Niyagra.

She had no idea how she even got there and why, all she knew was she got into the car and made the driver go all the way to village without even thinking why she did that. There she was, doing things no one asked her to but a part of her really wanted to know. After hearing the rich kids' side of the story of the Niyagra people, her curiosity started to get the best out of her. All of a sudden she wanted to know more, she wanted to see just how broken these people were and Aiden was going to be her perfect excuse, plus she was kind of worried about him too.

Ever since she visited Asher, she just couldn't shake off the feeling that he was probably up to no good again. Maybe it was yet another strategy of the royal family to get the people of Niyagra to bow to them and so the king always sent Aiden every year. She just needed more reasons to convince herself that it was useless even trying to want to get to know him in the first place.

The loud moos from the cows she could barely even see distracted her thoughts. She took a deeper breath as she stepped away from her car.

"Be careful Miss vutron," the court lady behind her made sure to say just as she walked hurriedly after her. Anne-Marie wasn't sure she had anything to be scared of especially when Niyagra was almost similar to her old neighborhood in crystal lake. When it came to poor areas, she knew she could blend in pretty well. At least the roads were tarred.

The village wasn't as horrible as everyone pictured it to be. She could see people peep through their houses to steal glances at her as she made her way down the almost empty street with half burned houses. Seven years was a long time but you could still see the ruins and burned roofs caused by the fire.

She could see how the kids that used to be playing before her car drove in, started to seek shelter immediately like they were trying to hide from her. Not that she could blame them though, with all they had been through, they had every right to be scared of strangers. She was so sure that the elders in the village must have told them how the rest of the world had turned their backs on them. They didn't look like they were exactly familiar with visitors coming to see them.

It was her first time being there but she could feel it, the emptiness and sadness that was laced in the air every time she took a breath. She could feel the pains of the people and hear their yells as their skin burnt to ashes every time she looked at a house and saw the burned marks on it. she could literally hear as they cried and begged for mercy while bullets were shot into their skulls, she had goosebumps just thinking about it. Seven years might have been a long time, but everything about the village she was looking at, showed her just how hard it was going to be for anyone to heal from what they went through.

Her teacher was right anyway.

The people of Niyagra were quite resourceful when it came to taking care of their village and ensuring their survival. For people who didn't have much, for people who didn't rely on the government for anything, they sure did a good job at providing for themselves. Anne-Marie was sure she had driven past a huge farm land on her way, that had to be where they harvested all the food they ate, there was a river too and fishermen trying to fish and with the way she could hear the animals make all sorts of noises, she was sure there had to be an animal farm somewhere. Yes, nature was on their side and they knew how well to take advantage of the resources they were given. They had everything they ever needed. No wonder they didn't need the outside world for nothing.

She could hear the sweet sound of amazing grace, sung by the choir as she approached the huge halfway burned church even closer. According to one of the royal guards when she called earlier, that was where he was, Aiden.

The closer she got to the church, the more she could see. Elijah was the first person she took notice of, together with the other bodyguard beside him, a few feet in front of the church and as she got even closer, she got to see him too, standing there on his own, right in front of the church with his hands folded behind him. It was the first time, the first time she had ever seen him in a suit, a black one and he also had a black pair of glasses on and just kept his gaze straight on the church's building with a straight look on his face.

The choir started an even sadder hymn as she found her way to where the guards stood, super surprised to see her, while her court lady, Ivanka tagged along.

"Miss Vutron,"

Aiden froze the moment he heard those words escape from the lips of one of his guards rather loudly. He had no idea what he had just heard or why he heard those words but he slowly found himself turning to see behind him. His eyes widened when he saw Anne-Marie standing right there, with a scarf over her head. That day was the memorial of the dead people of Niyagra, she had to make sure she was at least dressed the part, she had to show her respect.

Aiden pulled off his glasses as he started to take really fast steps to her.

"What on earth are you doing here?" The frown on his face worsened. "You're not supposed to be here." He whispered. Anne-Marie narrowed her brows.

"I just-" she shook her head, not exactly knowing what to say and then she wiped off the confusion from her face. "What about you? What are you here?"

Why on earth were they whispering?

Aiden shook his head.

"That's none of your business. You shouldn't be here, Go back to the palace right away, it's already bad that one of us has to be here, don't make it any worse."

Anne-Marie thought for a while. Was he referring to the fact that the people of Niyagra blamed the king and the prime minister for what happened to them? The same king that was his father and the prime minister, Paris's father? The same Paris she was pretending to be? But why? Why did she have to leave and he didn't? Ever since what happened in class, the people of Niyagra were the only thing she could think of, somehow, she felt guilty for what happened and she didn't even know why.

She wanted to be there too, why did she have to leave? She couldn't leave without finding out why he was there, for all she knew, the royal family wanted the complete submission of the people of Niyagra, was that why he was there? To bully them again into submitting to the throne? To finish what his father started? Did the king send him? Was that why he kept leaving so early in the morning so no one noticed? Was that why he wanted her gone?

She raised her gaze back to Aiden.

"No." She said after summoning all the courage she could find, "I don't want to."

"What?"

"Not until you tell me why you're here."

"That has nothing to do with you-"

"Haven't the royal family done enough to them already?" She asked him. "Haven't your father destroyed them already? Are you trying to make it even worse? To break them more than they already are?"

"What on earth are you even talking about-"

"The people of Niyagra have been through a lot already," she kept cutting him off. "Forcing them to bow to you or the king isn't right or logical,"

"Oh God." Aiden placed a hand on his forehead to rub it. He was starting to have a headache just listening to her talk.

"if you're trying to unite them with the rest of the country, you have to gain their trust first not force them."

"You," he grabbed her by her arm immediately and Anne-Marie froze. She stared into his eyes, she had never seen him that way before, so upset, so fed up of hearing her speak. The look in his eyes was- scary.

Aiden exhaled and then flickered his tongue down his lower lip, he wasn't even sure what to say, instead he raised his gaze to Elijah, the other guard and Ivanka.

"How did she get here?"

"I'm sorry your highness ," the guard spoke first, keeping his gaze straight at him. "Miss Vutron called earlier to ask where you were, I didn't know she was really going to come, I didn't think it was a big deal if I told her since she already knew where you always were at this time-"

"He didn't tell me," Anne-Marie cut the guard off, causing Aiden to slowly turn back to her, "Asher did."

"Do you think this is a joke?" He asked her. "Is everything a joke to you?" He tightened his grip on her arm, deepening his gaze in her eyes as his frown worsened even more. "Don't you understand what's at stake here if you say or do one wrong thing? I'm not going to say it again, go back before I lose my mind-"

Anne-Marie held her breath, the look in his eyes scared her. She was so scared and no matter how she tried to hide it, her eyes screamed it out loudly.

"Your highness,"

Saved by the bell. They could both hear the distress in Elijah's voice as the choir stopped singing. Aiden was the first to look at him, he could see how Elijah slowly retreated his gaze to the front of the church. Anne-Marie gasped and it made him turn around to the church immediately, letting go of her arm completely when his eyes met the six people that stood right outside the church.

They were really old and if Anne-Marie was to guess their ages, she would have guessed late sixties towards seventies. The way they dressed wasn't exactly different from the other people she saw outside but it was really weird, especially with the three white dot marks on each of their wrinkled faces. The huge frowns on their faces made everything even worse and it grew even worse when they saw them both. It had to be them, the Elders of the village.

Aiden adjusted the hem of his jacket immediately, turning to face them fully and he bowed to show his respect, the guards and Ivanka too. Anne-Marie was confused as first but she followed suit eventually.

Finally,
Aiden couldn't tell how relieved he was to finally get the chance to speak to them. He had been standing in front of the church for hours just so he could get an audience with them.

The six elders bowed to him too right before one of them spoke up.

"To what do we owe this visit your highness?"

Aiden smiled nervously. He was so nervous, Anne-Marie could see it but he managed to remain so calm and brave.

"Greetings, Elders of Niyagra-"

"We thought we made it clear last year, and the other years before that," a man from the elders spoke. "The likes of you are not welcome here, members of the royal family would never be welcomed in our village."

Aiden let out a really nervous exhale, letting the smile on his face stay, she had never seen it before, that side of him, she had never seen him that nervous before. At that moment, she started to wonder if he was really trying to abuse them again. It didn't look like he came for trouble.

"I just wanted to pay my respects to-"

"The king, your father and the prime minister," another woman added as they slowly traced their gaze to Anne-Marie. She kept her head bowed, immediately. "They did this to us, ruined our home and killed our people and you'd just never even give us the courtesy enough to leave us alone, you even brought her this time."

Aiden let out a frustrated exhale.
He turned his head slightly to Anne-Marie, he did tell her to leave earlier and now, she was going to even heighten their anger and make things really difficult for him.

"Our people do not need anything from you or the king." Another man said. "We solely want to remain a minute part of the country, at peace and by ourselves, we do everything that is asked of us and even pay our taxes, all we want is to be left alone, to mourn and build back all we have lost and you wouldn't even give us the opportunity to do that."

"We would like you to stop visiting us now and return with your gifts, we would never accept them or the royal family, or the king as our king. We would give up our lives first than become indebted or bow to the throne, tell the king that."

"My father didn't send-"

The elders bowed in sync, turned their backs and started to walk away.

"Please," Aiden tried to go after them, to get them to stop walking but they didn't listen to him. "Please just listen to me, just give me a chance-"

He stopped running after them when he realized it was a dead end. The people of Niyagra were not only known for their independence but their extreme stubbornness. Aiden let out a frustrated breath as he watched them walk away without even turning back for a second.

It was how it was every other year. Looks like there was no progress this year as well. He felt a drop of water on his forehead, and then another.

Anne-Marie raised her head up to the skies, Ivanka and Elijah too, just as more rain drops started to fall on them.

The heavens had got to be kidding her. It was starting to rain.

"Your highness!" Elijah yelled, running to Aiden to protect him from the rain. "It's raining your highness, we should take cover."

"Miss Vutron," Ivanka ran to Anne-Marie, placing her hand over her head like it was going to protect her from the rain. Anne-Marie could see how everyone closed their doors and windows. The door to the church closed too. They were never going to find shelter within those walls and they knew it.

The rain was getting worse but Elijah was right, they had to protect themselves. Aiden scanned his eyes around until it settled on an shed with a really long rooftop.

"There." He pointed at it. "Let's get to the shed first."

"After you your highness."

The guards ran side by side with Aiden while Anne-Marie and Ivanka followed right behind them.