TATIANA LORIEL
Tatiana felt the world collapse. She was done for. She will now be discovered and reported, and she will be once again trapped in her room. Ironically, the person she just met was the person she hated the most in the story. And first and foremost, why was he the one who got to discover her disguise?
"What are you doing here?" Bjorn asked, his voice sounding angry and annoyed.
"I'm not Tatiana," she replied, trying to change her voice and hoping that she wouldn't get busted.
"A mere palace servant would not dare call the princess by her name. That's basic knowledge," Bjorn replied.
Tatiana squinted her eyes in defeat and sighed. She slowly looked up at Bjorn, whose hair was dripping down with water or sweat. His tanned skin turned even tanner since the last time she saw him. They must have been training in the heat of the summer sun for days. He was also wearing the same attire as the guy she bumped into except that he had a crest pinned on his right chest as well as a large sword on the side of his waist.
She unintentionally gulped. The guy was hot, she couldn't help it.
"What are you doing here?" Bjorn demanded, "dressed up like that?"
"E-errand," Tatiana stuttered. Bjorn squinted his eyes on her and messed up his hair in annoyance.
"You really are scary," he said.
"Captain," the guy said.
"You even came here dressed like that just to follow me around? Are you out of your mind?!" he burst out.
Tatiana flinched at his booming voice. She looked at him disbelievingly and scoffed.
"Who do you think you are?" Tatiana asked him and crossed her arms, "Aren't you being too delusional right now?"
"Delusional?" Bjorn raised his eyebrows.
The guy went up to him and grabbed his arm, "Captain, I don't think you should be talking to the princess like that."
"Just stay out of this, Morgan."
Tatiana's ears perked up when she heard a familiar name. The anger building up inside her disappeared and her attention turned to the smart guy beside Bjorn.
"You're Morgan?" she asked. Morgan looked flustered but respectfully bowed his head.
"Yes, your highness."
"Finally," she whispered in relief as she stared at him.
Someone who will be on her side. Someone that will defend and protect her and be by her side. Morgan Sulliv. Her personal knight.
"Finally?" Bjorn suddenly said, "Look, you may be my fiancé, but I have the intention of marrying you. Stay out of myâ"
Tatiana jerked her head towards Bjorn's direction and glared at him.
"Call the marriage off for all I care, "she bellowed, "I don't want to be married to a heartless person like you anyway."
Bjorn was not able to answer. Tatiana's answer to him was so strange and so sudden that he was having a hard time believing the words she just spouted.
"Did I hear that wrong?" one of the knights asked each other. They were hiding behind the wall and listening to the conversation.
"But wasn't the princess the one who begged the king to engage with the Captain?"
"I know, right, I heard a rumor that the princess lost all of her memories."
"Really? Maybe her feelings faded away too?"
The knights froze when Bjorn glanced sideways. The summer air suddenly turned cold as they felt chills on their spines. The captain's aura was dark and unnatural. They quickly scurried away in fear after eavesdropping on the conversation.
"I guess we're going to be trained until midnight," one knight said in disappointment. The other sighed in response.
"My, oh my!" Emma came scurrying and held both of Tatiana's shoulders. She tried to pull her back, but Tatiana remained in her position and had a glaring contest with Bjorn, the Palace knight's captain.
"I apologize for the trouble, Maria is the new palace servant," Emma said apologetically problem, and turned to Tatiana, "where were you all this time?"
Tatiana rolled her eyes at Bjorn and faced Emma with an annoyed expression, "I told you I didn't know where the training grounds are."
"I didn't know you were this clueless!" Emma defended.
"Maria?" Morgan asked in confusion. Doesn't the servant know that she's talking to the princess?
"Yes, sir knight." Emma answered, "she is new here and I made her go on an errand to notify the captain of the knights about the survey on the dark forest. I am really sorry, I should have been the one to come here but I was too busy with other things to be done."
Tatiana glared at Bjorn once again. Emma nudged at her to go.
"Well then, we will now excuse ourselves. I am very sorry." Emma apologized and pulled Tatiana away.
Bjorn was left confused again, for the second time. Ever since Tatiana woke up, she acted strangely, and now she openly told him that he could call off the marriage? Does she think that all of this is a game to her?
"That was the princess?" Morgan asked, his eyes trailing the backs of the servants disappearing into the distance. "I didn't expect her to be like that."
Bjorn looked his way and noticed Morgan's lingering stare. He felt a strange feeling sparking inside of him but chose to ignore it.
"She has always been strange," Bjorn said. "don't let that fool you."
Bjorn walked towards the training grounds but noticed Morgan still staring into space.
"Morgan," he called, his voice was deep and low, like a warning.
"Yes, Captain." Morgan snapped back and followed his captain's heavy footsteps. It looks like the training will be extra hard on the knights today.
--
END
10