CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Bjorn wanted to go near the princess and scold her when she attempted to enter the pond. Doesn't she know that water freezes during the night?
It was a good thing that she did not continue to do it and instead sat in the corner of the fountain. It looked like she was staring down at her reflection, but when Bjorn looked at her closely, tears started streaming down the princess's face.
Tears fell on the pond, and the princess almost immediately wiped the tears away. She wiped the tears that rolled down her face but new and fresh ones came falling down one after another, like an endless stream.
She started to sob and whimper, grasping her chest and choking on her tears. The princess finally exploded, and though it was supposed to be a private affair, Bjorn couldn't help but gaze at her, though it felt prohibited to do so.
Something stirred in him. That was the first time he saw the mean princess cry. That was the first time he had ever seen her that miserable. A part of him felt joy when he finally saw the person he hated crying, but most parts of him felt angry, confused, and surprised.
He wanted to know why she was crying when she was the one who made people cry all the time. He wanted to know what the reason was and how hurt she was, to the point that it made her shed tears.
His mind became cloudy, then his feet started to walk forward on their own. He was about to reveal himself and go to the princess when the princess suddenly spoke.
"Who's there?" he called, her voice wavering and croaking.
A person from the shadows emerged. He had his usual poker face that looked like he was always uninterested in everything that surrounded him. He was also wearing a white tunic and a baldric filled with daggers.
"My apologies," the boy said, "I did not mean to be creepy. And I was not staring at you secretly. I was just finding my way to the training grounds and this was a shortcut towards there."
Tatiana naturally wiped her tears and grinned at him.
"It's alright," she said. "Morgan, right? We met each other?"
"Yes, princess."
"Will you stop calling me that?" she told him. "I don't like being called that."
"Called what? Princess?"
"Yes."
"But you are the princess. Why?"
"I justâ" It feels fake. Tatiana couldn't continue but smiled at him instead. "I just hate that word."
"But any girl would love to be called that."
"I don'tâI don't want to be called that."
Morgan pondered the reason why. She had all the power, money, food, and luxury that she could ask for, but why didn't she consider herself lucky? She was born with a silver spoon and people bowed down to her. What more does she want?
"Why would a princess who is loved by everyone not want that?"
"If being loved by everyone means being backstabbed, hated, and poisoned, then yes, I am in fact loved by everyone." Tatiana rolled her eyes.
Morgan turned silent. "Oh. But doesn't everyone have people who want to kill them?"
"What?" Tatiana gasped and let out a laugh. "No! it's not normal to have people lined up to kill you!"
"They don't?" Morgan lived his life with people chasing after him and his family. He never felt what it was like to sleep peacefully and knew that nobody was coming for him until Bjorn met him in a war with the rebels.
Tatiana knew this of course. She read his backstory when he was appointed as her knight.
Something sparked inside Bjorn. That was the first time she laughed and had a normal conversation with someone other than him, especially after crying. He always saw Tatiana as an impenetrable shell.
No amount of words and scolding could pierce through her. She was the type of person to never listen. She was the type of person who only cared about herself and never for others. She never cared if others suffered, were hurt, or died because of her.
That was the type of person she was. But he doesn't know now. He doesn't want to believe what she's showing recently. After all, he thinks that maybe it was just a façade, that the princess never changed and is just pretending to or if the princess is acting that way because she lost her memory.
"They don't," Tatiana said. Her eyes scanned Morgan's face for a trace of humor but the pain of realization that this was the life that Morgan had in store for him.
Morgan from the story dearly loved Tatiana, although she wasn't sure if it was out of love or just out of loyalty. But that loyalty he had to Tatiana only hurt him in the end. Tatiana, from the original story, was a lost cause and yet her knight was always there for her despite all of it.
Tatiana from the story fell into a pit of ruins and she dragged Morgan along with her. She wondered if this time she would not choose him as her personal knight at the coming of age ceremony. She thinks that she might save him that way, but she needs saving too.
For now, he is the only one she knows she can trust. He is the only one she is sure that would never hurt her nor stab her in the back.
"Would you like to become my personal knight?" Tatiana suddenly said. "I thought that if you became my knight, you would teach me how to deal with those who want my head."
Amusement flashed in Morgan's eyes and the lips that remained straight for who knows how long lifted from one corner and another. The princess herself asked a mere knight like him to become her own personal guard.
"Of course, if you don't want to, you can always reject me. I'm still months away from turning sixteen."
"You would let me reject you if I wanted to?"
Tatiana nodded. "Of course, you have your own free will.
Both Morgan and Bjorn could not believe what they were hearing. A royalty is willing to accept rejection? Especially someone like the princess?
"Princess? Princess?"
Tatiana turned around when she heard Norma's voice. She stood up from the fountain and patted her dress.
"The party must be over," she said and turned to Morgan. "I have to go now, I have a business to attend to."
"O-of course, your highness," Morgan answered and bowed, startled at the princess. He almost forgot that the person in front of her was not just any noble but was the princess. Someone next to the throne. And they talked to each other like civilians having an informal conversation.
"I will wait for your answer," the princess told him. "You don't need to accept the job if you don't have to. I'll also give you some time to think."
"Ye-yes of course, your highness."
Tatiana chuckled and patted Morgan's shoulder. It was a mere touch, but it sent a voltage of electricity to Morgan's whole being.
"I will go now."
The princess left in a hurry to go to Norma and left Morgan confused and at the same time flustered.
"You said the princess was a beast," Morgan uttered and turned to Bjorn, who emerged from the darkness, not even trying to hide. "How are we going to go with our plan if the person was not that evil, to begin with?"
"You looked like you enjoyed yourself, though," Bjorn told him. Morgan raised his brow and smirked.
"You look like you'll rip me into shreds." He joked, "are you finally in love with your fiancé?"
"fxxck you."
--
END