Royal Chapter 10

Lucifero's POV (The Great Palace, Beaumont, Belgium)

"Prince Lucifero, your presence is needed at the Throne Room by the request of His Majesty urgently."

I lift my gaze, from the book I am reading, to Harold, my butler, standing in the doorway of my workroom. I raised my eyebrows and took off my reading glasses before I spoke to him.

"Do you know the reason why?" He just shakes his head and apologized. I understand and instead, told him that I'll arrive there in a minute. Then he left my room.

I immediately put on my coat and look myself in the mirror one last time to verify if I am presentable enough to face the people inside the Throne Room. I have never been summoned to the Throne Room alone before. I am definitely sure it is crucial.

If my assumption is correct, he is orienting the whole council for the appointing of the next in line for the throne. I see this coming and I'm ready to face it.

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(Throne Room, The Great Palace)

"Prince Lucifero Matias has just arrived!"

As soon as the guards opened the huge double doors as I walk to enter the Throne Room, the sight of who and what's inside suddenly became vivid. The whole High Ranking Council of Nobles and the Noble House Steering Committee are seated at their designated seats together with the King and Queen Matias at their respective throne.

They are holding a Royal Meeting, I assumed.

I came to halt when I reached the end of the carpet, leading to the small stairway to the thrones. I bowed left and right, and to the center to show my respects and greetings to the most powerful men with the highest ranks in the whole of Belgium.

"Please, sit beside the Queen, my child." I obliged to the request of my Father and sit to my designated throne chair. Each one of us from my siblings has designated chairs for us to seat on whenever we have to make announcements or held an event.

We always come here complete but not today. I am alone, representing all of my siblings and probably, be talking to the rest of them about an important matter which only I am allowed to know, yet.

"Now the first prince arrived, I shall continue my announcement to all of you." The King stood up as he speaks to all these men.

"I am getting old and weak as much as your concern, I need to appoint the successor for the throne at my earliest convenience."

I am silently observing these men who manage to rule the whole kingdom through these years. When my eyes reached Duke Fontaine, I slightly bowed to greet, to show that I appreciated his presence inside this room because just one mistake, I might be unable to marry the woman of my life, Isobel. He is her father after all. He did the same greet.

"I have decided already on who I will pass on the duty and responsibility of caring this whole nation from my seven children…" I frowned at what he said.

Don't tell me that the purpose of why I am here is because…

"I believe Prince Lucifero, my first son and the first prince of the kingdom, deserves to rule the whole nation as I see the similar passion in him as I had in my years of early reign."

My eyes widen after the declaration. People began whispering. No. No. No. I don't think I can do this. I need to speak up.

"May we have a word from the next king?"Grand Duke Romanov caught the attention of us all.

They are now looking at me, expecting to stand up tall and confident, ready to rest the assurance of claiming the throne.

But I know it myself that even if I want to, deep down in the innermost of my soul, I don't want the crown. I don't want to be the king. I don't want to be controlled.

This is probably what Ana felt when she heard about her engagement. I deeply understand because right now, I'm about to do what she did on the dinner too.

I look at my Mother, who slightly smiled at me and seems comforting me. It seems like she is lending me her strength to overcome this invisible fear. I stand up and cleared my throat. All of them are all ears to what I'm about to say.

"I, Prince Lucifero Matias, apologize to everyone for the early disappointment for I decline of claiming the throne," then I bowed.

Everybody gasps and whispers lingered the whole room again.

"Come again?" Mother gasped.

"Are you not mistaken, child? Are you in your perfect consciousness?" I swift my gaze to my Father who looks at me with shock in his eyes.

"I am certain and in my right mind, Your Majesty." I narrowed my head when he sat to his throne, suddenly became weak. I can't look at him directly.

I should be ashamed of what I did, for turning back the responsibility and ruining their high expectations of me. But I know that if I don't speak up now, I might regret it later.

"What made you come to this decision, Prince Lucifero? There must be a reason," I heard Duke Lemaire said in his disappointed voice.

"Yes, there should be and perhaps, must be valid enough that costs you the royal position," Duke Fontaine said.

"I decided to pursue law or any political matters, just not the position of my father's for I believe that I am not destined for it." Some of scowled and told that my goal is identical to just becoming the king.

I keep my silence while I maintained my posture to show them that I am a man of my words. I don't back off and sincere with my decisions. I will face the consequences of my actions, fair and right. I prefer to not listen to what they will say.

"Pure rubbish!" Duke Dufort exclaimed. Duke Fontaine expected to agree.

"Can you all let the Prince handle his own life?" All of them came to silence when Duke Sevriens finally shared his thoughts. I look at him with hope and joy for finally, someone understood me inside this room.

"He already declined because he wasn't feeling it. Isn't it enough reason for him to not accept it? We can't force him to do something he is not comfortable to do with." It is like there's a ray of sunshine when he stands to defend the decision I made.

He is really an intelligent man. No doubt he deserves the position he is currently in as the Head of the Department of Education. One of the reasons why I adored him and would like to become a man like him.

A man with integrity has a mind like an open book and sticks to his principles.

"And when you don't feel happy with what you're doing, nothing good will be the outcome. Let the young man be." Duke Claes added and smiled at me. I returned it back with a bow for helping me.

"We must respect his decision, as he is still the First Prince of this nation," General de Dixmunde sighed.

"It won't be ever changed. Perhaps, for now," Vice General de Burkel added that made me relieved.

"Alright, I understand. Now, I must evaluate your siblings who will be the perfect fit for the throne. At the meantime, everyone must prepare for an incoming ball," Father said as if he just caught back his breath.

"What shall we do now, Your Majesty? Someone must be crowned as soon as possible before any countries declared wars for colonization," Duke Willems worriedly spoke.

"I need a moment to take it all in but for now, we need to focus on the nearest unification of Belgium with the Netherlands."

"The marriage of Princess Luana and Prince Dominique will serve as the key to the said unification and alliance to promise to support both countries as much as we can," The King continued with his announcement.

"When will the ceremony happen?" Duke Hofwegen asked.

"By the end of the month, five days after Princess Luana reached the legal age. It is confirmed already by the Pope. Everything is settled." The King assured them. He doesn't want them to know the truth I must say.

"Is that all true? I heard Princess Luana has not taken the idea of being married a pleasant idea," Grand Duke Romanov disagreed. I don't know where he heard about this but it's really unnecessary at the moment.

"My dearest sister, Princess Luana, needs a lot of time to prepare for this. Obviously, it sudden her when she was informed about her engagement. She's still in her adolescent years," I defended like an almighty. This is the only thing I can do for her, so I better do it right.

"We can't blame her, but we assure all of you that she is willing to accept her fate as the future Queen of the Netherlands." Everyone nodded when the Queen added on defending dear Ana.

I hope everything ends well.

The Royal Meeting ended smoothly after that. I immediately went back to my workroom. It is such a tiring day for the rest of us. I need to rest but as soon as I got back to my room, someone has been waiting for me since I don't know when.

She looks at me after I stepped inside. I stayed at my standing position, observing what she will do next. When the door was closed, she stood up and ran towards me to embrace me.

"Isobel"

"Congratulations, my fiance! I knew you deserve the crown. I always believed in you." I can see her excitement even though she's hugging me.

"What? How did you know about it?"

"I heard it from my father, of course." She lifts her head to see me, still her arms around my waist.

"Listen, Isobel. I hate to disappoint you but…" She looks at me worriedly. I hate to do this but I need to be honest.

"I declined. I won't be crowned as the king. I am very sorry, my love."

Her excitement dropped, her shoulders too, and her face frowned. She disappointingly let go of her embrace from me and step back a few times. I absolutely made her mad.

"Am I not mistaken? You let the opportunity of being a king slipped away from your hands?" Her voice started to rise. I made her really upset. Oh, heavens.

I heave a deep sigh and she sighed out of frustration. I never expected to see her like this. I should've told her before.

"Why?! Have you ever thought about me? How about me, Lucifero? You, of all people, knew how much I wanted to become the Queen. Then you dropped it?" She turned her back from me.

"Is that the only reason why you agreed to be engaged with me? For the title?!" Suddenly, all of my frustrations are rising up too inside of me.

"What else could it be?!" She shouted that made me shocked all through my bones.

"But I thought…" I said, almost a whisper.

"What? That I love you? Yes, I liked you but that's all. It was an order from my father. An order that I can't refuse no matter how much I tried to decline." I remained silent. Discovering all of these rights after a rough meeting is surely giving me hell inside.

I just wanted to rest.

"Enough, Isobel. Get out of my room before I do something that I shouldn't be considered in the first place." I gave up and not lay my eyes towards her. I had enough of the day.

"We're not done yet, Lucifero. I want you to reflect on your actions. It's not too late to take it all back." She comes closer and whispers, "If you truly love me, you would be the king. Do it for me, my fiance. I beg you."

I slightly pushed her to distance herself from me.

"Go home." She didn't say anything more and stomped out of my room.

When she left, I sit at the nearest chair and cupped my face together with my hands to restrain all of my frustrations and anger to win over me.

I had enough of this day. Damn it.