Sunrise Kiss

Chapter Seven: The Wonderful and Most Dashing

At age eighteen, Athlai Stuart of House Stuart, crowned ruler of London, found himself quite in trouble. Days, or was it even a month ago, probably more, (to be honest, I wasn't paying much attention to dates because it bores me and I find it quite the hassle to keep track) the young prince decided that the best solution to escape a force arrange marriage and the wrath of his parent is to sneak in a trader's ship, did not inform anyone aboard of his presence, sneakily stole a water container and sometimes meals for himself if he's bored eating bananas, and waited inside bellow the ship's dock. Now at a bright and sunny morning, nearly noon, he was caught.

"Your majesty! What on heavens are you doing out here, under the deck of my ship?" A man's voice gasped right above him. Prince Athlai looked up and saw a chubby with three folds of fat under his hairy chin. (A triple chin, I guess you can call it that)

The man's hair was abyss black but a few white hairs were sticking out like a sore thumb around the corners of his hair. His hair is surprisingly well trimmed and well kept, although it was greasy.

"Here, your majesty, let me help you up." He said, extending his arm towards Prince Athlai. He took his hand and the chubby man hoisted him up on the deck.

Prince Athlai noticed that the man was clean, his worn-out dark leather boots were spotless, his dark pants clean, and his white shirt, although yellowing in age was unstained.

"If I may ask, are you the captain of this ship?" Prince Athlai guessed. He blurted out this random question because, at that moment, his mind was racing, trying to concoct a decent enough lie to answer the man's question from before. Under any circumstances, he could not tell anyone the truth of his escape.

The man's face lid up and showed his pearly whites — again well kept and well maintained for a man who sails for a living.

"Yes, Your Highness—w-why, I am honored that you know of my existence." The man smiled from ear to ear. "My name is Captain Tubbleworth, but my friends call me Captain Tubz."

Prince Athlai's brain clicked, and he internally smiled knowing that he now had a worthy lie to keep his secrets in the dark.

"A pleasure to meet you, Captain." Said the prince, he extended his arms and shook it rather enthusiastically.

"I was tasked by my father to look after this trade." He told the captain in one breath, his shoulder was stiff, his face in a poker. "I wanted to look after this trade without you knowing that you and your crew are being supervised, so I hid under the deck and watched you from there."

"And what can you say about our voyage, your highness?" Captain Tubz questioned, his face filled with concern and nervousness.

The prince breathed and relaxed, seeing how Captain Tubz looked made him realize that he was buying at the lie he had created.

Prince Athlai gave a warm smile at the captain and said, "Not to worry Captain, I was pleased at how smooth the voyage went, how you and your crew handled the rough seas, and looking around, I am also contented at what I am seeing regarding about the trade.

Captain Tubz breathed, the poor man was holding his breath all this time! "You don't know how happy I am to hear that, your highness." He said, nearly in tears.

"I would be happy to report this to my father about you and your crew's excellence." The prince replied. "Expect gold for you and your crew, captain."

"You hear that boys!" The captain suddenly yelled to his crew. The prince suddenly jumped a little at how loud and sudden the captain yelled. He looked around and saw that the ship's crew were listening in on their conversation and they cheered in glee. Some even made a little celebratory dance overcome with joy.