The Hidden King's Stolen Wife
Chapter 77: Shades of Green I

Chapter 77: Shades of Green I

Soleia looked over Reitan anxiously, trying to see if he was hiding any injuries from the earlier confrontation. Her poor brother was so terrified that he was shaking like a leaf. The moment they returned to his room, he had slammed the door shut and tucked himself underneath his blankets, shivering.

"Reitan, there’s no need to fear any longer," Soleia said soothingly. She rubbed his head, messing up his fluffy hair. "I’m here to protect you."

Reitan stared at her with wide terrified eyes. "No! You can’t fight Florian and the scary man!"

"Sir Ralph isn’t scary," Soleia said, before recalling that Reitan saw Sir Ralph control a ball of his own blood with so much ease. That would have frightened any child, least of all Reitan, who was born more cautious and timid than most. "Well, he is sometimes, but he is on our side. He would never hurt us."

Reitan gave her a dubious look. "Sister, I don’t trust him. His eyes keep changing color."

"You mentioned it before. What do you think his eye color is then?"

"It’s sometimes brown, sometimes green." Reitan shook his head and shuddered. "It’s weird. No one should be able to change their eye color like that, unless... unless they are a dark creature!"

Soleia truly wanted to be supportive, but at Reitan’s words, a snort escaped her lips. Reitan stared at her, his lower lip wobbling at the sudden betrayal.

"Sister is mocking me too? Sister thinks I’m lying?" Reitan’s eyes began to fill with tears, and Soleia began to panic, hastily trying to assure her younger brother that she was not laughing at him.

"No, no, I’m not mocking you," Soleia said. "But I highly doubt Sir Ralph is a dark creature. He has been nothing but kind to me. More importantly, I’ve never seen his eyes change color."

"Sister thinks I’m lying? I saw his eyes change color this morning at breakfast!" Reitan began to sniffle and Soleia groaned to herself.

"No, not lying, but perhaps you were too tired since you didn’t sleep well," Soleia said, quickly changing the subject. "After all, weren’t you outside looking for me in the middle of the night? Reitan, isn’t that dangerous? What if you fell and hurt yourself with no one knowing?"

Reitan sulked as Soleia pointed out his actions. "I wanted to look for you, but then they told me you hadn’t arrived. When you arrived, Father forced me to take another ice bath so I fell ill again. By the time I recovered, it was already late at night..."

"Oh Reitan..." Soleia sighed and hugged him. "I know you care a lot about me, but it’s still dangerous. What if Florian caught you sneaking around outside and hurt you?"

At Florian’s name, Reitan’s face grew paler. "I won’t do it again."

"Good boy," Soleia said. "And Sir Ralph is a good man, no matter his eye color. He saved us from Florian, and he has helped me out of a lot of tight spots. If not for him, your sister won’t be sitting in front of you now talking to you. So make sure you’re polite to him, okay? Don’t call him a scary monster."

"I won’t," Reitan said obediently with a nod. "I’m not like stupid Desmond, who always says the wrong thing. He called me a pansy!"

"That was rude of him," Soleia agreed, biting the inside of her cheeks so she wouldn’t laugh out loud. A sharp knock at the door thankfully distracted them.

"Princess Soleia, Prince Reitan, are you alright in here? Do let me know if you need anything," Rafael’s voice came from the other end of the door. Reitan froze and Soleia shot him a reassuring glance.

"We’re both fine, because of your timely interference," Soleia said, opening the door to invite him in.

Thanks to Reitan’s words, she found herself paying special care to Sir Ralph’s eyes. They were a beautiful emerald green, without any hint of brown. She sighed internally; Reitan must have been confused this morning.

"We siblings can only thank you. Isn’t that right, Reitan?"

Reitan nodded dumbly before he scrambled off his bed. To Soleia’s surprise, he unearthed a painting from under his bed.

"This is a gift, as thanks," Reitan said shyly. His eyes darted once to Sir Ralph’s face before he focused on the floor.

"Why thank you," Rafael said, pleasantly bemused at his thank-you gift.

He examined the painting. To his delight, it was a watercolor painting of Princess Soleia! He couldn’t help but reach out a finger to touch the painting’s face, marveling at how the young prince had managed to capture her smiling expression.

"You have great talents in the arts, young prince. This looks incredible, your command of watercolor paint is far ahead of your peers. Are you sure you should be giving this to me?"

Reitan’s nose scrunched up, but he nodded reluctantly. "Yes. I have others."

"You have more?" Rafael exclaimed in delight. "How impressive! Might I see them?"

Reitan, sensing he had a supporter, hurriedly ran over to his cupboard, where he began to pull out scroll after scroll of paintings.

Meanwhile, Soleia choked in embarrassment. "Reitan, you drew so many pictures of me?"

"I missed you," Reitan said simply before his eyes turned panicked. "Does... does Sister not like it?"

"No, no, I’m very happy that you continued painting," Soleia said quickly. Poor Reitan must have been so lonely in her absence that he used these paintings to get by. She could spot some of her other sisters in the paintings, but the bulk of them featured her. Sometimes, Reitan included a dead dragon behind her.

Rafael pointed to it and laughed, amused. "I like this one."

"The dragon represents her husband," Reitan explained.

"The dragon is dead though," Rafael pointed out.

"Exactly," Reitan said with a childish pout and Rafael wanted to cackle at his honest audacity. "It’s all his fault Sister had to leave. And I heard from the servants he’s marrying some other woman too. I should draw more paintings of him dying," Reitan decided firmly.

"Reitan, this isn’t very polite of you." Soleia scolded. She decided to change the topic. "How about painting Sir Ralph here, since he kindly rescued us earlier."

Rafael considered it and nodded. As such, Rafael settled on the floor, as Reitan prepared his paints and easel. Soleia helped him put on his robe so that paints wouldn’t splatter on him.

"Sorry if it’s not so accurate," Reitan addressed Rafael.

Nothing would have prepared him for the next words out of the young boy’s mouth.

"I don’t have the right shade of green for your eyes."