I had no idea why he felt that it was necessary to force my hand to that extent. What he did reminded me of why I hated royalty so much. Acting arrogant and doing whatever they pleased because they had the luck to be born into the royal family. Although they haven’t done anything to deserve such praise, they were comfortable living off the wealth and goodwill that their ancestors left behind. I stared silently at the very handsome man standing in front of me as I wondered just how spoilt and rotten he was. An exasperated sigh left my lips when I realized that it didn’t matter whether I liked the royal family or not because it wasn’t going to change the fact that Prince Desmond is the prince of this country. Whatever options I chose would favor him because naturally that was how the options had been designed. “Before I make my decision. I have a few questions for Your Highness,” I said. “Ask away,” he replied without pausing to think. “Why would Your Highness want to be involved in
“There are no problems, Your Highness. Just because people think that there are problems doesn’t mean that there are any problems for me,” I corrected him patiently. “Call me Desmond just as we agreed please,” the prince reminded me with a smile. “Thank you for worrying about me, Desmond, but I assure you that I’m fine and there is no need for you to concern yourself with my matters,” I said politely. In other words, please just leave me alone…“That’s good to hear. Many things are changing and it may be possible that your father is getting more anxious regarding the uncertainties. So, if I were you, I would refrain from doing things that would further worry him,” the prince warned. “Are you worried for my father?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at him.“Of course not. I’m worried for you and no one else,” he replied smoothly. “You’re overestimating me. There is nothing that I can do to influence what my father has in mind or anything related to my family. I’m afraid that you’re t
He looked just like a kid that had just found a new playmate after being left alone in his bedroom without any company for far too long. Unfortunately, I was that playmate that he found. “Gomoku…?” I repeated that alien sounding name in a murmur as I stared at the board he had placed on the table between us. “Never heard of it before?” the prince guessed quite correctly. “Never,” I replied in short. “Good. You’ll at least learn something new tonight. I’ll teach you,” the prince offered excitedly. I stared at the board before I directed my gaze and started staring at the prince’s handsome face. When he brought me to his living quarters and then to his bedroom, I honestly didn’t think that he was seriously going to be playing a game with me in the most literal sense of the word. “These black and white colored round pieces are called ‘Go’. The objective of this game is actually quite simple. We will take turns placing one Go piece each. Whoever manages to place five of their Go pie
I must have shocked him just as much as I surprised myself. His offer was crazy even if it was intended to be just a joke. Prince Desmond looked surprised and then he seemed slightly disappointed. “I honestly don’t think that you should be joking about something like that,” I pointed out softly. “What makes you think that I’m joking?” he asked. “Well, who in their right mind would offer the position of queen as a reward for winning a game? Plus, you’re not the king yet either and we all know that royal weddings aren’t decided by the groom-to-be himself,” I replied before smiling at him pointedly. “You’re right, I’m not the king yet but I will be king one day,” he replied solemnly. I wondered for a moment if I had offended him by directly turning down his crazy offer. There was no way that I could become queen. Marrying Prince Desmond and becoming part of the royal family wasn’t at all on my list of life goals. Politics is boring and borders being disgusting for me. Being part of
Feeling lost and disorientated only added to my sense of panic. I couldn’t quite recall what had happened and how I ended up where I was. Where am I and why am I sleeping here?Timing wasn’t at all on my side. The door opened and a man walked in. My eyes widened as I stared at him. When our eyes met, the memories from last night that I thought I had temporarily lost came flooding back in unstoppable waves. I remembered everything up until the point where we played that Gomoku game together over and over again. I couldn't even remember how many times we played that game or how long we were at it, but I remembered clearly the sense of frustration and then renewed motivation to get back at the prince that overwhelmed me everytime that I lost. I wasn’t overly optimistic and I didn’t think that I could beat the prince at a game that he had been playing for far longer than I had when I was just a beginner. However, I also didn’t think that a game that appeared so simple would turn out to
If anything, they surely hoped that I had slept with the prince even though they knew very well that there was no way that he could ever become their future son-in-law. “Dahlia…” Diana called my name as I felt her grab my hand. “Diana…” I murmured her name as my eyes focused on her face. Before I could react any further, her hold on my hand tightened and then she was running while dragging me behind her up the stairs. She locked the door to my bedroom after pushing me inside. “What happened? Did you really have sex with Prince Desmond?” my sister asked excitedly. “No…” I denied before rolling my eyes at her. “Ahh…really?” she said while frowning with disappointment. “Really. Nothing happened. We just played this game and talked…” I reaffirmed before letting out a sigh. “Awww…you can’t be serious. I was going to ask if he was any good in bed…” Diana moaned with regret before flinging herself face first onto my bed. “Why do you have to sound so disappointed? Did you really thin
To do that, I need the prince’s help. ‘What about this? You can ask me for anything if you can win a game…’I could remember the promise that we made to each other. If I could beat him at one game of Gomoku, he would grant anything that I wished for as long as I didn’t ask to sit on the throne as the next king. The real issue about that was my failure to beat him. Not even once did I win against him although I did come close to it a couple of times. I could still recall the way the prince smiled and congratulated me on ‘almost’ beating him. I would have taken things even more seriously if I knew that I would need his help like I needed it now. “Desmond…I…I need your help,” I manage to spit out. I knew well enough that because I had failed to win even a single game against him that I didn’t exactly have the right to wish for anything or to request for his help but I didn’t have much pride to hold on to. He might reject my proposal or ignore my plea for help, but I still had to make
“That’s…” I muttered but felt too tired to go on. He was right in the strictest sense that I wasn’t married, yet it didn’t feel like he was right. I never thought that the prince would demand something like this from me. “I’m sorry but I don’t think I can go through with this. I might not be married but I’ve taken my sister’s place in her marriage,” I reminded him. “I don’t see how that is an issue. I’m asking you to play my girlfriend as Dahlia and not as Diana,” he replied with a careless shrug of his shoulders. It just didn’t make sense. Back then, the prince asked me to date him so that he could get out of his impending engagement with a few potential marriage candidates. I could understand him back then, he was young and had absolutely no interest in marriage. However, directly turning down the various requests for a politically arranged marriage wasn’t possible. Being in a relationship also wasn’t enough to stop the engagement talks from going forward because everyone would