the front line of the war, there must be spies in the palace. The public was not informed of which camp His Majesty would be at…”

Ennwn sighed, “I doubt he’s dead. Probably sleeping with the nurses away from the camp.”
“My Prince…!” Essiel stared at him, “Do you not love your father?”
“Essiel, I do not love any body, especially not at,” He looked over his shoulder to the window, “What is it? Four o’ clock in the morning?”
“Prince Ennwn…you…you do not love anyone? Not even me?”
Ennwn felt a pang of guilt as he looked at the boys hurt expression and he sighed, “I do not hate you, if that’s what you’re getting at. I just…wait a moment, why am I explaining myself to you, a servant?” He scowled, “Leave me, Essiel. Come back when you know something for sure. Until then, none of this concerns me and I’m going back to sleep.”
Essiel started at him and then nodded slowly, “I’m sorry for bothering you so early in the morning…I will come back later with a brunch for you.” He stayed for a moment, waiting to see if Ennwn would reply. He didn’t and so Essiel sulked out of the room, shutting the door.
The Prince went back to his bed and laid down, “Again with this ‘love’ nonsense.” He muttered, pulling the covers over himself.

---

Hours later there was a knock at Ennwn’s door. The young man got up and opened it up with a yawn- there stood Essiel with his brunch as promised, “Here you are~!”
Ennwn sighed and shut the door behind him, letting Essiel get him his table and chair.
“…How /do/ you make it passed my personal guards anyways?” He asked thoughtfully, sitting down. He let Essiel tie a napkin around his neck.
“Easy, I flirt. Meaningless, of course,” He giggled, “Egg sandwich, bacon, sausage, fruit, milk and juice,”
Ennwn looked over the food and yawned again. With as energetic as Essiel was, he was starting to think that waking up at four in the morning had all been a dream. He ate slowly with Essiel watching over him, rocking from side to side as stood on the other side of his table.

“Essiel,” Ennwn asked after he at least finished his sandwich, “This morning…”
“No, it wasn’t a dream.” Essiel smiled meekly, “I have to put on a happy face because I don’t like being sad.”
“Ah…” Ennwn looked at him, confused by his nature, then took a bite of his bacon.
“I don’t know what’s going on for sure yet though,” He said, “Just that they’re working on sorting out the dead and news will be brought to us as soon as they find out where your father is.”
“You know, Essiel, I really don’t care about him. I don’t care if he dies. I don’t even know the guy…”
“But he’s still your father! Prince Ennwn, you sound so spoiled right now-”
“Spoiled? How have I /ever/ been spoiled?” He asked haughtily, “That man impregnated my mother and out I came. From that point on, I was with my mother until she became sick and then /died/. Even then I wasn’t with her because of all the other children she had before she got sick! And I don’t even know their names because that man and his adviser keep my busy with studying biased books, listening to biased lectures, and fighting! At this rate, I hope he dies,” He scowled, “I want him dead so that I can I be King and end this stupid war…”

Essiel looked at him, smile gone and then hugged him, “I’m sorry my Prince…I pester you so much…”
“You do…” He said coldly, “I’ve lost my appetite, take this away…”
“Yes your highness…” Essiel pulled away and took the tray, moving the table back and heading for the door, “…At least you have a father, Ennwn.”
“Leave.” He said, shooting a glare to the younger boy. Once Essiel shut the door, Ennwn stood and went to the bathroom to bathe and calm his self. This was already such a tiring day and it wasn’t even noon yet.

Ennwn undressed and got into the tub that was already filled with warm water by a servant while he’d been sleeping. He left his clothes on the floor and got into the tub. He stared at the ceiling and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“…I do care.” He said softly and smiled, “I do care if he dies…because if he’s dead…I’m King. I don’t want to be King that bad…” he said and let himself sink under the water. He opened his eyes a little and let out a stream of bubbles from his mouth before sitting up.

He relaxed in the water for a good while longer, almost an hour, then got up, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist. He walked out into his room and to his armoire to find clothes. He didn’t get much time to look as there was, yet again, knocking at his door.
“One moment,” He called, and pulled on underwear, white pants, and a white shirt. He went to his vanity and picked up his brush, running it trough his hair as he made his way across the room and opened the door. There was his father adviser looking beaten and worn down.

“Prince Ennwn Ralael…”
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Ennwn sighed and rolled his head to the other side to brush another angle of his hair, “Oh well…such a shame I never knew him.”
“My Prince…!”
“Oh, just leave. Tell me when I’m to be crowned King of the Royal land, Avius,” He said with a sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes.
“Your father was killed, Prince Ennwn Ralael…is this really how you feel about him?”
“Of course.” Ennwn raised his head straight up and started to shut the door, “The bastard missed my birthday again.” He smiled curtly, his tone to match as he slammed the door and locked it.
“Prince Ennwn!” The adviser yelled. Ennwn just sighed and took a seat in front of his vanity and looked in the mirror, “…I must seem like a heartless person…” He muttered and flipped his hair in the usual fashion, clipping it with the red clip. He looked at the surface and at the necklace box. His mother’s necklace showed through the top of the case, being as it was glass. He opened it up and took it out, putting it on.

‘You look just like your mother.’ His father had once told him, ‘Your eyes…they are just like hers. The color of Royalty.’
Ennwn laughed quietly at the memory. It was ironic that he said things like that because in all of the pictures of his mother, she had her eyes closed. She always had her eyes closed. As far back she he could remember, his mother never opened her eyes.
Ennwn held the necklace in his hand and clutched it, “…Mom, he’s dead, and I’m happy. Does that make me a bad person…?” There was silence and he took the necklace off, “Of course you won’t reply…you’re dead too.”

Ennwn stood up and hugged himself, pondering as to why he felt so alone. He was always alone from Essiel, and he wished Essiel would leave him alone. It didn’t make sense to him as to why he could feel this way. Ennwn groaned and went to get his easel and add more paint to his picture. That always made him content. But when he got it out and stared at the canvas his mind locked. He got images of beautiful places and faraway lands…but couldn’t bring his brush to move. He stared at the canvas for a long time before cleaning up and putting it away with nothing done. Soon they’d come in and get him ready and crown him King. He was no longer a child. On top of his already given responsibilities he now had a war on his hands.

A war that he knew not one thing about.

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