Burning Soul

The Royal Banquet

In the hall, everyone was greeting the crown prince for his 25th birthday. Nicholas was now a full-fledged grown-up,  

Many girls were trying to eye on him, no wonder there, he'd definitely become a king one day and he was extraordinarily handsome as well. 

He had the charm to make any girl fall for him. 

The nobles were also trying to gain his attention for future relations to get stable. 

.

"Nicholas, 

forgive me if my taste is bad but, I tried to score the best sword our blacksmith could produce. 

Here take this, I call 'Raḯa', a sword forged to slay evil, or so. 

Do you like it?" 

A Sturdy tall, equally handsome person spoke. 

He was Jason, Ruler of 'The Lake City, and Evan's good old friend asked Nicholas while handing him a golden sword.

The sword had no halo but the sheath was of Gold. It looked more of a showpiece than an actual weapon. But the blade spoke a different story.

It was well forged only for killing, the sharp edge looked to be of mixed metal, surely to strengthen it while the rear edge wasn’t too thick. It was a rather thin longsword, unusual but difficult to forge at the same time. 

The work was no joke and must have cost a ton to even make it firsthand.

.

He observed it for well over a minute before snapping to reality, 

"It's more than what I can ask for and please don't be like that, 

even your presence is a gift for me, not to mention the sword of such high value. 

I can hardly imagine myself worthy enough to possess such a treasure worthy gift." Nicholas replied with a bow to the King. 

"Ha ha ha, 

why don't you see it yourself, 

if it's to your liking or not?" 

To the request of the King, Nicholas could hardly contain his excitement. 

He drew the sword out of the sheath again with a calm look. 

"It's perfect! 

I can hardly wait to see how it plays in the field" 

The crown prince showed a confident smile to which his father replied, "That'd have to wait till the morning. 

For now, we should get to dinner, everyone is waiting."

.

.

..

As everyone was heading towards the dinner hall, Merida found something suspicious or rather interesting.

She saw two people following who weren't there before. 

With a smug face, she approached them in order to see who they were and soon realized who they were. 

She pounced onto one of the figures from behind like some cat!

"Got you! 

No more slacking little brother. 

Can't believe you dragged Vivi into this all!" 

Theo was rather startled to death as he wasn’t expecting to get exposed like that. 

Even Vivian was no excuse. 

.

"You alright? 

Did you sneak out of the castle again brother? 

I told you to always carry guards, you know you don't possess much mana. 

What would we have done if you'd have been attacked?" 

Nicholas who was chill about the situation a while ago showed worry in his tone now.

Theodore seemed to feel guilty about his reply. 

"It was my fault brother Nic, I let him go on his own." Vivian sounded guilty about the whole thing. 

"Huh! 

No one would dare to lay a finger on my son, 

not on my watch, here come to join us.” Evan eased off the tension with a loud laugh.

“You know your brother, he's just worried about you. 

Come, Vivian, you should be hungry as well right? 

Handling this runaway son isn't an easy task. I should be thankful to you for being a good friend to him." 

To the King's words, Vivi seemed to become stiff. 

"Friend?" Vivi murmured with a hint of irritation and continued to follow all to the dining hall.

‘Now that’s an interesting expression there!’ Merida showed a hint of a smile from the corner of her mouth.

..

…

"Whoa, this meat is really good! 

We don't eat such exquisite meat at our place much, I personally love fish, fresh in fact. 

But I must admit, this food is delicious, 

no matter how many times I eat it." Jason kept bragging about the food with Evan. 

They seemed to enjoy it. 

In another corner, Theodore sat along with Vivian with a gloomy expression. 

"I really wanted to be the first one to wish him, but I am not good with dates so I keep forgetting the birthdays and important stuff! 

Last time it was yours, then Meri’s. Ahh, I am such a sore loser, you know. I even planned a whole schedule for his birthday. And I missed it. Huh! 

How lousy brat I am." 

Theodore with his sad expression complained to Vivi to which she replied with a smile saying, 

"Well, you can still give him the gift and congratulate him, 

he won't even complain. He's your brother after all, right?" 

That seemed to have relaxed him a bit and finally gathered the courage to approach Nicholas. 

"Brother, 

I believe I am late to wish you..." 

Theodore's voice was a bit low yet seemed to have reached his brother, even Vivi was cheering him on,

"I'm a lot clumsy, weak, irresponsible, and I also hate being around so many people, yet you always support me. 

Without you, I might have shut myself from the world. 

I can't thank you enough..." 

Everyone seemed to be shocked by Theodore's words. Nicholas had a jawdropping expression and Merida seemed like she could pass out any moment. 

No one had ever seen him expressing so openly. 

Vivi's eyes were shining, she looked like a proud mother, 

"I can't possibly give you anything worthy yet, and this is all I could think of. 

Have a very happy birthday brother Nic."

.

.

...

A brief moment of silence eloped everyone. 

Evan and Jason were looking at each other in shock, Merida had already choked herself and others had blank expressions. 

"So many words at a time, and what words? 

Of gratitude! 

Guards!! 

Did we miss an oracle or did the sun rise from the west?

Guards, Go, find out. My son who's always running away from his brother's responsible eyes feels that much about him. 

God, Jason I can now leave the rest in your hands and get going." 

He burst into tears. 

"Father it's rude to talk like that about someone's confession. 

But for real, I'm also grateful to have you as a brother too. 

Believe me or not, even Merida thinks that way too." 

Nicholas replied with a smile on his face. 

"That was scary, and hell I don't give a piece about you brat." Merida somehow managed to reply with a choked voice to which everyone burst out in laughter. 

Theodore on the other hand was turned cherry red from embarrassment and was heads down. 

"There there, 

that wasn't difficult, right? 

You can do such things if you try. 

Brother Nicholas, why don't you unwrap the gift he gave you?" Vivi asked Nicholas while patting Theodore on his head. 

"Such a treasure.

I can’t open waste it!” He replied 

“Just open it!” Merida shouted from across the table, she was excited as well but didn’t really show such emotion.

“I can hardly contain myself with excitement. Father may I…." 

Before he could finish Evan laughed and interrupted saying 

"Haha let us see as well, what has gifted our… 'Former Crown Prince'.

.

.

…

That last word seemed to have killed the mood. The air got heavier and tense. 

Theodore abruptly stood up and ran out of the hall, followed by Nicholas and Vivian. 

"Father, 

you know it better than anyone. 

Then why keep taunting him?" Merida's anger was clearly visible. 

"Evan, it's always better to just let the past go and move on. 

You more than anyone knows that better, don’t you?

Why stay stuck? And you know he is not ready yet!" Jason asked in a serious tone. 

Other guests were startled as most of them couldn't grasp the things happening. 

"Someday, the truth will haunt him, 

isn't it better to be prepared? 

One simply just can't escape his destiny. 

Jason, the Oracle has spoken. We must not ignore the call." Evan calmly answered while finishing his meal. 

"And it's a bad omen to storm off the meal too, kids these days…" Saying this, Evan got up from the seat and addressed the guests, 

"People, if you'll excuse me for a moment.

My friend here will host you in my absence for the time being. I apologize for the interruption though.”

He then turned to Jason, “I'm counting on you, forgive me this time. 

Guards, get someone to deliver Theodore's meal to his room." 

.

The awkwardness could be seen clearly written on the face of Jason as he abruptly put a piece of meat in his mouth which everyone in the hall saw him doing.

 After addressing The King seemed to head towards the balcony. 

"How long has it been Lira? 

Yet the kids aren't ready. 

I hope everything turns out fine." Evan murmured looking at the starry sky with a sigh.