The Cursed Prince

Finally, Killian spoke up. His voice sounded bitter.

"It's too late."

Mars was shocked when he heard him. Too late? How?

Did something happen to the Bellevars?

"Why is it too late?" he asked Killian.

"Duchess Bellevar passed away last year and her husband was so heartbroken that he lost his mind," Killian replied. "No amount of apologies could bring them back."

Mars was stunned at Killian's words. So.. the duchess was dead and her husband went mad?

How sad.

"They were very old already," Killian added. "It's just too bad that they spent their last days in exile and suffer."

Mars could imagine the old couple must have suffered a lot and he felt really sorry for them.

"Where is the duke now? I can bring him back to live with his relatives," he asked Killian. "At least they could take care of him in his old age."

"He wouldn't want to leave Winternere, because that's where his wife is buried. You better just leave them be and forget about the past," said Killian. "That's my advise."

Mars sighed. He knew Killian was right. So, the chance for him to make peace between their two families was gone now.

So, what about the witch? Surely the witch must be old by now, just like the Bellevars. Was she still a threat to his family?

Didn't Ellena say the Bellevar wanted peace and had been trying to beg the witch to lift her curse? They asked Ellena's help to convince the witch by giving her the direction on how to find the witch.

If Ellena really did convince the witch, as she said, by working for her and killing someone for the witch, maybe the price was already paid?

"Did the witch threaten to punish Ellena if she reveals her location?" Mars finally decided to ask Killian. "Is that why Ellena is so stubborn and doesn't want to tell me where the witch lives?"

Killian shook his head. "That, I don't know. I only took Lady Ellena to the mountain where the witch lived. I never saw her. I never saw Lady Ellena for years after the event."

"Oh..."

Mars looked at Killian intently to assess if he was telling the truth. It looked like Killian had no reason to lie about the witch.

So, maybe.. the answer still lay with Ellena.

Mars wanted to ask the man more, seeing that Killian had started to 'cooperate' by talking to him. However, a knock on the door distracted his mind.

He turned around and walked to the door. He knew no mere servants or soldiers would dare to interrupt him. So, this might be someone important.

"Honey?" Mars was surprised to see Emmelyn outside the room. She looked calmer than before, even though her face still showed an expression of distraught.

"They said my brother is held here," Emmelyn blurted.

"I thought you are asleep?" Mars asked her. He quickly looked around to see a maid to help Emmelyn, but he didn't see any. "When did you wake up?"

"I had a really bad dream, so I woke up," Emmelyn replied. She poked her head inside the room and forcefully tried to see what's in there. Mars couldn't stop her so he stepped back and let her in.

"Do you want to talk, just the two of you?" he asked Emmelyn. 

He felt confident that Killian wouldn't be able to do anything to Emmelyn since he was chained. Mars would just pull a chair near the door and ask Emmelyn to sit there while she talked to Killian, so there would be a distance between them.

He thought Killian would want to open up to Emmelyn since he might know her. Like Mars had thought before, he might be Emmelyn's brother who was trying to hide his identity, and if not, he must know Emmelyn as a princess from Wintermere.

"Can I?" Emmelyn looked at Mars, looking grateful. She badly needed to talk to her brother in private, so she would know what happened to him all these years. If Mars insisted to be there, Kiliian might never talk to her and admit his identity.

"Of course you can," said Mars with a smile. He pulled a chair from the corner of the room and led her to sit there. "However, I hope you don't mind if I asked you to promise me, you will sit here and not try to get close to him. I am worried about your safety. Okay, honey?"

He looked at Emmelyn pleadingly and begged her with his eyes to understand his concern. At the moment, he didn't trust Killian at all.

Actually, he would prefer not to let Emmelyn talk to Killian in private at all, but he wanted Emmelyn to get her closure and immediately make sure if this man was really her brother or not before the king came.

He trusted his wife would do the right thing. He would just let the door open and wait outside to watch what was going on between Emmelyn and Killian.

Emmelyn's gaze caught sight of the chain on Killian's leg and she bit her lip. This was her brother, a prince of Wintermere, and not only that, he was also supposed to be the future king of Glasswell in a few years if he ended up marrying Princess Llewellyn, his fiancee.

However, look at him now, chained to window railings, like a criminal.

Oh, how far their family had fallen.

"Thank you." Emmelyn nodded. She sat gracefully on the chair provided and took a deep breath. She tried not to focus her attention on the chain.

Mars rubbed her back and then left Emmelyn alone with Killian. He opened the door wide so he could see what was going on, but he kept his distance far enough so he wouldn't hear anything Emmelyn and Killian talked about.

He would just rely on their expressions to see if they were indeed relatives. Slowly, he started to feel convinced that Killian was indeed Emmelyn's brother.

But if Killian was really Killian Rosehill, Emmelyn's brother, that means... the Rosehills must have known Duke and Duchess Bellevar. 

Unless Killian was lying about that too.