I look around the garden. Crown Prince Fraser ask for my presence early this morning. The butler of the Palace led to the garden as per Prince Fraser's command.
I stop and take a glance at the snapdragons. It looks beautiful and innocent. Maybe it's because of their color. People perceive white as a good thing. I am about to touch it when sobody talked behind my back. I look back and see Prince Fraser walking towards .
Standing beside , he also stares at the snapdragons. "Have you heard about the story of Princess Celestine? The forr Princess of Vrawyth a thousand years ago."
I tried to recall from the mories of Csille. And yes, there is really Princess Celestine, the poor Princess of Vrawyth. I nod as a response. Who would not know her na?
"She is loved by the people of Vrawyth. She's nice and warm to everyone. Everyone thought that she'll be a great Queen soday. However, that day never cos. The Crown Prince Theodore of the Aeslaerean Kingdom and the endowed fiancé of Princess Celestine. He cheated on her with her best friend, Aurora. The royal guard of Princess Celestine tried to warn her by giving Snapdragon to her every day. Hoping that the Princess will realize the aning behind the flowers. However, the Princess never realize it. She took his own life after knowing the affair of Prince Theodore and Aurora." Prince Fraser touches the Snapdragons. "Since then, the two Kingdoms, Vrawyth and Aeslaerean, fought head to head. Prince Theodore becos the King, and he made Aurora his Queen. Which angered the people of Vrawyth because the Prince didn't even look like he cared about the death of Princess Celestine."
Snapdragons? The flower of deception. That's why the guard gave Snapdragons to the Princess to warn her about the illicit affair of Prince Theodore. It's to expose Prince Theodore's deception.
I look at Prince Fraser. "Deception," I mumbled.
Prince Fraser looks back at . Shocked. "You really do know the language of flowers." He looks at the flowers again. "From then on, everyone avoided this flower because they believe this flower will bring bad luck to them."
Prince Fraser paused for a mont. He was about to say sothing but a royal guard cos out from the entrance. "Your highness, Prince Fraser. The tea is already served."
I look back at the snapdragon before walking. This snapdragon will be a special thing in the future.
Prince Fraser led to the middle of the garden. In the middle, there's a table and chairs. On the table, there's puddings and marzipan almond cake.
Prince Fraser pulled the chair for to sit. Gentleman, I see. He then sits in front of . He served teas before he said what he wants to talk about. I know this scene. I know what he will say and what will happen next. I tightened my fist. I ca here with a purpose. I want to warn the Prince about the dangers in the western region.
"I want to ask you about your decision."
The decision he's asking is also the sa decision he's asked in the school. It's about , staying with my parents in the western region. He wants to refuse it and stay in the capital. However, I couldn't do that. I want to prevent the incoming danger in the western region.
I look at him. I am about to talk about the dangers when my mouth moved on its own. "Your highness-" I was imdiately cut off by him.
"It's Fraser!"
"Prince Fraser, you know I could not do that, right? The Lauretré family was commanded by the King, his majesty, to join you in your training in the western region. Refusing it is great disobedience to his majesty, the King." My mouth said.
Prince Fraser puts down his cup of tea. Dissatisfied with my answer, he stares at . "As the Crown Prince of the Vrawyth Kingdom, I command you not to join the training in the western region. I don't need you."
I tried to talk out my reasons, but my mouth wouldn't open. Co on, Csille, speak up! You need to tell the Prince what will happen in the western region. You got to say to him that his life will be in danger. Speak up! However, even how much I put strength into my mouth to make it talk, it is still closed—not moving at all.
Panicking. I tried looking for sothing to write on. But my head wouldn't move. It just looks at Prince Fraser. I put my hand on the table, trying to hand sign to him the words danger. However, I forgot that in this world, sign language does not exist. It's futile!
"Csille?"
My hand moves on its own and takes the cup of tea and sips it leisurely. My eyes look at him after. "I'm sorry, Prince Fraser, but I couldn't disobey the King." And again, my mouth said.
Prince Fraser stared at his cup for a minute. Resigned. He just shakes his head. "Okay, I wouldn't force you anymore. But please don't go out often when we're already there."
Exact words. It the exact words I've written. Everything he says and everything my mouth says is the sa line Prince Fraser, and Csille said in the novel. All of a sudden, I feel a warm feeling in my heart. My heartbeat becos frantic. My eyes stared at Prince Fraser. Beautiful!
I shake my head. Trying to collect myself. Fighting over the warm feeling rushing through my veins. Struggling to take control of this body, but I was forced at the back. It feels like soone takes over my body and moves my body on that person's will.
The conversation continues. Prince Fraser didn't force Csille to stay in the capital, but he warned her many tis not to leave the house. After that, they talk about random things. In the end, I didn't get the chance to warn Prince Fraser. I couldn't even move my body on my own will. It feels like I am a soul trap in a puppet body. What's happening? It's the first ti I lost total control of my body. It's frightening! Will I wake up one day having no full control of this body?
_____________
I stared blankly outside the window. I am already in the Lauretré residence. I got back the full control over my body. But the feeling of being trapped in a body still frightens .
I tried to recall all those tis when my body moves on its own. But all of them are different than what has happened to this morning. Before, I could only lose my control for a minute or two, and I could move it after.
However, the event this morning is different. I couldn't control my body the whole ti I am talking with Prince Fraser.
The novel! The whole conversation followed the novel. My body moves on its own because I was trying to expose the future events to the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince knows it, then the story will change. Is it the reason why I couldn't take control over my body? Is it because it is out of the script?
I slumped my head on the table. It only ans one thing. The thing that I've written in the notebook will happen. I trembled. Csille will do horrible things in the future. Is it really inevitable for Csille not to be the villainess?
I fully regret everything now. I really regret it.
I suddenly rember sothing. Wait, I think I'm missing sothing important. The writer! The writer of the book The Parallel Universe. Could it be he had an answer to it? I need to find him.
_____________
"Rufus! Here!" I waved my hand at Rufus. I et him today to ask a favor. I want to et the writer, and Rufus is the only one I think that could help .
Rufus smiled at . He walks towards the table I reserved. "Hey, purplany. What can I do for you?"
I hold his hand that is on the table. "Do a favor. I need to see the writer of The Parallel Universe."
"I don't understand why are you so obsessed finding that writer. The last ti we went there, you collapsed even before you could've t him. Don't you think it's a sign?" He grumbled. He took a spoonful of pudding and ate it.
"Sign?"
He nods. "Yes, sign! Sign that it's not worth it to look for him. I don't even understand why you are looking for him. He looks like a weird geezer. Also, the house he's living in is already a red flag. Who would live in that kind of house? It's creepy." Disgust is evident on his face.
How did it beco a red flag? His house is fascinating. If given a chance, I would love to have a house like that. Imagine if a zombie apocalypse happened, you could be safe there. Because who would think that soone is living inside a tree? And since it's connected in the tree, you could just put an opening at the top so you could get fruits from the branches.
"You're the creepy one!" I throw so napkin at him. "I badly need to see him."
Resigned. He nods his head. "Okay, I will accompany you there. How could I ever said no to you?" He then pinched my cheeks so hard until it reddens.
I pout at him. Why does he always love to pinch my cheeks? It hurts. After eating, we imdiately travel to the writer's place.
"I'm not sure if this writer is still living in that place. I did not have a chance to do so research. You should have told in advance."
I just waved my hand at him. "Never mind. We will just see later. If he's not there, then I need to bother you again."
Ten minutes later, we arrived at the place. However, there is a problem. There are two big trees. We don't rember that much how the tree looks. The only thing we can rember is it's the most extensive and tallest tree among all the trees.
Rufus keeps insisting that the left tree is the house of the writer. However, I could clearly rember that it's the right tree. After arguing for a couple of minutes, we decided to knocks on the tree we think the house is.
Rufus and I knock thrice on the tree but no matter how many tis we do it. Nothing happens.
"Is it really that tree? Maybe we are both mistaken about it." Rufus looks around, trying to look for a taller and bigger tree. But other than these two, all trees' sizes are average.
"Maybe we have mistaken the tree as tall or big? How about we knock on all the trees in here?"
I look at Rufus. Disbelief was clearly visible on my face. "Are you kidding ? Can you see how many trees are here?"
Rufus looks around. "Probably more than a hundred."
"See? It's more than a hundred. Do you think our hands will be okay after knocking on all those trees?" I snapped at him.
I cannot do it. My arms would fall off for sure if we did that. That's more than a hundred. It's not just ten trees. How long will it take before we could finish knocking on all the trees here?
"Okay, I'm rely suggesting. If you don't want to, that's also okay for . At least I wouldn't hurt myself knocking on these trees." Rufus leans on the big tree and looks at .
I glared at him. If I would not knock on this tree, then I will never get a chance to talk to the writer before we travel to the western region. Three days from now, we will travel to the western region. If I didn't get this chance, I could not find anything to save the Crown Prince.
I look at the trees and sigh. I guess I have no choice but to do it. At least Rufus is with . Do it for the Crown Prince Ysavel! I nod my head. "Okay, let's do this."
We started knocking on the trees from morning to dawn. Our hands are already numb for knocking continuously, but we never find the writer's house. It's as if that tree never existed.
I look at Rufus, who's sitting beside . We're both sitting on the ground, leaning on the trees. Both of my hands are already numb. My knuckles are swollen too. Rufus's hands are worst. His right hand is already bleeding. However, it wasn't that bad. It's just a tiny wound.
"If weren't for you, I would think that I am only dreaming when we entered the writer's house." Rufus suddenly said.
I nod in agreent. Even I am, with all these knocking. I almost want to believe that we never entered the writer's house before. But, it's impossible. How could I forget that house? After collapsing in the house, I woke up as a fourteen years old Csille. So, I'm pretty sure it's real. However, where is it? We finished knocking on all the trees in here, but we never see him.
A laugh suddenly awakens from my deep thoughts. I see Rufus laughing. I raised my eyebrows at him. He didn't knock his head on the tree, right? But why is he acting like that?
"Why are you laughing? Should I be concerned?"
Rufus looks at . Laughing, he tried to tell sothing. "I just imagine what we look like. What if people see us? They would probably think that there's sothing wrong with our mind."
I laughed at him. It's probably a funny sight if soone sees us. Good thing no one is around.
"Co on, let's get out of here. It's already late." Rufus stands up and offers his hand.
What will I do now? I did not find the writer. Can I really not do anything to prevent that danger from happening? Will I just let things happened as it is?
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