Camelia was silent when she heard Byron's words; she also looked at Joaqin, who was looking at her, too. Without saying anything they knew what would happen after this.
Realizing that Joaqin was worried about her, Camelia smiled and tried to calm her only son. Camelia also took Joaqin's hand and patted it lightly. She wanted to tell him that everything would be okay.
"Melvin, I hope you won't disappoint me." Byron looked at Melvin who was sitting next to him proudly.
Despite being the son of a concubine, Melvin became a very powerful Beast Tamer. Melvin was an Arcane Tamer who was able to control a Beast using magic power; he had even made a Wyvern as his Beast.
Of course, Joaqin was very jealous of Melvin's power; he used to think that his power would be greater than Melvin's, considering that he was older than Melvin.
It's just that all of Joaqin's hopes were shattered when he couldn't even generate his own power.
Without even looking, Joaqin knew that everyone at the table was glancing at him and his mother with contemptuous looks.
If it wasn't for politeness, Joaqin would have left the table, but he realized that if he did, he would only make his mother's position worse in the eyes of these damn people.
The only thing that kept Joaqin there was his mother's warm smile. Seeing how his mother held on and strengthened him, Joaqin smiled a little to assure his mother that he was okay.
. . .
After finishing dinner, Joaqin decided to approach his mother; he was determined to take his mother away from the palace because no one expected them to remain there.
Joaqin knocked lightly on his mother's door, waiting for her to let him in. The corridor around his mother's room was very quiet, and Joaqin saw only two guards.
"Even father doesn't care about mother's safety," Joaqin muttered under his breath, the feelings of guilt for his mother that resided in his heart piling up.
Camelia's soft voice came from inside the room and brought Joaqin to his senses. With that, Joaqin pushed the door open.
Joaqin could feel the warm, soothing atmosphere when he stepped into his mother's room. Camelia's room was very spacious, considering she was the queen of the Kingdom of Ziviel, but the decor was simple.
The interior of this room truly described Camelia. Joaqin always felt comfortable and safe when he was in his mother's room.
Joaqin seated himself on the sofa across from his mother. Joaqin was hesitant to reveal his intentions to his mother, but he knew that he had to tell her about his wishes.
"Why does your face look so depressed like that, Joaqin?" Camelia looked at Joaqin worriedly, her eyes clearly radiating anxiety as she looked at Joaqin.
Joaqin rubbed the back of his neck nervously while grinning awkwardly. Camelia, who saw Joaqin's stiff movements, realized that there was something Joaqin wanted to tell her.
Camelia also chuckled softly when she saw Joaqin's strange behaviour. "You don't have to worry, I'll listen to whatever you have to say," Camelia said with a warm smile on her face.
"Then I hope you won't get angry when you hear what I have to say," Joaqin replied with some relief after hearing his mother's soothing words.
Joaqin took a slow breath, then looked at his mother with determination.
"Mother, let's get out of here. Father doesn't need us anymore!" Joaqin's stern eyes were without hesitation. He really hoped that his mother would come with him to leave this Kingdom.
The handkerchief Camelia was holding fell to the carpet below, her eyes shaking with disbelief. Camelia didn't expect to hear nonsense like this from Joaqin.
"Joaqin! Have you lost your mind?" Camelia was still in shock at Joaqin's words.
"I'm serious, mother. You saw for yourself how your father treated us earlier, even your palace is no longer guarded. I'm sure he's already withdrawn the guards," Joaqin explained what his father had done to them.
"Even so, we can't just leave the Kingdom. Do you know how many people depend on us?" Camelia shook her head, trying to explain to Joaqin that they could not leave the Kingdom.
Joaqin was fed up with all the responsibilities and obligations that he had to bear as a prince. Not even the commoners respected him as a prince.
There was no reason for Joaqin to think about them. After all, Melvin would soon be announced as crown prince, so Joaqin no longer needed to be here.
"How long are you going to keep thinking like that, Mother?! Father and all the people of Ziviel don't need us, because of my incompetence they no longer consider our existence!" Joaqin got up from his sitting position and shouted at his mother.
Camelia was stunned when she heard Joaqin's emotional outburst at her; she didn't expect her son to harbour such deep wounds.
Joaqin just realized that he had yelled at his mother, and he knew that he shouldn't have done that to her. All this time, all Joaqin had was his mother; no one else cared about him but her.
"I'm sorry." Joaqin turned around and left the room at a brisk pace.
The queen's palace was in the southern part of the castle, close to the beautiful greenhouse garden. Byron had built this greenhouse garden for Camelia, and they often spent time there.
As Joaqin looked at the greenhouse garden for some reason he felt his chest ache, the beautiful memories of when he and his family spent time there came back to him.
"I'm afraid I can't turn back time to those days," he muttered in a low voice, the cold night breeze burying his words easily.
Tonight, Joaqin had no intention of returning to his room; he would sneak away from the palace tonight.
In this Kingdom, no one cared about Joaqin's existence, so it was quite easy for him to sneak out of the palace.
Joaqin chose to go to the interior of the forest that surrounded the Kingdom of Ziviel, where he could see the sky more clearly and contemplate his destiny, which he had yet to find.
Little did Joaqin know that that night, the dark shadows that he often felt the presence of began to move tonight.
Tonight felt darker than usual and coinciding with that, the dark shadows that continued to hide decided to come out tonight to change the dark night of this lunar eclipse with the blood of the guardians of life.