In the morning, Yingtai was still asleep. At first, she did not know that Phillip would be gone the whole evening.
I do believe that he has a lot of work to catch up on. So I’ll give him that.
But when she woke up at the hour of ten in the bright morning in her bedroom, she still found him gone.
And then, Sadako, her only truest friend, entered the room.
“Good morrow, Princess,” she said, “Hast any pleasant dreams?”
Yingtai yawned, “I think so.”
Yingtai looked all around. But Phillip was nowhere to be seen.
“Comfortable servant,” she said, “Where is my lord?”
“He is out at the moment,” Sadako said, “He told me to tell you to not worry.”
Meanwhile, Damian and his counseling court laid in exhaustion from the torture. Damian himself was the first to awake. He thought of Yingtai.
Tamaki then said, “I don’t think we can stay here any longer.”
“Where would we go?” asked Jadeus, “Damian picked out this place for a reason. For us to be safe.”
“We understand,” said Bayard, “But the prince might return with a second round. I can’t die this young! None of us could!”
Helmuth scowled at Damian, “I don’t know if I’m the one that is not stupid, but you could have got us all killed.”
Damian scowled back and ripped out his shirt to reveal a disturbing burn-scar on his back.
“You mean…you could have gotten me killed. If Yingtai came here, then she would have died and saved us. But she’s a princess now. She must fulfill jobs and attend charities. And she is only at the age of sixteen.”
Back in the palace, Yingtai still could not remove her body from her bed. She felt her head throbbing from crying so much in the last evening.
Harriet entered and found the girl laying still with the blankets covering her.
“Princess,” she said, “What is the matter? You have to meet with the Archbishop soon! Are you not feeling well?”
“I dare not know,” said Yingtai, “My head is throbbing and it is sore!”
Harriet felt the top of her forehead. It was burning up as fire was dancing on it. She even felt the sweat, too.
Concerned, Harriet said, “Princess! You are not well! Let me go find the physician!”
She raced straight out of her room and to the king’s quarters.
“Your Majesty!” Harriet yelled, “The princess is ill!”
*~*~*~*~*~*
The physician arrived to diagnose the ill princess. The results seemed confronting and fatal.
“Majesty,” said the elderly gentleman, “Your daughter has officially fallen ill. By the winter, it is possible her life will be at an end!”
King Henry nodded and the physician left wearily. But Harriet, whom the king was with, began to tear up.
“Yingtai will die in a matter of months! What are we going to do?”
“We will have to find a cure for this sickness.”
However, Yingtai did not feel any better. Though her energy considered normal, she felt depressed and weaker by the hour of the day.
It was while she was alone in the back courtyard when she spotted a butterfly fluttering around the flower beds, drinking the pollen of the roses.
She thought of Damian. Her lover, her companion, her light and guide, her guardian angel.
Everyday she would sit near the window in the bedroom and wonder about Damian. She had longed for her to see him again. She was so depressed, she once thought what the point was in living, if she was not going to get what she wanted.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“Yingtai is going to commit suicide! In front of the king! In front of everybody!” sobbed Sadako to Harriet.
They rushed to Yingtai’s quarters. Once they arrived, Yingtai pulled a dagger and quickly put it right on the side of her neck. The servants begged her not to die. But she was fighting an illness.
What’s the point of living…if I can’t see Damian again?!
“If I don’t get to see Damian again, I’LL DIE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!!!”
“Okay, okay!” said Harriet, respecting her wishes, “We shall do as you wish, I’ll alert the king!”
Tamaki rushed in and mouthed, “Damian.”
With that, Yingtai dashed out of her room, through the hallway near the courtyard and to the main entrance. Unfortunately, Prince Philip had arrived to pay a visit to the royal family and Prince Edward was there to greet him. Yingtai ran straight to Damian, secretly hiding from the two noble men
“Damian!” shouted Yingtai, calling his name.
Edward chased after Yingtai, trying to catch up to her. But Yingtai was fast enough to get closer to him. Before they could embrace each other, the palace guards separated them, before they could even be in each other’s arms.
Yingtai screamed in sadness; Damian wailed. Together they called out their names, before they were dragged away. And so, Yingtai’s behaviour was enough to make her sickness more fatal than it was before. She lost her breath and collapsed to the ground.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Sadako entered Yingtai’s quarters late at night. The girl seemed to have lost energy and wouldn’t move a muscle. She then sat right beside her, almost half asleep.
Tamaki entered a little while later. But he noticed a wrapped up piece of paper stuck to Yingtai’s desk. Concerned about it, he observed it in his hands. But Yingtai began to twitch her body.
Tamaki flinched and set down the piece of paper and shook his younger sister to wake her up. Yingtai was having a nightmare.
All she wanted was to marry and be such a good wife to Damian. But now she had a destined path she was forced to take. She then screamed Damian’s name and ran out of her quarters, to escape the palace to be with her one true love.
Both her servants went after her. Yingtai just could not stop hearing the reprimanding voices of her peers going against her love for Damian. She lost her sanity completely. She collapsed in the courtyard again and broke down crying and bursting into tears on a rainy evening.
The next morning was when she died in Sadako’s arms.