Ch.6

I stared at the poor maid apologising, I still couldn't believe I nearly hurt someone for my own selfish reason . It didn't seem like me I thought, it's like my emotions were being half controlled. Maybe controlled by the real princess Isla.

"There's no need for apologies" I finally replied back.

This maid awfully seemed familiar, have I read about her in this manga I thought. She had light green eyes, chestnut brown hair tied up in a bun and was wearing a blue maid dress.

"What's you're name" I asked

"It's Violet" the maid replied

"Violet!" I exclaimed startlingly her a bit

"You're Elena's personal maid right!" I asked

"Yes I've served Lady Elena" Violet said

"What are you doing here" I asked her. Isn't she meant to be Elena's loyal maid I thought. She stayed with Elena all the time. "I've been assigned to work here" she said

"What do you mean work here?" I asked confused

"Shouldn't you be with Elena?"

There was a sudden knock on the door interrupting our conversations.

"Princess the fire prince is here" I heard a maids voice

"What!" I screamed

"Why is he here" I asked 'shouldn't he be at the Lantern light festival' I thought

"Princess he wants to meet you in the royal hall" she replied back

The royal hall, you're kidding with me.

I opened up the door

"Fine take me to him" I told her

"Princess don't you want to get ready first" she asked me confused

I was wearing a simple red dress, no makeup and my hair was tied up in a messy bun. Even without makeup Isla's face was really pretty especially her sparkly red eyes that shone like fire. Too bad she only had the features of a fire princess but no fire ability.

"He wants to see me" I told her

"Not my appearance"

The maid nodded and took me down the corridor, the fresh air outside my room cooled my nerve. I was nervous thinking of the reason for the fire prince to suddenly appear. I was so nervous, why does he want to meet me, and why is nothing going the way I wanted it to be.

The maid leading walked in front of me while Violet quietly followed from behind.

We reached outside a large gold door with two guards outside, I could hear people talking very loudly on the other side of the door. 'What's going on?' I thought

The guards saw me and and opened the door, the maids stood either side of me.

"How dare you do this!" I heard a loud scream before I could even enter the room. Did I say a room, nope it was a giant hall, big and beautiful. It looked like the palace's main head courters. Where a throne was placed in the middle for a king, and for a moment I was amazed by the beauty of the room. But this beautiful image was immediately ruined by all the people Standing in the middle. There in the middle stood the fire prince with his guards behind him and a lady around her 50s with her maids beside her. What's going on. The lady was wearing a ancient Chinese purple dress, with lots of jewellery and makeup. She stopped talking after she saw me walk into the room. "Isla my dear" the lady exclaimed running up to me and hugging me tightly.

I couldn't move from her sudden tight grasp, who is she? I thought. The prince seemed pissed as he stared at me. The lady then grabbed my face with her hand "look at you" she said with tears rolling from her dark red eyes "look what they've done to you!"

She then turned around to face the fire prince " I didn't marry my daughter to you to see her in pain like this!" She shouted loudly at the prince. Daughter! I thought. No way she's Isla's mother. I never read about her, and to think about it they never really went into dept with Isla's part of the story.

"Mother in law there's no need for such anger" the fire prince finally said calmly.

"She was nearly executed!" She yelled

"But she isn't dead" he said

The women glared at him with intensity, then grabbed my hand.

"I'm taking my daughter home" she said

As the lady walked me out the room, someone grabbed my hand from behind. I looked behind just to be stunned by the fire prince's handsome appearance. Why did he stop me! 'Doesn't he want me to leave?' I thought with curiosity.

"What's the meaning of this prince" the lady in front said sounding annoyed

"Do as you wish your highnesses" the fire prince said coldly staring into my eyes

"But don't forget all the nausea crimes she's committed before" he tightened the grip on my hand.

"Keeping her in the palace room as punishment was merely overlooking those" he finished his sentence letting my hands go.

He was talking to the lady in front of me but his words were clearly directed to me. Does he want me to feel guilty for the crimes I didn't even committed?

"My daughter has committed no such crimes!" the lady said with anger raging in her eyes.

"I'll send some people from my kingdom to investigate this situation, if my daughter is at fault I'll punish her myself" she said

An evil grin formed on the fire prince's face

"Of course your highness" he replied

What! I thought, he totally set me up. I didn't commit any of the crimes but the real princess Isla did. 'What do I do?' I thought.

The lady then faced me and said "why don't you say anything Isla?"

'I don't know what to say!' I screamed in my head.

"Mother, I want to attend the Lantern light festival" I finally said.

The lady stared at me with shock, and her eyes started watering with tears again.

Did I say something wrong?!

She then hugged me again, but this time a bit gently

"Oh how I've waited to hear those words from you" she said between sniffs

I stared at the prince in front of me who also seemed a bit confused from my response.

"You haven't called me mother for years" she said holding my shoulders and gently smiling at me. Which made me kind of happy cause my mother had never done this to me before. Smiling and hugging me. I smiled back at her, still feeling confused.

"You want to go to the festival" I heard the prince's voice

"Yes" I said

"Then I'll take you" the prince said

"Wait what, why?" I asked him in surprise, the prince just stared at me coldly.

"Why? Don't you want to come with me"

'Of course not!' I thought

"She'll come with me Prince Chen" Isla's mother proposed.

"And after that we'll go back to our palace" she said looking at me

"I'll wed you to someone better" she then looked at the fire prince fiercely

'Marry someone' I thought shocked

"No it's ok mother I'll go with him" I suddenly said

The lady looked at me confused

"Why Dear?" She asked

'I don't want to marry anyone!' I thought scared

"Then it's decided" the prince cut in

"She'll come with me to the festival" he said

"No Prince Chen, my daughter will come with me" the women debated back

"Why don't we let her decide" he said facing me

"I.." why are they putting so much pressure on me

"I'll stay" I finally said, thinking about my escape plan

The women had a very sad look in her eyes, but she still signed saying

"Isla if that's what you want, I won't interfere"

"After all it was your decision to marry him" she said softly

She was about to say something else but hesitated and took one of her necklace off. The necklace was simple but beautiful with a red gem. She came up to me and placed the necklace around my neck gracefully hooking it on the back. Without saying another word she turned around to face the prince

"If I see her suffer again, I'll make sure you suffer 10 times more"

He just stared at her blankly with no fear.

She then turned dramatically and exited the room with her maids.

'What did I just experience?! This manga is intense" I thought holding onto the necklace around my neck as I realised the gem had a fire symbol engraved onto it.

While on the other side the fire prince watched me with curiosity and thought 'What is she planning?'