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" I got it, I got it. You are two allies and plotted behind me.”
Now he laughed openly and the astonished faces of those present improved his good spirits.
He called the prince and suggested: "Your mother knows this library better than anyone else, I think. Tell her to find you those books.”
" Father, I would like you to read them to me, though.”
" Okay, we agree. You will bring them up to your room and in the evening, I will come and read them to you. Or would you rather go to my apartment and read them with me until you close your eyes and you fall asleep next to your father not afraid of the dark? By now we are completely crazy here ... " concluded ironically, but with a certain sweetness.
" It would be wonderful, Father. Your rooms are so extraordinary. Can I really sleep with you until you stay here?”
" I didn't say that, but until we are done reading those books.”
" There are many " the queen intervened jokingly.
The king peered at her, feigning a threatening gaze, which she returned without difficulty, pretending not to understand.
The prince approached his mother with a sudden gesture and kissed her with emphasis on her cheeks and, immediately afterwards, just as quickly, he threw himself into his father's arms.
No one could have foreseen such a move, which had no precedents in the memory of a courtier, absolutely not contemplated by any court protocol and, therefore, no one could prevent the boy from placing two kisses on the bearded cheeks of the king, who did not know what to do for a moment before masking his embarrassment with a strong laugh.
" You are a born conqueror " he joked with his son " but a little too wild to be a prince. I will have to take care of your education more.”
At that moment, he noticed the hostile glances the teacher had been throwing for quite a while and thought it fitting to correct his wording a little:
" You have a good tutor, boy, and I hope he's strict with you; but once I am at the castle, I want to be the only one to provide for your education as a future king.”
The teacher nodded in reassurance.
" Father – the child intruded – Are you forgetting that I was not born to reign? I know that I have two older brothers.”
"This issue does not concern you at the moment," the king replied dryly.
" Don't get mad, father, but becoming king is not what I care about. It is enough for me to stay with my mother and the others in this castle and be free to go to the sea or to ride up to the mountains or see the city.”
" And your father? What would you think if I took you to live with me at the court?”
The prince paled visibly and did not know what to answer in order not to offend him, but at the same time wishing to defend his freedom.
" So?”
" I'd be happy, but ...”
" When the king expresses a wish, it is not up to you to reply, but " the teacher rebuked him severely, reassured in his authority and ready to resume his job, according to his irreplaceable judgment, in the life of the boy, who still needed guidance and character molding.
The king silenced him with a gentle but firm gesture of the head.
"I'm waiting for your answer, but if you'd rather think about it, I can have it later," he said with unusual patience.
" Father, I am happy when you are here and now that you have allowed me to stay longer with you, but ... " again he broke off, turning even more pale.
" They are already two buts" the king observed, mocking him " I better not hear a third one.”
" I don't want to leave my mother to come to your court. I want to have my kingdom here" he concluded then in one breath, without looking at the sovereign.
"Anything you want " the king consented softly " but I hope that in a few years you will reconsider. And with your mother's consent, if she told you she was happy about it, would you only go to the city court for a few days?”
" If it pleases you, just because it pleases you, yes.”
" Very well. We will come back to this subject again. Now have your mother give you those books.”
The queen took the child by the hand and led him to a corner of the library and spoke to him at length, softly, before handing him two or three large volumes. The king saw the prince shake his head a couple of times as a sign of denial and then he thought he saw in his eyes traces of tears pushed back by force, but he never knew what his mother had said to his son, although he could try to imagine it ... ..
The prince still remembered those evenings spent in his father's rooms like an infinite spell. The king read to him for hours those incredible stories of ancient travelers who had explored the world, meeting mysterious people, sometimes amusing but more often disturbing, and strange fables that Antonia had never told him and that confused him a little with all those unusual characters and unknown cities with fascinating names, and adventures of famous heroes and knights…. His mother had been right to say that there were so many amazing books in the library ...
Not only, however, did father and son read and looked at astonishing figures, but they also talked for a long time and the father showed the child the treasures hidden in his rooms and taught him the game of chess and explained to him the mysteries of the stars, which they looked it from the windows together .
And during the day he would reveal the secrets of the wild animals and the birds that populated the forest and ...
The prince's memories were so many that when they began to flow into his mind, pouring out of the unconscious where they usually were buried, they were like a flood. They overwhelmed everything and he was no longer able to stop them nor the emotions that came with them and that were even stronger now than when he had felt them for the first time, because they are invariably accompanied by the regret of not having the possibility to repeat those unforgettable experiences.
When he was very young he saw his father as an all-powerful and overbearing being, who could not be disobeyed and was capable of punishing in a terrible way those who dared to contradict him; but now, he also remembered a very different father, the father he got to know in that and in many other memorable hunting seasons ...
The king then began to discover, every day and every night more and more, that his son contained within him at the same time the poetic spirit of his mother and his own restlessness, curiosity, and strong independence
Once, to say the truth, he had thought that this last characteristic was only his and alien instead to the queen, so submissive and ready to fulfill every wish of his even before it was expressed; now he realized, and precisely through the child, that she was indeed much stronger and more determined than he had ever believed.
The thing was a bit disturbing, to tell the truth, for someone like him who had been accustomed to consider himself superior and almost infallible, but also pleasant if for a moment he stopped to reflect that, if the queen's choices had always been free, so was the submission to her lord! This filled him with proud satisfaction and made him feel like a god.
One evening the prince had brought to his father a small book, covered with a simple red leather cover, very smooth and without those complicated ornaments that adorned the other volumes of the library and when he had confessed to him that he had never seen it, the boy had whispered , with a knowing air: "I had noticed it a few days ago and asked my mother what it was, because there was no title and she had blushed a little and had taken it from me a little too quickly, saying that it was nothing important and not suitable for me. But then he forgot it again on the table today and I took it secretly. Tell me, father, do you think it's an adventure book?”
The king had begun to leaf through it with growing interest and for a few minutes he had seemed absent, caught up in his thoughts, forgetting the presence of his son.
"So, father? Will you read it for me?”
"No," he said dryly.
"Why not?”
"It belongs to your mother: you have to ask her.”
"I thought the library was just yours.”
"I thought so too, but it wasn't. Your mother has taken care of the books in all these years when I left it closed and neglected and take care of it, and now it belongs more to her than to me. And this particular book is especially hers; I can't read it without your consent.”
"I see; I'll ask her tomorrow and she won't say no.”
"Don't be sure," his father warned him.
"She almost never does.”
"Well this time I'll be the one to tell her to do it.”
"Why, father? Don’t I deserve an explanation? I was perhaps wrong in taking it, but I was curious: if you had seen how she blushed when she saw me in my -hand. If I am wrong, I will apologize. She will understand and I will then be allowed to keep it.”
"I am the one who does not want you to. Maybe when you're older.”
His tone was now domineering, and it did not allow replies. The prince still did not understand and was a bit sulky; his father seemed nervous, not exactly restless, but as if he was just in a hurry to dismiss him and to be alone.
So that night he went back to sleep in his room for the first time since that beautiful understanding had formed between him and his father.
He was sad and despite Antonia tried to cheer him with her stories, she did not succeed.
He could not sleep and rolled around uneasily in his bed, rolling up his blankets and then kicking them away and sitting back in the dark, his heart beating so hard that he thought Antonia might hear him through the walls.
"Now I'll go to my father "he thought at times "and I'll tell him to keep me with him. I don't care if he does not want to read me that book, but I care to be with him, that I care about.”
Then he was afraid to make him angry, going to him so without warning and, even more, he feared crossing those long dark corridors.
He laid back down and rolled up in the blankets again ...
For better or worse, sleep caught him by surprise and, when he awoke, it was already morning and the sun was high on the horizon.
He got up in a fury and just as quickly dressed. His animals had perhaps already left, disappointed by his lack of punctuality. And his father had perhaps waited in vain for him and was as annoyed by his delay.
He looked out the window, but did not see him in the park, nor near the stables. He ran out of his room still disheveled, with his shirt out of his trousers and his shoes with loose buckles. He flew down the stairs and into the garden and into the alleyway that led to his morning appointment, but he saw no sign of the king.
He came across him only when he was a few meters from the grove and then stopped running frantically and undignifiedly.
"Good morning, son, I think you're really late. You lingered a long time in bed, eh? " his father teased him.
"Have they already left?" the child asked.
"I'm afraid so and they were really sorry that a prince was not able to keep a commitment.”
"I'm sorry, but I didn't wake up in time. It had never happened to me before.”
-I'm afraid you'll have to explain that to several people this morning.”
-What do you mean?”
"Well, apart from your four-legged friends, I'm waiting for your apology.”
"Why, Father?" he asked in amazement.
"I don't think it's the right way to present yourself to your king. You didn’t even greet me and are dressed in a decidedly unseemly way.”
The prince blushed and instinctively tried to straighten his hair and adjust his shirt.
But his fingers were rather clumsy, and, without the usual help of the nurse, they could not tackle tying the many ribbons.
The king smiled involuntarily at this hindrance and tried to help him but was politely rejected.
"I think I'm old enough, father, to do it alone.”
"Seriously? Even shoes?”
"Maybe a little help ... "granted the boy, when he realized he wasn't getting too far.
"I see you're more reasonable now. When you are decent and presentable, we will go to your mother and you will also have to justify yourself to her.”
"I didn't do anything wrong... oh, yes! The book. Is this the reason?”
"Precisely.”
"But father! I didn't think I was going to spite her.”
"But she wasn't happy last night when I told her about it.”
"Did you tell her everything?”
"Certainly, and now I want you to go and explain yourself to her.”
The prince sighed resignedly, not at all happy.
Who knows why his father had betrayed him so? He wouldn't have expected it, after so many days of friendship and complicity. Why had he brought back that book to his mother’s attention right away? And what mysterious and delicate secrets were written in that book?
"But," the boy observed, as he followed the king's rapid steps along the alley that led to the paved courtyard in front of the main façade and then up the stairs to the first floor, where the reception rooms and the rooms the queen used during the day were located "but I cannot understand: what was so important about that book to provoke all this chaos, to make me worthy of being punished by you and my mother?”
He had spoken in a whisper, almost a whisper, as if he were talking to himself, in a reasoning so complicated that needed to be expressed aloud to be better followed and grasped.
The king turned slightly to look at him and was struck by his son's almost suffering air. His excessive sensitivity irritated him a little and he decided not to answer. But then he realized the child, who was silently racking his brain, was desperately trying to recover his self-esteem and decided to wait for him and take his hand to calm him at least a little.
"You don’t fear your mother is angry at you, right? I said she wasn't happy, not that she wanted to punish you.”
“No, father, but I am so sorry to know that she ... that she is not happy with me. She always says that I am her treasure and that if she didn't have me her days would always be grey and sad. And now ... Oh, father, I'm sorry if I am making her suffer. I'd rather be placed in a dark cell.”
"That is that is best for you” the king said jokingly.
"Yes, but my mother is also best for me.”
"Seriously? And your father?”
Why did he insist on that self-centered question? Perhaps to elicit a little exaggerated and false praise from his son? Perhaps to feel reassured about his paternal role, that in reality for years and years had not worried him at all and that only now he was barely rediscovering?
"I am very happy to be with you, but you are never here, while my mother does not abandon me a second and I can tell her everything.”
"Yes, I believe it.”
