Episode 5

Venesa and Amon reached the palace where the council minister was already waiting for them. He bowed to them and said "My prince and princess,your parents have arrived from their journey. They are waiting for you in the meeting room" he said.

"Uncle Basil, how many times do I need to tell you that don't call me prince. Just call me Amon, you have the right to call me by my name" ever since they were small their father never looked after them properly, he was always busy building up his reputation. And sometimes he would take their mother with him,so they had to depend on minister Basil.

But unlike any other ministers,he was really very kind and generous. He would take care of them as his own kids, Minister Basil was a bachelor. He always dedicated his life for the royals, maybe because he was childless he treated them as their own child.

Amon respected him really very much for this, and he liked him very much. Even if some dispute occurred in between the father and son, Minister Basil would be the one to help them understand.

Minister Basil laughed as he saw the upset prince in front of him "Dear child, I am bond by rules. I can't break those rules, but still... If you insist *cough* Prince Amon"

"Sigh~" Amon rolled his eyes "Well try, Mr. Basil."

Venesa chuckled "Anyway,hows his mood? How was his business trade?" She asked. Not that she cared, but still.

And after few more conversations on the way towards the meeting room, they reached their destination.

"My lord, they are here" he informed them and left from there.

Mr. And Mrs. Achilles were sitting on the chair. Amon and Venesa entered the room and bowed to them

"Welcome back mom and dad" Venesa said as she stood up.

Amon didn't say anything as he just gave them a faint smile. Their mother smiled brightly and walked towards them

"My children! Ah~ you have grown so much"

Amon chuckled, she was always like this.. over dramatic. "Mom,it has only been a month. How tall can we grow?"

Venesa smiled at her mother

"Mother,we missed you so much"

She hugged her, her mother then went towards Amon and ruffled his hair. Their father coughed lightly

"It seems like you have went soft in my absence these months"

He said in a cold voice. Amon and Venesa didn't say anything, they have been used to these tones. Now they just ignore him, they quickly stood straight and wore the fake cold expressions.

"No Sire, we are still very cold. Even though we can't compare to your coldness,we are still practicing it" Amon taunted his father.

His father scoffed at him "I know you can never compare to me"

Amon glared at his father but decided to keep silent. He didn't want to create any scene in front of his mother.

Mrs. Achilles decided to interrupt this cold atmosphere "Dear, why are you being like this? We just got back.. they are just happy to see us, it's nothing wrong" she testified.

"Its because of you they became so soft like this" his father argued.

"Its because of her we still call you father" Amon retorted back.

"Amon!!" Venesa called him to stop him from saying anything further. Even though she is just 3yrs older than him,he still listens to her order and respects her decisions.

"Oh~ leave it, stop being so dramatic. Anyway, we have a good news for you!" Mrs. Achilles said acting all excited.

Amon had a bad intuition about this, he then looked at her and asked "what is it?"

"We have chosen a bride for you!" She chimed with happiness.

Amon was blank for a second then he realised that what he heard was not his hallucination. "Bride?! What are you saying?! You guys.. what are you planning?" He asked a bit irritated. Why were they even thinking about marriage? He is so young.. or maybe 28 years is old enough to get married?

His father stared at him "you are already 28 and you are going to be the next general. You need someone to tame you and to keep you in your control"

"Tame me ?! What am I ? A dog?" Amon was annoyed to hear something like this? How bad is he usually? To be controlled like this?

"Don't think I am not aware of your deeds. You are fooling around with girls just like that, do you want to bring shame on our family?" Mr. Achilles snorted.

"You are the one to say this.." Venesa huffed. As she mumbled to themselves, she isn't very much different from Amon in this matter. Their father believed in equality, he treated both of them equally bad.

"Our daughter seems to be grown up" he stated as he raised one of his eyebrows "we are looking for a groom for you as well"

"No thanks" she said "I can find one, for myself"

"And besides that, what if she ends up with someone like you?" Amon said as he supported his sister.

Mr. Achilles was used to their tantrums he then changed the topic "anyway, next week we are going to have a family meeting where you will get to see each other. Then you can decide when to get married"

"You mean to say.. that I can decide if I should marry her or not? Or maybe I.."

"We have already decided for you, it's for your own good. So just behave yourself" he said this and went out to arrange for other things.

Amon stood there with a gloomy expression "that's what we have been doing since childhood, behaving ourselves just to save you some face"

Venesa and Mrs. Achilles looked at him, it's not like they can't see his sadness but even they cannot go against Mr. Achilles decisions.

"Just meet her once and maybe you will like her" His mother said.

Venesa didn't say anything as she patted him on the back.

Their mother then went to the royal bedroom to take rest. Venesa and Amon went to the garden to have a chit chat and that's when Lander came there. "Hey guys, why are you sitting here?"

Lander was their childhood friend, and also he is their cousin. Though they are not blood related, their uncle was childless even after 4 years of marriage. That's when they decided to adopt a child, Lander was really very humorous and free spirited. He did whatever he felt like, but still he used to stay in his limits so that he won't do anything wrong to his family.

Amon and Venesa used to feel jealous of him sometimes. "Why are you here?" They both asked in unison.

Lander chuckled "what is this? Do you hate me that much?" He joked. He climbed on the bench that they were sitting on and sat at the rail of it.

"Well my dad sent me here, because your father wanted me to talk with you about your marriage and wanted me to advise you" he said looking dead serious. Lander was 1 year older than Venesa and 4 years older than Amon. But because of his foolish nature they were really close to each other and they didn't have to use any polite terms to talk with him.

"And you think we will listen to you?" Venesa retorted. Lander just laughed "ya, I know right.. why would he want me to talk with you guys?"

Amon sighed "it looks like he is really very adamant about this"

"Yup, otherwise he won't set up people to advise you like this" Venesa agreed to him.

"Well meeting her once won't harm you, and even if you don't like her.. maybe you can try to convince uncle" Lander advised.

"This time he is dead serious about this thing" Venesa said.

"Is there anything,that he is not serious about?" Lander asked as he thought about this.

They all agreed to the fact that Mr. Achilles was a serious and tough person, just like how a devil should be. He won't care about anyone's feelings, he wants what he wants.

"Sigh~ let me be alone for a while" Amon said as he got up from his seat and walked out of the garden. Venesa and Lander looked at his back feeling a bit sad.

"Uncle won't leave this chance, he definitely, wants to increase his powers" Lander said.

Venesa nodded her head in agreement. "He is always cold to everyone, I am scared that this decision will totally vanish the little remaining soft side of him"

.

.

Amon went to the border river, sitting at the edge of the river. He looked at the other side, the land was covered with rainbow stones. He recalled his past memories..

"My parents used to tell me that, we shouldn't cross the border. Maybe they didn't want me to find out about these rainbow stones."

"My parents said the same *chuckle* maybe they didn't want me to find nice friends here"

"Luv"

"Yes Amon?"

"Promise me that, even if our parents find out about us.. we will never stop meeting each other"

"Yes! I promise you. And then when we grow up, we will get married.."

"Okay, promise"

"How funny of me to think that I will get to experience happiness in my life" Amon laughed with a heavy heart.

"How am I supposed to trust someone? Just to be betrayed again? Its better to have one night stands rather than lovingly someone forever and expecting them to love you back"

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