Chapter 1: Prologue

KIA

Let's do an experiment. Imagine that you, for some reason, were born as a princess. You're the heiress to the biggest and most prosperous throne on the entire continent, likely the whole world, the Delian Empire.

You have countless riches, that couldn't even finish if you tried to spend them throughout your entire life. You have thousands and thousands of people, ready to follow any of your orders. You have thousands and thousands of people, all ready to die for you, if you were to ask for it. 

Other than being able to summon armies at your will just to fulfill an insignificant wish, a ruler almost never has to fear for their life.

How do you feel, then? I think you wouldn't be sad if you were born into a royal family. But, what I'm showing you is one of the perspectives to it. Everything has perspectives.

Maybe, 'I wish that was me' is what someone out of the castle would say.

I can just imagine the homeless wanderer outside of the transparent and clean stained glass windows who, dreaming he owned at least something, wishes in his heart to become king one day. It's a bit ironic how that man, that seems to have nothing, owns something that I, a princess, envy.

He is free.

Well, it's simple. Imagine the white walls of concrete and marble that keep you safe and away from everyone else. The homeless man dreams of being inside those walls, but to you, a royal, they're nothing more than a prison. Because you're forced inside them, locked away from the outside world. And it's not just a physical cage.

It's the way people behave to you. It's their empty words of praise and their friendliness which is nothing more than servility. It's your superiority, or the idea of it given to every royal at birth, which just makes it harder for commoners to relate to you, for you to relate to them, and for you to be sincere.

It feels like a prison that I was born in, unable to change it. Since I'm two years older than my brother, who is fourteen, I'll be the Empress, just like my mother. She expects this from me, my father expects this from me, so do my parents and so do the people inside and outside my country. I never even had a choice.

Despite that, I don't think I can be a princess. Yes, you heard me. Kia Hellenslan, Princess and Heiress to the throne of the Delian Empire, stretching from the cold and gold-filled lands of the North to the merchant cities and deserts of the South, from the cold mountains of the East to the dense jungles of the West, does not want to succeed her mother.

I was born to see more things than these four walls -- I want to see more than the capital of my Empire, Delian City, taking decisions aside the greatest men and women of the Empire inside the same boring room. I want to know more people than my court. I want them to look into my eyes without feeling fear. I don't want to order anything! Long story short, I'm not made to be an Empress. I'm not like my mother.

It's just that, I can't say it. My mother hasn't even reacted to these thoughts of mine because she hasn't heard them. But it's obvious that she'd feel angry, sad and mostly disappointed. After all, If I, who is considered by the heirs to the thrones of the nearby countries as the perfect model of a ruler, don't have any desire to wear a golden chain, then it'd just be disappointing.

So, I keep a mask on at all times. The one of the cold, aloof, cunning and ambitious princess, all of those things which I am not. This mask brings me to a new place today.

I am travelling inside of the Empire bordering Dalian, that has been torn apart by a lengthy war with another nation and has just had a change of government. The Black Empire -- that's its name, coming from the black fog that covers a huge part of the country during the night, especially the old capital, Black City -- now has a new capital, and an Academy inside of it.

In fact, there's been a revolution that has led a new face to power, a noble named Johefus I. In his self-centeredness, he ordered his people to build him a new capital, Johefburg, and there he started the construction of the most prestigious Academy in the entire continent, maybe in the entire world. This was a great move: it allowed the newly arrived Emperor to improve its government's relations with all neighboring countries. Plus, everyone hated his predecessor, so nobody minded a wise ruler for once.

The idea was that the Academy would be international, allowing people from any Kingdom, Empire or Republic -- it was named New Royal Academy, shortened to New Royal. I'm going exactly there. My parents, as everyone would be able to guess, did not waste time and enrolled me there. Their goal was clear: to make sure I could meet nobles and heirs, princes and princesses alike, from other nations. Such a thing can help me diplomatically.

What about me? Well, I don't mind. I get to see a new place, I get to enjoy some time without my parents' influence and-- nah, who am I kidding? This will be awful. I can already picture everyone looking at me and bowing in respect, their fake smiles and fake friendships, in order to get something out of me. Exactly what I dislike the most out of all the bad habits of high-ranking nobles and royals.

But I am still going -- I think to myself as my carriage is drawn by two horses as white as snow -- so it's my fault for not being able to speak up. As I think about that, the movement stops.

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"We have arrived, Princess." A manly voice pierces the air, accompanied by a familiar smile. I can only nod as I open the door that separates me from the outside world.

"Thank you." I say after stepping out, then I close the door. There's no way out now. New Royal has more than a thousand dorms -- it's as if they refuse to end, I was told -- and their objective is to keep people who are studying there even after their lessons. From the age of sixteen to the age of twenty-one, unless something catastrophic happens, I'll be here, unless it's a holiday. Then I'll be allowed to go home.

As I said before, everything is a matter of perspective, though. I'm looking at this place with the eyes of a prisoner, but there are some good things about it. I get to learn magic from the very best mages in the continent, as I get to learn the sword from the very best swordsmen and swordswomen in the continent, and so on. It's obvious why this place is the gem of the wise government of Emperor Johefus.

Any Academy would've been fine, sure, but here it'll be a challenge. That's thrilling.

Then, I choose to walk towards the enormous entrance of the Academy, and it's like I've forgotten all the good sides of this place.

Everyone. Is. Looking. At. Me.

If there's a way to become invisible, I really want to learn it right now. What is this? 

Just as I use the lightest steps possible to enter the perimeter of the Academy itself, with beautiful marble fountains, hundreds of nobles chatting outside, countless games and beautiful nature, everyone's attention suddenly shift towards me. They recognize me. I can see people taking peeks at my azure eyes, hereditary gift of my mother, and unusual purple hair, hereditary gift of my father, and it's very embarrassing.

'Wow. That's the poise of a real princess.'

'Isn't she the most talented student?'

'Is that Kia Hellenslan? She's even more beautiful in person.'

Thousands of whispers, telling different tales about me and sharing their judgements, cloud my mind as I hear them perfectly. Only one person, seen through the tail of my eye, is for some reason ignoring me. 

Out of more than a hundred people, only that girl has her attention fixed to a tree, and in specific to a nest full of bees that she is fearlessly sitting under.

In that moment, the boredom felt towards the gray and orange walls of the Academy, its long sets of stairs, the people who are focusing on me as if nobody else exists, the useless fountains that have the form of sea monsters and fish, even the trees and the nature, disappears from my mind. All of these things disappear from my eyes.

A new feeling arises. Curiosity.

Is she a commoner? Interesting.

 

 

 

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