76. The Blindfold's Off.

[Luke]
"Son, I'm finally glad that this scandal is behind us, when are you going to move forward with your wedding to Megan?" The King asked as I walked into his chambers.
"Your highness." I curtsied and took a seat opposite him.
I found a way to kill off all my feelings so that I could function, I wasn't lying when I told Claire that I couldn't function without her.
The day she traveled back to America, Liam told me and I couldn't help myself, I wanted to see her for the last time but Sir Thomas stopped me, everyone had seen my true face now and so I couldn't go out in a public disguise like I used to.
And just like that, two months had passed, I became even colder and more ruthless than the King was, I took my responsibilities very seriously as it was the one thing that helped me to remain sane, I buried myself in my work because it distracted me from my life now.
"I think the scandal is still too fresh, if I announce my marriage to Megan now, some tabloids will bring up the old news," I said.
"What do you think, Tom?" The King asked.
"I think the Prince is right, two months is not enough time to wash away the scandal, we're grateful that the image of the royal family wasn't that affected but if we announce a royal wedding now, someone would definitely bring the scandal back up." He said and I nodded.
"Very well then, we shall have a small private ceremony." The King said and I frowned.
"It's the same thing, your highness."
"No, it will be far worse, the press will have a field day if they learn of a secret royal wedding." Sir Thomas shook his head.
"Fine, we need something to distract the people from the scandal, do we have any upcoming events?" He asked.
"Um yes, your sister's daughter is getting married." Sir Thomas said.
"Annemarie?" I asked and mentally facepalmed myself.
I barely knew what was going on in my cousin's life.
"Yes, she's getting married to some English bloke who lives in the states." He said.
"Oh, that's wonderful, when is the wedding?" The King asked.
"Three months from now." He answered.
"Urgh, isn't there anything closer?" The King asked.
"Nothing totally related to the royal family." He answered. "Just ordinary garden parties, ribbon ceremonies, and speeches."
"Okay, I guess we'll just have to present a unified family image for now." The King said.
"Okay, if that is all."
"Yes, Luke, you may go." He said, I curtsied before turning around and leaving the room.
"What's on my schedule?" I asked my assistant when I left the King's chambers.
"You have lunch with Miss Megan." He said and I nodded.
"Fine."
"The man called while you were with the King, he said he has something for you." He said.
The man? That was the detective.
"Okay."
***
"Your royal highness." Megan smiled and curtsied as I walked into the restaurant.
"You don't have to, please take your seat." I smiled at her and sat down opposite her.
"Have you ordered anything?" I asked her as I waved my bodyguard and assistant away from my side, I wanted to have a private conversation with Megan.
"Just wine." She smiled and took a sip.
"Great, I'll have the same," I said to the waitress who was waiting on us.
"The King wants us to marry soon," I told her as soon as the waiter left.
"That's not going to happen anytime soon." She said calmly.
"I don't want that either, but we don't have a choice."
"Have you spoken to Liam lately?" She asked me and I frowned.
"I told you to stop seeing him." I seethed.
"Hmmm." She hummed, taking another sip of her wine. "I don't know why you think I'd listen to you."
"Megan!" I warned, "Don't test my patience, I will not have another scandal erupt."
"Then all you have to do is talk to your father."
"I will," I smirked. "After you talk to your mother."
"Oh, that I will." She smiled, swirling the liquid around the glass. "These days I'm even thinking of firing her." She chuckled.
"Good for you."
"Seriously Luke, Liam is your best friend and I know that you miss him, you need to stop this childish feud and come together." She said,
"You're the one who should be talking to Liam." I snapped. "If news of your little affair gets out, I will not be able to save him, you can always save yourself, you're rich and you're popular but Liam has nothing so I'd think twice if I were you." I sneered at her.
"Excuse me." I stood up and walked to the bathroom.
I sighed and gripped the sides of the sink tightly as I tried to control my emotions. Liam hadn't spoken to me since Claire left and I couldn't blame him. My life was a shitstorm right now and I couldn't afford to take him down with me.
Liam was loyal to a fault and I'd hurt him and unknowingly taken advantage of him a lot of times.
It hurt me that I was also going to take the one thing he had ever wanted from me, I was going to get married to Megan in a few months.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting." I walked back to the table, the waiter brought my glass of wine and I sipped it as Megan and I discussed other matters.
"People will think you left me because of the scandal," I said.
"Well, have you heard of the term fight scandal with scandal?" Megan asked.
"There is no such thing as that."
"Of course there is." She smiled. "We could get the people to sympathize with you if we just tip the press anonymously that I had a lover."
"Of course not, I'm not ruining anybody else's image," I said, remembering the hurtful things I had to say about Claire.
"I really don't care about my image anymore, you see, I'm tired of the perfect girl facade my mother led the public to believe about me, I'm tired of struggling to live up to people's expectations of me, aren't you tired?"
"Megan, I—"
"I fell in love, Luke and it's the best feeling there is, I've never felt this way before and it makes me confident and powerful, I can face the world as long as I have it." She explained.
"Yes, I also fell in love and I truly understand what you mean?" I sighed and finished the remaining wine in my glass in one gulp.
"Is there truly nothing you can do about that girl?" She asked.
"Nothing." I sighed. "After what I said, I know she hates me, besides she's back in America, I couldn't meet her even if I wanted to."
"It's hard being us, isn't it?" She asked and clinked her glass against mine. "Living constantly under the scrutiny of the public, the media, the society constantly judging you, the lack of freedom to just be, even in love."
"There's nothing we can do about it, it's our lives and it has always been, it always forever will be." I frowned.
"Maybe for you since you're going to be King, but not for me, I'm going to carve my own path." She said,
"You're going to be queen." I laughed.
"Not if I can help it."
***
"You said you had something for me, spill it." I looked at the man on my laptop screen.
"Yes, I finally uncovered the real truth." He said and I frowned.
"What is it?"
"Claire never betrayed you." He said.
"I told you not to fucking mention her name," I yelled.
"I'm sorry, your royal highness, I just got excited."
"How do you mean, she confessed to giving her phone to the press herself."
"Yeah, she lied, I think she said that intending to hurt you."
"And why would she do that?" I thought.
"So what is the real truth?" I asked instead.
"You know how I told you that I couldn't find the CCTV footage from her drunken night out at the bar."
"Yeah."
"Well, I found it, and let me just play it for you." He said and a video popped up on my screen.
"What the fuck?" I cussed as I spotted Crystal bothering Claire at the bar.
"Oh, fucking no." I groaned as the video came to an end and the detective popped back on.
"It wasn't her." He said
"Yes, I just saw that I don't why I didn't think about that, of course, it was that snake Crystal, she was probably upset because she didn't get any money off of me."
"Do you want me to find her?" He asked.
"Immediately," I replied.
"One more thing, Sir."
"What?"
"I've been trailing Claire as you asked me to and something happened that I think you should know about." He said.
"What is it?" My heartbeat faster as a video of Claire popped up on my screen.
"You don't mean that she's—"