"Are you serious?" Red moon asked.
"Well... um.... Yeah, of course." I said with the most believable smile I could give.
"Your stomach is injured, not your hand. You can move it just fine." He said while putting the book on the shelf.
"My hand... is hurt too." I said in the most painfully fake voice imaginable.
My sweet moon just locked eyes with me and said "Well, then don't eat."
"What do you mean?"
"You heard me. Don't eat if you can't, your stomach is injured anyway."
"Can't you feed me just this time?"
"Why would I? You will throw up or even suffer if you eat. I should have honestly thought of that before." He said while slowly reaching towards the dish.
"No... Wait, I will eat... I want to eat."
I quickly grabbed the dish and started eating it. It was a soup, normal at first. But as I kept drinking the flavour turned something rich, flavourful and tasty.
Either my sweet moon has really good cooking skills or it was just the fact that he made it. I don't know which to believe. Maybe both?
"This is pretty good!" I said while my mouth was already stuffed with the soup.
"Thanks." He said while giving a polite smile.
But, slowly the rich, flavourful soup tasted familiar. As if I had it before.
20 YEARS AGO
*NARRATORS POV*
"Lord! please spare this child! Only this one! This...This has potential!" The screaming yet vulnerable sound of a woman echoed through the hallway.
The people dressed as the knights, looked at her in disgust. But the moment their eyes landed on the child in her arms. Something flickered in their eyes. They looked at each other and nodded once as one of them spoke.
"Okay, okay. Calm down lady! We will not do anything... Just give us the child!"
"But..But...He is my son!" She said as she hugged the boy even tighter.
"See lady, If you give us the child. We will try to enter him into the banquet held by the emperor and empress for an adoptive child. And if, he behaved nicely and used some of his looks. He can be the Crown Prince!"
"What... What if he doesn't get chosen?" Her hesitant voice cut through the silence.
The knights looked at each other with mild amusement.
"Then what? He has to come and work with you! but I don't think that will happen, just look at that lad's face, He could even be mistaken for a noble!"
The women's hollow eyes lit up with a bit hope. She knew that the boy's fate can either become better or... much worse.
She looked at the boy in her hands as her hesitated voice echoed.
"Son... Do you want to live here in this dirty place with mama or... or live happily with the great emperor and empress?"
The boy looked at her with soft eyes.
He knew.
He knew what these adults were talking about. He knew that once he left, He might never return.
Woman's grip loosened as she leaned near his ear.
"You can come back if you don't like it there..."
"Really?" he said, delightfully.
The woman just gave a bitter smile. She knew that having him here will just make him suffer more.
Knights smirked as they said "Finally, you have come to your senses. Don't worry, we will take good care of this lad!"
The boy turned and looked at the knights for first time. And the moment the knights saw his face properly, only one thought crossed their mind...
"Is he the angel?"
They were still. Not daring to say another word to such a beautiful child. Their eyes lit up as if they saw a miracle. And among them, one said in a low and gentle voice
"What is his name?"
The woman looked blanked as if she didn't expect it. She looked at her son as she muttered softly
"Isaiah... His name is Isaiah." Knights looked delighted with the name. But boy seeing the delighted faces was rather confused.
"Mama, who is Isaiah?"
"It is your name, dear." She said smiling weakly.
"My name?"
"Yes... Isaiah."
"Isaiah... Isaiah... That is my name!" He said joyfully.
But not long after, Few knights came forward and grabbed Isaiah. The woman who was screaming before, just shed silent tears.
Isaiah tried to break free but It was for no avail.
"This is for your future, kid." They said.
11 YEARS LATER
Waking up, Practicing martial arts, cooking, cleaning, going to market, eating and sleep.
This was Isaiah's everyday routine. Sometimes, he would meditate or other times he would just talk with few neighbouring kids.
But, he never had the time to think about what had happened to his birth mother or will he ever be able to meet her again.
"You look old for your age, kid." Said Edwin, his adoptive father, who was also one of the knights and had won the bet to take Isaiah with him.
Isaiah usually just gives a polite smile at comments like this but this time, he just sat still. He didn't knew how to answer to such comments or how to make it stop.
On the other hand, his adoptive mother, Georgia have now started to also pass comments like "You might look older than your age but your appearance is perfect for crown prince!"
He knew plenty well that his role here is just to prepare for being a crown prince and he had known that since day one. But hearing it often from people's mouth didn't really encourage him. It made him doubt himself even further.
"Isaiah! Your new preparation book must have arrived. Go and get it from aunt Yosef!" Edwin said from back yard as he sharpen the sword.
Isaiah silently got up and left. It usually takes him 7-8 hours to go to aunt Yosef's place which was three villages away. But since he has been doing to it for a while. His speed has evidently increased.
"You have gotten taller than the last time!" Said aunt Yosef.
Isaiah just smiled faintly and nodded as he slowly turned and started walking.
Aunt Yosef waved him good bye and retrieved back to her house.
It is there little ritual that they do when they see each other. They give each other compliments. After that they usually go their own ways. Both of them were used to it. And they expect no less or more from each other.
4 hours later
Isaiah was climbing the hill which leds to his village, when he saw thick smoke spreading the air. At first he thought it was from someone's house. But as he got closer and closer the thick smoke started to blur his visions.
"Help me! Someone! Help me!" A familiar voice. It almost sounded like... Georgia?
Isaiah ran towards her, only to see bottom half of her body gone. Her clothes was covered with blood and it seemed like her time of life was over.
Isaiah knew that he can't do anything even if he tried. So he just stood up, ready to go and find Edwin. But just then....
slash!
Isaiah's blood poured out of his back. Someone had attacked him... or it was something. The beast which looked like a huge snake lunged towards Isaiah.
He had no sword, no weapon and his back was gone. Isaiah's heart started to beat fast.
He was not scared but rather he felt relief.
A kind of relief where you know that you can just end things and maybe go back to how it was.
But just when Isaiah's eyes were closing he heard someone's voice.
"Run." It was a man. He was fully dressed in black and the only thing that Isaiah could see was the man's brown hair.