C10 PRINCE or a Therapist?

I narrowed my gaze at the king. "I don't know what to say, my King, but you’re hiding something, aren’t you?"

He looks like he's debating on whether he would tell me or not. Then he sighed. "I guess that you have the right to know. But you must not interrupt me when I explain. And please keep your voice low. She might hear us."

"Okay? Know what?"

"Do you ever wonder why the Queen would need someone to choose the future King instead of picking one by herself?" He asked.

"Since the beginning of all this," I admitted.

He nodded and linked his elbows on top of the table before placing his head on top of it. "Well, that was merely a pretext for the actual reason."

"I knew it!" I grinned in excitement. "Do I get a special task? Like do I have to defeat someone with my otherworldly powers?"

"I-" He paused. "I do not know what you are saying, but I do believe that even though Thalia is not as peaceful as we would like it to be, we sure aren't at war to 'defeat' our enemy." He explained.

I slumped on the ground. So I don't get any powers then. "So for what special reason was I called here for?"

"In this world, my wife has the power to open a portal to your world. Since the Queen can go back and forth between the two worlds, she has become fond of your world-.....what do you call that? Oh! Yes! Romance stories. After each story's endings, she would always complain that the people's lives don't end in books. It should always carry on, so she thought of something. She would make a real-life love story in this castle. She would be able to see how it will grow from the beginning to the end. And guess who the characters are? You and the Princes that you are hiding from." He ended. His eyes are now on me. She was waiting for my reaction.

It took me a second to process his words. When they finally made sense, something just snapped in me. My blood boiled at this information as I just realized something.

"What?!" I shouted, not caring if the Princes would hear my screams.

The King raised both hands in front of him, trying to calm me down. "Shhh! Calm down. She might hear us!" He whispered.

"Calm down?! So I was pulled here to play a part in her romance dream, not to be a hero with superpowers!?" My reason for being irritated was minor.

"I'm serious. She might hear you!"

"Then let her hear me! I am not a pawn." I didn't know what I did, but I remember grabbing one of the books from the shelf to steady myself. I pulled it off, attempting to throw it against the room.

"Not that!" The King yelled.

Too late, I had already pulled it, but it didn't come off. Instead, I heard a soft click, and the shelf started to part. Both sides moved sideways, revealing another room. On the couch sat the Queen. Her head turned in my direction as she paused what she was reading. "Rose, if you'll do a rampage, then you could at least have done it outside. I could hear your screams, but your words were jumbled."

My fist clenched at my sides while the King's facepalmed and said, "See? I told you she could hear us!" So this is what he meant when he said that she could hear us.

My eyes were glued on the person sitting on the couch so casually as if she had got no care in the world. She sighed. "If you have nothing to say then-"

"You!" I shouted. My temper rises at an extremely dangerous level. She took my life away, my family, and my friends and brought me to a place so foreign to me so that I could be someone that I didn’t want to be.

To be a part of her stupid ideas.

Her face scrunched up in confusion. Looking at me as if I had gone crazy. "Me?"

"This!" I gestured at my dress and the place. "Everything! Did you take me to this place just to be what? A part of your silly role-playing fantasy!!" My fist was clenched so tight that my knuckles had gone white.

The Queen's eyes had bulged out. "You know? How?" Her eyes landed on her husband, who shrugged. She nodded her head, understanding. "Ahh, I see..."

"That's it? That's all you have to say?!" I was trying to keep my cool so I wouldn't choke her. "You took me here for a petty reason! If it were something dire, I might have considered it but playing for a romance role!? Go find another girl!"

"I wouldn't just pick any girl. Your heart truly desired to escape your world."

"Listen to me. Bringing me here to grant me a wish and expecting a romance to bloom in front of you are two different things!" I yelled. "Ah damn it! Of all the genres, you picked romance. I hope you'll get abducted by aliens so they will experiment on your brain for having a poor taste!"

I heard the Queen whisper to her husband. "What's an alien?" Before I burst out of the room. Blindly running away. I don't care if the Princes will catch me. I just want to be alone.

I ran. My feet are now cold against the marbled floor. My vision is getting blurry from anger. I wish a hole would just swallow me—anything to leave this heck of a place. I want to go home.

"Romance my butt!" I grumbled.

Did I want to escape my original world? Maybe, but not to become a pawn for someone else's fantasy of romance. Well, at least I now know why I am here, unlike the other heroines in the novels that I read.

I stopped in front of one of the doors. Library, I read.

I want to go to the library. It had always been my sacred place of comfort.

The smell of old pages always comforted me. Even better since I wanted to be alone. I figured no one would be in here. I opened the door and went inside. The smell of old leather did comfort me. It reminded me of home. I closed the door behind me, and I slumped onto the ground. Bringing my knees to my chest as I started to sulk and grumble some curses.

I would do anything to make their lives miserable. I would make them hate me until they were forced to kick me out of here. The queen will not get what she wants. I am just not the right girl for this. I never like romance.

But I do admire pretty faces.

"If you're done, can you please get up? It's an unsightly sight for a Princess."

Startled, I quickly lifted my head and saw that on one of the couches in the center of the library, sat Ace holding an open book. Probably in the middle of reading. He didn't look at me when he spoke. He continued to read. His back pressed against the sofa. His face was so calm as he read.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Correction, what are you doing here?" He didn't even bother to look up from the book that he is reading. I guess that he would rather read than talk to me.

I didn't answer his question at first. Not knowing if I should tell him or not. I finally settled on the safest route. "I just wanted to be alone," I muttered honestly...

"Why?" He asked. Eyes still glued to the book.

I glared daggers at him. How simple was it to look at a person while she was talking? "What's it to you?" I said bitterly as I rocked back and forth on the floor.

"If you want to mope, then at least sit on that couch over there." he pointed to a couch across from him while holding the book in the other hand. "It's better than sitting on the floor. It's cold."

I ignored him and continued to rock back and forth. Not even bothering to give him a glance or an answer. This is silly.

The silence was growing thick, which I welcomed until he let out a sigh and closed the book that he was reading. He finally looked up and glanced at me. "You're not gonna listen to me are you?"

I continued to rock while I avoided his gaze. I can tell that he was pissed at me for ignoring him. Serves his royal butt.

With a swift move, he put his book down on the couch and walked in my direction, and stopped just in front of me. He kneeled until his eyes were leveled with mine. "You are a stubborn girl. Come on, get up." He ordered while tugging at my arm.

I narrowed my eyes at him and pulled my arm away. "And you're a heartless, self-centered royal jerk!" I stayed where I was, still glaring at him.

"Well, you left me no choice then." With a quick movement, he threw me on his shoulder. I yelped in surprise.

"Let me go!!" I screamed and kicked while I pounded on his back.

"Ow! Stop screaming. It hurts to the ears." He rubbed his ear and winced as I continued to scream. "Quite! This is a library, so shut up!" He hissed, shouting himself.

"Ace-"

"That's PRINCE Ace for you!" He cut me off.

I just rolled my eyes even though he can't see me. Why should I? I can call him whatever I want. "Whatever. I know you're a jerk but will you please put me down?! You're like a creep! Put me down! Now." I continued to pound on his back.

"As you wish, Princess." With just a flick of his arms, I was thrown on a leather couch with a thud. I bounced once and almost fell if I hadn't grabbed on the back. I glared at him as he made his way to the couch that he was sitting on a while ago. He grabbed the book that he was reading and placed them on his lap as he stared at me with a raised eyebrow. Probably wondering why I was glaring at him.

"So, want to talk about it?" He finally asked.

What is he? A PRINCE or a therapist?

"Talk about what? You being the complete opposite of a gentleman?" I said sarcastically as I sat up.

"Haha, very funny." He laughed sarcastically. "Let's be serious. Why are you sulking?" He asked.

I looked away, not wanting him to see my frown. "Nothing."

"So you're telling me that you go around squatting and sulking for no reason at all?" He shook his head and smiled. "You've got some serious problem in you."

I got angry. My face was probably red. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?! Now BACK OFF!" I yelled. How can I tell him that I was disappointed with the reason why I have been brought to this place? It's a silly reason.

Ace flinched in surprise, not expecting my sudden outburst. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm just trying to help cause you look uglier. Seriously, I wanted to puke." With a sigh, he ran his fingers through his jet black hair. "But if you want to, I will force myself to listen. In the meantime, while you are not ready to talk about your problems yet, I'll lend you this book so you'll take your mind off for a while." He extended his arm, holding a book.

"Are you sure? Are you done with that?" I asked, not wanting to borrow it if he hadn’t finished it.

"Of course, why else would I approach you if I hadn't finished it? Bored, maybe, since I just finished it."

"Jerk," I muttered. "Glad to know that you cared."

I reached out and took it. I stared at the familiar hard-bound book in my hand as I was running my fingers at the golden lines of the title. I stared at Ace weirdly, wondering why such a book was with him. "59 clues?" For all I know, books like this belong to my world.

He shrugged. "Don't look at me. The Queen gave it to me when I told her not to wander in the other world too much and leave the paperwork on us. She said....-" He hesitated. The look on his face told me that he was pissed at what the Queen said.

"She said what?" I pried. I'm a nosey person after all.

He shook his head, jaw clenched. "She told me to grow up and stop complaining since I was not a baby anymore, then she gave me the book since she doesn't have sweets with her." He muttered.

I choked on a laugh and shook my head. "Awe, wittle princie poo looking for his mommy?" I cooed.

"Shut up."

I laughed out loud. "Thanks for lending me this book," I said.

"Don't mention it. I'm serious. However, there are things that I couldn't understand. What's a plane? A dollar? A car? There are plenty of foreign words there." He said. I stifled a laugh. Oh, these people are so ignorant. "but I think you'll understand them cause you are from that world, are you not?"