Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

The princess

The princess was startled when the doors to her room burst open. She feared for a moment that her fiancé had taken advantage of the circumstances to go looking for her. Maybe, one of her siblings had come to torment her. Therefore, when she met the young captain of the city guard, she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Kioniha! You have to come!" he was quick to call her.

It should be said that he couldn't stop looking at her. It had been a long time since he had gotten so close to her, to his beloved.

"Liukton... What... is happening?" she asked, confused, unable to look into those eyes in which she could get lost.

"I'll explain it on the way! Come!" he took her by the hand.

Although, a few seconds later, he let her go. It was an action that he had gotten used to long ago, when they were still children, and were training together. Now, she was a princess, and he was an officer. It wasn't appropriate.

She followed him, looking at her hand with a sense of loss, at his broad back. They loved each other, but they knew it was impossible. She was royalty. He, one of the sons of a minor noble, not even the heir. Love between them was impossible in Engenak.

She had stayed away from him to protect him. She didn't know what her mother or her siblings would do if they knew, if she tried to meet him secretly.

They walked down the long, strangely deserted hallways, while he explained to her the situation. She was listening stunned, with wide eyes and a heavy heart. Only some gloomy blood stains broke the harmony and elegance of their path. They were witnesses of what had happened not long ago.

The princess had been locked in her room, and she hadn't been able to identify the noises she had been hearing. Now, it made sense.

Many deaths had occurred in a short space of time, thus shaking the foundations of the kingdom. She knew many of them, although her relationship with most was rather distant.

Despite being prepared by the captain's warning, she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the corpses that were piling up in the throne room. The fight was over, and they were beginning to clean up the aftermath. Nonetheless, there was still a lot to do.

Practically, all eyes turned to her as soon as she appeared, although the princess paid them no attention. Almost trembling, she approached the place that should be the most important, the thrones where her mother and her siblings lay.

"Mother," she crouched down in front of the deceased queen.

She wanted to cry, but the tears didn't reach her eyes. The princess had loved and respected her, but that had been a long time ago, she barely remembered it. In recent times, when she had wanted to gain her recognition, she had only gotten indifference and even disdain. The princess' ideas were too far from those of the rest of her family.

She looked at the deceased bodies of her siblings. She didn't feel anything either. The feeling of loss that was supposed to result from the death of a family member didn't overwhelm her as she had expected.

When Liukton had told her about their deaths, she had felt apprehension, but not the pain she would have expected, not the pain she had felt at the death of her father. Kioniha believed that the emotions would come in front of their corpses, but that hadn't happened either.

"I already lost you a long time ago, right?" she murmured sadly.

The childhood memories of her playing happily with her siblings, under the watchful eye of their parents, were blurry, but she hadn't completely forgotten them. However, her father had died, and her siblings had begun one after another to treat her as an enemy, a rival.

As for her mother, she wasn't sure when the queen had abandoned her to her fate, had given her to governesses or protocol teachers. She couldn't remember the last time her mother had given her a kind word or a smile, when her mother had begun to see her only as a tool of some use.

Perhaps, her siblings had a better relationship with the queen, but not an intimate one either, not that of children with their mother. They were simply more useful tools to her.

A few tears flowed down her cheeks as she faced the harsh truth. She had lost her family a long time ago.

"Farewell. I wish it hadn't been like that," she lamented.

The princess stood up, while trying to quiet her heart. She turned her back on the corpse of the deceased queen, the one who had been her mother a long time ago. There were also those who had been her siblings, she hardly remembered when.

She then looked at a specific person. Black hair, golden eyes, and a strange open book in his hand that shone with a soft but powerful glow. Even she felt the urge to kneel in front of that power.

Kioniha bowed respectfully. Under other circumstances, she would have jumped in joy to meet him, but at that moment her heart felt sad, hurt. Maybe, it wasn't directly because of her loss, but because of accepting what she had long since lost.

Not to mention the many dead that were still being removed. The kingdom would be weakened for a time, which its enemies could take advantage of. Although, that wasn't her problem, it never had been.

She raised her head and looked into his golden eyes, which seemed warmer than she had expected. The princess had thought she would see arrogance or pride, but there was more sadness. Maybe, he hadn't wanted that.

She wondered why he had sent for her. She didn't believe they wanted to kill her, although it was a possibility. A public trial and execution for the queen's last direct descendant was something her mother would have considered.

Kioniha hoped however that they only wanted to exile her. It should be enough to see her leave, stripped of her privileges and her right to her throne. Maybe Liukton would accompany her?

"Why have you called me?" she asked, while showing more confidence than what she really felt.

Eldi sighed before speaking. He didn't know what that young princess felt about the deaths of her mother and siblings, about the deaths of so many nobles. At least, she didn't show hostility or anger. He hoped her children were right about her.

"What happened today should not happen again. The suffering of the people during these last years should never have happened. This kingdom needs rulers who not only keep oaths, but understands, respects, and even appreciates them. They must ensure that they are no longer empty oaths, but meaningful ones, now and in the future. Princess Kioniha, this kingdom needs you. Would you agree to be the queen?" he asked her with even more solemnity than history books would be able to describe in the future.