After a sleepless night.Kael rose before the sun or the servants did.The palace was still asleep and silence reigned over the whole place.He moved like a shadow taking nothing with him not even his signet ring just the clothes he had on his body.
He resolutely walked through the dimly lit halls his body forming a soft shadow on the walls.Kael slipped through the now familiar narrow paths from the previous day and moved towards the sea shore.
The sea was now more quiet than the night had been.The waves licked the rocks gently and he found his mind calmed by the soft sounds made by the waves.He stood at the edge of the cliff where he had first cast his eyes on her and her green eyes had met his.
She had said she would not be there the next time he came but he still came anyway.
He had held a glimmer of hope that she would be there but it seemed like she stayed true to her words.
He needed to be sure if what he had seen was truly real or if it was just a figment of his imagination.He continued standing there for minutes hoping for some sort of miracle but only the waves answered him.
"You kept your word,"he murmured to the tide and turned away.
He walked never stopping.There was no one to follow him or stop him to ask where he was heading to and by dawn he was gone.
The palace stirred that morning but no one noticed right away.At first the whispers were dull and unsure ,whispered just to keep conversations between workers going.Morning moved on like it always did.
Breakfast in the royal dining hall was louder than usual.
"He is not at the table again,honestly this is getting exhausting.Did he throw himself into the sea this time or is he just hiding in a shrub somewhere brooding."Princess Serris said as she tossed her curls over her shoulders.
Her younger sister Calera blinked over a crystal spoon."If he did throw himself into the sea,do I get his horses."Calera said as if it was the most innocent thing one could say.A few courtiers chuckled but no one told them to stop or tone it down.
Prince Theron,freshly shaven and immaculately dressed in ceremonial black sipped his tea like an unbothered man."He will probably be back later.He just needs some peace and space let him have it." Theron said as he elegantly sipped on his tea.
Their mother did not lift her eyes from the scroll she was going through"He will return when his little tantrum blows over .He is not important enough for us to pause our breakfast just to talk about him and his pathetic attempts to gain attention."
She calmly said.
At noon the servants placed fresh flowers in Kael's chambers out of habit and by evening the guard rotation at his wing had already been quietly reassigned .By the third morning when no one had found a note or trail the truth finally settled in,he was gone.But no one panicked and there were no proclamations or hunts launched.
Instead Queen Rina ordered Kael's scheduled engagement dinner to be replaced with a hunting feast.
Prince Theron wore Kael's signet ring on a chain to the council meetings and never explained why or more like no one bothered to ask.And Princess Serris was overheard asking the steward if she could convert her brother's old room in to a perfume gallery .She claimed that it would be a bother to build one while using the old room could save on resources.
The only person who truly asked where he had gone was a kitchen maid.But no one bothered to answer her the other maid simply laughed it off like it was a really funny joke.A prince had disappeared and the palace barely blinked .The kingdom of Seradelle moved on like nothing had happened.The princess supposed to marry Kael was reengaged to the other prince,Prince Aaron who was all too glad to accept it.
The day of the engagement ball arrived and the hall was grandly arranged in the decorations that had been bought for Prince Kael's engagement.The queen's attendant in a bid to make conversation asked why the arrangements made for Kael were the same ones being used then and if they were not considered inauspicious.
"The flowers had already been paid for,"The queen had replied with a shrug."We might as well make use of them.
Kael's portrait ordered to be made for the palace walls,half finished by the palace painter was quietly removed from the gallery and the frame reused for a flower painting to be put in the hallway.
A week after the engagement ceremony the court held a huge ceremonial feast in honour of prince Theron .It was officially framed as a reaffirmation of the royal family line .The king put in an excuse of showing the commoners that the royal palace was still as united as ever.But only those close to the royal family knew of the truth.From time immemorial such ceremonies had always been held as a custom where the crown prince's position and authority is ceremonially strengthened when another prince abdicates or vanishes.And in this case Prince Kael was assumed to have abdicated without proper investigation or any evidence.
"Now that the distractions are behind us,"the high chancellor said,raising his goblet,"let us toast the future we can rely on no matter the circumstances."
It was the final toast before the ceremony came to an end.
"To stability,peace and prosperity."Prince Theron said with a prideful smirk unable to keep on the noble smile he always put on.
Queen Rina lifted her smiling ceremoniously without blinking,"To sons who understand their duty and don't run away in the face of responsibility."She said while staring at Prince Theron.
A prince disappears but instead of mourning or looking for him the palace organizes ceremonies after ceremonies.The court musicians continued to play celebratory music and the dining hall was filled with laughter and roses the scent of expensive wine drifting through the air.
It was the same hall Kael could find any chance to escape from just to get a breath of fresh air and some space.
At the royal dining table the chair meant for Kael had been removed not out of grief or not to miss him too much but to balance the table and clear more space for the royals.
And just like that,anything to do with Kael was completely erased from the palace only for his signet ring which prince Theron occasionally wore around his neck,it was like Kael never existed in the world,,ever.