Escape from the Obstinate Prince ✓

Chapter 4

"The only way to heal a broken heart, is to fall in love again."

 To say that Ami's mouth was agape would have been an understatement. Because Valeska was a girl's name. At least she thought it was. The way the Lars said the name made her think it was a girl's name.

A strange feeling harbored in Ami's chest. She had heard of the feeling before and yet never experienced it. It felt...bad. Broken. Disgusted. And, well, jealous. She didn't like being jealous, especially since she hadn't even heard the story behind the name. And besides all that, she was a Princess on her way to Carenthia to be married! She didn't have time for such frivolous jealousies. It was girl-ish. Not to mention childish. And very, very, very, unattractive.

"I met her when I was seven and ten years old. She was five and ten years." Lars' voice intruded into her thoughts, pulling her out of the constant pull of runaway notions. "She had just come to the city to work for her Uncle. Her parents had died the previous winter and so she worked in a tavern near the Capitol. I worked near the Capitol and I went to that tavern and ate. I met her there. I'll always remember that day." he said in a nostalgic tone. "She looked at me with her green eyes. She had auburn hair, just a hair away from the color of the sunset, and she was nearly as tall as I was."

Ami's eyes widened. How could anyone be as tall as Lars?

Lars looked at Ami in amusement. "Well, she was shorter than me," he held a hand up to his chin, "but not by too much. Then again, everyone in Svenland is taller than Rhone's average person. Anyway. She took my order and afterwards we got talking and talking." he shook his head. "I'm not even sure how we managed to think about so many things to talk about. But we did, and her uncle boxed her on the ears since she hadn't been working for nearly four hours. But I promised we'd talk another time. And we did." he became silent for a couple minutes longer and Ami was about to break the somewhat awkward silence before he started talking again. "And you know how those things always go. The two young people fall madly in love. It was almost like a fairy tale. Like one of those things that your mother would tell you before bedtime."

Ami nodded, encouraging him to continue. With every word she felt her hopes being chipped away. What hopes? she frowned.

"Then when I turned nineteen I had been been stationed on a ship in Rhone." he looked at her. "This ship actually. And so I told Valeska. I asked her to come with me. To marry me."

Ami's eyes widened in horror. "What'd she do?" she hated the idea of Lars being married and hated the idea that she was jealous because of it.

"She didn't answer me. I told her to think about it and that I'd be back for the answer a day from then. But when I went back, she came out to see me, she told me that she didn't love me, and that she told me that she never did and that she never wanted to see me again."

The look on Lars' face was one that she didn't see very often and she hated seeing it. It seemed shattered and crushed.

"I didn't believe her at first. I called on her every chance I got. But I soon realized that she had been completely honest, she didn't want to see me and she never loved me. I left on the ship that took me to Rhone. I never saw her again. I've docked in Svenland before but I never went to that Tavern again. It still brings back too many painful memories." he looked like a lost puppy and avoided Ami's gaze.

Ami got the strangest urge to do something very un-lady-like, and most definitely most un-Princessly-like. She got close to him and wrapped her arms around him. Lars stiffened at her soft touch at first, then realizing that she wasn't going to hurt him intentionally(not that she could) and loosened up. "What're you doing?" he murmured softly and turned, facing her and returned the gesture.