Chapter 10: Day 4 Part 1
The Next Morning
I sighed deeply. Today was my official last day on land. I was going to have to confess my feelings to Ryou today or as Madame Mariko had put it, "Bye-bye Ryou."
Ryou stepped into my bedroom carrying breakfast on a large tray. He was already dressed and had obviously taken a shower, judging by his wet hair. "R-Ryou!"
"Breakfast in bed," Ryou grinned. He set the tray on my lap and sat down next to me.
"What's this about?"
"It's…a gift."
"For what?" I asked confused.
"For you staying here even though you told everyone you were going to leave yesterday."
"Oh. That. Well, I was given an extra day. But I do have to go home tonight at sunset."
"Okay… Lettuce?"
"Yes?"
"I…I'm really going to miss you! I mean, the castle's going to seem so different without you here."
"Yeah... My home is going to be quite gloomy without anyone to talk to…" I said sadly.
"That's it!"
"What's it?"
"I'll go with you!" Ryou exclaimed.
"Oh, Ryou. You don't want to do that."
"Yes, I do. I think life on the sea would be interesting." I picked up my glass of orange juice with slipped out from underneath my fingers and spilled all over the tray.
"Exactly. It'd be interesting. But not at all fun." I told him as he began to wipe my mess up. Clumsy me… I really need the Aqua Stone back!
"Well anyways, I thought I'd take you for a true tour of the castle today. Since I never really did. And I know you're going to leave but you can't leave without seeing the rest of the castle or tasting Miwa's Cookies. They are honestly some of the best cookies I have ever tasted in my entire life. And then we can go see if Fon Pudding is doing a show in the park."
"Pudding?" I asked confused.
"Yeah. She's a preteen who does shows for extra cash to feed her, her sister, and her four brothers."
"I see. A hard life..."
"Definitely… So after you're done eating, get dressed, and then come get me. I'll be in my room." Ryou told me and left.
Later
I knocked softly on Ryou's door. He pulled me into the room. "Come with me." He led me towards the small balcony. He had a thick group of vines which had grown up from the ground and reached his window. He climbed out of the window and gripped on tightly to the vine. He carefully climbed down to safety. I followed slowly. I was a little scared but Ryou spotted me from the ground.
Once I reached the ground, I tripped. Ryou caught me. We ran down to the fence that surrounded the palace. Ryou started to climb the wooden fence and I followed close behind. I reached the safe ground once again and tripped.
"Wow. How did we not get caught doing that?" I wondered but then wished that I hadn't. I had jinxed it. A screeching alarm went off alerting the guards. We turned to see security guards appear out of nowhere and run straight at us.
"RUN!" Ryou yelled. We took off running as fast as we could. We ran and ran and ran. Finally we were able to lose them. We both sat down on the ground catching our breath.
"I can't believe we made it! Did you see how many security guards there were after us?" I exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Ryou agreed. "But I knew we'd make it. I've had them on my tail too many times to count."
"Really? So you always do stuff like this?" I asked him.
"All the time. I hate being cooped-up in the castle all the time. It's boring and there are too many rules to being royal. Sometimes you just need to break free." I nodded in agreement.
"I know exactly what you mean."
"Now how about we go get some of Miwa's Cookies like I promised?" I smiled. Ryou took my hand and led me to a small shop just down the street.
Afterwards, Ryou brought me to the Village Square and we got to watch the famous Pudding do her acrobatic tricks. Before I knew it, the sky was turning all different colors indicating sunset. "Oh my word…" I whispered.
"What's wrong?" Ryou asked concerned.
"Sunset…" I pointed at the horizon.
"Wow… Where did all that time go?"
"Ryou, there's more to it then just the end of the day"
"This means that you have to leave now, right?"
"There's more to it then that even!" I suddenly began to cry.
"Lettuce, what's the matter?" Ryou asked wrapping his arms around me.
"I wasn't supposed to say anything but I don't think it matters anymore. I'm not related to that woman on the beach. That was Madame Mariko."
"Madame Mariko? But why would you want to pretend to be related to her?" My tears began to flow harder. "Lettuce? What is going on?"
"I wasn't supposed to stay here on land for three days. My dad's not on vacation right now; he's actually at our temporary home on the edge of the forest. Madame Mariko manipulated him somehow into staying for an extra three days on land. Then I begged her for a fourth."
"Beg? But why would you have to beg?" Suddenly a bunch of older men appeared out of nowhere. Half of them grabbed me and started dragging me towards the shore. The rest were pulling Ryou towards the castle where I could see Madame Mariko standing outside of from the top of the hill where we were at.
"Because I love you! And I'm sorry! I'm sorry for what I did!" I didn't even fight the men. But that didn't mean Ryou wouldn't. He fought with all his might but it was no use. "I LOVE YOU!" I was just able to yell before one of the men gagged me. Ryou looked shocked, confused, and hurt all at the same time.