Alicia was not sure what Harold was up to, but she wasn't bothered because she knew he was inside the palace. It was already approaching evening. The last time she saw him was when he escorted two maids who had brought her lunch. From the look of things, she guessed he had probably stayed with them when they made the meal and followed them to deliver it. The girls were shaking so much that she thought they were going to drop the trays, but they also looked too frightened to drop the trays. Thankfully, they did all they were supposed to without making any mistakes.
As soon as they left, wordlessly, Harold bit into all the food and smelled them, which was quite uncomfortable for her to watch, but she guessed it was probably a werewolf thing. When he was done, he just stood up and gestured for her to eat before he disappeared. She hadn't seen him again since then, even after 4 hours had passed.
Presently, she was in Harold's chamber, watching over Alvin. He had only stirred once, and she had thought he was going to wake up, but to her disappointment, he didn't and fell back into sleep. Maybe he needed a long rest because, ever since she came here, Alvin was always moving about.
But Alvin's body obviously was not used to staying idle because he stirred again, and this time she could see his eyes opening. She just stood by his bed, her eyes fixed on him, as she prayed with all her might that he would wake up. At least for Harold's sake. Even if Harold hadn't said anything about him, she could tell how much he was hurting whenever he looked at Alvin.
With a low and painful groan, Alvin's eyes began to open. He had a hard time adjusting to the light in the room, so Alicia hurried to the window and dropped the curtains before she returned to the bedside.
"W-Water..." He croaked out.
Alicia knew next to nothing about how to care for an injured person. As much as she wanted to go and fetch the physician, she also wanted to stay with him and help him with whatever he needed. So she reached for her gourd of water and tried to help him turn to the side since he was lying belly flat on the bed as his back had suffered the deep cut. However, she noticed he was in a lot of pain as she helped him adjust and was a bit flustered as she was not sure what to do.
He bore the pain and reached for the gourd, drinking with his eyes closed.
Even though he had sounded like he was going to die if he didn't get to drink water, when she handed it to him, he still took it slowly.
Never had she seen Alvin not being... Alvin.
"You are finally awake! How do you feel?" She said with relief as she took the empty gourd from him and dropped it on the floor beside the bed before helping him lay back on the bed with his head turned to face her.
He opened his eyes, and when his senses seemed to clear and his eyes settled on her, he frowned.
"What... are you doing here?" He asked in a faint voice but she could clearly hear the harshness in his tone, startling her since she was not sure what she had done to him to deserve this attitude. Or maybe it was because it was her fault for everything that happened to them?
"I thought you would have run away as soon as you were out of the carriage." He pointed out to her, still making her confused.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Prince Harold has only ever cared for you." He said, still sounding pissed even though his voice was very weak and quiet. "But you were cold to him, hurting him."
Alicia sighed. "Is that what you should be worried about after almost dying?" she asked him.
Wasn't he supposed to ask where he was? What happened to him? What day it was, or those kinds of questions she had seen people in this position ask in movies?
"I do not care about dying!" He snapped. "I only want to be sure that Prince Harold will be fine and that the person he cares for the most is not going to hurt him just because they are not the same kind."
"I... care about him." She said even though she knew she didn't owe him an explanation.
"Then why did you try to hurt his feelings? Do you think he would ever hurt you like that? Ever turn his back on you?"
"Alvin..."
"I won't forgive you if you make him sad. The world won't forgive you either. You know he will never take his anger out on you. He'll rather burn down the entire kingdom."
She just stared at him, not sure what to say at this point. Alvin seemed really angry at her, and even though he was lying helpless here, he was very intimidating.
"I won't run away. It's already too late for that." She spoke softly.
"Good. Because if you try to run away, I will fetch you back for him. Even if it means locking you up."
She scoffed. "Now you are being dramatic and creepy. I should probably let your dear friend know you are awake since you are not happy to see me after I stayed here to watch over you all day."
"I didn't ask you to. You should have spent the time making it up to him."
"What did I do to him?" She asked in confusion.
"You really have no idea," Alvin said, remembering the look on Harold's face when she closed the carriage window on him and talked about running away with Paulina. In all the years he had known Harold, he had never seen him look so helpless, so hopeless, and so defeated. That had hurt Alvin. Even more than the poison coursing through his veins.
"I won't run away. If that is what you are worried about. I already gave him my word." She assured the "papa bear" who wouldn't let her be.
"Good." He said and began to drift off again, surprising her.
"Seriously? You just woke up to fight with me and now you are going back to sleep?" She asked before she began to panic.
"You are not dying, are you?" He opened his eyes faintly and looked at her as he said quietly, "I will never die before Prince Harold. I will serve him until he leaves this world, and then I will follow him."
Alicia almost laughed, even though it was quite touching that he had so much devotion for Harold.
"You wouldn't have been able to do that if you had died. You should thank Susan whenever you see her."
As odd as it sounded, his promise that he was not going to die before Harold made her a little relieved, and she believed he truly wouldn't. Since I wanted to fall back to sleep, she was just going to let him be and then let Harold know he had woken up. At least, it would make him feel better to know that.
His eyes closed and then slowly opened again. It seemed he was trying to fight back the sleep.
"The queen did not try to have your head yet?" He asked weakly, ignoring what she had said about Susan. Or maybe he hadn't heard it since he was on and off.
"Agnes was brought in as a witness. She said it was the queen who ordered her to say I killed Beth."
Alvin let out a short laugh that made him groan in pain. "I knew Prince Harold was not that nice to let her go." He said, remembering Prince Harold telling Agnes that it was fine and everyone made mistakes when she apologized to him. He had found it odd because he knew it wasn't Harold's thing to just forgive and forget. So he wasn't surprised to hear this now.
"When... I was still a little boy, I was very weak and even smaller than other boys my age."
Alicia wasn't sure what story he was about to tell her, but she listened keenly as he kept going slowly. From the look on his face, it seemed like he was reliving the moment, so she didn't interrupt.
"Being friends with Prince Harold and training with him helped me a lot, but because of my status, I was still looked down upon."
She didn't know much about Alvin's background, so this got her very interested.
"One time, a boy who was the son of a nobleman attacked me with his friends. I was too timid to hurt people of that status, so I allowed them. The little boy broke my arm and rejoiced with his friends."
That sounded crazy.
Alvin took a longer pause this time, going on and off before he continued.
"Prince Harold was angered when he saw my arm and tried to pay him back, but according to the elders, the culprit was still a boy and didn't know what he was doing, so Prince Harold could not hurt a 10-year-old boy for hurting a mere servant. That was not proper."
10 years old? Alicia was a little surprised. How were they raising their children in this era?
"Prince Harold had agreed and let it be until one day, some years later. The boy had turned 15 years old. Even I had forgotten about it, but Prince Harold remembered and found the boy. He made sure to break his arm, and when he was asked why he did so, he reminded them that the boy was old enough now to be punished for his crime."
Alvin broke into a smile, and even though Alicia knew that was wrong and plain crazy, she could not help but laugh.
"Prince Harold... will always be the first for me," Alvin said before giving in to the deep sleep.
Poor Susan. If only she knew that her competition was Prince Harold and not some random woman.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel