A man astray...
Ravine looks at her father with tears brimming in her eyes. The male was crying himself, Versalis has his arms aching and open for his daughter as she stood in shock of the information. Aaron hears it for the first time too, he was beyond sympathetic for the King of Eulandia.
"What...?"
"Do you not believe me...?" Asks Versalis.
Ravine in fact, did not want to perceive reality. She thought everything about him was fine and healthy, but she failed to see the loss of muscle on his bones, his cheeks drooping and wrinkles by the side of his eyes.
Jenna, her mother was weeping silently, a handkerchief over her mouth as the fabric absorbed her painful sobs. How cruel was life to them, it was taking his life away discerning the fact that he had so, so many things to do more.
"You're lying..." his hands fall down, the pain making him do so. Painstakingly, he addresses his daughter, "You still think I'm playing dirty tricks now, Ravine?"
"Yes." She with no hesitation agrees to his statement. Smiling sadly, Versalis nods his head and begins to leave.
"W-wait... your majesty—" Aaron calls him, but he shakes his head and stops him from saying anything further, "It's alright, son. My daughter doesn't want to listen to me. But tell her that I am dying and I'm dying leaving the kingdom to the fate of God. If there is anyone who will save our kingdom from the threats, then it's her. No one else."
Says Versalis with a strong will towards Ravine.
Something makes Ravine stirred in her morals. She suddenly sprints towards the old man and embraces him tightly, as if she would never hug him any other day. She sobs on her father's back, cursing at him for not telling her anything about it.
Versalis didn't address anything about his illness to his family. He knows they will want to take over, do things he couldn't imagine as betrayal.
"I will become the queen! I want to look after my people!" Screams the woman on his chest.
"Thank you... thank you..." full of emotions, Versalis kisses the crown of the short woman, "Thank you, my daughter. As for your question, I love both my kingdom and you equally. I'm their father as much as I was to you. I'm sorry that I couldn't be any better."
"I don't care anymore. We will spend the time left fruitfully... I don't want to hold anything against you. If anything, I'll curse at the sky later." As she says, the whole room turns gloomy.
Bawling their eyes out, the Queen approaches her little family whilst patting Ravine's back.
"You want to look after the people, huh? Someone said something like that in the past too. And here he is now, begging you to be the queen..."
"He wasn't begging me, mother." With a smile, Ravine wipes her tears and looks at her father.
"A King never begs." Says Ravine.
At the end of the day, news breaks out and the whole world was in shambles. The great and inspiring King of Eulandia was diagnosed with emphysema, he won't be alive anymore.
Suddenly, the world began talking about Ravine too. Versalis feared about this, he dreaded the mouths that spoke against Ravine and her passion.
However... as long as Aaron was alive and by her side, non dared to raise a word against the erotic script writer.
Three months later, The King of Eulandia takes his final breath in the City Hospital in New York.
Ravine was in shock of her father's departure.
She's grown so close to him over the past three months that she wasn't accepting the fact that he was gone. She thought he was only 'sleeping' and he will wake up soon...
Aaron was reminded of his own father's death two years ago. Vengeful of the disease taking away his father, he directed all the pain into killing his own betraying uncle and cousins.
The funeral ceremony was ended over tons of white flowers at his grave in Eulandia, people gave their condolences while Ravine refused to leave. The media, press and the people have all left, but the shattered family was still there.
"Ravine..." Aaron calls her out.
"My life's always been cruel, right?" She asks him with no expression.
"Was I not a happy incident for you?" As he says the words, Ravine looks at him with eyes full of genuine apologies. "You're the best accident of my life."
"Then let me weigh out your gloominess, Ravine. Come on, let's go back to the palace. It's about to go dark." Says Aaron, the girl was taken away as she forced her prayers out for her father.
As she comes back home, she couldn't stop talking about all the days when she and Versalis were bonded with happiness. So many instances resurface in her memory, Aaron listens to all of them with a smile, occasionally narrating his own.
"Oh," something was realised by her, "What is it?" Aaron asks while combing his fingers through her silky brown hair, "I realised we lost our fathers... and our mothers are the only ones we can truly call as 'family'." She says to him.
He stays silent for a few seconds before agreeing, "You're right."
He kisses her forehead which was on his chest, apologizing as he needed to use the washroom.
Awhile later, someone knocks on the door. Ravine answers the door of a maid, she was called to the throne room by the ministers who were still there for a discussion.
"Yes?" She adjusts her robe, clad in pajamas and the purple and golden robe which was the color of their kingdom. (Tangled kingdom vibes)
"Princess Ravine Jocastia Renaldi, did I get that right?"
"Absolutely. What is it that you want to discuss with me?" She asks. She could hear crickets chirp in the corner while the ministers come to discuss.
"By rule, it's you who has to rule the kingdom, but by rule... it's also necessary for you to bear a wedding ring, Your Highness." The ministers speak with concern.
Ravine's face muscles ease from tension.
"Marriage? There was no rule written like that before." The Queen states and hurries to Ravine's side. One of the ministers responsible for dissecting the rules of the kingdom pulls out a scroll, reading from it.
"Procurement of official status: Rule no.32: The heir or heiress whom so ever it addresses to must be wed before obtaining the kingdom. Date added... May 11th, 2025..."
