Freddie's POV

What in the world just happened? I don't even understand. Just a minute ago, I was teaching Sam about mannerism and the next minute, Sam yells at me in the face. I would never understand girls!

"Argh!" I shouted at the horizon. "I hate this!"

"What is wrong, my dear prince?" father came into my room. "Girl troubles?"

It seems that having father-son talks are the best remedies around here. Even when Gibby needs help, my father would act as his and help him out, since his parents have...

I slowly nodded my head and dropped my weight down on the springy bed, landing with a 'thump'. "I guess it's easy to tell with my facial expressions, huh."

Father nodded. "My dear prince, you know you can always count on me." He winked at me.

"You know," my father added. "Before I married your mother, we were very good friends."

"Really?" I asked. I always thought that mother and father were lovers right from the start.

"Yes," he continued. "I met her on the streets one day. If not for her, I would have died. I guess I owe her my life."

I became more curious with every word father said. "Were you assasinated?"

He shook his head.

"Robbed?"

He shook his head again.

"Shot?"

He shook his head. "No, I fell."

"You fell?" I suddenly found father a little lame... "But how can you say that mother saved your life? You can't possibly fall so hard till your life was at stake, right?"

He laughed. "No, son. When I first met your mother, I was out hunting. However, I fell off a horse when it got mad suddenly. Then, I met your mother. She was living near that area and was out picking herbs for her pharmacy in the forests where she met me."

"Mother owned a pharmacy?" I never knew so much about my mother since I was mostly isolated from the townsfolk.

"Yes indeed," father laughed. "She practised medicine before we got married. If it was not for her knowledge of medicine, I would have died of excessive loss of blood."

"Wow," I was stunned. "I never knew that mother was so knowledgeable."

Father joked, "Well, where do you think she got all the knowledge about the different types of vitamins and herbs that are good for you?"

"Then, what happened?" I probed further. "Did she know that you were royalty?"

"Of course not," he replied. "I lied to her that I was the Grand Duke!"

I laughed at my father's atrocitiy. But I was not any better. Although I didn't lie about Gibby being a prince, I lied about my identity. I may be a prince, but to her, I am just a lowlife.

"What happened next?" I asked.

Father sighed, "We got into a huge argument. Everything changed since then. She didn't talk to me, I didn't talk to her. That cold war was even more difficult to fight for than the Great War of China!"

I understood what father meant. My heart was breaking when Sam didn't understand me. It was as if I just got stabbed in the heart again and again. Every single word she said was an arrow that kept trying to piercing through the barrier that kept my heart protected. That feeling was worse than betrayal.

"Well," father continued with his story. "Even after a tiring war, there's bound to be peace. With every damage you get from the other, you'll start to cherish them when the war is over. I'm sure that you'll be able to get through this, my prince. Nothing is too tough for you. You've even found the girl that Prince Gibson has been looking for since the ball. What's her name again?"

"Carlerella," I replied.

"Oh yes," father agreed. "And you did it all on your own using your own store as 'bait' for her. You knew that she would come around, didn't you?"

I smiled.

"My son, you have the gift of prediction and instinct. You know when to do the right things and how to do them. It's your gift, your power, your CHOICE."

My eyes grew wide. All this while, I've known what to do. But I've never done what my heart told me to do. All I did was be afraid of her rejection, afraid of the bad things that may happen. It's now that I've realized. I was the coward.

"Thanks, Dad," I said unconsciously.

"Finally," father expressed his joy. "You've finally called me 'Dad'. After all these years, you've finally dropped your polite speech."

I replied with a smile.

"Wait," father called. "Don't you have something to do?"

Something struck my mind. Sam! It's time I explained myself to her. It's time I fight it all out with Pete...

A/N: I made "Great War of China" up. It sounded like the Great Wall of China, so I just used it in this chapter... Hope you guys don't find it weird or get offended...