Princess of the Silver Ocean - Chapter 65

“Oh nothing,” she sang, “Anyway, I am like this because princess Nexi was supposed to be back by now with bigger brother. However, I do not think she is coming back. Bigger brother stole her from me, so I was by myself the rest of the day.”

She stood up and began pacing back and forth, her hands clasped behind her body.

“Do you know how bored I got throughout the day?” she blabbed, throwing her hands in the air, “I suddenly got a large number of tourists asking for my paintings, and it became so hard to count the money and paint at the same time. I almost collapsed!”

“But you always did this by yourself before,” Yoshito said, leaning forward and staring at his little sister, “So why are you complaining now?”

“Ooh. Is someone jealous?” Adam playfully asked, causing prince Yoshito to nod and laugh.

“W-what? N-no!” Ai gushed, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

She stopped pacing and stood still. “I am just lonely and well…this time felt different with Nexi. It was more fun. Besides, uncle Adam, you have my big brother. Bigger brother has Nexi and I…well I have no one so…”

Adam smiled and rummaged through his bag, taking out a small silver box with a red bow. He placed it in her hands, and she stared at it, her gaze fixed on it.

“You got me something, uncle Adam?” she asked, her face beaming and mood lifted.

Adam nodded, and she opened the box to find a simple pair of Sapphire earrings.

“They may look like ordinary Sapphire earrings,” Adam began to explain, “but I infused them with a protective spell. These are your very own special earrings. One of its kind.”

“Wow,” Ai exclaimed, smiling widely, “Thank you, uncle Adam. I really love them. My big brother is so lucky to have you.”

“He really is,” Adam said, placing his hand on the fox prince’s shoulder, “Anyway, we are going out for dinner, so we will not be staying long.”

“Can I come wi-”

Prince Yoshito loudly cleared his throat, causing Ai to get the message.

‘Fine,’ Ai thought, crossing her arms, a pout on her face, ‘I will not disturb your alone time.’

She watched as her brother stood up and waved at her, a fake smile on his face.

‘He gets crazy scary when it comes to Adam,’ she thought, pressing her lips together, ‘He is not even smiling at me. That smile is telling me to back off.’

“Well,” Adam said, causing her to turn her attention to him and away from her brother, “I will see you around, Ai.”

With that, Adam waved goodbye, and she watched as he left with her big brother. She let out a deep sigh and rubbed her neck.

“I hope that I will also find someone like uncle Adam,” she mumbled, letting out another sigh.

She stood up and packed her things, feeling exhausted. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her body.

“I should head back home now,” she grabbed the money she had made, placing it in her bag.

She left the stall there as is. The movers would bring it back to the palace. She teleported to the palace gate. This teleportation spell took a huge toll on her as it drained the last amount of magical energy she had left as she had used most of it when she was painting during the festival.

“Maybe I should have waited for the royal carriage to bring me back home,” she yawned, “Nah, I am way too tired to wait for them to find me and drive back to the palace.”

Upon seeing her, the royal guards bowed and opened the gate for her. She smiled and walked towards the palace. She noticed that the royal garden’s gate was opened.

“Is someone in there?” she asked herself, walking into the royal garden.

She later found her brother, Astoria, and Lara sitting and staring at the night sky.

“Lara?” she asked wide-eyed as she approached them, “What is going on here?”

They stared at Ai, and Lara said nothing. The little fox clasped her hands together and pressed her lips together. Astoria stood up and sat beside Lara, rubbing her back, a gesture to assure her that everything would be okay. That she did not have to be afraid.

“Ai,” Astoria said, turning her attention to the fox princess, “Did you just get back?”

Ai nodded as she sat down next to her brother. She stared at Lara with a look of confusion and bewilderment. She turned to her brother and raised an eyebrow.

“It is a long story,” he said.

Ai placed her bag on the table, noticing that there was a plastic bag full of medicine.

“Well,” she said, leaning back, “Explain. I have all the time in the world.”

Prince Yashiro stared at his sister and began to explain the situation.

“What? That is so horrible! So this means that that day Nexi was right about something being wrong with Lara,” Ai said, examining the little fox whose lips were pressed together tightly.

Ai let out a long sigh and stood up, walking towards Lara’s side. The little fox was surprised to see the fox princess crouch beside her and hold out her hands for her to take. Lara hesitantly placed her hands on top of Ai’s, earning a satisfied smile from the fox princess. Ai closed her hands around Lara’s and sighed.

“Do not worry,” Lara heard the fox princess say, her eyes showing a sudden glint of determination, “I will make sure that my parents and everyone else agree to let you stay with us. We will be your family even after your grandmother gets better.”

Tears welled up in Lara’s eyes, and she bit her bottom lip, trying to hold back sobs from escaping her lips. Lara slumped her shoulders, her face staring at the ground.

“Oooh,” Ai cooed, pulling the little fox into a hug, “You poor thing. You suffered a lot, but it is okay now. Well done for holding out till my brother and princess Nexi found you.”

Ai rubbed circles on the little fox’s back, and Lara could not hold back her tears anymore, nor could she hold back the sobs that wanted to escape her lips. She began to tremble, and later the tears ran down her cheeks. Soft sobs escaped her lips, and she hugged the fox princess back.

Her tiny hands tightly gripped the back of Ai’s dress as she let out the remaining sad tears and emotions she had left buried in her soul, like a forbidden treasure that was not meant to be found. Ai smiled with her eyes and mouth and continued rubbing circles behind Lara’s back while repeating, “There, there. It’s okay.”

Astoria and the fox prince exchanged glances, and he smiled at her, giving her a thumbs up for noticing that Lara was being mistreated and following up with her plan to investigate and save her. Astoria smiled back, feeling a sense of bliss while missing her world and her career.

After a few minutes, Ai pulled away from Lara, wiping her tear-stained cheeks. Ai gently caressed her soft cheeks and then her palms, sending the little fox a warm, fuzzy feeling of love and assurance. Ai then pat her head and went to sit next to her brother. He stared at her and gave her a smile.

“Oh,” she heard him say, “Where is Yashiro?”

“Uh…” Ai began, looking suspicious.

Her hands gripped her dress, and she lightly coughed. The thing was that nobody knew about her brother and uncle Adam’s romantic relationship. Sure, the royal family knew that prince Yoshito and Adam were close and good friends, but they did not know that there was more than friendship. They had no idea the two were in love and together in that sense.

“We saw uncle Adam, and he asked if we wanted dinner,” she began, rubbing the nape of her neck in nervousness, “but I told him that I already had something to eat. However, big brother said he could go for dinner, so yeah. They are having dinner as we speak.”

Prince Yashiro stared at her with narrowed, gray eyes, wondering why she was so nervous about giving that answer. I mean, what was so wrong about Yoshito having dinner with Adam?

“Uh-huh,” the fox prince replied, still eyeing her with a skeptical expression.

Ai let out a nervous laugh and looked away. Her brother soon planned to tell the whole family that he was gay and in love with Adam. That he wanted to spend his entire life with the business kitsune.

That he even had no interest in being a prince if it meant him marrying a woman just for the sake of him being a royal member of the family and to produce an heir.. He just wanted to spend the rest of his years with Adam because the man was his other half and his soulmate.