C3 Eyes On You..

Eyes On You..

Five hours ago ..

Prince River was sitting on the edge of the castle's balcony. The balcony was pretty high and wide, it was about two meters long.

Dark brown bricks painted with a colour of sand , only one meter high from the ground, he noticed that this colour was fading and it started to look old, but the view to his mother's favourite garden was the only reason why he liked that spot.

It was his little hideout corner, where he would come to think and make important decisions. When he was looking down and observing his younger brother's sword lesson, Prince River heard loud footsteps coming his way.

''Oh, Niverta ( royal soldiers )must be here already.’’ He thought , then suddenly jumped off the balcony onto the ground. While shaking off the dust from the bottom of his black robe that was covering the bottom of his body and both of his shoulders.

The robe was loose, but every part of it was connected to the back, you could clearly see his chest being wide open, he was not ashamed of his body and this was the main reason why he would always get so much attention from noble ladies.

''Prince River, we've been looking for you.''

Someone shouted with a cold voice. While Prince River looked over his left shoulder, he saw five men wearing black armour and standing two meters away from him.

''Hello General Cado.'' Prince greeted them with a smile on his face.

While observing four other men behind Cados's back, he spoke again

''I'm confident that you're here not to see Reido sword's lesson.''

He finished his sentence with a sarcastic smirk on his face. The general - Cado, wasn't here to laugh or play with River's sarcastic comments, he was here to deliver the news about his missing sword.

Cado knew that if even one word would go wrong, River would not hesitate to execute them all in no time, he was different from his older and his younger brothers, he was the one with a curse and the one to bear the pain. River was the only one out of three princes who was able to transform into a dragon, harshly speaking he was the unluckiest prince to be born in this generation.

''Your sword, my prince, has been detected to be at Verenta's house.''

Cado said and confidently looked at the Prince River, meanwhile River was stretching his neck while moving his head to the left and down saying nothing back.

''What's your order, prince?'' Cado asked.

River removed his hand off his neck and with a cold look on his face asked Cado.

''What is Verenta's house?''

Cado looked a little bit surprised that being kind of a flower prince, River had never heard of that place. Cado, without losing his posture, scratched his right cheek with one finger and started to explain to the prince what kind of house it was.

''Men go there for entertainment or to collect information, you can get both if you're willing to pay. There's one special beauty in that house that men go crazy over her, they say when she dances little, yellow bright birds and butterflies are coming out of her body.''

Cado finished what he was saying and looked down while rubbing his hands, his face started getting redder, so most obviously he felt embarrassed. Prince River, observing Cado's shy behaviour, felt intrigued. ‘’How can the Royal army's general, after winning so many battles in his lifetime, feel embarrassed after talking about one woman?’’ He thought.

''The scar under your eye shows you how proud you should be to be here, don't feel timid while talking about one bloody woman, go and bring me my sword back.''

River finished his sentence while looking up and down on the Niverta's general, on the top of his left side lip's corner appeared a little sarcastic smile, as if he was disgusted with Cado's shy behaviour.

Cado lifted his head back up, looked into Prince River's eyes and in a fatigue voice said.

''Understood.''

Three hours have passed since River sent The General of Niverta and his soldiers to investigate that weird looking house, yet no answer was brought back.

River was looking at the castle's financial documents, while the door of his office slowly opened and his older brother Raiden walked in and started walking towards the table by which River was sitting.

Raiden, seeing his younger brother with piles of work, started making sarcastic comments.

''If you keep working this hard, I will give the Crown Prince's position over to you.''

River without even looking at his brother's face talked back with his sardonic voice

''What makes you think I'm not going to take it away from you, brother?''

Raiden looked at his brother and burst out laughing.

'' You don't change, River.''

River changed his facial expression and with a kind look on his face tapped on River's right shoulder. River still was not paying any attention to what his older brother was saying and kept focusing on the documents he was reading.

Raiden, noticing that his little brother is paying no attention to him, lifted his head up and tried to get a glance at what his brother was reading.

''Are you going to buy more land?'' Raiden asked in a surprised voice.

River slowly moved his head up and while staring at Raiden's face he answered in a bitter tone

''There's no more land for me to buy, brother, may I ask who gives me this honor for the crown prince himself to come to my study room and bother me? Obviously, they are not keeping our future's King busy.''

While finishing his sentence, River was staring into Raiden's cold red eyes. He was trying to hold his laugh inside.

River slowly stood up from his chair and hugged his older brother tightly.

''I missed you.'' River said to Raiden.

When Raiden was about to say something back, someone loudly knocked on the door, and in a soft voice began to speak

'' Prince River, the general of Niverta is back to give you his report, may I enter?''

River removed his hands off his brother's shoulders, looked at Raiden again, sighed and in a cold manner answered.

''You may come in.''

The general Cado, confidently entered River's study room and was surprised while seeing the crown prince with him, he lowered his head and put his bent right hand on his chest and spoke.

''Greetings to our moon and night.''

Cado looked at the general and with a smile on his face he answered.

''Thank you, you may lift your head back up now, general Cado.''

Cado removed his hand off his chest, lifted his head back up and confidently started reporting everything directly to River.

''My Prince, investigation at Verenta's house was hopeless, we were able to interrogate only two ladies and both of them seemed to know nothing about your sword, according to given information from one of the ladies, we went to investigate another entertainment house, which we also were able to find nothing, I'm asking for your permission to close all the entertaining houses for three days until we'll be able to find the real culprit.''

When Cado finished speaking, a very scary smile appeared on River's face, his dark red eyes were staring at his brother and in a funny voice River answered to Cado's report.

''I will go and investigate that house myself, tell the maids to prepare my clothes right now.''

Cado nodded his head and left River's study room, meanwhile Raiden was looking at his brother with a confused expression on his face.

''What happened to your sword?'' He asked.

River looked his brother in the eyes and while kindly petting his shoulder he answered.

''Long story, brother.'' He sighed.

Raiden, seeing his brother looking annoyed, didn't want to ruin the mood and ask any more questions, anyway the sword wasn't in his possession to say anything about it, furthermore he knew his brother wasn't going to listen to him either way. '' River never listens, he doesn't even listen to the emperor, so talk about his brother, Raiden deeply.

''Understood.''

A tired voice came out of Raiden's mouth while slowly before leaving his brother's study, he said.

''You have to update me with the details, since you're going to see women tonight.''

''Shut up you perverted punk.'' River answered while feeling embarrassed.

His face was turning red and while picking up one of his books that was on the table, he threw it at his brother.

''Hahaha, you missed it again ! This just proves that your older brother is still better than you.''

Raiden answered to River's violence and closed the door while still laughing his lungs out.

*****

''What do they wear when they enter entertainment houses?''

River asked Cado while changing his black robe into another one.

''My prince, not to attract any attention you should wear your casual clothes, because if they find out that you are from royalty, they will not share any information with you.'' Cado answered politely.

While River was waiting for his maids to stop fitting his clothes, he looked through the window and wondered what kind of person that mysterious woman was?

''Is there any secret code to enter that house?''

He was looking down on one of his maids, who was absolutely annoying him. This maid accidentally kept on touching his body.

It was against the law and River was feeling irritated, meanwhile the maid was so nervous to attend to the royal prince, her hands wouldn't stop shaking. Her body was shivering in fear and drops of her sweat were falling from her forehead to the ground.

She knew that this person was the most dangerous one, and she knew how ruthless sometimes he can be. So until now she was doing her best to avoid the prince, but since he keeps executing and banishing servants from the castle, they're kinda short of staff, so the main maid asked her to attend him today, and to refuse royal orders would mean death.

River grabbed the maid's hand and shook it off his body, then quickly looked at Cado and gave orders.

''Banish her.'' He said mercilessly.

''No, matter of fact execute her for touching the Prince!!'' He added.

While Cado looked at the crying maid's face, he knew that if this continued, the royals would have no servants in the near future.

''My prince, let her go this time, she's obviously new and is not aware of the rules, forgive her this time and let her go.''

''You dare to refuse my orders, Cado?''

''No, my prince.'' He answered and continued on talking.

''But you have already executed so many of them, that soon this kingdom will have no people to serve you, my prince.''

River looked at the maid again and sighed.

''Alright, I will let you go this time, but you better never appear in front of me again, because your second time seeing my face will end up with death.''

The maid quickly stood up from the ground, bowed her head to his highness and with her trembling voice spoke while not daring to look at the prince's face.

''I doo nooottt dddeserrrve your geeenerossity, your hiiighness.'' Her voice was trembling.

''Iii swear on mmmy lowwlllife this will never happen aaagain.''

She quickly removed herself from the scene with her shaking body, she also knew how lucky she just got, the general saved her life, she will never forget this.

River, staring through the window, asked Cado for directions to that place, he then finished his fitting, grabbed his sword and exited the room he was staying in.

The further Prince River was walking the more he noticed how streets were getting smaller and more humble. He was seeing small houses made of bricks and sand, the roads were made of stones, while wider ones leading to the castle were made of granite.

Little houses with little windows outside, just about four meters high from the ground. A noisy place full of commoner kids running around in their shabby clothes, a big and lousy market was built right in front of these houses, surrounded by a lot of lowlife people, not being able to get to the right place, because of so many people around the prince.

River had no other choice but to push them aside and squeeze through the crowd. When he finally reached his destination, he saw a big blue house, made of stones, with no windows inside, with a very large door and a sign hanging above it.

On a big white, worn out sign was written '' Verenta'' in black letters. When he finally found the right house, Prince River decided to enter it with confidence. Two tall, dangerous looking men greeted the prince and pointed him to the reception table where a tall, skinny lady with long black hair and brown eyes was standing by.

He then slowly went to approach the lady and with a voice full of arrogance he asked her to send him the best dancer in this house. River placed a pile of gold on the table and asked her to let his little dancer know that he had no intention to talk with her.

Then this lady asked the prince to wait a minute and through black thick curtains she entered another dark looking room, meanwhile she was gone, the prince quickly started to look around the reception room and saw nothing special in particular.

What he saw was a dark red reception room, with a wall full of different colour face masks. The floor was made out of black murmur, a dusky ceiling with a chandelier made of little crystals and that had seven branches for candles. While observing the first room, he couldn't understand why this place was so popular in this kingdom?

When a lady with black hair came back holding a white mask in her hands, as he remembered correctly there were no white masks on the wall, he looked at her face and said.

''I must be special for you to bring this mask to me.''

A black haired lady said no words back and feeling a little bit uncomfortable looked at the two guards that were standing next to the main door, the prince knew that they probably had figured it out he was from the castle and while accepting the mask from her, he gently put it on his face.

A minute later a short lady in a black dress approached him and asked him to follow her, while he was following her from behind through the dark blue corridor, she finally stopped in front of a dark red curtains, that was more than two meters high and very thick, she looked at him and with a cold face told him to enter.

When Prince River walked through the curtains, there was a black door to another room, he slowly entered the room and saw a plain black chair in the middle of the room. It seemed pretty dark inside, the smell of that room was reminding him of his aunt, and loads of candle lights were making him feel intimate.

He noticed a tiny shadow standing in the corner.

Some weird feeling suddenly appeared in his body, it made him feel uncomfortable, he heard someone screaming in his head, then a bright light coming through from above, felt like it was trying to hold him in his arms, it was warm and cozy, he didn't want to let it go, this was the first time in his twenty two years that he felt calm and relaxed.

When River finally got his consciousness back, he went to sit on a chair. Once he sat on it, soft music started playing and that tiny little shadow came out of the corner.

Prince River couldn't believe his eyes of what he was seeing. With her bare feet back and the other one forward, she was moving around him , her clothes looked beautiful and her long hair that had the colour of gold were covering her small body, her face was hidden under a mask, but he could clearly see her smile.

Her light blue eyes were shining like diamonds from the sky. He had never seen such a nice blue colour in his life, her perfect purple pants looked amazing on her tiny, little body, her fitted bra made him feel shy and his face became redder. Good thing he was wearing this mask to avoid the embarrassing feeling, he thought.

She threw her arms out and waved them from side to side perfectly in tune with the beat, then both of her hands quickly clapped twice. She whirled around him and the view he was seeing was breathtaking. He saw tiny little flowers - butterfly looking coming out of her body and a strict yellow light following her every move.

He couldn't believe his eyes and instinctively without realising it he stood up from his chair and grabbed her tiny wrist, while pulling her closer to his body and wanting to be next to her, the words just flowed from his lips, he wanted to know who she was?

''Who are you?'' He asked.

While pulling her closer, he didn't want to let her go. An amazing feeling was flowing inside his body, he couldn't hear the Black Dragon's scream anymore, he felt like the darkness inside his body was slowly disappearing ,his body felt like it was rising and in that moment he knew that this woman had to be his.

He felt the desire to protect and cherish her. He needed to find out her name, it felt like the most important thing in his life, the affection he felt towards her, he had never experienced this with any other woman before. The passion that arose from within his body was impossible to stop, that's when he heard her speak.

''Please, let go of my wrist, it's hurting me.''

She said in a trembling voice and tiny drops of water started to fall from her eyes. He saw her in pain, he never wanted to hurt her, it was completely opposite from his plans. He quickly let go of her wrist and seeing her slowly sit on the ground, he started to feel guilty. He didn't want to see her cry, it was something too painful for him to bear, but he didn't know how to comfort her, the only woman he was ever comforting was his younger sister.

Out of confusion and ignorance he then ran out of the room, he quickly walked towards the exit of this place, while throwing more gold on the floor he stepped outside of this building.

Not knowing which way to go, he quickly turned left and followed the signs towards the market, while his breathing started to feel more heavy and face got more sweaty, he only then realised that this white mask was still on him.

When he removed the white mask from his face, he looked at his shaking hands and for the first time in his life, he felt emotionally hurt. He wanted to go back and return this mask, but the way he walked out of that place would feel too embarrassing to come back right now, he shouted in the air.

''Sertu !!!''

And a mysterious looking man with his face and body covered in black appeared in front of him.

''Bring me a horse!!'' River shouted.

He looked at the mask he was still holding in his shaking hands, his vision went blurry for a second.

Sertu quickly disappeared and after twenty seconds he came back with a strong looking brown horse.

''Why did you take so long? River asked him arrogantly.

This man in black said nothing back, just nodded his head and passed the horse to River.

River then jumped on his horse and rode towards the castle. When he finally got back, he went straight into his room. He sat on the edge of his bed and started looking at this white mask he brought back with him, his hands were still shaking and was still very sweaty.

His heart was beating super fast like it was about to jump out of his chest, his breathing was difficult and heavy. '' You need to calm down.’’ Prince was saying to himself, while slowly beating his chest with his left fist, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes..

''We will meet again.''