Rosangela: The Half-Blood Princess

Prince Maximilian gave me a tour of the palace. He showed me many places, such as: the royal bedchambers, the throne room, the meeting room, the king’s study, the library, the kitchen, the dining hall, the guards and servants quarters, the guest bedrooms, and the garage where dozens of cars lined up.

I tried to make a mental map of the places that we passed so that I could use it when I wanted to escape later. And maybe I could steal one of the cars in the garage to help me get away from here.

This palace was apparently bigger than I ever thought. My feet ached after walking around the palace for hours. Fortunately, we ended our tour at the garden at the backyard of the palace. So I could dip my aching feet in the pool water. The cold water really helped soothe my tired muscles.

This garden brought back the memory of the night of my and Maximilian’s engagement party where I bumped into Ivan and then he took me here. I remembered, at that time, Ivan told me about my mother and her passion for gardening.

“Maxim, is that true that my mother who planted all of the flowers in this garden?” I asked curiously.

“That’s right. Claribelle was very fond of flowers. That’s why King Bellamy decided to build this garden for her. Claribelle was very happy to know that. She chose all of the flowers that would be planted in this garden by herself. And she even helped the gardeners plant those flowers,” Maximilian explained.

I nodded my head in understanding.

“Wait! How do you know about that?” Maximilian queried in astonishment.

“Ivan told me about it,” I answered.

“Who is Ivan?” His question made me realize of the blunder that I have just made.

“He’s... Um... he’s one of the guards here,” I lied. Even though I knew that it might be useless because Maximilian could read my mind.

“I don’t know any guards whose name is Ivan here,” Maximilian said suspiciously.

“There are so many guards in this palace so you won’t know all of their names,” I reasoned.

Maximilian kept staring at me for a long time, until he finally spoke up, “I know you’re lying, Rosanne, but I don’t understand why.”

I knew it. I would never be able to lie to a mind reader. But no matter what, I couldn’t tell Maximilian that Ivan whom I was talking about happened to be the same werewolf who had kidnapped me.

“I didn’t mean to tell you lies, okay? Ivan is just a guy I met a few days ago. And he happened to know my mother. That’s how I know about this garden’s history,” I elaborated.

“If he isn’t a guard, then who is he actually?” Maximilian inquired, “Because I know for sure that Claribelle didn’t have a friend whose name is Ivan.”

“He’s nobody,” I replied, “Let’s just pretend that I have never mentioned his name to you, okay?”

“I’m sure you know who he is. But why do you try to cover up for this Ivan guy?” he demanded.

I shrugged. “Maybe because I like him.”

“You’re my fiancée. You can’t like another man but me. Do you understand, Rosanne?” Maximilian growled.

I held my hands up. “Relax, Maxim! I was only joking.”

Maximilian took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

Before he could explode with anger again, I decided to change the subject. “I’m tired. Can you take me to my bedroom now, Maxim?” I even faked a yawn to make it look real.

Maximilian sighed. “I’m sorry, Rosanne. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”

“That’s okay, Maxim. You’re forgiven,” I said with a smile.

“Look! I understand if you don’t want to tell me who Ivan is right now. But you know, sooner or later I’ll eventually find it out by myself,” Maximilian stated.

I gulped. He’s right. It’s no doubt that sooner or later, Maximilian would finally be able to figure out who Ivan was. But I couldn’t let him know before I got away from here.

I pulled my feet from the water and stood up. “Can’t we just go inside now? It’s getting cold out here?”

Maximilian rose to his feet and held his hand out to me. “Sure. Let’s go!”

I smiled as I took his hand. At last, we walked inside and went straight to my bedroom.

“Okay, I guess I can take it from here,” I stated as we reached my bedroom.

The guards who followed me to Maximilian’s bedroom earlier tonight had returned here too.

“Okay. Good night, Rosanne,” Maximilian said.

“Good night, Maxim,” I responded.

I gave Maximilian a wave as he walked away and he waved back at me.

After Prince Maximilian was out of sight, one of the guards opened the door for me, and I stepped in.

Sigmund apparently had been waiting for me inside my bedroom. He looked furious. But I didn’t see Jasper here.

“Do you know what your fiancé’s bodyguard has done to me, Princess?” Sigmund began complaining angrily, “He teleported me to a town five hours away from here, and he left me there alone. So I had to run to get back to the palace.”

I stifled a laugh after I heard what Jasper had done to him. I thought Sigmund deserved it because he was so annoying.

“Can you imagine how tired I am having to run home? Fortunately I am a vampire. If I were a human, surely I would die of exhaustion,” he continued.

“It’s not my fault. I have never asked Jasper to do it to you, but Maximilian did,” I said.

“But you’re partly to blame,” he insisted.

I didn’t have a mood to argue with him. So I preferred to crawl into the bed.

“It’s very late. So can we talk about it tomorrow? I want to get some sleep now,” I said.

He let out a long sigh. “Fine. But don’t think you can get away with it!”

“Yeah, yeah,” I murmured as I turned my back on him and pulled the covers over my head.

“Night, night, Sigmund. Sleep tight,” I said.

Without waiting for his response, I closed my eyes and allowed sleep to take over me.