When Finn kissed Sophie, he felt how soft her lips were, and his heart started rapidly beating inside his chest.
Finn had kissed girls in his previous life, but none of them could even come close to Sophie's beauty.
He had also never really fallen in love before he met Sophie because he had dated those girls only as a way to release his sexual urges.
But now that he actually had someone who was precious to him and someone he actually loved, he was on cloud nine when that someone allowed him to kiss her.
The kiss itself only took seconds, but upon separating, they both had a blush on their faces.
Suddenly the lights were turned back on, and they could see that every elf on the square was staring at them.
Even Finn, who would normally joke around in any situation, didn't open his mouth.
He just grabbed Sophie's hand, and together with her, they walked off the stage and back to the table.
There was no cheering, nor was there any clapping. Elves didn't have things like that, so they would just stay silent, and usually, the longer the silence lasted, the more they appreciated the show.
Upon sitting down, Finn looked around the table and saw that Erelith was looking at him in shock.
He was sitting next to Finn, and he just had to ask what he was wondering about.
"Where did you learn to create such romantic verses?"
"I was umm… inspired from the books of the human continent."
Finn thought of an excuse, but Erelith didn't believe it because he enjoyed collecting books and none of the human books he had read were this good.
But he didn't talk about Finn's excuse and only shook his head with a sigh.
"You have done a good job, but maybe a little too good of a job. Now whatever I say up there will sound mediocre."
"Haha. I can tell you another line that I had also prepared if you want."
Finn chuckled at that, but he decided to help his friend.
"Yes! Tell me!"
Erelith excitedly agreed, and so Finn whispered something into his ear, which made him smile.
While they were chatting, the young elf walked onto the stage again and invited Erelith and Lusha this time.
So Erelith got up and led Lusha to the stage.
Lusha was also impressed by Finn, and she would appreciate it if her husband knew how to create such beautiful verses, but she would still love her husband even if he couldn't do it.
Sitting around the stage, the elves looked at their king with a slightly downcast expression.
Normally the male elf would say one verse and then he would leave, but Finn said three. Of course, there was no rule that said he couldn't say more, but the elves preferred to say one good verse instead of more mediocre ones.
In Finn's case, though, all three verses sounded really good, and everyone knew that Erelith wouldn't be able to beat him, but they still rooted for him, nonetheless.
The lights turned off again, and only the stage was illuminated.
Erelith walked up to Lusha and grabbed her hand. Deciding to say what Finn had told him, he opened his mouth.
"Lusha. You made me a sinner because, the moment you fell in love with me, I stole an angel from the heavens."
He then kissed her hand and gave her a loving smile.
"And the moment I fell in love with you, I decided to remain a thief and stay with you forever."
When Lusha heard this, she felt like she was falling in love with her husband all over again, so she turned red like a young girl in front of her crush.
Seeing this, Erelith grabbed her waist and kissed her.
Their kiss got a little more exciting than Finn and Sophie's, so Finn had to cover Fae's eyes.
"I wanna see!"
"No. This scene is only for adults."
When Erelith stopped giving his wife a kiss that involved a lot of tongue movement, the lights turned back on, and they walked to their seats a little blushed.
The other elves, who were already feeling that life was unfair because Finn raised the festival's difficulty, were now even more unhappy.
They were glad that their king managed to say something very romantic, but that also meant that their lovers would expect something special from them, which they knew they couldn't deliver.
Sitting down next to Finn again, Erelith patted his shoulder.
"Thanks, it really helped."
"No problem, you looked great."
Finn gave him a thumbs up, happy that his line worked out okay.
And while Finn and Erelith were whispering to each other, they both felt their hands get squeezed.
Looking to the side, they saw their girls, who didn't like the fact that they weren't giving them their attention.
"Sorry Sophie."
Finn also squeezed Sophie's hand and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. This made her forgive him instantly, and the corners of her mouth lifted up in happiness.
Erelith, who saw this, did the same thing to Lusha, and he was very happy to see that it worked on her as well. He wanted to ask Finn for some more tips, but he decided to give all his time to Lusha tonight and ask later.
Fae was the only one left alone, so she crossed her hands and started pouting, but to her surprise, nobody reacted.
She always liked spending time with her parents or with Finn and Sophie, but now she started to feel like the fifth wheel.
A little sad and angry, she decided to go around the festival and find her own fun.
So while nobody was looking at her, she hopped off of her chair and went to explore.
There were many stands that served a variety of sweet snacks, and because Fae had some money from her mom, she bought a snack that looked like cotton candy.
The entire city was in a festive mood, so there were shops wherever she went, and whenever people saw her silver hair, they always treated her very well.
She kept walking through the different streets until she arrived near a bridge, but because she had walked quite a distance from the square, there was no one around her.
Most people were situated around the square, and some were even further away, but Fae had walked so far that she couldn't see anyone around her.
The city also had a river going through it, and because there was a festival going on, none of the boatmen rode on it tonight.
Fae found the quiet atmosphere extremely peaceful and nice.
Her mind was at ease thanks to the sound of the river flowing in the pitch-blackness of the night.
There were steps leading to a stone platform that was right next to the river, but there was a metal railing around the platform so that nobody would fall into the water.
Fae felt bored because she had nobody to play with, so she thought of dipping her tired feet in the cold water.
So she went down the steps and looked around to see if there was anyone around her because she didn't want someone to see that a princess was dipping her feet in a river.
But luckily for her, she didn't see anyone, so she sat down and took her shoes off.
Sitting down, she tried to reach the water, but the stone platform was too high, and because of the railings, she couldn't sit on the edge of the platform, so her short legs that she kept adorably swinging through the air didn't reach the water.
Thinking of a genius idea, she started climbing over the railing because then she could sit on the edge of the platform, and she would be able to cool down her legs that were tired from walking around the city.
"Slowly… Carefully…"
She slowly climbed over the railing so that she could sit on the other side of it and reach the water, but because she wasn't wearing shoes, Fae's foot slipped off the railing, and she fell into the water.
"KYAAA…."
SPLASH
The river wasn't flowing quickly, and it was rather calm, but because Fae had always been sheltered inside the palace, she had never been taught how to swim, so she kept flailing her arms and kicking her feet, trying to stay afloat.
She would always break the water's surface for a second when she could breathe in a little bit of air, but she would dive down right after.
"HE-"
"-LP!"
Trying to scream, Fae was using the moments she could get air to alert someone, but everyone was on the square and nobody was paying attention to the river.
Her silent screams didn't have a chance of making it to someone's ears because of the distance and the lively atmosphere of the festival.
Also, the guards that usually guard the royal family were given a break today because the king believed that nobody would try to attack him or his family during the festival.
Fae flailed around, but the less air she was getting, the faster her time was running out.
Because the current of the river kept pushing her to the center, she also couldn't grab onto the edge of the river and she kept fighting for her life.
The fact that she was surrounded by water made her panic and hyperventilate, so she was getting even less air.
She wanted to look around to see if there was anyone there, but she became so terrified of drowning that her vision started to black out.
"HUPP!"
At one moment, when she thought that she could breathe in, she discovered that her brain was playing tricks on her, and she breathed in a mouthful of water.
This made her choke, and with all her strength leaving her body, she started to sink to the bottom of the river.
Just like a sack full of rocks, her body, which was filled with water, continued sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of the freezing river.
There was no one around, so nobody noticed the small bubbles on the surface of the water.
If someone looked at the river, though, they might have been able to see a little girl with silver hair slowly sinking to the riverbed.
But unfortunately for Fae, there was no one to help her because nobody would think that someone might walk too close to the river during the night of the festival.
Fae tried to resist, but she had no more strength left in her body.
She tried to cry, but her tears only joined the water around her.
Slowly sinking into the dark depths, her vision was blacking out more and more, and all she could feel was the freezing cold temperature of the river.
First, her body turned numb from the coldness, and then, as she didn't have a lot of oxygen, her thoughts started to turn messy and incoherent.
The night was cold, and the river was dark, but looking up, Fae could faintly see the stars through the water's surface.
They shone brightly and decorated the breathtakingly beautiful night sky like always. Yet on this festive night, the sky looked a bit lonely.
'Goddess Asteria… Please… save me…'
Fae's last thought was a prayer to the Goddess of Stars, who was believed to help the elves during the night.
But the goddess, who was supposed to protect the elves, was now doing nothing as the Elvish princess, and the only heir to the Elvish throne was drowning in a cold, dark river.