The Princess and the Wanderer - 1. The Princess and the Wanderer

Once upon a time, in a very rich and very prosperous kingdom, there was a very beautiful and very intelligent princess who lived in a very tall castle full of very high towers. The princess was very happy because she had many friends and was very well-liked by everyone in the kingdom. Her only problem was with the chroniclers of the land, who were very keen on using “very” at every single sentence of their tales, though that was because she was very talented and knew how to write better than her own chroniclers (and thus she convinced her uncle, the King, to pass a law forbidding any and all use of the word ‘very’ for the remaining of her story).

Yes, you read that right. The princess in question was the king’s niece. She was not even the first in the succession line (she was, in fact, the seventh). Yet she was so loved and so cherished the chroniclers thought she deserved her own story.

The princess’s father was the king’s youngest brother, or at least the youngest to survive until adulthood (it was a time when doctors and medicines were not all that great, and so lots of children died terribly young. In the royal family alone ten babies over the last two generations had not survived beyond their fifth winter). Between him and the king there were another two siblings. The royal family was incredibly united, something considered rare for the times. There were no intrigues or evil plans to overthrown the King and the Crown Prince. The royal siblings all agreed that their brother was the best person to bring prosperity to the kingdom, and thus did everything in their power to help him.

One of the things our princess’s father, Prince Fai Lok, had to do to help his King and kingdom was to ask his beloved daughter to get married as soon as possible. Lin (that was the name of the princess), however, had managed to postpone this fateful day for quite a long time. It was only after seeing the Crown Prince getting married at the age of fifteen to a princess from a neighbouring kingdom who was three years older than him and witnessing the disastrous ceremony that was her twin cousins being betrothed at sixteen to two insufferable noble girls from the court that Lin decided it was her turn to tie the knot.

The problem was that Lin was not just any princess. She was far too intelligent to accept the first candidate his father presented to her (not that the other princes were stupid, but they were politically more important than the seventh in the succession line, and thus could not afford to choose their partners). The princess wanted someone who was as smart as she was, and after convincing her father and uncle of the advantages of having a partner with considerable brain power instead of a partner with a considerable amount of gold in their possession, the sovereign made an unprecedented declaration:

“I decree that, to the first person over sixteen years of age capable of defeating Prince Fai Lok in a game of chess, the honour of espousing the most talented Princess Lin will be awarded.” The King himself declared, standing on an elevated platform in the busy city centre. The crowd that inevitably appeared around him applauded enthusiastically until they were silenced with a wave of their sovereign’s hand. “Those who want to take on this challenge please make their way to the castle. We will be waiting with open arms.”

During the next few days hundreds of people of all genders tried their luck, but Prince Fai Lok was never defeated, destroying each opponent in less than one hour.

(...)

“Hey, Vladmir, you won’t believe what I just heard!”

The young man called Vladmir turned to face his friend who had come into their hut with shockingly little care for the physical integrity of its front door. A loud bang was heard and the giant piece of wood partially devoured by termites fell to the ground.

“What is it, Isaac?”

Vladmir was a serious young man, much more serious than other young people his age. He did not like noise and racket, and was even less found of impulsive acts that resulted in great material damage. Isaac, on the other hand, spent his days on the streets trying to get some money by playing a violin that, according to an ancient legend, was magical. He liked crowds, noise, and racket. And was obviously prone to committing impulsive acts that resulted in great material damage. Vladmir and Isaac knew each other since early childhood though, and for this reason alone managed to stick together despite their opposite personalities. They had another childhood friend living with them, a young woman named Nathaliya.

“When I got to play at the square today I saw a crowd listening to someone speaking at a stage. When I got closer I saw it was the king speaking! The King!”

“And...?” Contrasting with Isaac’s enthusiasm, Vladmir only raised an eyebrow. He could not understand why people were so fascinated by someone who lived in a secluded palace far from the majority of the population.

“Oh, if it was only the King making a simple speech I wouldn’t bother to mention it to you!” Isaac laughed, remembering his friend’s constant lectures about bad monarchies and gullible people. “But he proposed a challenge! He said that the first to defeat Prince Fai Lok in a chess match will marry Princess Lin!”

“And…?”

Isaac made a great effort not to bang his head against the wall.

“And you are the best chess player in the world! You can beat the Prince and become royalty! It’s the chance of a life-time!”

“I’m not interested.”

This time Isaac did bang his head against the wall.

“You can’t be serious! This is your chance to finally set roots somewhere and not have to worry about money or getting food for the next day ever again! It’s the perfect life! You can’t…”

“You know what I think about the monarchy. I would never, not for all the money in the world, be part of it. I prefer our life as it is now.”

Isaac sighed. Looking away from Vladmir, he prepared his violin to play and pass the time.

Neither of them said anything else.

(...)

Princess Lin watched yet another of her father’s crushing victories in a state of utter boredom. The challenger had been an older man, almost completely bald and with a belly wide enough to accommodate developing twins. For the first five minutes of the match he bragged that he was the best player in his region, but Prince Fai Lok did not let his opponent’s words get to him (he heard exactly the same thing with alarming frequency) and finished the match in just half an hour. There was a short break for the Prince to relieve his biological necessities and the next opponent was allowed in.

A Princess from the other side of the world was defeated in forty-five minutes. Prince Fai Lok’s next opponent did not survive more than twenty. After humiliating so many people in such a short amount of time, the Prince decided he had had enough for the day.

“With the way things are going, my brother will be playing with his grandchildren before I get a son or daughter-in-law.” Prince Fai Lok told his daughter, beckoning her to come closer to him.

“A deal is a deal.” Princess Lin answered, toying with the long dark braid that kept her hair together. “I will only get married to someone who deserves it.”

“You are quite a smart girl.” Prince Fai Lok smiled, briefly hugging the young princess.

“It runs in the family.”

With identical smiles, father and daughter left the hall.

That night, after yet another over-the-top-opulent dinner with important guests, Lin was alone in her room reading a book by candlelight. The corridors covered in expensive tapestries were silent, a sign that the castle’s inhabitants had gone to sleep. She silently left her bed and collected a thick cape long enough to conceal her whole body and a strong rope. She changed from her nightgown to a more comfortable set of cotton shirt and trousers and tied the rope around the iron bars in her bed. The other end of the rope was thrown over the open window. Minutes later the princess was running around the castle gardens towards the front gate. If she was lucky she would be back before sunrise.

(...)

Vladmir left Nathaliya and Isaac sleeping in their wooden cubicle that tried to pass for a home and sneakily walked out to enjoy the cold and not-at-all calm night in their current city. He had just woken up following yet another nightmare; he needed to get out in order to calm down.

The solders invaded the nursery in the middle of the night, bursting the door and surrounding the children. His father heard the commotion and ran to defend his son, but was immediately stopped by the armed men.

“Stop! Stop! Leave my dad alone!” The little boy shouted, trying to reach his father. At the age of five, however, he lacked the necessary strength and speed to escape the strong hand holding his pyjamas. Beside him, Isaac and Nathaliya cried, scared in their lack of understanding of what was going on.

“Oh, the little prince wants to fight too? How cute…” One of the soldiers mocked him. Vladmir felt something hard pushing against his back and instants later fell face-first on the ground.

“Leave the children alone!” Vladmir’s father shouted, trying desperately to overcome his five opponents.

“What is happening here?” Two other men appeared at the door. Nathaliya and Isaac called after their parents, but the adults were soon too busy fighting against their opponents to pay them any attention.

“Where is Hajime?” Nathaliya’s father asked, kicking one of the soldiers in a rather sensitive and vulnerable part of his anatomy. “He’s our Army Chief, he surely should…”

“Oh, what have we got here?” Vladmir looked up at the exact moment a sinister man with bright blue eyes slightly larger than normal entered the nursery. He was not attacked like his father had been, but stopped instead to observe the scene developing in front of him. “It looks like the King and his underlings are having problems…”

“Hajime, make them stop!” Vladmir’s father ordered. A cut in his arm bled profusely.

“Give me a good reason for it, oh my Great Sovereign.” Hajime approached the king and his soldiers immediately stepped back. In one quick movement the Army Chief grabbed the other man from behind and rested a dagger on his throat. “After all, the soldiers are already acting under my orders!” Hajime’s large blue eyes shone dangerously and his laughter echoed in the room.

Hajime slid the dagger through his father’s throat.

The same nightmare haunted him from time to time. Vladmir could not remember how he had managed to escape with Nathaliya and Isaac, or how he managed to reach the neighbouring kingdom, but he was at least thankful that his friends had no memory of that fateful night. It was better that way.

He had been walking for some time when he heard sadly familiar noises coming from a side street nearby. The city was not really safe at night; someone had probably gotten involved in a fight and was now in trouble. Not really thinking about what he was doing, Vladmir ran towards the source of the noise and was utterly surprised by what he found:

Three absurdly big and scary men were lying on the ground unconscious, and a fourth one currently served as punching bag for a small and agile young man, who was obviously much stronger than his appearance suggested. When the fourth man finally lost consciousness the mysterious young man turned to the intruder ready to fight again. Thanks to his good reflexes and strong self-preservation instincts, Vladmir immediately raised his hands in surrender.

“It is alright, I did not come here to fight you.” He said calmly. The mysterious young man scrutinised him for a couple of seconds before relaxing his posture.

“What are you doing here?” The stranger asked. At that moment Vladmir realised that the voice speaking to him was far too high to belong to a man. A closer look revealed that, in fact, the young man was a young woman.

“I live nearby and came out to get some air. I heard some suspicious noises and came to see what was happening. That’s all.”

The young woman approached. Vladmir kept his hands raised, not willing to give her reasons to turn him into her next punching bag. After living with Nathaliya for so long, he had a good idea of what could happen to him if he gave even the smallest hint of being a threat.

“Who are you?” She asked, now inches away from Vladmir. Her expression was cold and severe, unbelievably intimidating for a girl who was so much smaller and shorter than him.

“My name is Vladmir. I’m just a wanderer without a place to stay or a home to return to. I’m here just passing.” In actual fact, Vladmir knew it was never safe to stay in the same place for too long. He did not know what had happened to the traitor Hajime, but he did not want to make things easier for him in case he was still looking for the escapee children. Vladmir had no desire for vengeance, but he did not want to die before his time.

The stranger did not identify herself, just fixed her black eyes in Vladmir’s blue ones. Her gaze was intense, inquisitive. Vladmir felt like her dark eyes could see deep in his soul.

“Come with me. Let’s take a walk.”

Vladmir thought the invitation was a little weird, but did as he was told. Apart from the free sample of the girl’s strength he had just witnessed, there was also an air of undeniable authority around the young woman that compelled him to obey.

The duo walked to the central square, where a fountain with naked angels spilling water through their grossly oversized genitals marked not only the heart of the city, but also the heart of the whole kingdom. The woman told Vladmir to sit beside her.

“I like nights.” She said, looking at the crescent moon and the many starts that illuminated the clear dark sky. “They are so calm, silent, free…”

“Nights can be dangerous.” Vladmir commented, though he immediately realised who he was talking to and added “Not that you should worry about it, but…”

“Where I’m from we train to become good warriors and defend ourselves. We need to be able to defeat our enemies on our own.”

“That’s not a bad philosophy.” Vladmir nodded. He was tempted to ask where she came from, but he had a feeling she would not be inclined to talk about it, so he said nothing. “I learned some things on my own about self-defence, but it’s nothing compared to what you did back there…”

“As a wanderer you probably meet many of those types, don’t you?”

“Some. I travel with two other friends, though, so together we usually manage to deal with unwanted attention.” He did not feel like telling her that it was because Nathaliya tended to scare the intruders away with her murderous glare. Their conversation lasted for a while longer, until the church bells announced it was midnight.

“I need to go, or I won’t be home before sunrise.” The mysterious woman got up and turned away.

“Wait!” Vladmir called, in an act of impulsivity that was completely alien to him and his calm personality. He grabbed the woman’s hand and she turned to face him, just as surprised as he was.

“What is it?”

“Ah... could I at least know your name?” Vladmir asked, rather shyly now that he had gotten the woman’s attention. He had not been expecting his panicked impulsivity to work. His companion looked down in contemplation, waiting a few seconds before replying.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. Not yet. We will see each other again.”

When Vladmir realised she had let go of his hand, the mysterious woman had already disappeared into the night.

(...)

When the princess returned to the castle the first sun rays were just beginning to appear in the horizon. The rope she used to leave her room remained untouched. Once safe in her chambers, she quickly changed clothes and hid the cape, trousers and shirt at the bottom of her trunk, locking it for safety.

She lay in her bed hoping to enjoy whatever darkness was left. Later when her maids came to wake her up for breakfast, she would tell them she was not feeling well and would like to stay in bed for longer. They would obey without question.

From a fairly early age the princess and the three princes of her generation had rebelled against the confinement of the castle. The four used to flee to the city at night and have fun defeating criminals and helping defenceless citizens. Princess Lin suspected the king knew about their nocturnal escapades, but the sovereign never did anything to stop them. Now that the Crown Prince was married and the other two were under constant vigilance from their betrotheds’ bodyguards (the girls feared the boys would try something to endanger their plans of finally being part of the royal family), however, Lin had to go on those expeditions alone.

Not that she was complaining, particular after that night.

The next day, Princess Lin would return to look for Vladmir the wanderer. If he knew how to play chess, she would convince him to go to the castle.

(...)

Vladmir returned to his shabby quarters immediately after his meeting with the mysterious young woman. In less than a week he, Nathaliya and Isaac would be leaving the city and he would probably never again see the woman capable of knocking out four corpulent troublemakers without even messing her braid. For the first time in recent memory he felt sad to leave their current location.

“Care to tell me where you have been until now, Vladmir?” Nathaliya asked her friend, waiting in front of what had once been the front door of their temporary accommodation with a pissed off face. “If I find out you have been wasting our money with one of those filthy whores I will…”

“I went for a walk. I didn’t spend any money and didn’t meet any ‘filthy whores’”. Vladmir answered so calmly one would be forgiven to think he was not facing an extremely pissed off, aggressive, and strong young woman who made seasoned fighters cry for their mommas on a regular basis. He walked towards her and Nathaliya let him in without saying anything else. Isaac was still fast asleep inside.

“Was it a nightmare again?” The young woman whispered, watching her friend take off his battered cape and lie on the thin mattress.

“Yes.”

It would have been impossible for Vladmir to hide his constant nightmares from his friends. However it was possible for him to hide their content. Nathaliya and Isaac had long given up asking why he had so many bad dreams and overtime they had learned to consider this as just another of their friend’s quirks.

“I hope you can sleep this time around.” Nathaliya whispered, lying on her own mattress beside the boys’. “We have lots of work to do tomorrow.”

“I know.”

When he finally fell asleep, it was the mysterious young woman who invaded his dreams.

(...)

Lin fled the castle again the following night. She walked briskly around the city she knew so well, anxiously heading to the place where she had met Vladmir the previous night. She was sure the young man would return to see her, so she wanted to be there as soon as possible. Not even the three muggers and two perverts who had the misfortune of crossing her path were able to delay her (she knocked them all out before they could even realise she had moved).

Vladmir was not in the dim side street, so she walked to the fountain with the indecent little angels instead. She smiled for the first time that day when she saw the young man sitting exactly where she had left him, as if he had stayed there the whole time.

“Vladmir” She called, approaching him slowly. The wanderer stood up when he noticed her presence.

“You came back.” Despite being really just stating the obvious, there was a distinctively relieved tone in the boy’s voice. He smiled, happy and surprised to see her again.

“I told you we would see each other again, didn’t I?”

The two sat beside the fountain, but did not speak for a long time, busy as they were registering every detail of the other’s face. Their gazes met and Lin enveloped one of Vladmir’s hands in hers. The boy raised an eyebrow.

“I’m leaving the city next week.” The wanderer finally said, breaking their eye contact. “It’s weird, but even though I’ve only been with you for a couple of hours I know I will miss you. And I don’t even know your name.”

“You don’t need to leave.” Lin noted, biting her lips as soon as she realised what she was saying. This was not in her plans.

“Yes, I do. My friends and I don’t like to stay in the same place for long. We really have to go.”

Lin realised then that Vladmir was hiding something, but decided not to say anything, after all she was hiding a lot of things herself. “You could make this city an exception. If you find a place that is safe and interesting and…”

“There is no such place.”

“How do you know? I doubt you’ve been here long enough to really get to know our kingdom!” Lin was surprised by her own outburst. Her royal duty to defend her land had acted faster than her lips could stop it. Vladmir’s eyebrows came extremely close together and he took away the hand Lin had still been touching.

“I’m tired of wandering around this kingdom with my friends. We have seen everything there was to see, even your blind adoration for a royal family that never does anything to their people.”

Upon hearing the young man speaking about the royal family, Lin abruptly stood up, facing Vladmir with her deadliest gaze. Having her own family criticised by a stranger had pulled a chord inside her; she would have to make the other see the error in his ways. “Don’t you dare speak like this about the royal family! You can’t criticise things that don’t concern you!”

Vladmir also stood up. Even though he was considerably taller than Lin, her furious gaze more than made up for that difference. They argued without raising their voices to avoid attracting unwanted attention, but the tone of their words suggested they would love to blast each other’s ear drums.

“I criticise whatever I want. I’ve seen enough of aristocrats so deeply involved in their own political games that they loose sight of what is really important!”

“Our royal family is not like that! If the people like them it’s because they have good reason to do so!”

“You didn’t seem like the kind of person who would defend the king so fiercely. Who are you?”

Lin stopped in her tracks, surprised by the young man’s question. She was silent for a long time considering her answer. Would it be worth revealing her identity to Vladmir now that she knew he hated her family so much, even though he had no reason for it? An idea suddenly came to her, and a decision was made.

“I defend the King because I’ve known him since I was born and I know he’s a good person, different from you who’s never even seen him!”

“You know the king?” Vladmir asked, visibly shocked with the new twist to their argument.

“Of course I do. He’s my uncle.”

It was Vladmir’s turn to be silent. Lin observed as his eyebrows, previously nearly disappearing under his fringe, almost become one in a frown of concentration. The eyebrows rose to the heights of his forehead again as Vladmir added the information he had just been given to the news Isaac delivered a while ago, soon arriving at the obvious conclusion.

“You are the princess who agreed to marry the first person who defeats your father in chess? What is such a high royalty like you doing talking to a poor wanderer like me?”

“For your information, my cousins and I always loved to get out at night. We like this city and we care about the people who live here, even those who make huge messes and those who are too arrogant to realise they’re talking bullshit.”

Vladmir did not like to be called arrogant, but tried to conceal it from the princess. He was still trying to process what he had just learned about the young woman who was so much stronger than she seemed. After another brief silence, Lin spoke again.

“If you don’t believe me, I challenge you to make your way to the castle and see for yourself. Duel my father and see if we don’t care about our subjects.”

And Lin once again turned away from Vladmir and disappeared in the darkness.

(...)

The next morning Vladmir tried to leave without waking his friends up, but Nathaliya realised something was going on and cornered the young man.

“Where do you think you’re going? Today’s your turn to stay behind!”

“I’m going to the castle to challenge Prince Fai Lok.”

Isaac, who had woken up when he heard Nathaliya’s demanding tone, grinned widely upon realising what Vladmir had just said.

“Are you really going? What made you change your mind?”

“It’s a long story.” Vladmir did not feel like talking about his nocturnal meetings with a girl who turned out to be a princess. There was an extremely irritating voice at the back of his mind that insisted in saying that he was not going to the castle just because he had been challenged to do so, but because all he wanted was to see the princess again. He hated that voice.

“Oh, no, you’re not going anywhere!” Nathaliya exclaimed, blocking the exit with her arms. Her eyes shone dangerously; she was obviously angry and her friends had absolutely no clue why. “We have lots of things to do before we leave this place, we can’t waste our times playing stupid chess games that most likely will come to nothing! Time is money, and money buys our lunch!”

“But if Vladmir wins he’ll be a prince!” Isaac argued, standing beside his friend and smiling to counter the girl’s bad mood. “He won’t have to worry about lunch ever again!”

“And what about us?”

Following the girl’s question, she and Isaac turned to Vladmir for an answer. Would he leave his friends behind once his well-being was forever assured? For the first time since he heard the king speak Isaac wondered if it would really be a good idea to let his friend go.

“I was challenged to fight the prince. If I win, which most likely won’t happen anyway, I think the king won’t refuse to have two more people added to his court.” Nathaliya raised an eyebrow, but Isaac smiled again. The feisty young woman wanted to know more details about this ‘challenge’, but Vladmir’s tone clearly indicated he was not going to say anything else on the matter. She bit her lip.

“Even then... I still don’t want you to go!”

“Why not, Nathaliya?” Isaac asked, taken aback by her refusal to be happy for her friend. “It’s our chance to…”

“I don’t want... I don’t want...” Nathaliya turned away, closing her eyes to avoid a few tears spilling out. “I don’t want you to leave and marry a stupid woman you barely know, princess or not!”

At that moment Vladmir understood that Nathaliya was acting this way. She was jealous. The girl had been weird around him for a while now, and he finally knew why. Unfortunately for her, though, Vladmir did not share her feelings. His discovery made him think she at least deserved a more in-dept explanation of the situation, though.

“I have already met with the princess. I didn’t know who she was at the time, but she was the one who challenged me. And even though my mind tells me I should not probably accept it, my body has already made a decision. I’m sorry.”

Nathaliya did not offer any resistance when Vladmir walked through the inexistent door. The young man was well aware that he had let the irritating voice in his mind speak for him, but there was no other way to convince Nathaliya to let him go. He risked a quick glance back and saw Isaac kissing his friend’s forehead, then pulling her into a tight hug. Vladmir smiled. They would probably be all right.

Each step taken towards the castle reassured Vladmir he was doing the right thing, and that the irritating voice in his head had done a good job.

(...)

Princess Lin was visibly happier the next day. During breakfast she talked with her cousins-in-law about subjects she usually found boring, gave witty nicknames to the plants that would later decorate the ballroom, and ran to watch her father’s chess duels.

Her energy was soon turned into boredom, however, when it became clear that Prince Fai Lok’s opponents for the day were nothing more than talentless weaklings with minimal intelligence. The princess was beginning to think Vladmir would not show up (for it is always how these stories go) when one of their royal butlers announced the wanderer’s name. Princess Lin’s heart skipped a beat; would Vladmir be able to defeat his father?

The two opponents exchanged cordial greetings (Vladmir was more polite than all the other challengers so far) and the match started. Some of the nobles who had gathered to watch the show made rude comments about the young man’s sloppy appearance, his old clothes and thin body. However, by the time the match reached its second hour without a clear winner in sight they were more or less forced to acknowledge Vladmir’s worth. Even if the wanderer lost, he would have been Prince Fai Lok’s most difficult challenger.

“You are exceptionally good, young man.” Prince Fai Lok commented, moving his one remaining bishop. “Where did you learn to play like this?”

“In my trips around the world, Your Highness. I met many gifted opponents who taught me how to play.”

“Yes, it is clear to me you have had excellent teachers.”

The match carried on for hours and hours, never with a clear winner in sight. When night fell the King invited Vladmir to stay in the castle until morning and continue the match then. At first the wanderer considered refusing the proposal, but his eyes met Lin’s and he decided to stay.

The match became even more interesting (or at least as interesting as a game of chess could become) the next day. The whole court and some favoured staff circled the players, observing and commenting each new movement, even though most of them had no idea how to play. Princess Lin, one of the few who really understood what was going on, watched in a state of sheer agony. She could not decide whether she wanted her father to win (which would allow her to stay free and un-married for a while longer) or if she should support Vladmir (and therefore prove that the royal family was truly good for the kingdom).

“Checkmate.”

The room was engulfed by an astonished silence when this one word left the mouth of Vladmir, the wanderer. Smiling slightly, Fai Lok lowered his king on the board, recognising his defeat.

“It was an exceptionally good match, Vladmir.” The Prince declared, shaking his opponent’s hand. “It was the first time I played for so long, and it is also the first time I am happy to be defeated.” Prince Fai Lok looked at Lin, who sat still in her place, slowly absorbing the match’s outcome and its implications.

“Your Highness is a great opponent.” Vladmir answered, outwardly much calmer than he really felt. Despite his serene expression, his heartbeats were still accelerating, though he was not entirely sure why.

“Now that I have finally been defeated, I need to keep my side of the deal. Vladmir, I give you my daughter Lin’s hand in…”

The princess did not let her father finish his sentence, jumping on Vladmir as soon as she recovered from the shock and realised she was actually happy with the way things were going. She hugged Vladmir tightly, not giving him any room to think about rejecting his end of the deal.

“We will sort all the marriage details during lunch, father.” Princess Lin declared, smiling rather too innocently as her foot fell heavily over Vladmir’s, warning him to keep his mouth tightly shut for the time being.

“Then so be it.”

(...)

For someone who had been not at all keen to get married, Princess Lin turned out to be rather anxious when dealing with preparations for the ceremony. She was so excited that the couple tied the knot barely two days after the fate-deciding chess match. Thanks to a deal between the wanderer-turned-prince and the king, Isaac became one of the court’s musicians and Nathaliya was given a position as body guard for the twin’s fiancées (which immediately turned the princes into her best friends). It did not take long for Vladmir to admit he was wrong about this royal family in particular, though not necessarily about royal families in general, and his life in the castle was forever happy and enjoyable.

Vladmir did not have any more nightmares about the man with sinister blue eyes from that day on. Therefore he never mentioned his past to his wife or the rest of her family. Not that it mattered; this was probably the one and only place where his royal blood was completely irrelevant. Rather anti-climatically, he never attempted vengeance against Hajime or returned to his home kingdom.

After a while Isaac and Nathaliya announced they would also walk the aisle soon. Neither Vladmir nor Lin were surprised; the couple had gotten closer since their inclusion in court circles and this new development seemed like nothing more than the logical conclusion of that proximity.

And to complete the perfectly happy ending of this modest old tale, it was Princess Lin who gave birth to the first baby of the royal family’s new generation. Anya grew up just as smart as her parents and grandfather, and lived happily every after in a royal household full of peace and harmony.

(...)

This would have been the end, if one day the little Princess Anya had not decided to wander alone in the city. At twelve years of age, she was just as curious as her mother and loved to mingle with her subjects.

Seating at the fountain where cute angels pissed crystal-clear waters was a man no longer young, with intense blue eyes slightly larger than normal. He observed the clear skies above, but as soon as he saw the little girl approaching he turned to face her.

“You are new around here, aren’t you?” Anya asked, smiling innocently. The man smiled back.

“Yes, I am. I’m just passing through this city. I came to take a few things back home.”

“What is your name?” Anya sat beside the stranger. She felt strangely attracted by his eyes.

“Hajime. My name is Hajime.”