Chapter 74: Chapter 74At the soldier’s camp, Alexander opened another letter personally sent from the princess. The letters were increasing and with each new one, he could feel her anger over him not being in the palace. It was like she was expecting him for some reason and was annoyed that he was taking his time.

    Alexander placed the letter over a lit candle to have it burn. He didn’t have time for her silly games or her crush that needed to go away. There was a small window left for him to find Rose before he needed to travel to the palace.

    The more he thought about how he might not find her, the more upset he became with Mathias for keeping her location a secret.

    Alexander partially blamed himself for not remembering where the brothel was. As soon as he returned to town, he should have known where to go but his memory of this place was not the same as eight years ago.

    Alexander watched as the letter burned and then shook the paper before the flames reached his fingers.

    "I hope you aren’t burning those precious letters sent to you by our dear princess. If she finds out about that, then we will all have hell to pay."

    Alexander stood up to greet Richard. "Commander." Sёar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Sit, sit. Don’t look so tense when I am just here to talk," Richard said, stepping into the tent. "Armour, uniforms, and weapons. I can always count on you for your tent to be organised."

    Alexander sat down just as Richard sat down on another chair. "You have always told us that we need to be ready for war."

    "Only a good handful of you listened to what I said. After all of our travels, the others are excited to drink or lay around with someone. I will soon need to start scolding some of them before we go to the palace. What does the princess want from you now?" Richard asked though he already knew.

    Richard had taken Mathias’s advice to use Alexander so they could use the princess. He already sent word to her that Alexander would be going to the palace but then the unexpected happened. The foreigners declined the king’s invitation to the palace.

    "What doesn’t she want from me? I do not understand why she set her sight so low when others are worthy of marrying her. I can never return her love," said Alexander.

    Richard chuckled as it was funny how Alexander spoke about love. Why should love matter now when there was a chance for him to enter the palace and give up this life of fighting? "You know what I have always liked about you? You can be innocent at times despite how many lives you have taken."

    "I am not like the rest of you who want to enter the palace. I like where I am now. The princess is not a woman I can put up with for the rest of my life. She knows nothing about me yet claims to love me. I do not find it funny," Alexander said in response to Richard’s laughter.

    It was harassment at this point. He could not get the princess to stop her letters or not show up before him when he was in the palace. She was spoiled, getting her way because she was royalty.

    "I would have done anything to have a princess in love with me in my younger days. Do you think I would have stuck around in the army when I could become a royal? You must think of your status. Think of how you can help us if you were to marry the princess. You would be right there by the king," Richard said. He was here to talk some sense into Alexander.

    "With all due respect, I don’t see how my marriage would help anyone. I do not want to sacrifice my happiness so you can hear less of the king’s complaints. I do not care for the princess and I never will. I would like the letters to stop," Alexander said, taking another one to burn it.

    Richard sighed as Alexander was a tough nut to crack. If it was anyone else, he wouldn’t be sitting here trying to convince them to be with the princess. If only it was Mathias instead.

    Alexander had the skill to be in the army but Mathias was the one who knew what games to play to get ahead in life. If only Richard could push the two into one body.

    "Women marry for status all the time. Do you think these duchesses and countesses are in love with their husbands? No! They are in love with the titles. Now that life is sending the chance for a man to play a woman’s game, why would you throw it away?" Richard asked, wanting to shake Alexander.

    Men were the ones having to give women these grande lives but now a princess was willing to marry a man beneath her and raise his status. Alexander should be jumping for joy.

    "Do you love your wife?" Alexander asked, reminding Richard of the fact he was married. "You have children from that marriage."

    Richard looked away from Alexander. "I loved her when it made sense but now things have changed and it is boring. I am the only one who has something to offer. If I knew I would become a commander, I would have waited to marry later on. To some young lady of a good family."

    "But you love your family. Your children," said Alexander. All the soldiers had to hear about the children just before they went to battle.

    "I do. I would just have different children if I could rewrite my story. Alexander, I think of you like one of my sons. Forget about love. That’s for women to distract themselves with. We need to focus on status and getting close to the king," Richard said, leaning over to take one of the princess’s letters from Alexander.

    Richard continued, "We need your help right now. You don’t need to think of marrying her right now. Just use her interest in you to help her calm down the king about the bastards he invited into his kingdom. Then if you give her a chance, you might see what I have tried to explain to you."

    "There is already someone that I love. I will not become the princess’s puppet so you have it easy with the king. I am sorry commander but love matters to me. Do not ask for this again," Alexander replied, taking back the letter from Richard.