Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ LII. ALEXEI ❆ ❆

Alexei is reading his favorite fairy tale.

The story is... Fairly simple. A princess, with beautiful long hair, is trapped in a tower — and a prince comes along to rescue her.

It's simple, and he's read it a hundred times, over and over. And each time, he enjoys it more and more.

He always thought... That he'd be the prince, coming to save a pretty girl, a strange girl with long dark hair... His Mademoiselle Noir, and him the prince, of course. Keeping the villagers — who don't understand why she's so different — from burning her.

Whatever that is.

Except, now he knows what that is — he's found a Mademoiselle Noir, a girl with dark hair and skin and eyes, who burns him when she makes contact with his skin.

And it's, it's thrilling. It's thrilling what he's discovered — that the story's the other way around.

Here came this strange girl from a different kingdom, a different world, and she was drawn all the way up to his tower, because she heard him playing piano, just as the prince was drawn to the princess' endless singing of a song in a foreign language. She reached her hand out, and he took it...

He was the one trapped in the tower, all along.

What a twist.

And then suddenly, he wasn't trapped in the tower. He'd slipped on a pair of gloves per her request, and when she took his hand firmly, he found himself not flinching at the touch — and yet, at the same time, also finding himself missing the spark of sensation.

Kumari originally had tried to lead him through the castle halls, but there were too many patrols roaming around, and it was hard to keep Alexei from yelping in fright every time they were close to being caught.

"Let's go to my room," she had whispered. "I still have rope. We can climb down!"

Alexei gulped, "Climb down?"

"It's what I did!"

Alexei didn't really have the energy to protest Kumari's insistence — which doesn't consist of words, exactly, but rather, her insistently dragging him down the stairs, ducking behind tapestries and statues whenever a guard comes in sight.

Eventually, they reached the room Alexei assumed must be hers, because she went inside, pulling him in along with herself.

He heard a noise and shrieked softly.

"What's that?" He asked, whirling around, white hair whipping everywhere.

"It's just Goldy!"

Kumari held up a small bird, who made the same sound again.

"A goose?"

"You can pet her, if you want."

He did so, gently running his fingers across the soft and smooth feathers. Goldy let out what sounds like a happy noise, pushing her head up against Alexei's palm.

"See!" Kumari giggled. "She likes you."

"Can I hold her?" Alexei asked, and Kumari promptly plops the bird in his arms.

He cradled the bird close, cooing at her, and nuzzling his face against her head.

"I love her," he said. "I don't think I've ever seen a real goose outside of drawings... And dinner."

"Me too! But now Goldy is one of my best friends, along with Jae and Chiro."

A best friend. Not just a friend, but a best friend.