With a soft and sweet voice, Abril said to them.
“The food is good, there’s nothing wrong with it.”
The children took the skewers with the meat and immediately put it in their mouths; they had been orphaned two months ago, and since their parents had died, they had been sleeping on the streets because the landlord had evicted them from the house they lived in, and since they had no other family, they had to beg for food to survive. However, people were not kind to them.
Very few gave them some hard bread to satisfy their hungry stomachs; this was the first decent meal they had had in a long time. Tears rolled down their cheeks.
Abril caressed their heads; their hair was dirty and matted. The guards wanted to stop the princess from touching those dirty children, but she gave them a stern look. They were surprised; she was always sweet, gentle, and naive, and they never imagined she could give such a look. She comforted the children and asked.
“What’s wrong? Isn’t it tasty?”
“Yes, it’s very good.”
One of the children replied while wiping his tears with the back of his hand.
Abril took out her handkerchief to wipe their tears and asked them.
“You can eat as much as you want; I’ve bought plenty.”
After the children had satisfied their stomachs, Abril asked them where they lived. The two children looked at each other, wondering if they should tell her the truth or not. In the end, the one who seemed to be the older one answered.
“In an alley nearby.”
Abril had feared it; those children seemed to have been abandoned to they were in, but she still asked them.
“What about your parents?”
The children’s eyes became glassy, and the older one replied.
“They died two months ago.”
“Is there no one to look after you?”
The two children shook their heads. Abril knew how hard it was to be alone, even as a small child, with no one to help, no one to care if you had eaten or not. She wanted to help them; she didn’t want to do what everyone else did, give them a meal and move on. She wanted to do more. Abril remembered that once Alessandro had told her she could ask for anything she wanted, and he would give it to her. At that moment, she wanted to make use of that offer.
She gave them a sweet smile and said to them.
“Do you want to come with me? I’ll take care of you.”
The two guards thought the princess was being too impulsive and wanted to stop her.
“Your majest…”
Before they could say anything else, Abril gave them an unfriendly look, silencing them. She wanted to help those children, not just because she felt sorry for them, but also because she identified with them. Every time she saw them, she saw herself, hungry, alone, and scared praying to God to live one more day.
The older brother responded.
“We shouldn’t go with strangers, right?”
“My name is Abril, and what are your names?”
“My name is Otis, and my brother’s name is Joe.”
The older one replied.
“Such beautiful names! Your parents must have thought a lot about them. Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, we’re no longer strangers; we’re friends. Do you want to come with me?”
“But…”
Abril caressed their cheeks, not minding at all that the children’s faces were dirty, and said,
“When winter comes, you won’t be able to live in that alley.”
Abril turned to Otis and said,
“You’re still young, you need a place to live, and your brother is too little; he won’t survive the cold winter weather.”
Otis was aware of that, without warm clothes and food, they would die with the arrival of winter, so he asked Abril while looking at his brother,
“You won’t do anything weird to us?”
“Of course not, I just want to take care of you, make sure you have a roof over your head and three meals a day, so you grow up healthy and strong.”
Otis hesitated for a moment whether to accept what the beautiful woman in front of them was saying or to run away; he was scared, many children had disappeared lately. Otis responded,
“Are you really not a bad person?”
“Do I seem like a bad person to you?”
Otis shook his head. Abril smiled at him, her smile was beautiful, warm; to him, Abril was like a beautiful angel who had saved them from starvation.
“You’re like an angel, kind and caring, who doesn’t mind touching someone like us.”
“So what do you say? Will you come with me?”
Otis looked at his brother and replied,
“Yes, we’ll go with you.”
Before returning to the temple, Abril entered a clothing store while the children waited outside with one of the guards and bought several outfits and shoes for them.
As she left the store, a man with blond hair and golden eyes approached her; he was about to take her hand when one of the guards stopped him.
He stared at Abril as if he were seeing a ghost and said to her.
“Sophia, are you alive?! You can’t imagine how long I’ve been looking for
Abril thought that this man was confusing her with someone else, although she found the color of his eyes unusual.
“Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong person.”
“Sophia, I’m Ethan, don’t you remember me?”
Abril had never seen that man before; if she had, she would remember him. Noah took the princess’s hand and said to her.
“We must go.”
The man tried to stop Abril, but Rafael prevented him, and Noah helped the princess and the children into the carriage.
Ethan continued calling her.
“Sophia, don’t go, you have to listen to me.”
Rafael pushed him, causing him to fall to the ground, and said in a threatening voice.
“Stay away from her.”
Rafael got into the carriage and set off, leaving the unknown man behind.
Ethan got up from the ground, watched as the carriage moved away, and said.
“I don’t know what has happened to you, Sophia, but I will find you and bring you back home, to our home.”
***
The children were inside the carriage with Abril, and they smelled bad. Rafael wished to arrive soon so he could get out of that carriage.
some sweets she had bought at the market with them. She was sweet and kind but also had a strong character, something he realized that day when she looked at them firmly, dernonstrating her authority.
Many nobles talked about the foolish and useless princess who would never become queen. But Rafael didn’t see it that way; she just needed to polish a few things to become a great queen.
They exchanged glances, and Abril asked him.
“What happened to that man?”
“Don’t worry about that, I didn’t do anything to him, I just warned him no
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
Leave a Reply