Origins

In the year of the millennial eclipse, the neighbouring nation proclaimed war upon our land and took the lives of the innocent. Within half a year they conquered the borders and made their way through the central plains, surrounding the capital city.

Your father had been with me the night prior to his death, sudden in his appearance, his worries evident. We embraced each other with both love and fear fuelling our desperate union. In the darkness, he kissed my brow and departed into the late night, his shoulders heavy with the armour his father had once worn.

I had wanted to hold onto him and plead with him to run away together, for we all knew that defeat was imminent, but in the depths of my heart I knew that he would not agree. He would not bow down to those who killed his people. For that, I loved him. For that, I resented him a little.

With the fall of the capital, our nation was defeated.

Son, I wished you a peaceful life. Your existence was created from us who had lost everything, but it was also the proof of us having had everything.

To me, you were a precious gift, but to the world you were known as the child forcefully created from conquest, born to the princess of a fallen nation. I had to pretend to hate you in order for you to be treated well. My hate gave the king perverse delight and he treated you better as if to flaunt the insult. Although I could sneer at him in my thoughts, it hurt me to think you would grow up thinking this to be fact.

The maids tell me you are a quiet boy. Intelligent and gentle at heart. They tell me you know how to recite books of learning, paint like a master, and play instruments with charm. You have hunted on horseback. You are already as tall as I.

From afar, you remind me of your father. His shadow in your form. Maybe that is why I spend my days filled with worry. I hope you take after me, be more guarded and selfish, then at least you will not be hurt by those with evil intentions.

If only I could be with you for longer, even if from afar.

I pray for your happiness.

In this life and the next.