The Jinxed Boy

Owen fidgeted with his hands, going back and forth in the stable. He took his hat off and threw it on the ground.

“How dare I propose such an irrational idea,” he thought, “telling a noble person that I would just casually kidnap them, I became crazy, a long-gone fool.”.

He huffed, kicking hay from the ground. “But she was even crazier to want it.” He stopped and replayed her reaction.

“But… Why does it feel right? Why am I thinking about it, like I actually want to do it?” He put his hand on his face, a smirk appearing on his face.

“Kidnapping a noble? Huh! That is enforced disappearance and has a strict punishment.” He rubbed his face aggressively.

“It is one thing to kidnap a commoner, it is another to kidnap a noble; did I just throw my life to the dire straits?” He pouted, and his dimples showed.

“No, my status in the kingdom is good. I am the king's.”

“I don't know, what is worse to kidnap a noble or to disobey the king and kidnap a person he ordered me to protect?” he bit his lower lip.

“ But I am an underdog. We have more license to do stuff than most.” His eye started twitching.

“Ugh!!” He grunted loudly.

He finally exhaled, exhausted, throwing his body on the hay.

He reached his pocket to pull the hairpin out.

He stood up as straight as a pencil, then began to turn around like a dog trying to run after its tail.

He searched everywhere for the hairpin and realized he had lost it. Then he remembered that it should have fallen when he was with Seren that morning.

He ran leaping, skipping steps to reach the swing, but it was already dark, and the only source of light was the moon. He searched all over the place. But defeatedly, he gave up for today, lying on the grass looking at the moon, he exhaled.

He thought of his life before knowing Seren, trying to remember glimpses and glances of his past.

He chuckled as he realized he had no past; he didn't have a life before her; he only sat as a jester or an underdog, following every order the king gave him.

She brought color to his achromatic life. Even when his life was filled with different shades of grey, he had one hue he cared for and treasured; if he were to go back to when the hue did not exist, it would be like forcing his soul to be caged inside a colorless world, only shaped by values. Life without her is meaningless. He wanted to stay by her side, by her glow, by the way she brings color to his empty life, so remaining by her was the choice, even if kidnapping her was the way to reach that choice.

He puffed a laugh.

“It is official! I have gone crazy,” he said in a cracking voice, standing up, going to find Lotus.

Owen reached out to Lotus. He trusted Lotus enough to tell her what he thought about

Seren's issue and what he had proposed to Seren.

Lotus heard at first his proposal, she gasped while listening, then finally nodded, “I noticed the stress she is under…”

“Don't worry, I will pack the essentials and inform Bala too.”

After that, Lotus informed Bala, but Bala was skeptical. She, too, knew the nature of the punishment they would receive if they were caught. But Lotus is going, and so she defeatedly agreed.

At the crack of dawn and while Seren was sleeping, Lotus sneaked into her room and woke her up.

Lotus then explained to Seren what they would do. Seren excitedly got up and prepared herself.

After everyone was prepared, Owen waited for them with a carriage to take them to their awaited destination.

The girls hopped into the carriage, and Owen rode in it.

Lotus broke the silence, “Syria? Your Highness, why does your father call you that?”

“Well, that is the place my father was born in; it is a city in the kingdom.”

“He always has called me that… guess it is his way of saying I was his home,”

She smiled

“That’s sweet,”

“Thank you,”

“My lady,” said Bala.

“That day on the attack, why did you make Lotus jump too? I am still confused.”

“It is for the best,”

“Being able to see and shield her is better than being in that carriage.”

She went on to explain that the carriage was the weak point that contained most things; if the group were thieves, they would ravage the carriage, if they were rebels, they would

burn the carriage, so leaving Lotus alone in the carriage would be a careless move.

“Ohh! Smart,” replied Bala, while Seren nodded

“Oh, I have a question too!”

“Why did the king create the underdogs?”

Bala explained that there was a story about a jinxed boy.

Long ago, there was an emperor who ruled a kingdom with an iron fist and was strict on doing things by the book or in a traditional way.

He was married to a queen from a neighboring country.

As years went by, they would be blessed by an ill son who had hemophilia, but he was loved and cared for, spoiled rotten, and looked after, not long after the king's son was 5. When the king would go on a trip to another country for a political issue, his eyes would spot a lady in waiting.

The lady was not a noble but a normal lady; she would sometimes even perform as a harlequin, had a voice of silk, her hair was silky smooth, and the king fell for her.

Soon, he bought her freedom and took her with him as his second wife, but everyone would reject her and treat her with discrimination; the maids would ignore her, leave her unattended, which stained the image of the so-called perfect king, and this pressured the king to resent her. And even treat her harshly, and proceeded to ignore her, too.

After winters come and go, the lady would give birth to a beautiful son. But the king disowned his son, and the son would live in dire straits; maids bullied him, his older brother made fun of him, and he would often be neglected and unattended for days, and the maids frequently forgot him.

The lady became sick, but due to the neglect she had been through, she was finally able to rest once more, and she died.