Chapter 6

Princess Lyra Belle de Anemoi
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"What does that mean?"

Dylan inquired eagerly. Before Lyra could reply, Delilah came forward,

"Mighty sorry to disturb you both but breakfast is here. Princess Astrid and Sir Xavier are waiting for you."

"We will be right there."

Dylan stated before turning back to Lyra. It seems he wasn't going to let her go without hearing her answer.

"Why do you desire me to become the Queen? What's in it for you?"

Lyra mumbles, with dull eyes.

"Nothing. I merely desire you to be happy. And I equally know you remain the ideal choice. The exclusive choice to help your Kingdom."

"....they are doing well without me. Let's just go."

Lyra passes by him and opens the door when Dylan grabs her arm softly and whispers tenderly,

"You can request help. If you require it. Whenever you desire it. You know I am here for you, right? If you require someone to talk to. I am here for you."

"....I know..."

Lyra mumbles before leaving without barely looking at him.

After breakfast, all four of them talked merrily about various pleasant things. It was after such a long time that Astrid and Lyra were having fun over breakfast. Their pleasant talks went on till noon. Time goes by livelier and more quickly when you are having fun.

Just as they realized how much time had unanimously passed, Nabal's longtime aide had come to get Lyra since Nabal was calling her into his office.

Lyra first gets surprised as to why he would be calling her. However, at that time it clicked with her that it must be about the trade talks. Glancing at Dylan, she gets up to leave. Dylan too gets up and decides to go with her.

"Why are you following me?"

"Just because."

Dylan shrugged and smiled brightly.

Sighing gently, Lyra also inwardly smiled as they both walked towards the grand palace.

As they were entering the administration building, Hubris saw them quickly come towards them.

He happily greets both of them and inquires Dylan,

"You left the party early last night. I sincerely hope you had a good time."

"Yes, I naturally tend to sleep early which is why I took my leave first."

"Where are you both going now? Can I join you?"

"Uncle Nabal called me into his private office."

Lyra explained his question. At her answer, Hubris narrows his astonished gaze,

"You? Why?"

Lyra doesn't reply. Seeing that Dylan also deems it unnecessary to answer him.

Humming as if thinking, Hubris puts on a cheerful smile and adds,

"I'll go with you. I retain something to talk to about with father."

"You may not. It's a private matter and only authorized personnel is allowed to enter."

The aide of Nabal finally spoke up. This angered Hubris as he retorts fiercely,

"What private matter? It's just her and father."

"I'm sorry, but you may meet Duke Nabal at another time."

After a brief pause Hubris replies,

"Fine."

The chief aide goes inside to escort Dylan and Lyra. As Lyra walked past Hubris, he scrunches his crooked nose and whispers,

"Don't act too mighty and get your hopes us."

Squinting her eyes, Lyra was about to respond to something, but he went away.

Observing this, Dylan whispered to Lyra,

"What did he profess?"

"...nothing."

She instantly dismisses it however Dylan intuitively understands that he did say something offensive.

Duke Nabal simply hands Lyra all the necessary documents and wishes her good luck.

Lyra on the way back was smiling to herself as she peruses all the documents with interest. Seeing her so excited, Dylan chuckles thinking 'how cute.'

He then blurts out,

"Can I respectfully ask you something? Be frank with me."

"Yes!"

She smilingly replies without realizing her gentle voice was in high pitch because of how excited she felt

"Why don't you want to become the queen?"

Heeding his question, turned Lyra's expression darkened, she muttered in response,

"I..... what's so good about being a queen?"

"Father told me you were really interested in political affairs and were really good at handling them despite being so young."

"Well, I used to. But I've found that it's better to get away from this hell as quietly as possible."

"Therefore you are going to just give up on you people?"

"...I doubt they even know I exist."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that. Just go outside. Meet your people and see."

"Its not only that.....being a queen is....lonely..."

Her last word was a mere inaudible whisper

"Lonely?....Lyra..."

Dylan spoke softly. It was the first time that since they met that he had been calling her Lyra. Otherwise, he had been affectionately referring to her as Princess casually just for innocent fun. Lyra was aware of this fact which is why she was delightfully surprised to hear her name.

However, the moment becomes forcibly broken when Hubris calls out Lyra by her name and comes towards them.

"Lyra! Lyra! There you are!"

This irritates Dylan because his personal time with Lyra was interrupted. Moreover, he still wasn't used to how Hubris can just call her by her name so casually.

Hubris enthusiastically greets Dylan and frantically asks,

"What were you both talking about? It looked pretty serious."

Irked, Dylan bluntly replies,

"We were discussing the matters regarding the trade discussions."

Genuinely surprised, Hubris casts a brief look at Lyra and then offensively comments,

"Why with her? It's not her job."

"Not her job? If it's not the job of the future queen of this kingdom, then whose job is it?"

Dylan retorted back. The irritation could be identified from his voice as Dylan looked threateningly at Hubris who seemed oblivious to Dylan's harsh glares.

Shrugging, Hubris states chuckling grimly,

"She's not the future queen yet. Am I right, Lyra?"

"Well...."

Lyra didn't disagree because he is proclaiming the truth but she takes note of the look on Dylan's face which advises her to say no. This perplexes her.

"Stop it, Hubris."

An unfamiliar voice calls out. This voice belonged to the first cousin, Wily who was walking towards them

"But I didn't mention anything wrong, brother. Did I?"

Hubris still acted oblivious. In contrast to his negative attitude, Wily was more upright and advised his brother,

"Learn to retain manners."

"Whatever, I didn't assert anything rude."

Ignoring Hubris, Wily turns to Dylan and says,

"Mother has called your highness for lunch."

Dylan straight away replies,

"I do not eat lunch but thank you for the offer."

He was clearly trying to avoid them.

However, Hubris keeps on insisting,

"You have to eat, your highness. Mother and Karen specially prepared this lunch for you. I assisted them too. We heartily wish you would join us. You didn't even join us for breakfast. We want to sincerely apologize for waking up late and not having breakfast with you. Please do come. It will be our honor."

"Damn, I can't even forcefully say no."

Dylan grumbles in his mouth which none of them was able to hear. He then looks hard at Lyra expectingly wondering if she was coming or not. Without waiting, he blurts out his thoughts and requests her,

"Will you be joining us or not?"

Politely smiling, Lyra sways her head,

"No...I am not famished."

"You don't have to eat that much but still do join us."

Dylan gently insisted. Internally in his mind, he did not want to deal with Medea and her kids. He wanted Lyra to come with him which is why he hoped that in some possible way, Lyra would be able to read his mind and come with him. However, it seems their telepathy seems not to be working as Lyra continued to politely reject the offer.

However, noting how Dylan keeps asking Lyra, Hubris turns to her,

"Don't worry, come on. You should eat as well. Mother has adequately prepared a huge feast. Sister made delicious desserts. You should try it. Come on."

"Thank you so much for the offer but I am also sort of exhausted. I would like to rest for a bit."

Strong as a rigid wall, Lyra kept on rejecting them.

"Lyra, please do come. It'll be for a short while."

Wily requests after which Lyra at length agrees.

"Alright."

This genuinely surprises Dylan as he didn't think she would voluntarily agree. Perhaps she agreed because it was Wily who requested her to come. Was she particularly close with Wily? But he hasn't seen them both spend a lot of time together. Still, the fact that she conceded to his words only, why did it irritate him so much?

At lunch, Karen was fashionably dressed in a beautiful golden feather gown. It looked far fancier than the one she wore, at last, night's ball.

Moreover, everyone barely touched the lunch. They were all busily bombarding Dylan with hundreds of direct questions about his choices in clothes, colors, furniture, and food. Even though growing up as a prince, Dylan was used to talking to multiple people at once however this current situation made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He sneaked a look at Lyra who was sitting in the other corner of the room with Wily. They looked busy talking about something.

"You know we are meticulously planning on holding a farewell party for the Prince."

"He barely got here and you are preparing it so soon?"

"Mother demands it to be as grand as possible. Will you be staying longer this time?"

"I am not quite sure."

Chuckling at her response Wily adds,

"I know what you mean. It's tiring for me as well but we have to attend. Let's hope the party is as interesting as Lady Gwen's party. No other function has topped that one."

"The one where Lionel got drunk and puked?"

"No no, the one where Roger got drunk and kissed Willow thinking he was his wife Hailey."

Upon Wily's words, Lyra recalled the scene and burst out laughing. Her laughter went a little louder than she had expected. This made everyone's attention turn toward her. Especially Dylan. Curiosity was killing him. He wanted to know what they both were talking about. Even though he knows Wily and Lyra are cousins, he couldn't help but feel irritated. What irked him more was the fact that ever since he came here, Lyra has not once laughed like that with him.

"I was wondering, your highness. Are you perhaps engaged?"

Medea's question diverts Dylan's attention back to his situation.

"No."

"Doesn't Helios have the tradition of being engaged at a young age?"

"Not quite. Everyone is free to have their own engagements whenever they feel like it."

Karen inquires,

"Then are you not planning on getting married?"

"I haven't thought of it yet since I will only be turning 20 this year."

Shrugging, Karen waves her hand in the air and responds,

"So? In this time and age, people most often tend to get married quite quickly. And no one cares about the age gap. Having a 10 or 20-year age gap is normal. Although for me, I prefer an age gap of 4 years."

She grinned at him. Dylan knew where this was going. Karen turned 16 this year. He internally sighs before Medea adds,

"You will marry one day or another, right? Therefore don't you have any ideas in mind that what are you looking for in a lady?"

"No."

Dylan firmly replied quickly.

"Your highness, your birthday is also coming up. Are you planning on having a huge party?"

Hubris asked, making Dylan thank him in his mind for changing the topic.

"I haven't decided yet."

"Now that I think about it, the royal family of Helios has never invited us to their parties. Why is that so?"

Medea inquires to which Dylan smirks and replies,

"What makes you think that? As far as I know, we have always sent out invitations for the Princesses on every occasion."

He emphasized the word Princesses deliberately and notes Lyra flinch upon his words. Her face showed a bewildered expression as if this was the first she was hearing about it.

"Oh my! That's the first I'm hearing about it"

Medea exclaimed and added,

"Maybe the letters got mixed up or lost in the process, I'll have to ask my husband about it."

"I hope you find the reasons soon."

Karen then changes the subject slightly and asks,

"I had my 16th birthday last month. Why didn't you attend?"

"Now that I think about it, you haven't attended any of our functions either."

Hubris added to which Medea nods and questions,

"Did perhaps your invitations got lost as well, your highness?"

"Oh no, it's just that we never got any invitation from the princesses. If we had, we were sure to attend."

Dylan replies. This time once again deliberately pressing hard on the word Princesses.

This makes Karen grit her teeth in response as Lyra shot Dylan a look. She knew Dylan was deliberately saying these words.

Just then the maid claims that should she serve the tea.

Medea turns to Dylan, smiling,

"Please join us for tea as well."

Dylan however was not falling into their words again. He got up quickly and remarked,

"I have some work to do and can't stay for much longer."

Medea retorts,

"Alright. When you come back, then we can have tea."

Dylan shakes his head,

"It's fine. I will have tea with Crown Princess Lyra while we discuss our work. I quite enjoyed the tea she made by herself last time for me."

Grinning, Dylan turns to Lyra who in turn was startled by his unexpected words. He motions her to get up which she reflexively does. And that's when they leave.

For some reason on the way back, Lyra couldn't stop giggling. This made Dylan laugh and inquire,

"Why are you so happy about it?"

"Not happy. I am just amazed at the words you spoke. You really did not want to be there, did you?"

"I don't like those people."

Dylan firmly remarks.

Lyra chuckles and adds,

"But they seem to be overly fond of you."

"Well......they're annoying."

"I see.....by the way, are you planning on following me all the way to the back?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"No"

They walked together like that laughing at talking when they reached the Palace Cantrelle (it was the palace where the Princesses stayed at).

Dylan then comments,

"I wasn't lying when I said I enjoyed your tea"

Laughing Lyra retorts,

"When have I ever made tea for you? I didn't even give you tea that day when I made breakfast for you. Therefore I was surprised when back then you said you enjoyed drinking the tea you made. When did you enjoy that?"

Smiling from ear to ear, Dylan remarks,

"Right now."

This makes Lyra giggle,

"Just say if you want to drink tea, I'll go make it."

"Thank you."

Dylan entered the Palace and he observed how quiet it was.

"Is no one here?"

Lyra puts her hair up in a ponytail and enters the Kitchen. Dylan follows after her.

"Sister has gone for her usual walk in the garden. Delilah and Mary are doing laundry right now."

Observing Lyra gather ingredients for tea, Dylan folds the corners of his shirt's arms upwards,

"I'll help you then."

"You? Making tea? Do you even know how to?"

She scoffs a laugh as Dylan takes the teapot from her hand,

"Remind you, I used to make my own food during Knight training, and that included tea as well."

"If you say so."

As they waited for the water to boil,

Dylan inquires,

"By the way, I have noted....you are comfortable with Wily. It seems like in the family, among you cousins, he seems to be the only one that supports you and takes your side."

Dylan's comments make Lyra burst out laughing. Her unusual response makes Dylan puzzled,

"It is only recently he has started doing that which is sort of surprising since...."

"Since?"

Lyra's facial expression sullens as she solemnly remarks,

"He is the worst one out of them all."

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Prince Dylan de Helios

❗️❗️❗️NOTE: ALL THE IMAGES used in this book are taken from the internet. If I know the artist or the owner of the picture then I have given credit to him/her. But remind you that these images were taken from the internet which is why I don't have credible sources for these images. If you want some reference then please use google.❗️❗️❗️