The skies are still dark outside. Hours are still left before the first light of the morning.
Reya could not sleep at all that night. She's been pondering again and again about the letter from the mystery man.
"What am I doing? I don't even know his name. Still – how is a man who sits all day long on a throne doing nothing better than a man who would come through all of our guards simply to deliver me a letter?" She asks herself, rolling in her bed.
"Ugh, where's my fairy godmother when I need her?" She groans, pushing her face against the pillow.
The lamp in her room had gone off a while back. But she's still here, unable to sleep in her bed.
"What is the right decision to make?" She sits up in her bed, her legs crossed. "On my left shoulder is my dearest prince who wrote me the letter."
She imagines the perfect man sitting on her shoulder, whispering poetic words in her ears, making her bite her lip.
"And at my right," she continues, her eyes furrowing with annoyance. "..is the arranged marriage. A prince I've never talked to or interacted with before."
In her mind, a handsome prince is seated on her left shoulder. On her right is the Prince of Loy, a prince from the neighboring kingdom of Loy.
'Prince of Loy is handsome, but I can't stop imagining this guy as handsome. And – Father always pushes me. He doesn't give me a chance to choose on my own. It has always been like that, hasn't it, Reya?'
She falls back to her bed, sinking deep into the mattress.
"A ruler must have dominance, right?"
"You must have enough guts to make the right choice on your own… right?"
"I must choose my own king, right?"
Reya's mind has been fried with all the things that kept her awake all night long. She pulls her pillow over her face, screaming into it.
'This is a choice that'll change my entire life, Reya. Please, be a Queen. Choose wisely.'
She lay there for a few seconds without moving an inch.
Moments pass in the dead silence.
Suddenly, she stands up and throws her pillow away.
"I already told Rory to set up a horse near the gates. She must've set it up already," Reya mutters to herself, stepping off the bed.
"I've decided."
She lights up the lamp on her bedside table with a match. In a hurry, she unlocks her cupboard doors and throws out a white dress on the bed.
"I choose my future, Father. I'm sorry, but I have to learn how to make a decision on my own now," Reya declares, buttoning the white dress up. "I need to do this. I have to go and meet with this man. He's better than a prince I never wanted."
The day before, she had one of her friendly maids prepare a horse at the castle gates a few hours before the first light of the day. Now, she only has to sneak out of the tower without anyone noticing.
For this, she has set up a plan on her own.
"The ghost cloak." She murmurs, pulling out a white cloak underneath the bed. "I never thought I'd do anything other than scaring Cousin Moose with this. Thank you for giving me this, Grandpa."
She pulls it over her body, and a notification materializes before her eyes.
[You have unlocked the Ghost Cloak! You can now move through walls while being invisible!]
A smirk draws on Reya's lips.
'At the gates, Rory must be waiting for me. I must go. Fast.'
Quietly unlocking her door so the guard would not notice, she slips out of her room. The mana wall can only be erased when her door opens. So that step is essential even if she can move through walls with the cloak.
She doesn't even wear any shoes. She only wears a white dress to cover her body. She doesn't need slippers or shoes to protect her feet.
A ruler must know what it feels like to step foot on the hard earth and bruise their feet like the hard-working people who lift their kingdom to the place where it is.
A true Queen can't rule with soft feet.
She smiles gleefully as she runs across the hallways of the tower, past the Magi Knights like a ghost. All of the knights are exhausted. They work sleeplessly, but they can't force themselves not to doze off at all times.
The princess could only smile as she ran down the stairs, not a single hand reaching out to stop her. She feels free, like a bird who just learned to fly.
She runs out of the tower swiftly, faster than she had ever run before.
Not a single drone can spot her. When the mana negation dragon floats along the alley, she runs across the walls of the houses in the castle.
"What will Ragnar say? He knows we want the new seat at the round table, right?" One of the women says as Reya passes through the walls into a house. Beside her is a distant uncle of Reya with his wife.
"I don't know, Ragnar. I can't betray him."
"You must. Do we have to be dogs to the king like this, always? His daughter is a delusional bitch. She refuses to take the hand of a prince who could bring more power to us."
"With that, I agree."
'Oh, my God!' Reya exclaims from within as she sees one of her relatives scheming against her. 'I guess I know who to execute. This trip was worth it.' Reya rushes out of the walls of the house, unable to listen to them any longer.
On the alleyway near the gate is where the maid Rory would be waiting for her.
"I'm at a dark alleyway. Where are you, Rory?" Reya whispers, looking around the darkness engulfing her. It is the alley nearest to the gates of the city. So, she is sure that the maid will be there.
"I'm here, it's Reya ~"
"Shhh~~ Princess, shush!" Rory, the young maid who is the only closest friend of Reya, came out from the darkness with a horse leashed in her hand. "Don't make any sound, jeez. The Knights will bash you and me both," she giggles.
She's a cute blonde young girl who is only 19 years old.
"Ah, Rory. You found a horse, ha." Reya is already caught off guard after seeing the horse. She has a keen love for animals. She pats the side of the horse's neck, playing with its hair.
"Ah, now it's almost dawn, princess. You might want to take off fast." Rory says, giggling as she sees Reya's eyes light up with awe upon seeing the horse.
"Thank you, Rory."
"Your welcome, my Princess."
Rory steps away into the darkness as the Princess mounts the horse.
"Good luck to you, Princess."
"Thank you, bestie," Reya winks at her.
"Bring that handsome prince home!"
"Oi, don't you dare think of snatching him from me," Reya's eyes suddenly narrow upon hearing this.
Rory covers her mouth and giggles. "I will never do such a thing!"
"Good, haha. Otherwise, I'll behead you," Reya smirks. "Goodbye, Rory."
"Goodbye, Princess."