Rumor had it that once Queen Diana, Prince Rafael's mother and the second queen of King Derrick, had seen Prince Regan's face and had screamed loudly.
Back then, it had been only a few days since the prince's face had been burnt by fire. He was just twelve.
The Prince was so irritated and furious by her scream that he burnt her face.
After that day, Queen Diana never stepped out of her chambers.
Of course, no one knew the whole story.
But People who were aware of this half-true rumor get terrified even at the mention of Prince Regan. The slaveowner was one of those people.
In his fear, he even forgot to thank the prince for the heavy pouch of coins and looked at Regan's mask-covered face and cold red eyes with a pleading expression on his face.
His hand trembled when he saw the prince's red eyes on it. It was the same hand with which he had been holding the whip.
The slaveowner cried without tears.
He didn't want to face the prince's wrath so he silently took the small knife from his waist and mercilessly stabbed his palm into it.
It hurt. It hurt a lot.
But the fear of death made him do this.
He could only muffle his sobs as he felt the pain and saw the blood trickling down from his palm.
Evelyn who heard weird sounds glanced at the slaveowner from the corner of her eyes and she went blank to see what he was doing.
Has he gone crazy?
She wondered as she saw him stabbing his own palm.
On the other hand, Rex sighed seeing everything.
'Only Regan could force a person to hurt himself in order to save their life from him.'
When Regan's cold red eyes moved away from the slaveowner, relief washed all over the latter's body.
Without a single word, Regan walked away.
The slaveowner had received the money …enough money to not do anything for his whole life. Though his hand hurt a lot, he was still happy… completely unknown of the upcoming disaster.
Evelyn was left there with Rex.
She had seen the man throwing a heavy pouch in the slaveowner's lap. It must be filled with coins otherwise the slaveowner would not have left her here.
So, she has been sold to some other person again.
Evelyn thought in a daze.
"Miss…"
Evelyn came out of her trance and raised her head to look at Rex but she lowered it again because she remembered that he was a royal prince.
"Let me drop you at Regan's palace."
Rex said gently.
Evelyn frowned as she wondered if the man who bought her was named Regan. She could only nod her head and follow Rex, unable to see the smile on Rex's lips who was walking ahead.
.
.
.
Rex took her inside the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace was beautiful and grand but Evelyn didn't dare to look around much.
"This is where you can find Regan."
He told her gently as he stopped in front of a huge Entrance and then left soon.
As soon as Evelyn stepped inside the Palace, she was stopped by a middle-aged woman.
"Who are you?"
The woman looked at Evelyn from top to bottom and the frown on her forehead deepened as she asked
"Who allowed you to walk inside His Highness' Palace?"
She was the head maid of the Royal Palace. Just now she received the information that Prince Regan has returned so she came hurriedly to make sure that nothing was wrong in the prince's palace.
But while returning, she came across this girl who was covered in filth.
Evelyn was silent for a moment before she answered
"I have been bought by His Highness."
Only then did the head maid's eyes fell on the black-colored band on Evelyn's wrist.
So she was a slave.
The head maid didn't doubt her as she thought that the slave must have entered with Prince Regan.
However, looking at Evelyn's clothes, her face was full of displeasure and she said
"First, clean yourself."
Evelyn nodded her head. She also wanted to clean herself.
The head maid called a maid and asked her to show the bathroom, which was specifically for slaves, to Evelyn.
Evelyn accompanied the slave.
A few moments later, a sigh escaped from her lips when she felt the water touching her skin. Even though the water was cold and she was shivering, she felt nice.
She thoroughly cleaned herself.
The maid had given her a new dress that looked like a dress for the slaves of the Royal Palace.
Since she had another set of clothes to wear, she washed the previous set of clothes.
When Evelyn stepped out of the bathroom, her hair was still dripping wet and her wet clothes were in her hands.
The maid who had shown her the way to the bathroom was now looking at her with shocked eyes but soon composed herself and said in a not-so-nice tone.
"Hurry up! You took so much time. Madam is calling you. There are many chores to do. Don't think of being lazy."
Evelyn looked at the maid and nodded her head silently.
She then walked to the nearby wall and put her clothes there to dry. She could only do so as she didn't want to anger anyone and hurriedly accompanied the maid.
The head-maid was inside the kitchen.
When Evelyn stepped inside the kitchen with the maid, she saw a few maids standing in front of the head-maid with lowered heads.
The head-maid looked angry as she looked at the maids.
"Serving the princes is your duty. If you can't do so, then don't stay here."
The head-maid said strictly and the maids dared not to say anything.
The whole kitchen was silent.
"Now take the meal for His Highness."
The head-maid said sternly but she was furious when she saw that not a single maid stepped forward.
It was also not their fault. Though the incident was of years ago, everyone knew how Prince Regan had killed a maid when the maid had gone inside his room with his meal.
But someone had to go and serve him his meals.
The head maid was about to shout at them again when the maid standing beside Evelyn suddenly stepped forward and said
"Madam, since she is His Highness' slave, Madam should send her to do this work."
The people inside the kitchen instantly looked at Evelyn.
They were a little shocked to know that Prince Regan had a slave.
The head-maid looked at the maid sharply for interrupting her and then she looked at Evelyn emotionlessly.
A moment later, she said sternly
"Slave, come here and take this tray to His Highness' chambers."
Evelyn didn't refuse.
She bent her knees slightly and whispered
"Yes, Madam."
And then she silently exited the kitchen with the tray in her hands.
Behind her, the head-maid as well as other maids inside the kitchen sighed in relief.
On the other hand, on her way to Regan's chambers, Evelyn wondered why not a single maid stepped forward to take the meal to Regan's chambers.