Chapter 17:

Owen

Till July

“Alice…” Owen yelled.

Seren lifted her head, turning, her pupils shining, leaving the grey in her eyes to dominate her eye. She saw him holding the mask with one hand and his hat in the other, his hair was silky ginger. She looked at his face, drinking in every curve. This was the first time she saw Owen with no mask or makeup.

“Hatter…” she mumbled without blinking.

“I am done hiding,” he said.

“I will be honest, from now on forward,”

He walked forward and sat next to her.

“I am from the underdogs, the Hatter you knew.”

“Also, the one who stupidly misunderstood your motives,”

“Please forgive me, my grace,”

She didn't look at him; she simply nodded.

“Don't call me your grace,”

He was still confused, he didn't expect her reaction to be so muted and cold.

“You've been avoiding me.”

“I have”

“Why?”

“I am mad at myself,” she pulled the hairpin from her pocket.

“This belongs to you. When I saw it, I was upset, and that is why I kept it.”

“I didn't know who it belonged to.”

Owen raised his eyebrow.

“At first I thought it could have been your mother's, but then it could also be for someone else, someone to cherish,”

“The thought kept looping in my mind that I got mad,”

Owen confidently smirked and said, “Yes, it does belong to someone I care about.”

“I care a lot,”

Seren nodded and looked to the side.

“What is the matter?”

“Nothing, are you not going to tell me about them?

Owen raised an eyebrow, smirking as his dimples appeared.

“Seren… are you jealous?”

Hiding her face, Seren sighed, then looked at him with the corner of her eye, blushing with a pout drawn on her mouth.

“Yes, yes I am…”

“Then please keep the hairpin with you,”

“You can ask Lotus about it.”

She nodded.

They remained silent for a while. Owen hesitated over whether he was ready to share his past or not. But it appeared to be a good chance for him to open up.

“I wasn't always a jester,”

“And I wasn't always an Underdog,”

He started telling a story about a baron. He narrated that 23 years ago, the king was leading a war with 2 barons who went with him as his guards, one of the baron fought with great might, and made the enemy fear him, which made the king astonished by his skills and decided that after the war he would raise his status to a marquis, however during the war someone sneaked behind the baron and killed him.

After the king came victorious, he started gifting those who honored the lands.

The late baron was married and had a son that he loved and cherished, so the king decided to give the title to the son. But since the son was too young to rule, the mother worked and ruled temporarily till her son comes of age, this made the mother in a vulnerable position, with everyone coming left and right and asking for her hand in marriage to steal the title, but one of those people where the barons brother, who tried his best to convince the mother to marry his and that he only wanted what's best for his nephew, but she rejected him constantly.

The mother and the son lived a happy life, the son grew up with his mother's care and love till he became 7, which made him a threat to his uncle because the older his nephew got, the less his chances would be at securing the title.

Frustrated and desperate, he orchestrated a plan to kill both the mother and the son, leaving him the only heir.

The uncle didn't hesitate or ponder to proceed with the plan as fast as possible.

And on a snowy night, he invaded the palace pretending to be the good guy, as he guided his sister-in-law and her son away from the danger.

The mother carried her seven-year-old son and ran into the staged safety zone, but the uncle carried the sword from his scabbard and thundered it towards the mother.

The mother's eyes quickly lost all kinds of life in them, but her body persisted in living. She ran with the limited speed she had while carrying her child. Her runs became slow till she walked, and her walks became crawls, but she didn’t give up even if her soul was taken; her body resisted death till she finally reached an open place, making sure her son could escape.

With tears in her eyes, she hugged him and made him promise to live against all odds. The son, terrified, crying, and begging his mum to go with him, but by then his mom had become a stoic picture.

The son stayed by his mum's side, holding her cold hands as the sky cried snow on her deceased soul. Suddenly, he heard voices that screamed to get him and that he was just a boy.

The boy’s feet moved on their own, motivated by his mother’s words, and he ran away.

His hands and clothes were all stained with the blood of his mother. He ran as fast as he could. His little feet took him to a wood, and there he fell on the ground unconscious and woke up the next day in the king's court.

While he fell unconscious, the king was on his way for a visit and a check-up on that land, but he found the kid and took him to the imperial Palace.

There, the kid realised that he had lost everything, but the king gave him something: a home, a safe place, and someone he could always go back to.

The kid became an underdog, but his extreme loyalty and love for the king made him a puppet for the king, and the king showered him with affection, giving him a cottage, money, and treat him like how a father would treat him son, and soon he became the king’s underdog and jester.

“And the kid became a man, and that man is me,” he said.

Seren was rubbing her eyes with tears, she couldn’t stop crying.

He offered her a handkerchief, which she wiped her tears with.

“Why now?” She asked

“Why reveal this about you now?”

“Because I am done being two personas,”

“I want to stand by you,”

Her mouth twitched in a smile, a wild smile carved on her face uncontrollably, roses growing out of her skin.

“Seren I–”

She stood quickly, interrupting him, “I think Lotus is calling me.” She turned and ran back inside the cottage.

She opened the door and jumped into the cottage, the hairpin in her hand, breathless.

Lotus was startled by the way Seren opened the door.