"So, you're the true lover?" I ask him, my grin widening.
"True lover…? So, you're telling me your love for her is fake?" The dark knight asks me as a massive dark cleaver materializes within his grasp. "It seems you are playing games with her. I don't know what you're doing, Elf. But it seems my love for her is greater than yours already."
He removes his helmet, revealing two sky-blue eyes and pale white hair. That pale hair, those sky blue eyes. He isn't my kind. I can tell that already.
"How exactly did you guess that I was her true lover, though, Elf?" He asks me, throwing the helmet into the ground.
I smile, gazing into his eyes. "The Princess told me that she had a childhood friend who was a Dark Elf, like you. She told me that you were the one who introduced her to this pond. Am I correct?"
"Connor Rein," he mutters. "I changed my name to that so that I can finally get a job here. Do you want to listen to a story of a young man in love with a Princess before you die, fake dark elf?"
"Sure. You can brief me on your sorrows before you pass on to the next life," I reply, allowing him to continue with his story.
A breeze brushes past this lonely street, sending chills down my spine. The sad elf begins his story.
"Once, long ago… There was a boy.
As you know, Dark elves are mass-murdering creatures who have a strong lust for blood.
So, I was not taken in by any of the villagers in Muri after our whole clan had been wiped out. I was a lonely elven child wandering through the forests. I used the power remaining within me to defeat and protect myself against all the creatures of the Night.
Not a single person would care for me. I fed on the wild animals to survive. After seeing my entire village drenched in blood by ravaging knights from Collier, my bloodlust faded to nothingness.
My mother was slaughtered. My siblings. Father. All gone.
I found myself wandering through the Wood where a thousand men fell, looking for the berry trees that grew in there. I found myself in a good cave within that wood. That was my shelter for the next year.
The forest, the animals, and my hunting. That was my childhood.
There was a rock in that wood which was quite special.
The light of the moon in a full moon shone upon it. We Dark Elves knew what this was. A moonstone. There was this pond in my village with a sacred tranquility to it. It was crafted by making a crack within a moonstone and letting the magical water flow down from it.
So, I cracked this moonstone.
Magical water with a freezing coldness oozed out into my body. I smiled. The village flashed in my head once again. The memories of brothers and sisters playing in that water with me boomeranged into my head. I could only laugh as this water bathed me in these happy memories.
So, I recreated that pond near that moonstone.
I picked all of the white gravel I could find in the forest and the shops of the city to simply rebuild this pond.
It allowed me to calm myself, every time I immersed my body in that water. The calmness of it was unimaginably good.
It's an ethereal feeling.
And… that's when the Princess comes in.
She's only twelve years old. So am I. We're both children at that point.
She came to the pond after losing her way in the woods. I stay perched upon a tree, letting the sweet young girl dressed in a silky white dress sink her tender feet into the pond.
She enjoyed it. She leans into the water and begins to play with it. What came into my mind at that point is my sister. And suddenly, she looks up.
She sees me. Our crimson eyes meet each other.
"Hey. What's up?" She called out to me.
She was not scared of me like the others. Our eyes are the same color. It's as if we were meant to be together, Elf.
We laughed. We played in that water. We laid back in that pond, crossing our fingers underwater. My heart never froze no matter how cold the water was. But when I saw her, my heart froze. My feet went cold.
She told me she was the Princess of the castle, and one day – she would marry me.
Until…
She smashed her head against a rock while she was playing in that water. I had to run, carrying her all the way back to the castle. I handed her to the guards and escaped. The King never knew she was there in the woods with me. So, if he found out that I was the reason that she went into the woods – I figured he'd kill me.
Days passed. I waited for her. She wouldn't come.
Rumors crept up in the city. The Princess had lost her memories. A child had saved her. She has lost most of her childhood because of that damage to her head. Is she even fit to be a Queen now? With half of her childhood gone? That's what the villagers said.
I ran back to the pond.
I remembered her blood staining these clear waters on that day. I promised never to return. But her words for me – the fact that we're true lovers dug deep into my heart.
So, I promised myself to rank up. Get into the army of the Magi Knights. Develop a relationship with her once again… and then, last year. I was promoted to the personal guard of the Princess and her tower. All these days, I've tried to take off this mask and tell her.
But I was scared that I was going to miss my chance if there was no memory of me with her. But now… now, Elf. I know she remembers me.
For that, thank you. Now, if you, please…
Let go of the Princess. Or die. But – I feel like I should give no chance for you now that I know you've stolen the Princess's heart just to play with it. You shall die by my hands. And I shall be the lover of Reya."