The Healer Of Light And The Prince Of Darkness

46. A Story Of The Past - Part One

The letter from the king made the neatly kept peace in their well-organized family of four go upside down. Even the smallest, Tasia and Cassian, felt something was not right. Anyway, the sudden trip to visit the grandparents they didn't know much of was quickly decided and the two could just quietly sit and watch how their mommy and aunt Anna prepared their luggage and left the hometown the twins had been living in for the last five years.

"Grandma and grandpa are very... Nice people, my dear. You'll love them once you come to know them," Hazel reassured them with a soft smile.

"But we don't know much about them."

"You'll know. Well, I think it's time to tell you the story of the forgotten fifth princess of Hares. Come on, sit and listen..."

The fifth princess, the late king's half-sister, was formerly a commoner. A person, who had shined brightly far from the royal grounds, who didn't know much of the royal family, nor did she want to know anything about the king.

Till one day the very ruler of the Magic Kingdom came to her and took her to the palace. As his daughter, the fifth princess of Hares.

"Oh...!" Tasia exclaimed in surprise.

"What a bad guy! He didn't even ask her about her opinion, did he?"

"Men don't ask women such things, silly!" Cassian hit head playfully.

"He was a sexist, right, mommy?"

"W-Well, you may think so..." Hazel smiled nervously, mentally noting to discuss with Anna how the kids had come to know such a word as 'sexist'.

The princess had one name as commoners had no other name to add to their first ones except for the one from their hometown.

"So, that's why we are called la Crencia."

"That's right, dear. You were born there after all."

Tia. A name as simple as this wasn't to the king's liking, though. Thus, the name Tiana de Akrara was given to her. But it was a name no one else knew. She wasn't properly introduced to the aristocracy and het identity became a mystery.

Such mystery no one had the interest to solve.

"You probably have some suggestions to why he had turned to his daughter all of a sudden after more than twelve years of abandoning her."

"To gain something from her?" Cassian stated.

"If it's a political reason... Did he think of using her as a bait against Syris?" Tasia assumed.

"Correct. He simply took a wildflower and watered it for a while, before throwing it away."

Four years later the second princess was asked to lead the envoy to Syris. The second princess, blessed by the goddess as it was believed, the loving, sweet and kind soul no one wanted to give to them. It was then that Tiana was summoned and given her last order by the king.

'Go to Syris and do whatever it takes to escape the palace.'

She wasn't given instructions to return to Hares. The king's heart hadn't suddenly broken by the mere thought of losing his fifth daughter. Tia was unexperienced, but for four years she had understood one thing – there was always something behind the meaning of what they said.

She realized what he had meant by his order soon after that.

When the imposter arrived to Syris, she was taken as a hostage not without a fight, though. The princess accused the emperor, the Crown Prince and all the present of prejudice and malice towards her and her knight due to their connections with Hares.