“Lucia, what do you like most?”
The young Lucia smiled and answered honestly: “Meat pies, berries and Troy’s mom!”
“Lucia, what do you like most?”
Lucia who was now old enough to get married squint her eyes and lazily answered: “Grilled meat, sunlight and Troy’s smile.”
“Lucia, what do you like most?”
Lucia knelt down on one knee, raised her head and resolutely replied: “Her highness, our nation, and his highness.”
I’ll never forget those three adults walking towards him with a prideful smile on their faces while holding ropes and rags. Their wretched and dirty smile sometimes makes his younger self cry in his dreams. I’ll never forget that small silhouette that charged at the three people over and over, falling over and over, getting up over and over as he shouted towards himself.
That was the worst beating I ever saw a prince receive, but at the same time, the bravest prince I’d ever seen. And after the event, I tightly hugged Troy by my side whenever I awoke from my nightmares. I realised that I had to protect his highness at the time.
I must protect his highness.
When I was tolerating the bugs biting me while crawling around in the grass…
I must protect his highness.
When I couldn’t move my body at night because of my bruises…
I must protect his highness.
When I fought off starvation and sleepiness while staggering through the heavy rain….
That’s what I thought to myself at the time.
The night I went to seek the wind elves for their buffs, I got dragged around by a white deer for who knows how long. I tied my hands up to the shaft of the arrow that I shot into its body so that I wouldn’t let go if I passed out. The white deer ran like crazy while I was dragged along like a kite. I didn’t let go even when I coughed up blood from colliding with rocks, shrubs and trees, dislocated my arm and had a calf fracture.
I persisted because I was always thinking of his highness’s smile in my subconscious.
During my hazy moments of awakening, there seemed to be somebody asking me why I fought so hard. If I were after the buffs of the wind elves, I could’ve given up on that deer, returned home to recuperate and try again the next month. So why was I so desperate?
Yeah. Why?
I just needed to wait one month.
It must’ve been because I wouldn’t be able to face him if I failed. I must’ve been afraid of failure and letting all my efforts all those years go to waste.
I wanted to protect his highness, so I needed power. And I was willing to sell my soul if it meant that I could obtain power.
When I woke up again, I was already lying inside the divine temple of the wind elves while the white deer by my side had vanished. In exchange, I had a feeling I’d never felt before. It was the feeling of Mana flowing around my body. I waved my hand and air flowed. My eyes could see all the changes in the air.
I succeeded.
I finally won the right to be embraced by his highness. I finally won the right to stay by his highness’s side. I finally could protect his highness….
“Lucia, let’s get engaged.”
“Pffff!!”
“What?! I’m serious! I’m serious! I don’t know what getting married entails either, but… But I heard mom said we could be together forever if we got married. I did ask mom, but mom said we were too young though, so let’s get engaged first!”
That was my happiest moment.
“Alright, your highness!”
It was cloudy that day and the wind was like music. The warm sun outside made me sleepy. The chirping of the birds on the trees outside could be heard. The shade of the trees overhead cast a motley light. His highness gently held my hand which was placed on the lawn. My body felt as though it was complete. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling, and the warmth from his hands went straight to my heart.
“Your highness…”
When I turned my head around, I noticed his highness had gone pale. I grabbed hold of his frozen hands tightly. His highness sat against the cold stone wall silently as blood spilled forth from his chest like it was overflowing.
“YOUR HIGHNESS!!”
Lucia quickly stood up as the heavy rain continued to pour down on her. The immense cold almost prevented her from waking. She touched her arms and legs, and they were still there. She then struggled to grab her bow and arrows by her side and got up before shaking her head. She only intended to take a short breather, but she fell asleep underneath the tree. She was surrounded in darkness with only the sound of the downpour. Her frozen torso made it feel like she wasn’t alive. The only means of confirming she was still alive was the torture of her growling stomach.
How long had it been since she ate a proper meal?
Three days? Five days?
Grass is edible but elves don’t live off grass. It can only prevent death from starvation, but I myself am weak, so how am I going to pursue a white deer king?
Lucia shook her head and moved her hair stuck to her forehead aside. She then took out a raw and wet piece of meat from inside her shirt, took a bite and directly swallowed it. She then stamped her feet, wiped her eyes, squat down and meticulously searched for traces of the white deer king.
Before she left, she cast a spell on the cave where the prince was staying with her last ounce of mana. The buffs provided by the wind elves were her strongest source of mana. She needed to make another sacrifice once she ran out in order to replenish it. She used her last ounce of magic to gather the wind and seal the entrance to the cave. It could basically prevent people from entering. Even the assassins wouldn’t be able to enter unless they were at the level of a great priest.
She fed his highness meat, so he should be able to hang in there for two to three days. She believed she could successfully kill a white deer king in that time, take its horn and return.
Perfect.
Now that she’d lost her buffs provided by the wind elves, she was in the exact same situation as when she went to seek the wind elves that year. Starvation, fatigue, sleepiness, despair… But she was of the same mind as back then. She was determined to protect his highness.
Without the buffs from the wind elves, she couldn’t detect the conspiracy in the downpour. Without the buffs from the wind elves, she couldn’t catch a white deer king. She could only rely on her experience and wit to locate the white deer king, and she only had one chance. If she missed, his highness was doomed and she would suicide in that rock cave.
Would that be considered love or guilt?
Probably both.
The traces left behind by the white deer king got more and more prominent. In other words, it was close by. White deer king won’t move around in this downpour, while she could.
Lucia clenched her teeth and struggled to take her first step into the rain. Large raindrops dropped on her. She felt so heavy her legs went weak. They weren’t raindrops. It was practically a waterfall coming down on her. After it splashed on her it formed mist. Every step she took made her feel like her bones were being frozen. Every cell in her body was warning her that the ice-cold rain would take her life, but Lucia continued to stumble and stagger unwaveringly forward in a particular direction.
The white deer king raised its head and looked in a particular direction. It was slightly startled. It felt anxious as it took shelter under a tree. However, there was nothing in sight. It turned its head around, stamped on the ground and then lay back down.
Deer hunting festival. Deer hunting festival.
A festival where you kill the king of another tribe.
It looks like a king shall fall this time.
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