"Is there something bothering you, Lady Luna?" Roxanne asked and smiled at her.
Luna was standing on the balcony wistfully. Thinking about the anguish and wretchedness that secretly lies deep inside her heart when she decided to accept the marriage proposal leaving her ill mother and her father behind. As she mistakenly, foolishly thought she would be safe by hiding these feelings, just made her feel much more discomfort as she stays any longer inside the castle waiting for the Prince to meet with her.
She subconsciously grabbed her skirt as flashes of her memories from the past came to her mind again. It's happening again. Back when she was a kid, these faint memories from her past often shows up, but now is different from before. The faint flashes of those memories give her such excruciating pain in her chest. It feels to her like she's been strangled, finding it hard to breathe. It happens not longer than a minute, but it is torturing her every time. She would cry over and over again, not understanding a single thing about her past. In the end, even her father could not give her answers.
"Lady Luna?" Roxanne called to her once again, concerned.
Luna took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and looked up once again trying to cheer herself up. "We better not keep his majesty waiting, shall we?"
It did not take a second for Roxanne to pick up. "Yes, Milady." she smiled.
On their way to the Dining room, the halls they walked into screamed of leisure. Every corner of the halls was well-defined and was designed by the most talented architect in their Kingdom. As they were getting close, Luna suddenly felt agitated. It's her first time meeting with his majesty. His majesty invited her to eat lunch with him, knowing that a King invited her here, there must be something he's trying to do. However, she could not do anything to change the situation she was in, then she learned that sometimes in life, you just have to accept your fate. If this is simply bound to happen, then let it happen.
She stood before those big doors, she can't possibly count how many times she had tried to back out of this position, but still, she continued to walk calmly to at least show them that she was not a bit close to being flustered on a simple event like this.
She looked down as she took her seat, probably aware that his majesty was staring at her. Luna caught a glimpse of his majesty wiping his mouth with the handkerchief and looked down again.
"Please don't be so nervous around me, besides Lady Luna, you are chosen by my son so I'll treat you like my daughter-in-law starting from now," said the King as he smiled and drank empty his wine glass,
"Yes, your majesty," Luna answered quivering, she started eating the special foods that the cook prepared for them. Luna couldn't help but eat almost all of it since she likes food of all things. However, the king did not find her actions vulgar, but instead, he finds them amusing. Once she finished her meal, the King mentioned something that caught Luna's attention.
"I have prepared a surprise for you, Luna." the king said with an even-toned voice,
His majesty signaled one of his Royal guards as they started to open the door and let someone come inside. Without thinking, Luna stood up suddenly as she saw the man's face and ran over to him to hug him, her father.
"Father!" she exclaimed, her father hugged her back tightly, "Don't cry now, we're in front of his majesty, Luna."
"B-But father--" her father cuts her off "It's okay now, your mother misses you, too. Right now she's resting, and the doctor that his majesty sent us helped her recover from her illness day by day," He said while gently caressing Luna's hair.
He smiled and bowed to the king, "Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter, your majesty," the king stood up and shook his hands, "She'll be my future daughter-in-law, so this is nothing, we'll have the guards prepared to help you move here for your safety." the king reassured him that they'll be with Luna soon.
"Your majesty, thank you very much--" "No, Luna. You have my gratitude for coming to my son's life." he gave her one last encouraging smile and soon left the room.
Luna and her father talked about the things that happened after Luna moved to the castle grounds. Luna talked about how they assigned and introduce her handmaid on her first day, how they showed her around the castle and how they made her study the history of the Kingdom on her second day, And how the arranged marriage meeting turned out and also told her father about the Princes. Her father was most likely, a bit overwhelmed with the bunch of stories she told him, and was delighted that she was getting along with everyone. After a few hours, Luna's father left the castle grounds and promised to come to see her once again when they move to the castle.
Luna's heart was filled with joy and it seems to her like the sorrow she felt the past few days now have turned to ashes and vanished. She told Roxanne to take a rest while she take a stroll in the garden with happiness written all over her face. She was relieved now that her mother is getting well. It's not all in vain, she thought. She did accept this proposal for her mother's sake, too. She looked up at the clear blue sky and breathe in the soothing breeze ruffling through her hair.
She looked down at the grassy field and smiled and wondered how it would feel to feel the grass in her feet. She removed her stilettos and felt the grass tickling her feet and chuckled. She first looked around the area to see if someone was watching, after she looked around and found no one, she jumped around in circles and her voice squealed inside with happiness and excitement that she felt. Luna got tired of jumping and running around so she sat down on the bench to take a rest when she suddenly heard a loud thud from her back. She turns around to see where it was coming from, but there was nothing but a grass wall behind her. She chose to ignore it but she heard it again. When she walked closer, she saw a staircase leading down to a wooden door.
It may be a secret basement or something, she thought. She went down and saw a pebble stuck between the door, keeping it open. When she entered, lights were everywhere around the room. She was so dumbfounded that she accidentally kicked off the pebble as the door slammed. She tried to open the door again but it won't open for some reason.
A man suddenly rushed over to her with a confused look,
"What are you doing here?"