25 – Breakfast

The horse carriage finally came to a stop at the Werewolf palace. The prince had been awed by the mass of land the werewolf kingdom owned. He had heard tales about how wide the kingdom was but he thought they were all myths. The palace was huge, it even looked bigger than theirs but he didn't want to agree with that. What he didn't understand was why the kingdom was the shambles. Flowers were dying, the place was desolate but it seemed they tried to put up some decorations.
The king got out of the carriage first. He was tired and needed a cold shower. The drama with the bandits and the witch made his head ache. It looked cheap of them coming over and not bringing gifts but he knew King Francis was understanding. He just couldn't wait to tell King Francis of their horrible experience traveling down here.
Nicholas got out and followed his father's steps walking briskly into the kingdom. . An old lady was standing before the gates waiting to receive them. "Good not, your majesties." She gave a small bow. "This way please " She urged them and they started to walk behind.
There was something weird out in the atmosphere, it was tense. Every worker they had come across had a sullen look on their faces. It was as though someone had died. ", Where's the King?" King Eric brought himself to ask.
It took a while for her to respond. "He has retired to bed."
King Eric nodded. He needed to know what was going on. Or had the bandits attacked their kingdom? He had no one to ask so he went into the room prepared for him and was told breakfast time.Prince Nicholas did the same. Gaston and the other guard were to share a room . It was at midnight so they all retired to bed.
The following morning a maid knocked at their doors announcing breakfast. They all got out and made their way to the dining hall. Prince Nicholas sat next to his father while the others sat anywhere else. They couldn't start eating because the king and princess weren't in sight and this annoyed the prince because he was famished.
A young lady walked in with an old man, holding onto his wrist tightly. One thing they noticed was his uneven eye movement causing the king to gasp. King Eric rose from his chair watching as his fellow royal, king Francis was brought to sit on his chair.
"How did this happen?" The vampire king asked no one in particular.
Prince Nicholas didn't understand what was going on, he didn't even care. All he wanted to do was have breakfast.
"My father lost his sight yesterday.," The voice that brought this was shaking like it was going to give in to tears at any time. The lady who brought the king sat next to him and held his hand.
Prince Nicholas took a good look at her. It was his soon to be wife. One thing he noticed was how beautiful she was. She was beautiful but he still wasn't interested in her. He didn't know her and hadn't gotten to know her so he wasn't interested in her. The only thing he wanted was to return back to his kingdom. He wasn't interested in the drama the werewolf kingdom had, the tragedy of the king losing his sight.
"Has he seen a doctor?" King Eric directed to the king's daughter who was shedding tears now.
The princess was heartbroken to have her father blind. It was going to be difficult for him to run the affairs of the kingdom now that he was blind. The news was a shock to the whole kingdom, it was a sad day for the werewolf kingdom.
"Numerous doctors have been here but they all say there's nothing they can do." She broke down in tears.
They had invited lots of doctors and healers to check the king's eye and they all said there was nothing to be done. Some gave him medicines which he had used but the darkness her father saw hadn't vanished. It was starting to take a toll on her as she had to do everything for the old man.
The king felt miserable having to be helped with everything. He was tired of seeing of seeing darkness. His heart was wrenching from not being able to see his daughter. His grip on his daughter's hand tightened then he brought her hands to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. The king was try to be strong for his daughter but he needed support too.
It was hard being taken everywhere and people doing things for you. Being royalty, it happened a lot but this time it was different. He was completely useless and couldn't even do his normal daily routine. He couldn't read the news and took his walk around the kingdom inspecting it. He felt useless as the king.
Sighing, King Eric sat on his seat. "Do you know how this happened?" It was shocking to hear this because he was here a few times and he was fine. He didn't have health issues and he was always healthy.
King Francis shook his head in the negative. "Not at all. None of my ancestors have been blind."
"Do you think someone did this?"
"All our workers here are trusted. They wouldn't do such a thing." Laura countered with a loud voice and a friend etched on her face. The princess trusted everyone that worked with and for her. She couldn't think someone would have intentionally made her dad blind. King Francis was a nice king, one that all loved, so it was hard to think someone would do this to him. She was also annoyed that they thought bad of the werewolf kingdom.
"Thank you all for all your support and care. This is a trying time for me and my family and I wouldn't want this to affect my daughter's marriage to prince Nicholas. I will be throwing a welcome party to celebrate prince Nicholas tonight. My soon to be son in-law deserves the best."
King Francis was a selfless leader. He also loved his daughter so much, he didn't want to ruin her marriage to the vampire prince. He wanted his daughter to enjoy getting to know him and her marriage and his eyes weren't going to ruin the perfect marriage he had planned with King Eric for his daughter.
"You don't have to-" Nicholas spoke up but king Francis cut him off, "I insist."
The prince nodded, forgetting the werewolf king couldn't see him. "If you insist then." He gave a nervous laugh. At this moment he wished he had a twin brother that he could swap positions with.
While eating breakfast, king Eric said to the princess. "Laura," she snapped her head to the vampire king. "You should give Nicholas a tour of the palace."
"It's not necessary. She has to stay with her father. "
King Francis waved a hand, "oh, you don't have to worry about me. Your father can keep me company."
"I just don't want you to be alone. You'll need someone to be with you."
"Son, you can go with Laura. I'll be with my good friend, Francis." King Eric went to meet the wolf king. He helped the princess up and pushed her towards his son. "Stand up, Nicholas."
Reluctantly, prince Nicholas stood and went next to princess Laura. Gaston made to join them but king Eric said, "I need you to do something for me, Gaston."
Gaston only nodded. The king had punished him for ratting out the marriage to the werewolf princess to his son before him. Gaston wasn't just Prince Nicholas' personal guard. They have been best friends since childhood. They both didn't have someone to play with while growing up and they took solace in each other. They had been with each other since their childhood and the prince had cried in his arms when his mother died. It was impossible not to tell the prince about such a big decision his father was going to make without letting him know.
He nodded and sat down as ordered while the princess Laura and prince Nicholas made their way out of the dining hall. King Eric gave a smirk while they made their way out. He was trying to help them get along and he knew some tricks up his sleeves some of which helped him while he was in love with his late wish.
Their first stop was the throne room. It was massive but he wasn't impressed as he had seen better and bigger throne rooms. The vampire kingdom was way better. He loved the unique design of the gold chair and most especially the werewolf head made of gold that was attached to the chair.
Their next stop was the garden of the palace outside. It was Prince's Laura's favorite place in her palace. She took him to all the nooks and cranny of the garden. Then she took him to the library. It was massive having almost all the books in the world.
Laura found him attractive, taking stealth glances even now and then at him. She loved how he was tall and the dimple which she had only seen once. She was yearning for him to smile again so she could get another look at his dimple.
Prince Nicholas couldn't wait for the tour to end. He was bored and tired from the tour already. The princess would stop ranting about her childhood memories. He only wanted to finish breakfast and return to his room. He knew his father didn't have any task for Gaston. He only wanted them to be together alone so they could get along but it was impossible because the princess was overly chatty, mentioning things of concern and those that weren't. And it was this kind of person they wanted him to spend the rest of his life with?
Princess Laura continued to take him around the palace and she kept on talking. Her voice was starting to irritate the prince. His brows pulled together , forming a crease on his face but she wouldn't stop talking. He wasn't even listening to her anymore but he knew she was speaking about the werewolf kingdom. He only gave occasional sighs, faked a smile or hummed.
Out of anger the prince snapped, "can you just shut the fuck up!"
Princess Laura froze hearing those words. She felt sad he snapped and so she apologized which he hummed to and she carried on speaking with him. The prince groaned and tried to walk faster to walk away from her.
When they were finally done for the day, they stopped at the door to the prince room. Laura had a big grin plastered on her face as his figure towered her's.
"I'd have said to come in for a tour but it's your house."
"I can come in." Princess Laura announced.
The prince tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "I'll see you around, Laura." She only nodded but didn't leave. Hurriedly, he went into his room and locked the door. Princess Laura left with her grin satisfied they were getting along. The princess didn't know why but she found her mind drifting to the prince every now and then.
Prince Nicholas had found her overbearing and he was already overwhelmed just on the first day of meeting her. He could tell already that their marriage wasn't going to last a long time and he was doomed to be getting married to her.
He felt pity for her father. The eyes were a very important organ especially for a king and it was going to be really tough for him to carry out his tasks and duties without his sight. Princess Laura didn't also sound like she knew much about the kingdom's administration. She sounded clueless. The werewolf kingdom was doomed if no one stepped in.