Chapter 5

The Royal Regiment was a group of the most elite soldiers in the Annville Empire. They were the bodyguards of the royal family members and were always at the frontline in battle. It was indeed a great honour for anyone in Annville to become a soldier in the Royal Regiment. And Jack was made the commander of such important group of soldiers!

However Jack did not feel very happy about it. He did not wanted to live a life as a royal anymore. He already had a very bad experience living as the commander i in the Zang Empire. All he wanted was to live a life as normal as possible. He wanted to return to farming again. However, he dared not object the decision of the King. After all, he was just a prisoner a few minutes ago

"Thank You, Your Majesty", Jack stammered. He did not know what else to say

"Fine. I will see you at the Harem tomorrow to make this decision official. Leave", said the King. Before the King could say anything else , Jack immediately fled from the room. His mind was blank. He was not ready for the castle politics. He just wanted to be an ordinary citizen.

Jack left the room and entered the castle hall, still lost in his thoughts . "How did it go?", Jack heard a voice and as he turned he found it came from Princess Julie. "Has she been waiting for me the entire time?", Jack thought. Nonetheless he was pleased. Seeing the beautiful princess would always boost his mood. After all, she was the most prettiest girl he had ever met. Moreover he could feel the Princess attitude towards him was changing. She was no longer a bossy women. Could it be that she had a crush on him? Just as he was lost in the thoughts of the Princess he quickly came back to his senses." She is a princess and I am just a commoner! Stop imagining stupid things", Jack thought to himself and quickly replied," it went fine, I became the commander of the Royal Regiment", as he tried to walk away. He was afraid that someone might misunderstand if they saw the two of them chatting so frankly.

"That's great! Congratulations. Let me escort you to the training grounds then.", Julie exclaimed. It was actually Julie who had recommended Jack to be the head of the Royal Regiment. She was the King's darling daughter and he could not refuse her daughter's request. Julie was also confused why she recommended Jack to his father. A simple 'Thank You' was enough to compensate Jack's good deed of saving her from the bandits. However she was impressed by Jack's personality. Jack had not recognised her as princess but still put his life in danger and fought the bandits. He was truly a man of honour.

"Sure", Jack replied and instantly regretted why he said it. What if someone saw him hanging out with the Princess? It will attract unnecessary attention. However he had no other choice now as he had already agreed

"Follow me then", said the princess as they marched out of the castle hall

...

Meanwhile at the training grounds, Harry was beating up a soldier. After all, he was the commander in chief of the Army and was a very strong man. He was very tall and skilled in sword fighting, horseriding and archery. All the soldiers admitted that he was the most powerful amongst them. However at the same time, he was an evil and ambitious man.

Harry continued to beat the soldier until he was knocked out. "You guys have not trained well! It feels like I am fighting an old women!", He shouted. He was not in a good mood today especially because the princess had ordered him to release Jack. He had not captured any prisoner for a long time and wanted to torture him. Now he had to release his frustration on these soldiers.

Meanwhile Julie and Jack marched out of the castle hall and into the training grounds. Jack suddenly saw the soldier who punched him a few moments ago while he was tied up. The soldier was Harry. It was because of him that Jack was arrested and then beaten. No one had ever humiliated him like this in his entire life. Jack suddenly felt the anger boiling inside him

"Princess Julie, who is that man?", asked Jack politely as he pointed towards Harry. Julie's happy expressions suddenly changed into resentment. She hated Harry and even seeing his face would piss her off.

"That is Prince Harry, the adopted son of my father.", said Julie

Jack was not satisfied. How could he take his revenge on him when he was a prince? However no king would adopt a commoner. Harry must be a son of a noble.

"Why did the King adopt him?", Jack asked out of curiosity. Julie was at first shocked. "What does this has to do with him?", thought Julie. However she did not wanted to be rude to Jack

"Harry's father was a good friend of my father and died in a battle few years ago. His last wish was that his son, Prince Harry , should be married to me", said Julie in a low voice. She did not want to tell him this but she did not have anyone to talk to or share her feelings. She too wanted to release her stress. It was indeed true. The King had even engaged the princess with Prince Harry to honour his friend's wish. Julie wanted to protest but who else would she marry anyway? She was not exposed to anyone outside the palace and the King was interested in marrying her outside the kingdom because most of the people would only be interested in marrying her to take control of the empire. All Julie could do was to delay this marriage as long as she could. She knew Harry was not interested in her but was only interested in marrying her so that he can become the next king of the Annville Empire.

Jack was shocked as he heard what Julie said. He could feel the hatred in her tone. Jack's anger multiplied after learning that Harry was engaged to Julie. Although he knew it was not his matter, still the idea of Princess Julie marrying someone else disturbed him and he walked towards Harry. He could no longer control his anger

"Wait ! Where are you going?", Julie said but it was too late