BXBX NOVEL Chapter 53 The Forgotten Princess
[N/A: no dialogue]
-- POV Alayna --
Ever since I was a little girl, I grew up surrounded by stupid people. I was the princess of my kingdom but I wasn't proud of it. As I grew up I discovered that I was living in a hypocritical world, an unhealthy and selfish game. When I was 5 years old, I was still naive to believe that my father would read me bedtime stories, that my brothers would play with me and that we would all have a good time together. I was naive to believe that the world was full of good people and love. The reality was quite different, being born into the royal family did not only mean wealth, happiness and a quiet life. Living in the royal family also meant conspiracies, corruption and hypocrisy. Being in the most influential family in the Kingdom from a very young age I understood that nothing was normal. Where I lived, I was surrounded by a nefarious and rat-filled environment.
My father spent his time fighting for the popularity of the citizens in a ridiculous tug of war with the Church. My older brother Erzian was more busy scheming to gain the throne, not hesitating to resort to atrocious means. My second oldest brother Iolas was the least despicable of the three, but he too would stop at nothing to get the throne back without Erzian's knowledge. I wasn't involved in politics, I didn't care about the Kingdom, and yet I was aware of everything against my will. As a Princess I knew in spite of myself all the dark workings hidden from the eyes of the citizens and who their leaders really were. Every nobleman, every family, every law, every citizen was for me stuck in a world of denial that was being destroyed by themselves.
It was in this environment that I grew up. As I grew older, I gained knowledge and the more I grew the more I was able to understand the world around me. Until one day I realized that I had to escape if I did not want to die slowly, consumed by the darkness of the Kingdom. It was when I was 10 years old that I realized the horrors that were done to people who were different.
I was still young and looking for something to play with in my room. I was alone as always when in the courtyard right outside my window, a grouping formed. At that moment I didn't know what was going on and my childish curiosity pushed me to look discreetly by opening the window. Usually there was never anyone passing by my window but this time there were knights dragging a half-human man and woman right in front of me. They were full of blood and could barely walk because of their many wounds that would have made any human collapse. The man and woman finally fell exhausted right in front of me while I was still hiding in the thickets outside my window.
I will never forget what happened next. As I looked at these two dying people without understanding, the half-human woman on the ground smiled at me and whispered weakly that I must be the same age as her beloved daughter. She then weakly handed me a medallion saying that she wanted to entrust it to someone she thought was good before she died. I didn't know what she was talking about or why she was telling me this so I didn't move without seeing the huge kick that flew into this loving mother's head. The last time I saw her she was being dragged by her hair, her husband behind her towards Erzian's quarters. I ended up discreetly picking up the medallion that had rolled onto the grass before returning to my room shocked, sad and confused.
I didn't understand what had happened to them until much later.
These two half-humans had panther ears and tails and had been tortured on Erzian's orders because he wanted to find where they had hidden their daughter. I had never heard the name of this famous child, but my brother said she was my age and had very rare eyes: golden on the left and blue on the right. Erzian wanted to offer her eyes to the Church to curry their favor...he was only 15 years old.
A year later I was able to make the connection and really understand what I had witnessed. It was then that I knew I could not stay. I could not believe that my brother was capable of doing such things, let alone that this behavior was considered normal in this world. I couldn't tolerate it, not after what I had seen. Why did two loving parents have to die? I still remembered the eyes of that half-panther woman, when they stared at me that day I saw no hatred for me despite what she was going through. I had never seen such a look, neither in my father, nor in my brothers nor in anyone else. I knew that they had been tortured for days afterwards, but I understood that they had never spoken, no matter how painful it was. They had died under my brother's orders and for what? For eyes? Would my brother have gone so far as to murder me if my eyes had been different too?
After that, for a long time I was scared and terrified to live under the same roof, in the same Kingdom as monsters who saw no problem with their actions. I had only seen this scene but I knew it was commonplace and normal for everyone. Beating and murdering half-humans was normal and encouraged, and the thought was unbearable. When I felt weak and on the verge of giving up, I always thought of that little half-panther girl who had to live alone because my brother had taken her family away from her with his selfishness. In my moments of despair, I would hold the medallion and think of her while talking to her to give me courage. It was blue like my eyes and a small L seemed to be engraved on it. This medallion came from a person that the world considered dirty but for me it was the most precious thing. I didn't know if the little girl at the time was still alive today but one thing was for sure, even if I was the only one in this world who remembered them, their sacrifice...there would still be a soul in this rotten world who would continue to recognize their will. The will of two parents to protect their child even at the cost of their lives and at the cost of a sudden, painful and eternal farewell.
So at the age of 11 I decided to do everything to escape from this suffocating prison and get away from all these monsters. This world was crazy, this Kingdom and its inhabitants were crazy and I was going to become one. Just like the people around me, I ended up wearing a mask to hide who I really was, which allowed me to hide the deep disgust I felt for this world. I wore a mask to escape, to forget and the more time passed, the more I lost myself too. Who was I really? The Princess? Alayna? Sometimes I didn't really know if my life was my own or if I was just a shadow of a puppet in this kingdom.
Sometimes I wanted to escape through death, but when I thought of those two half-humans and their courage, which I had never seen in anyone else, my idea disappeared at once. Was this world really rotten everywhere? What was hiding behind the city walls? I wanted to find out. All races other than humans were treated like garbage without exception, while I was publicly treated like a jewel. Yet I was not special, I was certainly no more worthy of respect than those who died every day to protect their own. I was a princess in name only, but in the end, underneath that dark veil that covered the world, I was nothing. I was only the last of my family and the one who was simply ignored.
When I was 16 years old and had the right to become an heiress, I refused without even setting foot in the throne room. I was a recluse, far from everything and my only two companions were my servants who rarely stayed. I lived a daily nightmare, I was ignored, forgotten and misunderstood but not without reasons. Unlike my brothers I had no magic so I was of no benefit to them in their quest for power and my father seemed to have forgotten me long ago. My life consisted of wandering the halls and rooms of this great castle in solitude, with no one to really support me. I was not interested in social life, invitations from the many noble families always ended up in my trash can, and no one was allowed to enter my part of the castle.
I had become....the forgotten princess.
What no one knew was that since I was 11 years old I had been trying to make myself forgotten, to make myself ignored so that I would gradually disappear from people's minds. People knew my face thanks to the numerous paintings representing me, but nobody had ever seen me in the flesh apart from my family after my 12th birthday. I worked quietly and tirelessly to cut myself off from the world despite the enormous psychological burden that constantly weighed on my mind. I wanted to get out of here, I wanted to laugh, dance, sing, smile and feel the fresh air of a world devoid of death, secrets and betrayals. I wanted to go on an adventure, to discover fantastic landscapes, to meet unforgettable people and to look for this girl. Since I was 11 years old, I had sworn to myself that I would return this medallion with my own hands. In spite of my life, I was full of hope and dreams that kept me going every day. I may have been naive, crazy and probably totally lost, but those thoughts were the only things that kept me going.
At the age of 18, I just wanted to survive to finally start living.
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Today I had finally decided to venture out of the castle and into the church. I had heard that she had hired adventurers and mercenaries a few weeks ago and I planned to seek out information to possibly run away with them. At the time I didn't know that all these people had been killed on their mission.
*Courage Alayna...you can do it*
For the first time, I was about to get out of that prison. I hadn't planned on coming back, my heart was pounding, my hands were sweaty and I was shaking with fear and excitement. I had survived alone for so many years to be able to experience this unique and special moment that marked the beginning of my escape.
No one could imagine what was going on in my heart and mind. Locked up since forever, I was finally going to tread the ground behind these gates, like a baby bird opening its eyes for the first time.
*The baby bird that I am will fly in the sky the day I leave this city. On that day, my wings will flap with power to carry me ever higher into the sky and one day I will stand beside your daughter. Do you hear me? I will stand beside you and tell you how great your parents were to the end and how much they loved you.*
I was determined and today nothing and no one could stop me from going to the church that was my way out. 18 years of waiting, 18 years of suffering would soon end. It was with this thought that I dared to take a step out of my room that I was leaving for the very last time. I didn't take anything with me, I didn't want to keep anything that could remind me of this confined life except for what I had on my back and the medallion.
The sun was still high in the sky when I decided to sneak out of my quarters for the first time in 18 years. I had memorized all the comings and goings of the knights and covered my head with a shawl to try to hide my face. I didn't have much to disguise myself with, I was the princess and all I could wear were expensive dresses that could feed an entire family for years.
As I walked carefully down the hallways to the garden, my legs shook more and more with each step and I couldn't control them. For the first time, I felt like I finally had my destiny in my hands, that I could finally choose who I was going to be and what I was going to do. As I clutched the medallion around my neck to help me move forward, the garden gates were in sight.
*Courage...courage...courage*
Only this word echoed in my head in rhythm with my heart as I sped through the garden. I wasn't wearing proper shoes for running, my feet were already hurting and I could feel the blood flowing but I didn't care. My golden hair flew in the wind barely hidden by the veil as I ran towards my freedom. I was running towards my destiny and my new life that was calling me to the horizon.
[N/A : I hope you liked this chapter. It was not planned as it is also built around one of my readers' characters. I hope you enjoyed it though because I really enjoyed writing it even though it was pretty hard !]
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FULL STATUS
Name : Freya
Age : 0 years / Mentally : 25 years
Sex : Female
Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult
Race : Major Demon
Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.
Dragon tamer
Ruthless slayer
Level : 32/70
Exp needed for next level: 22 100 / 33 000
HP : 90 000 / 90 000 MP : 45 000 / 45 000
Strength : 340
Defense : 336
Agility : 350
Stamina : 353
Speed : 342
Intelligence : 340
Charisma : 410 (imperial she-wolf)
Attribute points to allocate : 300
Married to: Gaya
Daughter : Shiro
Kingdom (menu)
Subordinates : 385
Humans killed : 148
Elements: Ice / Chaos
Skills (all):
Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)
- Bite of hell (Lvl 5)
- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 5)
- Fighting techniques (lvl max)
- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)
- Demonic aura of the empress (lvl 3)
Defense - Ice demon wall (lvl 4)
- Demonic cloak (lvl 5)
Pain Resistance (lvl 3)
Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 1) - (under condition)
Others - Humanoid form
- Ice creation (Lvl 4)
- Storage of chaos (Lvl 3)
- Devouring chaos (Lvl 4)
- Analysis
- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique
- Telepathy
Passives - Commander (lvl max)
- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]