*** Recom song - "When I look at you" by Miley Cyrus, after the flashbacks have begun.
Lucien Hearthorn; the formidable 2nd prince. Known for gracing the battlefield with his astounding foresight and powerful reflexes. He had midnight black hair, and opal blue eyes with a well-defined figure that made every god-like stance a masterpiece.
One evening after an uneventful day of sword training and settling the books, he hurriedly strutted down the 1st floor, right wing hallway of the main Imperial Palace, so eager to finish the day despite his usual "obstructions".
"Sire, please finish what you started. The weather will not favour the North this year. Some people are also stuck thanks to the monsoon that YOU'VE forgotten" his youngest close attendants; Darwin beckoned him in pursuit. Yet, all Darwin got was his master's indifference; itching his ear.
"Sire, please, please, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!!!" almost brought me to tears, but I was still ignored.
With a large sigh, Lucien finally commented, "...Just tell the Northern people to head east for the winter, the Western knights to join them and clear their path then, let the Marquis of the East handle the rest and THEN leave me alone", almost running off.
It's been 8 months since Lucien finally ascended to the position of Officiating Crown Prince, after Lewin; the 1st Prince's carriage accident that left him unable to take care of his duties. Speaking of the devil...
"Luc," a familiar voice brought him out of his thoughts. A frail-looking, long, haired, dainty beauty was being helped by Daniella; his only female bodyguard, on a wheelchair. His wavy brown hair accentuates well with his grass green eyes and a smile worth a million stars.
"What? Can't you see I'm in a hurry", Lucien spoke with both indifference and disdain. "Oh come on, Luc. Is it because of the way I address you like she does, huh?!" Lewin said with a cheeky reaction.
Everyone within Lucien's inner circle knows about his relationship with Krysta. They were best friends with a secret oath but his close friends see them more as lovers than friends.
"Don't blame me if she rejects you", he remarks again, gaining a death stare in turn. Lewin just laughed it off and signalled for Daniella to push his chair.
As the wheelchair got to where Lucien stood, he grabbed hard and drilled his slightly long nails into Daniella's right shoulder. With a menacing voice as though the atmospheric pressure increased by a thousand, he passed his words like a looming death, "I see the way you look at him, your master..." Her eyes grew bloodshot as she trembled several times per minute, "... know your place".
With those words, he left the hall and the air became somewhat clean. Daniella almost collapses from relief and steadies herself on the wheelchair she pushes. Unknown to her, the wheelchair tips over. In a heartbeat, she grabbed the back of Lewin's head right before it touched the ground.
…
In a snap, Daniella positioned herself on top of him, his head in her palm as his hair slipped through her palm
They were but centimetres apart. A breath of sunshine made this moment so wonderful. No one dared to move. Even the maids passing turned around bashfully.
~ I know I won't 🤭
It took a few seconds for them to collect their thoughts as neither wanted to disrupt this moment. Lewin reached out with his left hand, his paralysed palm was going to touch her face when...
"Your highness, forgive me" she burst into tears. "I..." she tried her best to hold back but she's a lady through and through. Tears slowly slid off her cheekbones and onto Lewin's face.
'A lady, known for having ousted several men, even generals, is now weeping so adorably in front of me' he wondered with a sense of relief. "She's soft at heart". Despite her worries, he put his left hand down and swiftly brought his right hand to her neck, pulling her into a...hug.
~ Sigh, the disappointment 😔
The shock of the unplanned embrace sent her into a weak state. She began to ramble on to him. "I-I-I'm so sorry, sir. I shouldn't but...I still did and I c-can't think straight with you anymore..." she cries some more. Lewin looked puzzled but was able to pick up what she was wailing on about after all, he was the Casanova of Petre nations before and even after the accident
8 years ago...
Daniella was just newly recruited, but she had already caught the eyes of several nobles due to her widely known sound physique and her beauty. Being the envy and centre of all gossip. Whether it was the latest trend, or the weather, she was brought into all of it. She wanted to be seen and talked to without envy, and nothing more than to serve the one person who saw her for her true efforts; Prince Lewin.
The night of an unusually boring banquet, Daniella attended for the first time in a gown her friends picked out for her. As she entered the hall, all eyes were on her so naturally, she felt uncomfortable. Most of the uneasy attention was from some low-ranking noble faction headed by Viscount Barden, a no-good pervert who had been arrested for sexual crimes before, yet came back to high society.
Daniella avoided the casual formalities since the royalty hadn't arrived and quickly rushed to the leeward side of the hall. A wash of relief rushed over as she slumped to the floor. She liked the cold feeling of the tiles that took her back to the day Lewin took her heart.
It was a cold yet clear night. She was crying alone after hearing terrible gossip about her being too manly to be married when Lewin passed by. All he said to her was "I've never seen a warrior who cried because his horse left him". Those words took her whole and she decided to love him and be his 'steed'.
Later during the banquet. She jerked up to her feet on realising that she had dozed off thinking about her master. "Oh no! 😱" she said, quickly cleaning the drool on her face. She realised that she had missed the royal entrance. She contemplated for a while before sneaking back in through the left aisle window.
"Phew. Thought I'd be caught for..." "LADIES AND GENTS, YOUNG AND OLD, I GIVE YOU YOUR NEW KING AND QUEEN. FIRST PRINCE LEWIN AND FUTURE CROWN PRINCESS AMARA!!! THREE CHEERS FOR THE CERTAINLY GOOD FUTURE!"
Cheers and well wishes filled the hall. Daniella was stunned. She'd been beside him all the time [~not that she minded], yet she never saw him take interest, let alone date someone, so why? She supported herself up with her knees. 'Why...' she thought, 'why is this happening now? And WHY was this bugging me so much that it's nauseating'. She looked up to instantly meet Lewin's eyes. Her eyes began to swell, but she instantly choked on it. She couldn't take more as even now, she was being compared to Krysta Cauldrin.
"Psst Rubare. Look over there. Daniella is crouching like an animal. Even the 2nd Prince won't accept her, and HE takes anyone. The lady giggled and her friends did too.
Daniella didn't care anymore. She began to edit her dress with pins to make it run-fit. "HEY..." a guard called out to her but she didn't flinch. In a daring moment of a second, she ran up the stairs and leapt off the central outdoor balcony on the 3rd floor of the palace.
As she ran, she knew she'd broken a part of her oath to make her master her priority, but now she's running crazily, her heels in hand across the palace moor's bank and into it like she's willing to drown.
Lewin was watching the scene. He wanted to run to the girl brave enough to stay by his side, but he would lose his dignity and gain his father's wrath. After the engagement party, he walked up to the lady of the hour; Amara Karten, a foreign minister's daughter. "Shall we, my lady. I'll escort you to your abode", he said in a charismatic tone, but "Where's your bodyguard? I usually go with at least ten" She remained unhinged. Lewin stared at the left aisle and sighed. "The guards will suffice". That was the last they spoke before walking to the parking area, arm in arm.
Midnight that day...
Daniella had sobbed her eyes puffy and got madly intoxicated. She felt sane enough to confide in the prince about her feelings because, despite his playful side, he's very calm and reliable...at least to her. She went out the back of the Prince's Palace (still in the pinned dress) and climbed up the castle walls to the Prince's bedroom balcony. She tapped on the window in a pattern only they knew.
(~until now 😁)
*Tap tap, tappity tap tap, BANG BANG, boom, boom, tap tap boom
...
...
Nothing. Nothing at all. She thought he'd be back by now. Then reality hit her. She abandoned her master, guard-less at a party, in the middle of the night and he let her go despite. She immediately changed into casual training attire and raced to the stables, stealing the fastest horse there, Shamble. On approach, the horse began to buck and neigh, which she resolved quickly with a candy apple from the banquet's children's section and headed towards the main road.
Her thoughts began running. 'What could have happened? If they haven't arrived yet, that means they were intercepted. But they won't do it until he leaves the minister's daughter, so it's probably around. She slowed down and began heading East at full speed. Soon enough, she heard gunshots and quickly rushed to the front to find Lewin, fending off the attackers on his own. He was already shot on his thigh but still holding up.
Someone was about to leap out of the shadows to attack like a sprinting hare, but she blocked the attack midway. Lewin turned to see who helped out only to get shot in his other thigh, collapsing to the ground. Daniella screamed and quickly princess-carried him to the forest. After losing the attackers chasing them, she spotted the automated car that they used, still in top shape. She swung it open to see... Princess Amara is quivering in the corner. 'Why is she still here?' she thought, but snapped out of it quickly. Quickly hopping in, she slowly lays Lewin sitting up and tells Amara to tie his upper thigh and hold him up right. She then began to hear the attackers getting closer and went to confront them. She halted and faced the automated car.
"It can't stay there", she said to herself and hopped into the driver's seat. Luckily, it was an automated car still connected to its route, with a dead driver. Shoving a dead body to the dead of the forest, she quickly pressed the ignition key... nothing. She rapidly smashed the button but still nothing. She could hear them coming and began frantically pushing the button. She found them in view when the car responded. After setting the coordinates and waiting for the right moment, she leapt out of the car, running it into 2 of the men before following its route.
Now, it was 5 against 1 but she didn't regret saving her master's life. She faced them head-on. Running like a charging bull, she went in with full force and bested one of the men in one swing. She began losing patience and proceeded to kill another. She felt bloodlust blinding her sight as she began fighting 3 men at the same time.
A long time later,
She huddled against a tree she tied one of the attackers to. She may be a commander of the Reagan knights now, but she's still a lady who's too tired to find her horse. She looked through the forest canopy to see the sun rise. "... I've rested enough".
After a long horse ride, she stumbled upon her squad headquarters' gate where the guards saw her just before she fainted.
It was 4 days later that she found out that her master is now crippled and the engagement has been broken due to the attack that day. She ruined everything and all the blame was on her.
...Back to the present...
Lewin knew why she was scared and he tried to console her the best he could.
(~ Lewin was still on the ground, people!!!)
"Dannie, you and I know it wasn't your fault and I'm here with you BECAUSE of you. Don't cry..." He said with the utmost sincerity. She pulled him into a tight embrace and began to breathe more slowly. Lewin continued...
"I trust you and I..." "I LOVE YOU!" she loudly claimed, cutting him off. Lewin felt as though he was tasered in the heart for the first time. "What? What are you saying?" "I mean every word, so please, even though it isn't possible, don't push me away", she said, pulling away from the embrace and instantly smashing lips with him.
LUCIEN's POV
Lucien is finally reaching the royal meeting room. He took his time by looking at the reflective glass and checking his hair, his collar, his teeth, his smile, his boner...
Without warning, Krysta Cauldrin swung the meeting room door open in anger and slammed it hard behind her. Lucien was stumped between his crush, whom he hadn't seen in weeks, and leaving her to vent out her anger. She began punching the wooden door to the room next to it...till it actually broke. Lucien grew scared.
Krysta noticed his intense eyes on her and swivelled instantly. She marched towards him, anger blazing like a purgatory, thinking he was here to disturb her...
(~that's just Ur POV brev)
For fear of her image of him being damaged, not really caring what else she does to him, began walking back. She steps forward, he steps back. She steps forward twice and he takes 2 back. He got stubbed by the window seat in the meeting hallway and accidentally sat.
Her petite but scary figure loomed over the guy who was actually far taller. She slammed her hand against the wall beside him. Lucien grew bashfully shy and began to blush hard. He couldn't believe he got hard fast from her hitting the wall beside his face.
(~pervert much 😠. Better hide it)
She began leaning closer and Lucien felt like he was facing a closed case at court. He didn't know what to do, so he played along. On close inspection, he saw she was actually crying and wanted to seem tough. He reached to catch the falling tears but she flinched and ran away.
Lucien knew that not many things fazed Krysta, as she was born with an emotional disorder that didn't let her express things the same way others do, but the tears she shed and those of others were from the same emotion. Lucien's mind suddenly flashes to his tyrant father, who is trying to extend his authority, power and life by any means necessary. He knew that something devilish would happen...and Krysta was the centre of it.