Chapter 1

Humans' Kingdom

"Estella?"

"Yes, my highness?"

Estella was sitting in a purple velvet chair with a high back, holding an open book in front of her and reading.

"Come, my majesty, to take pride in our daughter."

His tone of voice contained a small dose of irony and a hefty amount of bitterness.

Estella closed her book, got up from her chair, and left the book where she had been sitting. She approached the large window where King Lucius was standing and watching the princess training in archery in their castle's large garden.

At a considerable distance from Princess Edith, a human model was made of wood and straw of her own inspiration, as she was got bored of the circular colored target. So, she asked, and they made this model for her, which had already been filled with arrows after so much practicing. Her technique was almost perfect in a relatively short time, as was her fencing too. The truth was that the archery was her big love.

The princess had turned eighteen a few months ago. She had become a whole woman. With her strong, well-built body, long dark hair, and big blue-green eyes, she won the impressions, causing admiration to anyone who looked at her.

In the surrounding kingdoms, she was famous for her beauty and her non-delicate manners as would normally be appropriate for a princess and, therefore, female. They called her a tomboy when they mocked her into the small feasts and gatherings they arranged in the royal yards.

"Look and brag about your daughter," he told her with displeasure but also disappointment.

It was not at all what he expected from his only child. He knew all the vicious comments being made about his daughter, and he did not like that, for his daughter, but also his pride that now it was hurt.

With bitterness in his voice, he continued to say to her: "Is this wise for a princess? Dressed in pants like a boy and do archery and fencing. These are for soldiers. I see the possibility of her getting married moving away every day more and more. No prince is going to want her for his wife," he told her and sighed.

Estella noticed his sadness. She touched him gently on the arm and said: "Do not be sad, my highness. I understand your concern, but the things it is not like this. Trust me. Our daughter is now eighteen years old. She has spent all her previous years with teachers and lessons. She has learned everything a princess needs to know.

Edith now finds interest and satisfaction in archery, fencing, and horseback riding. As long as I see her face glowing with happiness and smiling, I will not forbid her to do everything she loves. And if you ask me, I applaud and admire what she does. I'm proud of her. She is brave and fearless and daring as a man. Now I sleep peacefully that our Edith is able to protect herself, without having to be constantly surrounded by bodyguards. As for the marriage issue that concerns you, I'm sure somewhere out there, there is the man who will love her about exactly what she is, and he will desire to make her his wife. You will see, Lucius. Our child, one day, will get everything you dream of, and she will be completely happy. But be patient. Everything will be done on time."

King Lucius looked at his wife as if he were looking at her for the first time. He admired her words and the wisdom hidden within them. She had never spoken to him like that before, and the truth is that Lucius never asked her opinion. He always did what he thought was right. And it was the truth that until now, he was saddened by the fact that his daughter would probably remain unmarried.

He covered his wife's hand with his own and looked at her.

Estella looked at him too and continued to say to him, "You know I never interfered with your affairs. I always let you make your judgments and do what is right. This time I did speak because I see you being tortured, and I can't stand it. I mean, and I believe everything I told you."

"Okay, I will trust your maternal instinct, and I will not complain to our daughter again. But our problems do not end here."

"I know my highness," she told him sadly.

"He has been very persistent in recent months. He does not leave us alone. I am beginning to fear that he will carry out his threats, and the bad thing is that there is nothing I can do to avoid it. Since we do not have what he asks for. I do not know where it is, as he believes or anything. I have no idea. I was not even born then. All I know is this legend that has been circulating for years. Is it true? Is it lies? No one knows for sure. And we may never know. Maybe the next generations will come after our death. This whole situation has tired me out. And this year, it is our turn to organize the ball. And for the reason that I am not sure that really exists." he said and sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, which has already started to get the silver color of maturity. Although he was thirty-eight years old, he was in excellent shape. His body was still strong and vigorous, and this was due to his frequent training, mainly in fencing. His eyes had the color of the blue of the deep sea, and when they were overwhelmed with rage, they turned gray-blue like the stormy sea.

He was a handsome young man in his youth, but even now that his first youth was over, he remained a very charming man.

He turned his head and looked at Estella in her beautiful emerald eyes, so sweet and at the same time so expressive. She looked at him smiling and with a calm look.

Lucius first saw Estella when she was sixteen, and he was nineteen. She stole his heart at first glance he cast at her. Estella had not seen him yet.

They were invited to a ball organized by King Aesop. His kingdom was more extensive than theirs and a few days journey by carriage.

The annual ball was held to celebrate the anniversary when the gem was lost, and the dragons lost their power and lost their power over humans.

Humans were no longer their property or their slaves.

That was an event that had to be celebrated with all due respect by the humans.

When Lucius first saw Estella, she was dancing with Prince Liam. He still remembered the beautiful green gown she wore and how beautifully she hugged her slender body down to her slim waist. Then the gown opened, covering her legs, leaning against the floor.

Prince Liam flirted with her intensely from the first moment he arrived at the castle as a guest with his family at the ball. On the other hand, Estella was not very warm to him and tried to avoid him as much as possible, even though her parents approved to get married to him. Her parents have praised Liam to her at every opportunity, but Estella did not change her mind. She did not like Prince Liam to accept him as her husband.

"The man I will fall in love with, at first sight, I will make him my husband, and I am not going to change my decision as much as I love you. Therefore, if you love me and wish happiness for me, you will respect my decision, "she said to her parents, and they accepted it for the sake of the cult they had for her.

This ball has been taking place every year for the last forty-nine years. This year, this tradition will be fifty years old, half a century, and it was Lucius's kingdom turn to organize it. It was not the first time the dance would occur in this kingdom, but it was the first time that Lucius held the domain.

As the days for dance approached, his anxiety and stress grew.

He did not have a good feeling about it, but it was something he kept to himself and struggled on his own to find a way out.