Chapter 5: Fallen Prince

Basil had actually been relieved when school resumed after the holiday break. For nearly three weeks, he had remained trapped inside the palace, hiding behind the safety of locked doors and drawn curtains. The walls of his bedroom had become both a sanctuary and a prison. Every day felt longer than the last.

He knew he had worried the King and Queen, but who could blame him for choosing to stay out of the way? Everything had changed.

The servants now looked at him differently.

They no longer asked if he needed anything or what he wanted to eat. Meals appeared outside his door and disappeared again hours later, often untouched. Most of the time, they did not even bother knocking to let him know they had brought his food. They simply left the tray outside and walked away, like they were feeding a stray dog.

The thought made his chest tightened painfully. Basil knew what they were waiting for. Everyone was waiting for the day he would finally be cast out. Waiting for the moment the King and Queen decided they no longer had any reason to keep him.

That was why returning to school had felt like a lifeline thrown to a drowning man.

School meant his friends would be there.

Routine. Normality.

Something familiar that had not been ripped away from him. At least that was what he thought. The first thing he had done was switch his phone back on after weeks of silence. He expected dozens of missed messages. Calls. Questions. Complaints.

Maybe even concern.

Instead there was almost nothing. A handful of meaningless notifications. No messages from his closest friends. No calls. Nothing.

His thumb moved repeatedly across the display as he checked every messaging apps.

Still nothing.

Basil had stared at the screen for several minutes, convinced there had to be some mistake. His phone had been off for nearly three weeks. These were people who used to call him almost every day. People who would flood his messages if he failed to respond for a few hours. Surely someone should have been worried. Surely someone should have checked on him. He hadn’t even blamed them for not visiting. Access to the palace was restricted, and without his phone there had been no way for them to contact him.

Then he discovered he had been removed from their group chat.

Removed.

Just like that.

For several long moments, he simply stared at the notification, unable to process it.

He convinced himself there had to be an explanation. A misunderstanding.

There was no way people he had known for years would cut him off without a word. That was why he went to school the moment classes resumed. He needed answers. They wouldn’t abandon him simply because he was no longer the Crown Prince. Would they?

The thought sounded ridiculous.

These were people he had grown up with. People who had basked in his glory, celebrated his victories, shared his successes, and stood beside him through countless milestones. There was no way they would throw away years of friendship over something as stupid as losing a title.

He refused to believe it.

The moment he stepped through the college gates, his fiancée spotted him.

Sonia Ashcroft.

The Prime Minister’s daughter.

Beautiful, popular, and until recently, supposedly in love with him.

When she waved him over, relief washed through him so quickly it nearly made him dizzy. See? He had worried for nothing.

Sonia loved him. His friends loved him. Everything would be fine.

"Everyone!" Sonia’s voice rang across the courtyard as he approached.

Students turned. Lecturers slowed their steps. Conversations died as heads lifted from every direction. A bright smile stretched across Sonia’s face. "Look who’s finally here."

Basil stopped walking.

Something in her tone made his stomach tighten. "The Fallen Prince."

Laughter exploded throughout the courtyard.

Basil froze as students began gathering from nearby walkways and classrooms. More heads turned. More faces appeared. Within seconds, dozens of eyes were fixed on him.

Sonia stood at the center of it all, looking positively delighted. "My goodness," she continued loudly. "The audacity. I honestly didn’t think he’d show his face here."

The crowd laughed harder.

Heat rushed into Basil’s face.

"What happened, Your Highness?" Sonia asked mockingly. "Oh wait. You’re not His Highness anymore."

Another wave of laughter rolled through the crowd. Basil’s eyes searched desperately through the sea of faces.

Then his stomach dropped.

Nathan.

Lucas.

Ethan.

His closest friends. Standing right behind Sonia. Laughing. Laughing at him.

For a moment, Basil genuinely couldn’t understand what he was seeing. His mind refused to accept it. Nathan had been his best friend since childhood. Lucas had once sworn they would remain brothers forever. Ethan had spent nearly every summer holiday at the palace. They had shared meals, secrets, and dreams.

Why were they laughing?

Why weren’t they stopping this?

"What is wrong with all of you?" Basil asked, his voice strained.

The laughter softened.

Basil looked directly at Nathan.

"Were you really going to throw away years of friendship just because I’m not Crown Prince anymore?"

Nathan barked out a laugh.

The sound hurt more than all the mockery surrounding him.

"What do you think, Basil?" he said. "We tolerated you because you were useful."

The words hit like a slap.

Lucas smirked.

"You were the future king. Of course people wanted to be around you."

Ethan folded his arms. "Now you’re nobody."

The crowd murmured approvingly.

Sonia stepped forward with a sweet smile that somehow made everything worse.

"And honestly, it all makes sense now."

Basil stared at her.

"You’re the son of a filthy, palace maid who doesn’t even know who your real father is."

More laughter erupted.

"All that arrogance. All that entitlement." Sonia shook her head dramatically. "Turns out you were just pretending to be something you weren’t. You wouldn’t have even been standing here with us if that wretched nanny of yours hadn’t switched you with the real Crown Prince."

A student snorted from somewhere in the crowd. "For all we know, his father might have been a thief, just like that grandmother of his."

Another voice joined in.

"Or a drunk."

"Maybe a gambler."

"Could’ve been a hardened criminal."

The comments came from every direction, each one uglier than the last.

Sonia spread her arms toward the academy buildings. "Loyal Hearts College is a institution built for nobles and the wealthiest families in the kingdom."

Her gaze swept over him with open disdain.

"So tell me, Basil." Her smile widened.

"Why are you still here?"

The crowd immediately seized on her words.

"Yeah, get out of here!"

"You don’t belong here!"

"Go back to whatever slum you came from!"

"Low-life!"

"Fraud!"

"Imposter!"

The insults crashed into him from every direction. Some students laughed openly. Others whispered behind their hands while staring at him. A few simply watched with thin smiles on their faces, enjoying the spectacle.

Basil could barely breathe. His throat felt painfully tight, and his chest ached as though something heavy had settled on top of it. The courtyard suddenly felt too crowded, too loud, too suffocating.

Yet somehow he forced the words out.

"Our engagement."

Sonia raised an eyebrow.

Basil swallowed hard and stared at her.

"Our engagement doesn’t mean anything to you?"

For half a second, silence lingered between them. Then Sonia stepped forward and spat directly onto his trouser leg.

Several students gasped.

Basil stared at the wet stain as his vision blurred.

"Pathetic," Sonia sneered. "You actually think I’d marry someone like you?"

She laughed, and several people immediately joined in.

"I was engaged to the Crown Prince of this kingdom. Not some low-born nobody."

She stepped closer, lowering her voice just enough to make the words feel personal.

"Now that the real prince has been found, why would I settle for a counterfeit version?"

The crowd burst into laughter.

Sonia folded her arms. "Honestly, you should be thanking me. At least I’m rejecting you publicly instead of pretending to care. My father is the Prime Minister. Do you really think he would allow me to marry the grandson of a palace maid?"

Her eyes traveled deliberately from his shoes to his face. "You should be grateful I tolerated you for as long as I did."

The words hit harder than any punch.

Around him, students laughed and exchanged comments as though he weren’t standing right there.

"Imagine thinking he still had a chance."

"He really believed he deserved someone like her?"

"That’s embarrassing."

"Someone should throw the filth out of here."

Something inside Basil finally snapped.

"You whore." The courtyard fell silent.

The word seemed to echo across the academy grounds.

Sonia’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Basil took a step forward, his hands trembling violently at his sides. "I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think you actually cared about me."

The shock on Sonia’s face twisted into outrage.

"You’ll wag your tail for anyone who throws a bigger bone in your direction."

A wave of gasps spread through the crowd.

Basil laughed bitterly. "To think I almost married an ugly bitch like you."

"How dare you!"

Sonia’s shriek echoed across the courtyard. Her face flushed red with fury as she pointed directly at him.

"Teach this low-life his place!"

Several boys moved immediately.

Basil’s gaze locked onto them.

"I dare you."

The boys slowed.

"I dare any of you to touch me."

The confidence on their faces faltered.

Basil took another step forward.

"I might be the child of a low-born servant, but the King and Queen still acknowledge me as their son. Until they publicly say otherwise, until they formally cast me out and sever every tie between us, laying a hand on me is still laying a hand on someone raised by the royal family."

The courtyard fell silent again.

Not one of the boys moved.

Sonia’s expression tightened.

Because she knew he was right.

Until the King and Queen officially disowned him, assaulting him could still carry serious consequences. No matter how much they mocked him, no one was willing to risk attracting royal attention.

"Shame on you," Sonia snapped, trying to recover. "Using the kindness of Their Majesties as a shield."

Basil looked at her for a long moment.

The pain was still there.

The betrayal was still there.

But something else had replaced the desperation.

Acceptance. A bitter, hollow acceptance.

"You know what the funniest part is?" he said quietly. I walked through those gates today believing I had friends. People who’ll love me no matter what."

His eyes drifted across Nathan, Lucas, Ethan, and the countless faces surrounding him.

"I spent twenty-one years calling you people family." A humorless smile touched his lips.

"Turns out I was just useful." Basil shook his head. "I feel sorry for all of you."

Then he turned around and walked away.

The crowd parted before him without a word.

Back in the car, another tear slid down his cheek. His hands trembled as he wiped it away.

How could things have fallen apart this quickly?

For several long moments, Basil remained motionless behind the wheel. The memories kept replaying no matter how hard he tried to push them away. Sonia’s contemptuous smile. His friends mocking laughter. The crowd chanting for him to leave. Every word felt carved into his skull.

Slowly, he dragged both hands down his face and forced himself to breathe. In. Out. Again.

The shaking gradually eased.

Crying here wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t erase what had happened. It wouldn’t bring back the friends he thought he had or the life he had lost.

With a shaky exhale, Basil straightened in his seat and grabbed the door handle, hoping more than anything that the Queen wasn’t anywhere near the entrance hall. The last thing he wanted right now was another conversation about this Darius guy, or another look filled with pity.

He pushed the door open and stepped out of the car.