The sun rises from the east, bringing light to the entire city of Muri.
One knight in dark armor with crimson lines etched into the metal stares into the distance, seated at the highest point in the castle of Muri.
'Damn, I wish I had some more sleep,' he thinks, gazing at the distant sunrise.
He is the general of the main division of knights in the castle of Muri. His duty is to protect the tower he stood upon at any cost. Because that is where the princess resides.
He is not doing this duty because of the extreme dedication he has for the job.
There is another reason for it.
After staring at the rising sun for a while, Connor, the dark knight decides to look down at the tower. The window should be open by now. She opens it every single morning at dawn, but today – that is not the case.
"Did Reya get drunk?" He asks himself, narrowing his eyes.
Minutes pass. No window opens.
Reya doesn't fling open those windows and scream "Good morning!" to the city.
"Hm, maybe it is because of that proposal from the Prince of Loy. She never liked forced marriages," he ponders, standing up. "But I better go check on her. It's my duty to protect the princess."
With the metal feet clanking against the stone stairs, he steps down to the floors below. The guards are still positioned in their relevant spots, with not a single change in their positions.
He stops before the door of the princess's room and turns to the guard right beside it.
"The princess... is she inside?" Connor asks him.
"Yes, general. She has been inside the whole time since the other night."
"Is that so?" Connor does not want to believe what the guard is saying. Princess Reya is smart. Those sly genes of a king run in her body.
Without a second thought, Connor knocks on the princess's door thrice.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"General! Are you attempting to disturb the princess…? Isn't that enough to get yourself hanged?"
"And who's going to know it even if I did?" Connor turns to the guard, his tone growing cold. A shiver runs down the spine of the guard.
"No one, general."
"Good," Connor replies to the guard and turns back to the door. "Princess Reya, are you in there?"
He knocks on the door again.
Not a single reply. It is highly unusual. She always replies when someone who isn't her family knocks at her door.
'Where are you, Princess?'
///
"Gladly."
I sink my feet deep into the water, gradually laying back.
Sunbeams leap over the leaves that attempt to block it, falling right upon the pond. I take a deep breath, immersing myself in the water of this pond.
My ears block as the water slips in through my earlobe. But as I adjust my head, it can no longer slip into my ear. It's a natural pond, not a tub.
But when I immerse myself in this water, it's hard to tell the difference.
"Isn't it sweet?" The Princess asks me, turning her head to face me.
The cold water graces my hair. It cools my head, strangely. I shift my head gradually toward the crimson eyes of the princess.
"It is sweet, Princess," I reply to her.
"Please, call me Reya," she says, shifting her gaze towards the branches that provide us shades from the leaping sunbeams.
"I used to come here, you know. All the time when I was a kid. There was someone with me those days. Dark hair. Red eyes. Long ears. He was my friend. I might've loved him too~ but I was still a child. I didn't even know what love meant back then, haha. So, I feel like as if I am fated to marry you ~ but… you know, you don't remember me at all. You're not him. This was before I hit my head and lost my memories at the age of twelve, by the way," she continues, gazing at the branch of leaves above us.
"After I lost my memories, I've never seen him again. My father says that there was no such boy in the castle when I asked about him. That boy was the one who introduced me to this pond while I was wandering in the woods, I think. I played around with him in these waters and laid on this pond just like this. He had crimson eyes just like me. As if he was cursed by the Dragon's blood too."
I hear her story, and all I could think of is a classic romance story. I can understand how she came to be this girl now.
"So, you're looking for that boy?" I ask her.
"No, I let go of that a long time ago. Everyone called me delusional for believing in that boy," she sighs, the remorse clear in her voice. "I often came here to bring back those memories, but he never came back. Who knows? Maybe I am truly delusional."
"I'm sad to hear that, Reya."
She shifts her gaze back to my crimson eyes. "You might be right, Elm. You might be my destiny."
I regret choosing the name "Elm," but this is fine.
I smile at her, and she smiles back. "Elm. Can we move to the question now? Are you ready to answer it?"
My cloak is soaked in the water of the pond. My hair, frozen, as my thoughts cool down gradually. It feels as if my head has gone empty.
Subconsciously, I reply to her, "Yes."
Her eyes sparkle, and her red rose lips move. "Elm, what does it mean… to be a king?"
Everything becomes silent. The sound of the flowing water evades my mind, the birds chirping in the distance, the butterfly fluttering its wings.
Time stops as I begin to think of an answer to this question. I shift my gaze from the Princess's sparkling eyes to the sky above the woods where a thousand men have fallen.
'What it means to be a king?'
The question digs deep into my mind, connecting dots that I have buried deep within me for a very long time. The pictures flash within me as memories sunk deep in the oceans float back up to the surface.
In my eyes, the image of the Elderwood flashes.
The continuous rain of that Summer, the eerie darkness that haunted the entire Elderwood. The summer that a hundred elves died, along with the lover of my life. The day I left the Elderwood to pursue a life of power that I knew I could achieve one day.
That's the day when my father asked me this same question.