Roman was led to a rather messy kitchen, rather than the dining area he had seen earlier. It was explained to him by Patton that they might be discovered, should they venture into the dinning room, so the kitchen was the safest bet.

Everyone in the kitchen was very enthusiastic about his entrance. Well, almost everyone. There were quite a few that glared at him as he passed. Well, jeez, way to treat a houseguest. All Roman had done was exist and they decided they hate him. It’s not his fault he’s here! Okay, it’s a little bit his fault- but he couldn’t just let his mother live here knowing she’s suffering. That would be awfully selfish of him.

Dinner wasn’t boring, seeing as everyone had something to say about Roman. There were very few who had something good to say, and there were also very few who had the decency to whisper about their opinions of him. However it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the tour. While, sure, food was important, or whatever, Roman was far more interested in the secrets the castle was bound to hold. When has anyone ever heard of a castle without secrets? Never.

That being said, the most pleasant people, meaning Patton, were not with Roman on his little adventure, but rather Remus and Logan. Roman didn’t really mind Logan, even though he was a little overbearing. He did, however, dislike Remus. Something about him just set Roman off to his core. It was almost as if Remus was purposely trying to bother Roman. And that was far more bothersome than if Remus was just being himself, although Roman had a feeling that would bother him as well. 

Anyway, Logan did most of the talking. The only time Remus really talked was when he was mentioning something Roman probably could have gone without knowing, and Roman mostly just looked around. Eventually, Logan mentioned something that truly caught Roman’s attention. Or rather, what he avoided saying. 

“And then we have the east wing, which you are free to explore as you wish. We also have a wesssss- and we also have a theatre.” Logan was clearly avoiding something because he didn’t even notice what he was saying until Remus nudged him. 

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Nothing. Theatre?”

“So are you guys seriously not going to tell me what’s going on here? I thought this was a tour?”

“Yes, which is exactly why we’re going to the theatre, because you’ve already seen the east wing.”

“So, we’re just going to ignore the fact that you mentioned a west wing?”

Logan looked off to the side, clearly embarrassed. “Yes.”

“Right,” Roman drawled out the word, trying to make it seem like he was agreeing. He might have been overdoing it, but who else was going to be the dramatic one of all of them? Clearly it had to be Roman. “Well, let’s go see that theater then, since we’re pretending things didn’t happen.”

“Great,” Remus grinned. “Let’s go! Now, this theater…” Remus continued on with his rambling, while he and Logan made their way back down the stairs. Roman, however, stayed where he was, then silently made his way to what he hoped would be the west wing. Roman had learned the basis of the layout of the castle now, and he hoped that would be enough to get to the west wing. The walk was quiet, and as he continued on, he realized he would have to cross a bridge of sorts, that connected a single tower to the rest of the castle. It was snowing outside, despite it being July. Roman shivered as he finally crossed the path, the cold's brutal winds sharp and painful. Roman disliked the cold, and he truly felt the distaste for the weather growing stronger by the second. Roman liked spring best, because the flowers were beautiful, and it felt like the world was suddenly alive again. He liked that. It gave him hope that he would wake up and be a whole new person. Or maybe he was good enough as he was. Maybe he would find someone to wake from their winter. Maybe.

When Roman finally escaped the harsh winter, he almost got whiplash from how quickly the temperatures changed. Suddenly, he was in an incredible warm room, which was practically torn to shreds. There were pictures hung up, but you couldn’t truly tell what the contents of the paintings were. There was also an incredibly large bed, but that too was torn to shreds. “What an awful waste of a nice room,” Roman muttered. It was clear that whoever spent their time here needed to work on gaining some self control. Roman made his way towards a desk tucked away in the corner, to find that there were papers strewn all over it. As a matter of fact, they were everywhere, now that Roman noticed. He went to grab one on the floor when a glowing light caught his eye. It was coming through a crack of the door, and it was a faint pink. If Roman hadn’t let the curiosity get the best of him, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed that there was a door. It was almost hidden away, the door that is. If the room was better put together, a newcomer would have missed it easily. But the room was in a disarray, and Roman had noticed. So he made his was to the hidden door, without even thinking about it. Of course, if he had half a mind, he might have thought to stop, to turn back, to leave things alone. But he didn’t. He had far less than half a mind. So he continued on his mission, destined to find a rose. It was a beautiful rose, and it was certainly a better flower than any Roman had collected in his time, but there was something off about it. It was pretty, sure, but Roman could feel a bad energy just infecting the air around it. It made Roman want to cry.

There was a glass that seemed to protect the flower, though Roman couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to protect a thing that made you feel so awful. It was like a weighted blanket, but it wasn’t in any way comfortable. It was just suffocating. The warmth wasn’t even there, despite Roman feeling incredibly warm when he was in the other room. 

He stepped closer to the flower. He didn’t mean to. He hadn’t even realized he had taken the step until he had. And he certainly didn’t intend on getting closer still to the flower. He wanted to be as far away from that thing as he could, but he couldn’t help but want to touch it. It was like he wasn’t in control in his body, and he hated it. He couldn’t stop himself from progressing forward. Before he knew what was happening, he was trying to release the flower from its glass prison, even though he knew he shouldn’t have wanted to. But he did. He desperately did. Before he could even touch the glass, he was pushed up against the wall, farthest from the flower. He blinked before he realized what had happened. There he was again. The Prince incredibly close to Roman. Although this time he looked infuriated. But he was still pretty. It took Roman a minute before he realized Janus was snapping out at him. Roman blinked, and tried to focus on what he was saying.

“Are you crazy?” he screeched. “You,” he laughed breathlessly, “could have died. And you could have killed me.”

Roman tried to suppress his laugh. “I could have died? Why in the world would I have died?”

“I hardly think that’s any of your business, so if you please, you need to leave.”

Roman rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms over his chest, which was a little awkward to do considering the position they were in. “I think I do have a right to know, considering.”

“Well, I say you don’t. What I say goes, seeing as I’m the royal one here,” Janus slowly lifted himself off of Roman, clearly noticing the tension.

“Now that’s just cruel, your highness.”

“That’s unfortunate for you, isn’t it?” 

“Well, I suppose it is. But really, I demand to know.”

“You can’t ‘demand’ anything of me,” Janus casually left the room leaving Roman to chase after him.

“I can too! And I demand you tell me,” Roman grabbed Janus by the arm and turned him around, forcing him to face him.

Janus yanked his arm away, as if he had been burned. Which was ridiculous, considering he was wearing obnoxious yellow gloves. “Don’t touch me.”

“Oh, don’t be dramatic. I just want to know why my life was potentially in danger.”

“You hardly have any authority to tell me what to do. For all I care, you could leave right now. It’s not as if I have anything against you. And I’m not going to live with a crazy person.”

Roman glared at him. If looks could kill, Janus probably would have dropped dead. “Then why am I even still here? I could have gone home long ago. Why even make me stay here?”

“Because I could.”

Roman scoffed, offended. “I see.” Without another word, Roman stomped his whole way across the path, down the stairs, and towards the den room. When he got there, Logan, Patton, and Virgil were there and appeared to be waiting for him. 

Patton was the first to approach him, and Roman wasn’t surprised. It seemed that no one actually cared here anyway. He knew he shouldn’t care about whether or not a bunch of objects cared about him, but he did. He had been there for at least a day, maybe two. “Hey, kiddo, where ya been?”

“Oh, y’know,” Roman sneered. “Around. But I guess I’m leaving now, seeing as no one wants me here.”

Virgil groaned, and Logan scoffed. Patton frowned. “Well, that’s not entirely true. Sure, I wish you weren’t here as a prisoner, but we like having you, right guys?”

No one answered. That was answer enough for Roman. He ignored Patton’s protests and made his way outside. It was cold, only now it was colder than before, because it was later in the day. Roman found himself wishing for a coat. Hopefully he wouldn’t die before he made it to his town.

(There was a high demand for another chapter. Ok, it wasn't that high, but it was enough to make me feel bad, so here's this!)