Three weeks later...
"Did you see the princess anywhere?" Emma frantically asked one of the palace workers who were arranging the flowers.
"No, we haven't seen her."
Emma sighed and kept plowing through the crowd of people who were busy preparing and decorating for the upcoming Sun Festival as well as for the princess's coming of age birthday party. They were supposed to be scheduled for dancing classes after practice when the princess suddenly disappeared.
"Princess?!" Emma called, "Princess, there are a lot of things to do!"
"You are a very busy person, Miss Emma," one of the palace workers chuckled.
"The princess must have wanted to take a break from all these classes that's been going on for weeks already," another added.
Emma looked around while conversing with the two. "Yes but it's very important that she does not embarrass herself from the officials as well as the people from other kingdoms who will come to visit." The princess is here somewhere. She could feel it.
"You should give the girl a break," the palace worker said, "but I did see her pass by here earlier."
"I knew it!" Emma exclaimed, "Well, I shall excuse myself ladies because I have an appointment to chase."
Emma started running off and passed by staff who carried boxes of decorations, rolls of ribbons, and jars of flowers. The other palace workers shook their heads and laughed it off.
"Miss Emma has it hard these days," they say.
"The princess is quite difficult to handle."
Meanwhile, in one of the palace's rooms, Tatiana was hanging from a windowsill. Losing Emma was more difficult than all the escapes she's done so far. Emma just would not let go of her and had her eyes on her with every move. She just barely had a chance to escape by blending in with the palace servants and sneaking into this room.
Now her feet are dangling in midair and she doesn't know whether it's too high to jump or not. She always finds herself in the same situation, no matter what she does to avoid it. It's as if it became a habit when the first thing she thought of when escaping was to jump over the window.
Her arms were growing tired and her hands were slowly slipping off the windowsill. If she falls, then the ground's just going to be there to greet her. And if she's lucky enough, she's just going to sprain an ankle instead of breaking it.
Her feet dangled around, looking for something to step on, when a platform miraculously appeared under her sole. She tried stepping on it to make sure that it wouldn't fall off or disappear after one step. When she figured out that it wasn't going to fall off, she confidently stepped on it and the platform underneath her slowly levitated downwards.
She yelled in surprise and held on to the wall so she wouldn't fall back. She jumped to the ground when it was near enough and abruptly turned around to see what the platform was.
Bjorn stood behind her, dusting off the sand and dirt on his gloves.
"That was you?" Tatiana gasped in surprise. She looked around to see if there were other people around, but this passageway was empty. "What are you doing here?"
"I was passing by when I saw you dangling off the window. Do you love hanging that much?" he mocked.
"Iâ" Tatiana trailed off, "I justâuhh."
"You escaped from your servant to skip classes?" he continued.
Tatiana shut her mouth tightly and looked away. To Bjorn, she just looked guilty, and all that he said turned out to be true. He paused for a while and stared at her. They haven't seen each other that much because he was busy training and the princess was busy preparing for her coming of age party.
"Where are you planning on escaping to?" Bjorn sighed and asked her. "Don't tell me you're going to the capital alone, again?"
Tatiana's eyes widened. She was guilty again.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Bjorn asked her when she creased her forehead and took a step back, "Is that how you're going to repay me after rescuing you?"
"I didn't need to be rescued," Tatiana defensively said, "and you're creeping me out. How did you know what I was thinking? Can you read my mind?"
Bjorn wanted to facepalm. If the princess wasn't so obvious with her expression, then she wouldn't be so easy to read. Bjorn cleared his throat and looked at her.
"I'll come with you," he said.
"You don't need to," Tatiana immediately rejected his request, "I can just ask Morgan to come with me. And you said you were busy, so you could just go on with your day."
Tatiana wasn't planning on asking Morgan, but since it came to this, she should just ask him. He's going to be her personal knight after all. And going with Bjorn feels like it's going to be awkward. As you all know, Bjorn is Tatiana's fiancé, and it is widely known that Bjorn despises Tatiana and doesn't want to marry her, so in the end, Tatiana is putting effort into avoiding him at all cost for his sake. She is also doing it to make sure they are as far away as possible, but not in a bad way, so when the plot takes place, Bjorn won't think of her as a villain and try to kill her.
"Morgan is on patrol, he's busy, "Bjorn obviously lied. Morgan is at the training grounds waiting for him since there will be a meeting for the knights and Bjorn was just on his way back from talking with the king about the ongoing battle in one of their boundaries.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Then, I can just go by myself. I'm sure you're busy. I'll be on my way then." Tatiana started walking away, pulling her hood over her head to cover her face.
Bjorn followed after her. "You can't go to the capital alone."
"I'll be fine!"
"You won't! People will immediately recognize you."
Tatiana abruptly stopped and turned to Bjorn. Her eyes were squinted and she looked at him suspiciously.
"Are you concerned about me?" Tatiana asked him.
Bjorn scoffed, raised his brows, and immediately denied it. "No! It's because I'm your fiancé and it's part of my responsibility."
"Then don't concern yourself with me," Tatiana shrugged, "You won't be my fiancé any longer. After I become the crown princess, I have the power to nullify our engagement since it was made back when we were just children. You don't have to bear the responsibilities any longer."
Bjorn felt a sick feeling that he always felt when the princess mentioned calling off the engagement. He wasn't sure why, but it didn't sit right with him. Nevertheless, he continued to walk with her, also pulling the hood over his head.
While Tatiana always had a shoulder-length cloak with her, Bjorn had one with him since he was also patrolling the area at dawn. It was more convenient now that he was using it to escape the palace with the princess.
"I'll still come with you," Bjorn told her, "I have something to do with the knights outside the palace."
Tatiana knew that he was just lying, but she gave up and just let him follow her. They rode a carriage to the capital. It's been weeks since she got out of the palace. Now she feels excited and is ready to hang out. She thought of visiting the orphanage, but William said it's not allowed and the children will be invited to the party, so she doesn't have to worry about not seeing them.
"Woah. It's so pretty here," Tatiana gasped while looking at the arch decorated with sunflowers and warm-colored ribbons.
The Sun Festival was going to be celebrated on her birthday, but the festival goes on for at least five days. It's to celebrate the blessing of the sun god, Helios, and wishes are being sent in the form of prayers so that the sun's blessings will befall the kingdom of Aragon.
The town is busy and buzzing with more people than usual. People are helping each other decorate the streets with colorful and vibrant sunflowers, as well as other yellow-colored flowers. Ribbons hang everywhere, and people are wearing flower crowns with white paint on their faces.
William told her that her birth itself was a sign of fortune. Being born on the day of the celebration of the Sun god, Helios, was a miracle and a blessing in itself. None of her predecessors were born during the Sun Festival, and that is one of the reasons why people believe that she is right for the crown because the god, Helios himself, blessed her.
Tatiana wanted to laugh. People believe in such things but the truth is, destruction will only fall on her years from now. But if she's given the chance to change it, she will. Maybe, in a small chance, the second chance was a gift from the Sun-god itself.
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END