Pretending To Be Gilead's Prince and Master Wizard

It took me a few minutes for me to elaborate on the vision that I just had. As I did so, I saw Alex maintaining a straight face while listening carefully to everything that I had to say. 

Well, I am glad that he took this seriously.

After I am done with all the talk about Prince Arthur appearing in my dreams, I carefully studied Alex's face as he rubs his chin and thinks about the things that I had just discussed with him.

"Well, for me… it only means one thing." The lad finally said, his serious face hasn't changed since the time that I went here.

"The prince is trying to convey a message to you for some odd reason… In your dream, you vividly saw him walking in the forest with a group of soldiers from another nation blocking his path,"

He stopped rubbing his chin and lifted his head to look at me.

"Did you see what symbol is engraved on their armors?" he asked.

I slowly shook my head sideways. 

"No, sorry."

"That's okay. But if you have, that would easily solve this case."

"But what bothers me is the fact that he's walking in the forest… alone, for that matter. Doesn't he have a horse and an entourage that should guide him on his journey?" I asked afterward.

"He has all those things on his last quest…" he replied. "But whoever these soldiers are, I am pretty much sure they attacked all of his subordinates at that time."

"Oh… I see."

There were a few minutes of silence between us before Alex decided to speak once again.

"Anyway, thank you so much for sharing this with me. But seriously though, you have to sleep now or I will have a lousy student tomorrow on our training."

"You as well, or I will have a drowsy trainer by tomorrow."

I stick my tongue out to tease him. He only rolled his eyes at me.

"Later, I will sleep… after this," he later said and went back to what he was previously doing before I went in here.

I wanted to ask him about what he is currently doing, but knowing him… he likes to keep things on to himself, so I suppressed my urge to ask that question to him and went on my way back to the prince's chamber.

In the days that followed, I never got to see the prince like that again. I felt deeply disturbed by his motive. If what Alex said is true, that the prince is somehow trying to communicate with me through my dreams to tell me what had really happened to him, then he should have elaborated more in order for us to understand well.

But instead, we are still kept in the dark… as always.

What really happened to you, Prince Arthur?

Before I knew it, the birthday of Alex's grandmother had come.  It was not later than afternoon when the lad reminded me regarding the event during our magic training sessions. 

"Oh, right. I almost forgot!" I reacted after he reminded me of such an occasion.

"Keep your voice low, will you? I don't want Lancelot and Lucas to know." he reprimanded. I immediately apologized for my behavior earlier. It's also a good thing that Lancelot and Lucas are not here to observe our training though.

"Anyway, what time do we go to your house?" 

"Right after the training."

"Oh, okay."

"Alright, going back to our training…"

True to his word, he instructed me right after the training to dress in my casual girly clothes before we go to his house. And so I dashed my way towards the prince's chamber as soon as we finished.

It was then decided that we should meet up at the secret hideout to prevent other possible witnesses from seeing us together leaving the castle, especially Lucas and Lancelot. Despite the fact that it only took me less than five minutes to change, he complained to me for making him wait that long.

He would sometimes be a bit dramatic about certain things. However, I never spoke out about this, or he would only be even angrier with me.

I happen to notice the small paper bag that he is currently holding, and so I asked him about it in order for him to quit yapping about my tardiness.

"Oh, this? This is a gift for my grandmother," he replied.

Which then reminds me… I don't have anything to give to her! It would be such a shame to appear at the celebration without giving her anything!

"About that… since I almost forgot about her birthday, I wasn't able to get her anything for her birthday gift. It would be such a shame to show up without it, right?"

You don't need to give her a present. I'm sure your presence is enough. After all, she was the one who invited you to her birthday, remember?"

"But…"

"No buts. Just quit your yapping and let's teleport towards the house."

"Oh, alright. Whatever you say, captain."

Nearly three in the afternoon, we left the castle and teleported to their house. His grandmother, whose name I did not yet know and forgot to ask Alex about (shame on me! ), was already arranging the table with the servant assigned to her by the time we arrived at the house.

Her face was immediately filled with delight the moment she saw both of us walking in her direction.

"Alex, Krisella! It is so nice to see you here on my birthday!" she said with full of happiness and hugged both of us. That really surprised me.

I am embarrassed now because I didn't know her name at all.

"Happy birthday, grandma Lucy. This is for you,"

Oh… so her name's Lucy. I will definitely take note of that.

I saw Alex handing over the paper bag to Grandma Lucy earlier, and I saw her genuine joy in those pair of jet black eyes.

"Thank you… though I could definitely guess what is inside this paper bag," Grandma Lucy teased, making Alex rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know you really like jewelry, grandma. So I bought you one during your birthdays," Alex said, looking like a shy ten-year-old boy right now.

Seeing him like this is quite adorable, I must add.

"Yes, I like them. But some women are worth a diamond," 

It shocked me to hear grandma Lucy said this, even more surprising to see her turn to look at me and winked afterward.

O...kay? 

"But thank you, my dear. I will cherish this always…" she added oh-so-sweetly.

Of course, I did not forget to greet her as well and apologized also for not bringing a gift with me. However, she only smiled sincerely at me and said, "Your presence is more than enough, my dear." before telling me that we must get the celebration completed as soon as possible.

At the end of the celebration, it was the little details that I remember the most. I did not miss seeing Alex's embarrassed face when grandma Lucy decided to talk about him in his early childhood days, or missed hearing her laughter whenever Alex is making that face. 

Rica, her servant, did an amazing job cooking all those delicious foods that were served for today's celebration. She also joined us at the table.

After we were all full, Alex said it's about time for us to go, or else Lancelot and Lucas would find out we're missing without telling them.

My heart melted for Alex when we saw his sweet side just for a while hugging her grandmother for the last time.

As Alex was about to pull away from the hug, Grandma Lucy suddenly pushed him away with force.

"Who are you? Why are you here in my house?"

That made my forehead wrinkle. I did not see her acting this way, not even once.

"You are not my grandchild. He hasn't come to my birthday yet."

Looking at Alex one more time, I could see his face awash in agony. And it now broke my heart to see him like this in just a millisecond.

"H-he is your grandchild, ma'am." the servant tried to explain to her, but Alex only stopped her.

"We will now be leaving grandma,"

"Go away. You are not my grandson!"

Alex pointed out his grandmother's medication to the servant, and he then cast the teleportation spell for us to go back to our secret hideout. 

After arriving at our destination, Alex reluctantly spoke about the matter.

"My grandmother has behaved that way ever since I joined the magic army..." His gaze was fixed on the ground as he began narrating.

"And it pains my heart to see her like that all at once. I have no idea what can be done to help her... even the healers say it is impossible for someone her age."

I was stunned for a moment when I clearly saw the tears starting to brim down on his face even if he keeps his head down. 

I… I wasn't expecting any of this!

"And now I will have to suffer the same thing by the time that you'll--"

The thing he was about to say about me must have been a slip of the tongue, as he immediately stopped when he realized what he had done.

But it was too late now. I've begun to get curious about what he is saying.

However, I wasn't expecting him to continue his sentence, and that really… really… shocked me 

"The same thing will happen when you lose your memories... after all is said and done and you have to return to your normal ways."