Chapter 1
Soon, the odd phenomena spread; the Purple Eyes was soon something a few lucky people were born with. They were adored, even worshipped by some, and they lived very long lives, so long they witnessed all of their loved ones perish and pass away. Not too long after the start of the Purple Eyes phenomena, humanity was divided into two: the royalty and the ordinary. And the royalty was, of course, the lucky ones: the purple-eyed people, who carried Alexandria’s Genesis in their blood.
She was tired from the long ride, but she couldn’t complain, that would be rude. The red and golden carriage had carried her and the tall middle-aged man next to her five hours already. The carriage was led by a stunning white horse and the horse was controlled by a young man wearing a red uniform. It’s the Portam kingdom’s colour, which all the servants and workers wore for their identification. She let her head fall to eye her own white dress with a few pearl decorations, which wasn’t quite enough to pass as something royalty would wear. This worried her and the man next to her noticed the scowl her face formed.
“Renee, don’t worry about it. You look beautiful,” he assured her, his voice gentle and soothing. She liked that about him, his voice always calmed her down. She took a look at him, noticing how clean his black suit looked. He looked great.
“Thank you, Leroy,” she spoke and he turned to smile at her. She immediately was stricken by his purple eyes, she wasn’t used to seeing them, but she had to get used to it.
The ride continued for another thirty minutes, and Renee tried to distract herself from the fact that they hadn’t had anything to eat for the whole ride. At that moment she missed home, she missed her aunt’s special porridge recipe as well as her chicken soup, but she wouldn’t often get the luxury of her meals. She has felt this hunger before so it wasn’t hard to ignore it.
“We will be there in a few minutes Renee, you’ll eat soon,” Leroy assured her again, it’s like he always knew what she was thinking. Renee always felt like Leroy treated her like a small child, always assuring her and comforting her. She was 19 years of age, she doesn’t have to be checked on every minute, but she knew Leroy cared for her that much that he couldn’t resist.
As the carriage kept moving Renee eyed the beauty surrounding her. The sky was blue and the sun was shining, she heard birds making beautiful sounds and felt the light breeze touching her skin. The land was filled with green, there were flowers everywhere and the little spring they passed was as blue as the sky. Perlington was a beautiful city, so she had heard and now she believes it. As she stared into the distance she noticed a few houses and buildings to her right. They were far away still, but she could also see people roaming around. It was probably the market place, but she could also make out the huge building behind all the other houses. It was the Portam castle. They were almost finished with their journey.
As the carriage passed through the busy market place Renee was once again reminded of her home, she was reminded of how the markets were never this busy, that is except when she left that devastating city behind. The whole reason why she left was the same reason why those few days before her leave were different, why the market place was loud during those days. The memory haunted her.
The castle was now very close, it’s huge structure was right in front of Renee and Leroy. Soon they were faced with the gate of the castle. The red-suited man who was riding the carriage exchanged a few words with the gatekeeper, a young man who was also wearing red. When they were done talking Renee gulped and closed her eyes. She was very nervous. This was it.
He ran like the wind itself. He also tried to ignore the fact he had accidentally pushed two vases to their destruction as he ran past them. He didn’t want to think of the mess he created, he was having too much fun. He heard the running footsteps of his best friend right behind him, as well as his laugh of amusement. He was laughing himself, and he could feel himself slowing down because of the laughter. It only took a mere second for him to be pushed from behind and to fall against the slick marble floor, sliding through the room because of the material beneath him. He was now lying on the floor, still grinning while his best friend who had pushed him was standing in front of him, catching his breath and connecting his hands to his hips.
“You okay?” he spoke while breathing heavily. The young man lying on the floor pushed himself up, also breathing heavily.
“You didn’t have to push so hard, idiot,” he spoke in pauses, which followed by him chuckling. The two stood there in silence for a few seconds, trying to get their energy back before the horrible loud voice of Marie filled the entire room.
“Kim Taehyung! Jun Shouta! What the hell is this mess?!” the voice echoed through the room they were in, followed by heavy footsteps approaching them. The boys stared at each other, knowing very well that they were in for it now. They’ve heard the same talk countless times now. “Taehyung!” yelled the maid as she was now closing in on the two young men still catching their breaths. They starred at the rather short, quite elderly lady stepping aggressively towards them.
“Yes, Marie?” Taehyung responded quietly, his deep voice now sounding of a mere child’s, not a 23-year-old adult’s. He was a very carefree man, who didn’t think twice about his actions, and the only person he feared was Marie. His friend, Shouta, stayed quiet and still, not wanting to anger the maid more as he himself was also afraid of her.
“Did you knock off those vases- my gosh! What happened to your suit?!” she raised her voice after noticing the layer of dust covering a part of his light blue suit. Taehyung gulped and Shouta was struggling to keep himself from letting out a giggle. He found his best friend’s troubles amusing. “You’re also covered in sweat. What have you been doing?!”
“We were playing,” he spoke, hardly keeping eye contact with his favourite maid. This was the last straw for Shouta and he let out his long-kept giggle which caused Marie to shoot him an icy glare. It immediately shut him up, which made Taehyung giggle right after him. Marie was an odd case in the royal castle. She is the only maid who had been given permission to call the prince and his royal friend by their names, of course by the two young men themselves. They took a liking to her and even think of her as their grandmother as she cares for them like one.
“Enough! Don’t you two know we’re having guests today? You cannot give them a bad impression of us, understood? The queen will be furious,”
“Yes, Marie,” the two young men spoke at the same time. Marie let out a deep sigh while eyeing on the men she cares deeply for. As quick as she could, she brushed off the dust from Taehyung's suit and wiped the lines of sweat slithering down both of their necks. There's no counting how many times she's done the same thing over and over again.
"Alright, now both of you have to head to the entrance and guide the guests. They're here,"
Renee and Leroy climbed their way through a few stairs by the guidance of the gatekeeper and were waiting to be greeted by the huge entrance. Renee was trying her hardest to hide her astonishment over the castle. She had to pretend to be one of them, one of the royalty. Something that she was most definitely not. Soon she noticed two men approaching them. Her hands instantly started to shake as if she was shivering from the nonexisting cold, so she quickly hid them behind her back. She took in a deep breath and turned to take a look at Leroy who seemed completely in control of his character. He was too good. Renee's eyes met those of one of two men now close to them. They were purple, just like all of the eyes in the room. She couldn't help but feel overwhelmed and intimidated. Where she was from, you never saw these eyes, let alone two pairs of them.
"It is a pleasure to meet you of the kingdom of Calden. I am Kim Taehyung, the prince of this castle. And this is Jun Shouta, not of the royal blood but a royalty from the city of Breuce,"
The prince's deep voice echoed in Renee's ears. She instantly fell in love with the sound of the prince, the beautiful melody that was his voice. His eyes complimented him, the bold and strong colour of purple added to his overall eternal beauty. His brown flowy hair, his glass like skin with no imperfections, his lips with a tint of pink covering them. Renee simply couldn't take her eyes off the stranger in front of her, the prince of Portam.
"I am Renee Sato, not of royal blood but royalty from the city of Direwood. This is Leroy Mudo from Direwood, he assists me in my travels," she carefully spoke the line she had practised many times before. She couldn't make a single mistake. Or it would be life-threatening. She knew this all too well.
