CHAPTER- 3 THE SECRET Aurora’s words are the talk of the palace, the servants gaze her when she walks by, whispers echo across the hall, the kitchen, the royal court, and the houses close to the palace, all knew the queen came back to her home due to a conflict between the parents and the daughter. “Father, you have to bring mother back,” Aurora spoke while she mulled what had she done the day before. “Yes, and I welcome her grandly, forgive her, and do what else? Make the plans like you do?” Chryst growled. “I am sorry, but you have to.” Aurora held Chryst’s hand. “But I’m not at fault, Celestia’s being overprotective, she is the cause of all of this!” “Please don’t think, do as I say.” She replied. Chryst stood up, Aurora hoped he might go to Celestia, to get her. To close the whispers. To shut the servants about what they think is a soap opera. “Fine, I’ll go, but you shall ask for forgiveness once she returns, which as far as I know, she won’t.” Aurora’s eyes lit up, she embraced her father, hoping he brings her. As Chryst got ready to ride on his horse, his memories spiralled through the time before he and Celestia were married. He remembers Celestia’s brother, Andrew, working under him during The Battle of Antriea. And once Chryst asked Andrew about a gift that the latter had been delaying, which turned out to be accepting Celestia in his family. “What is the “gift” you have been hyping up?” Chryst asked the day his patience left him. “The gift? Oh, I don’t think you might accept it…” Andrew frowned. “If only you tell!” “Celestia. She is the gift.” “Celestia who?” Chryst asked, shocked upon the name being taken. “My sister, take her, she deserves better, she hasn’t been coming up with the present. She still believes I am her real brother, when, in fact, I am no one. I found her at my doorstep. I have been raising her as my sister ever since. Please don’t ever tell her the truth, just, please.” Andrew explained. “Your sister? You want me to, what? Marry your sister?! Andrew, how can I?” “The king and the queen know it all,” Andrew reassured “They just need your approval.” Chryst married her the next week, Celestia was shy at that time, weak and she never left her room. Chryst liked her, he often tried to talk to her, but she never did. When Aurora was born, she began talking the entire day. “What dress suits her?” Celestia often asked. “The purple on with the white lace.” Chryst would reply “I think blue suits her; look how extravagant it looks!” She would always change her mind. Now, Celestia left the same palace she had spent over 14 years in. She thought her daughter was just like her younger self, less-talkative, obedient, disciplined and royal. But that changed the day Aurora knew the whole truth. All the memories blurred his vision, his weary eyes made him fall in the fields, his horse galloped to the nearby woods. He had hurt his hand, the thorns pinched his palm, bits of blood starting oozing out. It turned red. He made his way to the cottage, the path uneven beneath his boots. The smell of smoke drifted faintly from the chimney, guiding him forward. His hand throbbed, but he kept moving, each step carrying him closer to the glow of firelight. When he reached the door, he hesitated. The warmth inside was clear — shadows flickered against the window, voices low and steady. He pressed his palm against the wood, leaving a faint smear of red, then pushed it open. Andrew looked up first, startled. “Chryst?” His tone was sharp, but not unkind — more surprise than anger. Celestia turned slowly, her eyes meeting his. She said nothing, she just gave a cold look. But the silence between them was heavy. Chryst lowered his gaze, his voice quiet. “I… needed to come.” The cottage held its warmth, but it was not comfort. It was a space where three lives now stood together, each carrying their own weight, each waiting for the silence to break.
“Aurora, she… asked me to come here. I have no intentions.” He spoke as he forwarded his hand. Andrew gasped upon seeing the red hand, he immediately brought a cloth and some medicine, Chryst denied the remedy. “Celestia? Shall we leave?”, said Chryst. Celestia saw a small dagger in his pocket, she took that, made a small cut on her own hand, and then reached out for Chryst’s. “Firstly, the cut represented the promised you made that you will ensure that I will not lose my self-respect, my dignity. Secondly, I am not going there as a mother, but as a queen.”, she spoke in a cold tone, like how a queen should. A true queen. The two made their way to the palace, Aurora wasn’t in her room, nor at the gate, Chryst called out her name twice, no one showed up, not even the servants. Celestia didn’t pay any attention to where her daughter was, not worrying about the fact that she had left the palace and was living in the servants’ quarter like it was where she belonged. “Please don’t tell mother nor father about my whereabouts, I won’t leave the building, but please!” Aurora had pleaded a servant, who accepted Aurora’s appeal. She changed her name to Ruth, name of the writer of her favourite novel. While a frantic search had been started for finding Aurora, the former was hiding in the least obvious place, pretending to be a character of a story she shouldn’t be. Celestia was a bit tensed about Aurora after a few hours. “Did they find her?” she asked, “They strongly believe she isn’t in the palace, but surely near it,” Chryst answered the worry, “She might be where I think!” “Where?” She stood up. “The servants’ quarter!” Chryst exclaimed “Our daughter in the servants’ quarter? She better not!” After entering the building, they looked everywhere, but Aurora wasn’t there, nor was “Ruth”. “Where is Aurora?” Celestia questioned, no one knew, just like they kept their promises, a loyal servants’ quarter indeed. Mattias, a servant, didn’t speak at all, he was sweating, and his hands were trembling. Chryst doubted him, questioned him straight to the face, eye-to-eye. “Do you know where she is?” He asked him. “I- I don’t kn-know Your-Your Majesty…” he stammered. Celestia was suspecting him, too. “You do know, don’t you?” She spoke, Mattias’s hands were trembling and Chryst knew he knows where she is. “Tell me!” Mattias didn’t speak at all. “She- she had made all of us promise that we shan’t tell where they have left to…!” One of the servants spoke. Celestia ran outside, she went to the stable, sat on a black horse and rode to Aurora’s small castle she had gotten built after she drew one. She didn’t see anyone in, she knew she had to do what to do, she closed her eyes and sat still on the staircase. The true secret that Aurora forgot was that Celestia has the power to see where one is in their current location, where they are, what are they doing, everything, but they can’t see her. She can talk, but they won’t hear her. Aurora was spotted in the same place as her; the cottage garden, behind the bushes, she was wearing a green shawl which covered her to camouflage her. Celestia ran, found her, and embraced her harder than ever. “O where were you, my darling!” They made it home, to their comfort zone, Celestia didn’t talk much to Chryst. She asked Aurora what was so amusing to hide in the bushes, she didn’t reply, but instead changed the topic. “Aren’t the flowers pretty?” Aurora said, touching them “They are, but I need answers.” Celestia said, holding her hand and backing it off from the plant “Of?” she asked “Aurora Luna Addams, tell me the truth.” “I-I- I don’t know.” Aurora sighed “You can tell me!” Celestia clarified “I wish I could.” “What is wrong with you?” She shook Aurora from her shoulders “VINCENT VAN GROUH!” A male voice called “Y-You don’t need to know everything!” “Really?” Celestia looked serious “Yes. Now leave me alone.” She said, brushing off Celestia’s hand from her. “Fine, live your life yourself.” She left the room. Aurora bit her lips hard. Shut her eyes, lay on the bed. Her hair flowed on the mattress. “You can enter…” She whispered. A young boy came in; he looked the same age as Aurora. “Who was she?” The boy asked. “My mother…” She replied, still lying on the bed “When will you tell her?” he groaned “Ian…I would be so done!” “Do you want me to go there?” “No! I will tell her someday.” “Someday….” Ian began “….I wish I could be…” Aurora continued “….Yours….” “…...If only….” Aurora sat up, smiling “Our story….!” “….Could still occur….” Ian held her hand “…...To be real….” “…...Real….” A faint voice of Ian ended it.
