Recap -

"Good night, Your Majesty. Good night, Marines," Ally said before exiting the tent.
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After Nathan and Marina had finished eating their food, the two sat in silence staring at each other.

"You know Princess, you have to drink this tonic. So, stop staring at me and just finish it in a gulp," Nathan said while holding the glass containing the tonic.

"No, I am not going to drink this thing. I don't need it, I am really good without it. See, I can stand," Marina replied while standing with her best fake smile.

But the act lasted for two minutes only, after which she collapsed on the bed.

"Yes, you surely don't need it," Nathan answered sarcastically.

"Yes, I don't. Now keep that thing away from me."

"It won't bite you."

"But, it would taste really bad, sour and...I don't even know how to describe its taste," Marina argued back while wrinkling her nose in disgust at the sight of the tonic.

"Stop acting like a child and just drink it."

"No!!" Marina whined, covering her face with a pillow.

"Okay, fine don't. How about you drink orange juice, instead?"

"Then, I won't have to drink this tonic?" Marina asked, lowering her pillow from her face.

"No."

"Fine, then I will drink it."

Nathan went out of the tent to bring orange juice for Marina. After ten minutes, he returned with the orange juice, in his hand.

"Now, drink it," Nathan said while sitting beside Marina.

Marina reluctantly took the glass from Nathan's hand.

"Why are you sniffing it like a dog?"

"I was just making sure it is orange juice."

"And is it?"

"Seems so," Marina replied still suspicious of the juice.

"*Sigh* You know Princess, I did not know you could fight," Nathan continued when he saw Marina sipping her juice.

"Why so? You don't think women can fight? Ally are girls too and they also fight," Marina argued back.

"Its different, you are a Princess, an Ardimentoso Princess and no I am no one to point a finger at anyone's capability. Men or women, both are capable enough to fight. Their gender doesn't describe their capability. It's just men get more chance to showcase their talent, to fight and women don't. So, I was, still am really glad to know that you know sword fighting. If it were not for you, I don't think I would have stood a chance against twenty men. I think even our lovely kidnappers never expected you to know sword fighting," Nathan replied while laughing as he recalled the shocked faces of the kidnappers.

"My brother taught me sword fighting. Father and mother did not agree to it initially. But, eventually gave their consent. Though mother agreed only on certain conditions," Marina said while smiling as she recalled old sweet memories.

"What conditions?" Nathan asked curiously.

"Well, even before I started to learn sword fighting, I was never a calm kid, always running here and there and riding horses or doing some thing totally unrelated to the image of a girl in the eyes of the society. You know they expect girls to be shy, polite, submissive, always playing indoors with dolls in their hands. But, I was different, I preferred swords to dolls and I love nature. So, most of the time, I was playing outside. Well, my mother feared that she might end up raising a boy instead of a girl," Marina chuckled at the old memory.

"Well, the conditions were like, my whole day was to be divided in two halves. One half consisted of all the grooming classes that my mother set up for me and the other half was my free time. I could go and do whatever I wanted, including sword fighting."

"That's interesting," Nathan remarked while listening intently.

"You bet, it was," Marina replied sarcastically.

"Why this sarcasm?"

"Trust me, those classes that my mother made me take, were pure torture. Even Ally had to take them and on top of that, our weekly tests were taken. In case, we performed bad in any of them, the teaching hours of the classes were doubled."

"What kind of classes did you take?"

"All sorts of, my mother wanted to groom the three of us into perfect girls in the eyes of the society. So, from lectures on manners to formal dance classes, even stitching, basic medicinal practice and knowledge. Even, cooking classes were including," Marina replied while groaning as Nathan chuckled imagining Marina sulking during the classes.

"So, you can cook?"

"Only few dishes. But, don't tell that to my mother. In her knowledge, I can cook any dish on this planet."

"So, why does she think you can cook anything, when the reality is a bit opposite?"

"Okay, you see, I wasn't much of an interested kid in grooming classes, specifically during cooking classes. In fact, I struggled to stay awake. But, it's not my fault, whenever I tried to concentrate, it always felt like the words just touched my forehead and then bounced back," Marina replied, defending herself.

"So, how did you pass those weekly tests?"

"With the help of my brother and Ally."

"Your brother helped you in cooking classes?" Nathan asked shocked to know Prince Oliver knew how to cook.

"Actually, my brother and Ally did everything whilst I just stood at the side listening to their complaints of how much I am dependent on them," Marina replied while trying to suppress a smile but failing miserably.

"Wow, to make your brother cook, that deserves an applaud."

"Hey!! Don't say like that. My brother is a really nice person though he can be a bit intimidating. He loves me a lot and can do anything for me," Marina said, defending her brother.

"A bit? You are going easy on him," Nathan replied while remembering his conversations with Oliver.

"Shut up."

"Okay, sorry, I was just surprised to know my brother-in-law can cook. But, how did he know how to cook?"

"Ally used to make detail notes of every cooking class, which my brother used to study later."

"In place of you," Nathan added while chuckling.

"Hey, don't laugh. My brother helped me, but I helped him learn something new too," Marina argued back.

"Of course you did, Princess."

"You don't believe me?"

"I believe you and will never stop doing so," Nathan replied with sincerity oozing out from his words while not breaking Marina's gaze.

Nathan cleared his throat suddenly feeling the need to put some space between them while Marina's face still held traces of blush.

"Now, see during our talk, you didn't even notice even realize when you finished it," Nathan said while taking the now empty glass from Marina's hand and placing it on a nearby table.

"What's the big deal about it? Anyone can drink orange juice," Marina asked, laying down on the bed.

"Yeah, you are right," Nathan replied while getting under the blanket.

"Damn it! I was so near to revealing it was actually the tonic. If you had known it was the tonic, you would have skinned me alive. Good thing, I mixed orange juice or your sharp senses would have busted me. But, then again, the tonic was necessary for your health," Nathan muttered to himself while planting a kiss on the forehead of a sleeping Marina.

"Everything is fair in love and war, right?" Nathan's inner voice asked him.

"Yeah, but I don't love Marina. Though I do care for her as friend and also because she is my responsibility and besides this, I would have done this for anyone," Nathan argued back.

"Yeah, sure," Nathan's inner voice replied sarcastically.

"How can you even think of such ridiculous thing?" Nathan asked his voice.

"Because I am the inner voice of a ridiculous person," Nathan's inner voice replied coolly.

"Conceited much, aren't you?"

"You do realize that you are practically calling yourself conceited, right? Marina's right you are indeed an arrogant prince."

"Shut up."

"Deep down even you know what's the truth..." Nathan heard his inner voice's laughter before sleep overcame him.
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Hello dear readers!! This is the longest chapter till date.

So, firstly, this chapter is dedicated to an amazing friend, reader and photographer wajazhar8. Thank you so much for your support. Please do check out her work "My Photography" trust me, it will be worth it😊😊😊

Secondly, what did you think of Maran?

Till the next update, keep shining ;)

- Love Addy :)

P.S. Sorry for the long note above😫😫.