The Royal Deal

Theophilus was furious. 

And it didn't help that his father continued ranting about his so-called plan of marrying of his son to a stranger that he hadn't even bothered telling him about. 

"Of course, you do know that for the next week, you're a commoner named Diego, and you're married to this girl. It is important you maintain your fake identity so we'd know very well the kind of person she is. So, your flight would be—-"

"Hold on just a minute, father."

Aurelia was shocked, and the royal court stood still. No one dared interrupt the king, not even his wife. 

Theo stood straight from where he stood, rising to his full height of 6'5". To any girl, he was perfect, matching his father's handsomeness in a striking fashion. 

Theo had sleek blonde hair and blue eyes that shone like turquoise gems in the darkness. His hair was rolled back in a manly bun, a string of hair hung over his forehead in an imperfectly perfect manner. He was dressed in similar colours like his father, but not nearly as regal, and he preferred it that way. 

There were too many trinkets that were required of the royals to put on. 

"You tell me of a plan to marry me off to some stranger, without even consulting me earlier. Father, this is something that has to do with my future and believe I should—"

"I will not watch you get married off to some wretch that would do nothing but throw our kingdom to ruin."

Aurelia's blue eyes gree stormy, and he stood up from his throne in anger, pointing a finger at his son. He must have noticed how quickly Theo was hurt, and softened his tone. 

"I don't mean to steer your life in a direction you don't want, Theo, but you have to understand that marriage is a huge matter that requires careful deliberation. Just do this one last thing for me, for the family. After this, I trust in your ability to run the kingdom with wisdom and a strong woman by your side."

He stole a smile at Queen Vera, who batted her eyelashes playfully. 

"You've already come this far. We don't want you to fail now."

"Okay father. I understand."

Truthfully, Theo didn't understand, but he chose to bear with the situation the same way he had bore with it all those while. It was for the family. But soemthing still boggle his mind. 

"This girl, from what I hear her marriage was ruined by this."

Theo flapped the certificate for them to see. 

"I can't just waltz into her life as this person and expect her to take me with open arms. I basically ruined her life, father."

"You'll have to earn her trust."

"But how?"

"I don't know. Figure it out yourself."

Figure it out yourself. 

One of the many reason hated whenever his father did this were because of those words. 

He had told him exactly that when he was bullied by other royalty at royal school. He had told him again when he shipped him off across the planet to a ruthless military school in the middle of practically nowhere. 

His father had a habit of throwing him into situations like this and expect him to figure his way out of it. 

But even now, Theo was calculating his next steps. 

Without knowing, hee had grown to become a man who could almost get himself out of any sticky situation. Maybe that was what the king was training him for all this while. 

"You would leave tomorrow at dawn. I suggest you prepare accordingly. Of course, you can have your pick of royal escorts. You know how these things work."

Theo was thinking of something. As a prince, he had his own personal assistant, but his father had thrown him into this mess, and his weapon of action had been his own right hand man, Francis. 

"Father, I wish to take Francis with me on this journey. He knows a lot about this girl and her family. It would only be wise to have him there with me."

Aurelia scratched his chin. Frankly, he couldn't imagine being without Francis for that long. The man had devoted his life to the king, and he was really effective, with a success rate of 99%, but Theo was right.

He would definitely need Francis, else he would just be like a deer in the headlights at Imperial City. 

"Alright. It's settled. Francis would accompany you on this journey, but I hope to hear good news from all of this, son."

Francis himself just stood there with a blank face. His twirled moustache twitched ever so slightly, but that would've been the only sign that this new arrangement would pose a slight inconvenience to the man. 

"No problem, father."

Theo said as he walked himself out of the royal court room.