* EMBER ELLIOT ELYSIAN *

"Mother, this one is too heavy with all the jewels and gems," I said, examining the majestic vest that was placed in my bed by my step-mother. All the gold, gems and stones attached to it were shining, sparkling and almost blinding me. I had a headache just by staring at it for a few moments.

She let out an exasperated sigh, her shoulders slumped. "Seventeenth. This is the seventeenth time you have rejected your vest,"

My eyebrows rose in surprise as I protruded out my lower lip. 

"We have been choosing for you for more than a week and nothing seems to satisfy you or attract your attention," she said, licking her lips, strands of her black hair falling on her eyes.

"Can I not just wear a shirt and be done with it?" I asked stupidly.

My step-mother looked at me like I just asked if my father detests the Ezèrian or not - a question that is bound to have a negative answer.

"It is your amalgamation! Hundreds of royals are going to be present - there is no way you can just present yourself there wearing this!" she grimaced while pointing towards my half-buttoned poet shirt, the sleeves tugged down as much as I could pull them.

She cut me off before I could tell her I was just joking and she should calm down before she took the rejected vest aggressively and said, "I am sending another one - you are to be done with choosing your vest today!" she ordered strictly, turning around, her long red tulle lace dress flowing by the back, sliding down the floor as she left while mumbling, "The boy is getting married and he still speaks like a kid!"

Her anger seemed to vanish into thin air in no time when she walked out of my chamber and met Erin on the way, the very Erin who seemed too intoxicated to even utter mere simple words last night, the very Erin who made my journey anything but easy, the very Erin who looked too sober to be accused of consuming intoxicating substance during work hours right now.

I leaned against the folding screen right beside me, watching her amusingly as she tried to explain to the Queen why her royal pendant was missing. She saw me watching her and using her eyes, she pleaded me to help her.

I smiled at her.

Last night, after talking with father, I was too tired to check up on Erin, to look after her and see if she was doing alright. I ended up rushing to my chamber, tears about to be spilled, and before I knew it I had fallen asleep with the door facing my back.

So, when Erin suddenly arrived, dressed in her perfect uniform, her sleeves pulled down like mine, her hair in a small bun, (making me instantly realise that it was her who did it) looking well and fine but a little tired, I couldn't help but just be relieved, thankful that she was okay last night and was in her right state of mind right now.

With her eyes fixed in me, begging me to help her, she almost looked adorable to me and I sighed before walking towards my step-mother, my lies all ready without thinking much.

Ever since Erin arrived, I had gotten ridiculously good at lying and I no longer had to take advices from Ace to lie - I became a natural liar due to practicing it continuously for mostly Erin and surviving. Even my own lies tasted like truth in my tongue, which, sometimes surprised me but not any more.

"Mother," I said, stepping forward and earning her attention while Erin widened her eyes, surprised and mouthed a thank you. "Is something wrong?"

"It seems like she lost her pendant. I was asking her about it," she said while gazing at Erin's empty neck, her eyebrows furrowed, disappointed.

"Oh, no no," I argued immediately, waving my hands in the air. "it's my fault. She didn't lose it," I said, laughing. "She was robbed while running errands for me," I explained, making sure my voice only held veracity and not the opposite of it. "It happened yesterday."

She raised her plucked eyebrows in surprise, about to say something but I cut her off.

"It's alright - I have already called for a jeweller, she will be here soon," I smiled as she dismissed herself after having a small talk with Erin and leaving us alone.

"Well?" I said, a smile playing on my lips as I noticed her cheeks flushing red, which was kind of odd. "You were quite a mess last night."

My comment seemed to make her reddened more as she shook her head and glared at me. "I didn't say anything weird last night, did I?"

"I don't know about saying weird things, but you did do some weird things," I said, enjoying this. It was rare for Erin to be like this - embarrassed, not having enough remarks to throw at me so I decided to take advantage of this golden moment and enjoy every minute of it.

She bit her lower lip and I also noticed how she was gripping her dress in embarrassment. "Like what?" Even while being flustered, her voice seemed to be firm and rigid.

"Like asking me to give you the permission to eat my horses tail, suddenly having an urge to give Ira a welcome back hug, calling Keith by anything but his name, taking a peaceful nap in a Princess' bed without her consent, violating palace etiquettes and some other things that I can't seem to remember," I smiled, making sure to not say anything about the time when she asked me about the Mark - I wanted her to forget about it completely.

Erin swallowed, staggering her steps, being the dramatic creature that she was as she shook her head. She let out a nervous laugh, a whimper would be more fitting, though. "Oh God," she sighed, licking her lips. "Yeah, so . . ."

"The drinks. . ." she searched for some words but it maybe because of her headache she couldn't find a proper excuse. "They were too enchanting. And I felt like I was being pulled towards them!" she defended herself, raising her eyebrows as an emphasis.

"I thought the pendant wasn't much of worth so I-"

"Sold it, bought booze and then drank until you lost your already-lost mind?" I finished for her, tilting my head.

She looked down, shame radiating off of her small nod.

"I wasn't being too much of a problem, was I?" she asked, her head still bent down, her voice soft, almost making me feel sorry.

"No, you were not," this wasn't how I wanted this to end - by forgiving her so easily and not even questioning her properly or at least without reprimanding her.

But my complains and reprimands couldn't stand a chance against her one fragile voice.

She looked up, bored her eyes into mine, her amber eyes shining and finding this sudden happiness that I wasn't really expecting.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" I asked suspiciously, hoping she remembered anything but how she was asked about her Mark.

Her answer was quick. "No, I don't. Everything is just too hazy and it hurts my head,"

I sighed in relief.

The truth has to wait more.

"Well?" she began, pursing her lips, her hands behind her back. "How did it go? The negotiation with the Princess?"

"After nearly risking my life, revealing all my secrets, she agreed to join me and break the alliance,"

She made a surprised face. "Is she that friendly?"

"The most amiable person you will ever meet." I grinned.

"And you told her you're an Ezérian? How did she take that?"

"Not very pleasantly, I'll say. She was about to take my life,"

"You guys were fighting?"

I paused, hesitant to say that no, we were not fighting and my protection saved me from her wrath, that due to my protection spell, no soul can harm me - be it a dangerous princess or a god.

"Yes," I said, my voice calm and reserved. "We knocked down each other with our swords and all."

"Damn, that must have been a sight worth watching!" she cursed under her breath, clenching her jaw.

"Tell me - the princess, is she pretty?"

Not more than you.

it wasn't much of a surprise to me when Erin asked me that and the fact she was more curious about Vivianne's beauty rather than how the whole journey went.

"She's like any other princesses - moody, bratty, insolent, lacking basic manners and-"

"Ah, yes yes. I forgot you aren't in the best terms with the Princess."

I smiled.

~~~

After telling Erin everything about the journey, making sure I didn't speak anything about how she nearly figured out the meaning of the Mark in her wrist and her gasping every time I said something bewildering, I was making my way to the court when I suddenly caught a glimpse of Ace making walking to father's chamber.

Now, there were two astonishing things happening right now - one, Ace getting out of his chamber by his own will and two, him going to father's chamber, something that only happened once in a lifetime because I had never seen Ace going to father's chamber - not even when it was necessary, not even when he needed him.

He always told me it reminded him of mother, how she was hanging there that day - it reminded him too much of her and he never comprehended how father was still staying there, every night, every day without remembering her.

It wasn't a puzzle to him only, even I found it baffling and maybe cruel how he never remembered her like I did every time I stepped into his eerie and ominous chamber, how he never talked about her but he always had a remnant of her around his neck, how he pretended like she never existed in the first place, how he never tried to find out how she actually died and how he never did anything to stop the rumours about her death.

So, when Ace had walked into father's chamber like that, so rigidly, his face firm and lacking emotions, I knew I had to eavesdrop their conversation.

I strode towards his chamber, making sure my footsteps were light and no sound came from them as he entered the chamber and slightly closed the door behind him, giving me the best chance to eavesdrop without any hampers.

I pressed myself against the wall beside the door, my body pressed tightly against it, giving no chance to be seen as I waited for them to begin their conversation.

"Father," Ace said, his voice deeper than usual and kind of intimidating.

Father's face must've displayed astonishment when he saw Ace entering his chamber as he said, "Well, if this isn't you entering my chamber, Ezèkiel," I could sense him smiling.

"Does it still remind you of that woman?" father asked and suddenly, all the sweetness just dissolved into the air as only abhor came out of his words when he talked about my mother. "You are still not lingering in the past, are you?"

"I am not," Ace said firmly, his words sharp, calculated and I wondered why he was being like that. "Which is why I am here - to have a talk with you."

"Well, what is it?" Even father was curious, like me as I waited for Ace to speak.

Silence.

It was oddly quiet - the atmosphere serene yet unsettling and I didn't realise I was curling my toes in nervousness about what Ace was about to say. It was odd, me being anxious about what he was about to say - it wasn't even about me, then why the anxiousness?

Is it because I could feel something was about to happen? My intuitions were telling me that this harmless conversation was about to go somewhere unexpected.

I heard something being dragged inside the chamber, making me guess perhaps a chair as someone sat there, most probably father and that was when Ace finally spoke and I felt my heart beating faster than usual.

"I want to talk about my title," he declared and I frowned, getting closer to the door, wanting to make sure I didn't hear anything wrong.

Even father, who always had an answer ready, took his precious time to register what his eldest son just spewed out of his mouth.

"Your title as the Crown Prince?" father finally asked, his voice holding uncertainty.

"Yes," Ace replied and the next thing he said was something both father and I wasn't expecting. "I want you to discrown me." It wasn't even a request, or a permission - it felt like an outright order - from the future King to the present King.

Another Silence - this one loud and unbearable, almost slicing the atmosphere until Father cleared his throat and using his dark and dangerous voice which was enough to raise the hair of anyone's body, he said, "And why this sudden irrational rash decision, Ezèkiel?" he said Ace's name like it was something hateful.

"I do not think it is rash or irrational. I have given enough thoughts about this decision," Ace replied without hesitation.

"I asked why do you want to be removed from your title," he was getting upset.

I heard Ace letting out a tired sigh before speaking. "I have been handling court matters, political affairs, attending events, meeting princesses and everything a Prince should do, doing everything a stable Crown Prince should do-" he paused and that was when Ace's voice began weakening.

"But father. . ." he said, his voice suddenly softening, like it wasn't holding so much firmness and coldness just a while ago, like a lost boy, he called out to his father as a last option. "Those things - none of them make me happy."

"I was not happy when I became the King. My crown had the blood of my family - so did my hand as I placed it on my head," my father said, talking to himself more than Ace.

"You are the Crown Prince - the future king of Elysia. You became the Crown Prince two years ago, discrowning you is not that simple," father said, leaving no room to argue but Ace had set his mind and even in his childhood, whenever he set his mind into achieving something, he would get it and it didn't matter to him how. And this situation wasn't any exception.

"But father. . ." he began. "Being a king is not for me. I don't think I can spend rest of my life sitting on a throne, producing heirs and ordering around people. That's. . . that's not me. That's not who I want to be," his voice was still weak and so opposite from earlier.

"You are the eldest one and they don't have choices - they only have responsibilities."  This was his curt answer.

After hearing that from him, I walked away, no longer interested in their conversation. This conversation would be a long one, considering how both father and Ace were stubborn and if Ace really managed to make father discrown him, that could mean only one thing:

I, an Ezèrian, will inherit the throne.

****

a/n: [ random fact: ace's name means one, unity ]

do lemme know what you think of this chapter and if you support ace's decision  <3