The Prince's Choice ✔

Chapter Forty • A Delusional Soul

-Jade-

"You raised him?" Jade breathed, overwhelmed by what Elizabeth had just revealed. Elizabeth nodded silently. The woman in front of her had raised William alongside her own son.

This explains so much! Jade thought to herself while her eyes rested on Elizabeth.

This explains why William calls her Liz and why she is allowed to talk back to him and even tell him what to do... He lets her because she raised him and... he loves her. Jades mind raced off with her and she felt her heart filled with a warm and loving sensation.

"I did." Elizabeth mumbled after a long silent moment.

"That... is so admirable." Jade said quietly and got up from her chair. Elizabeth stood still as Jade walked up to her and took her hands. "I cannot believe you raised him." Elizabeth smiled and her eyes had turned blank with tears.

"I couldn't resist those blue eyes of his." She laughed and a single tear broke loose and trickled down her cheek. Jade smiled widely and pressed Elizabeth's hands with affection. "Well!" She suddenly said and wiped away the tear quickly. "Now you have seen me cry, and that my dear Jade is something very few ever have." She said while inhaling deeply to shake the feelings off of her. "Now. Eat your breakfast." She ordered. Jade laughed at Elizabeth's attempt to avoid more intimate issues concerning her and William.

Jade managed to get her governess to tell her a couple of stories about William and how he had been as a child.

Apparently William had used to love to sit on the counter in the kitchen and watch while Elizabeth or the cooks prepared food. Elizabeth painted a beautiful picture with words of how a boy of six years of age sat on the wooden counter with a carrot in his little hand. The little feet would swing forth and back while the very young William would not say a word whilst sitting there. He would just watch with big blue eyes with his brown locks tied in a neat little tail in his neck. The chubby sweet cheeks only a child would have a were a light rosy shade after either running around playing with Loren or from playing outside in the cold.

"It would take the boy forever to finish that poor carrot because he was so focused on what the cook was doing." Elizabeth chirped happily and her eyes almost sparkled from the memory. Jade smiled and was so pleased that Elizabeth shared this side of William with her. She wanted to get to know him better. Even though he had opened up to her and shared his feelings, it sometimes felt like she didn't know him well enough to actually marry him. That didn't seem to bother anyone else than her on the other hand...

Elizabeth continued telling stories of William as a child and Jade quickly realized that he hadn't always been as quiet and rude as he had been to her in the start. There was a clear reason to why he had become the dark and ill-tempered adult that he was now; the queen. Elizabeth didn't mention her in her stories since they were happy and delightful stories, but that only led Jade to the conclusion that William and his mother had never seen eye to eye. They had never held each other close to each other's hearts.

"It sounds like he was a very happy child..." Jade pondered and pushed away her bowl when she had finished her breakfast. The image Elizabeth had painted did not mirror the man that wanted Jade to be his wife and it pained her how clear the reason for that now was.

"He truly was." Elizabeth sighed happily but when she met Jade's not so joyful gaze, hers died as well. "Do you know why the king likes you so much, Jade?" Elizabeth suddenly asked before Jade could ask more about William.

"No..." Jade shook her head. "I just thought he... I don't know actually." Jade concluded.

"The king adores you because the day William came home to tell his father about you... we all got to see a glimpse of that happy little boy again." Elizabeth answered and smiled warmly.