CHAPTER 2: The Crowned

Her mother died when she was born ...

   Yet she didn't look like it.

She stood average tall, firm, and provocatively beautiful.

Ash blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders, like a curtain framing her round face and covering the back of her bare shoulders.

  She was the most beautiful woman in the ball room.

In a silk purple gown over her dark brown skin, she really was the true owner of the royal crown.

The Princess of the northern kingdom of Salem, the one and only.

Her father's daughter.

  The first person to dance with was of course, her once beloved father.

"You look beautiful", he marked, his right hand amid her back, the other up holding hers.

'I'm more beautiful without all these cakes of make up', she wanted to say, but instead ...

"Thank you, Papa", she answered dutifully, meek and all. "You look quite amazing yourself."

  He smiled and she could tell, after so many years she made him feel proud. Even just a little. She had learnt how to do it, eventually, as much as it agonized her.

After realizing that the only way to get what she wanted was to pretend she was going to give what he wanted, she worked it out well.

  She was the most obedient princess in the history of law-abiding royalties.

"I swear there is no place safe as Salem right now", he muttered, his voice rough and faint under the music.

"With all these wars going on, I don't think it's right calling it that."

"I know, but what can I say?

My needs have been met, my daughter looks beautiful than ever, this is everything I ever wanted, Lillemor."

"And it's all thanks to you, Papa", she fake smiled.

The father waltzed his beautiful princess before handing her over to none other than the young handsome prince of the Eastern Kingdom of Salem. Lillemor almost rolled her eyes, but she didn't.

She had that much tolerance of jerks like her father.

  'This is the last time you'd ever have to prove yourself to this asshole of a father.

After tonight, you'd be the mighty queen you've always dreamed of.', the voice in her head spoke to her.

The fulfiller of prophecy.

The thought of what was about to come frightened her but excited her all the same.

  "I don't trust that man, I don't know why", Easton whispered in Lillemor's ear once she was in his arms.

Of course you know why, Lillemor thought.

The guy had a thing for being brutally honest.

And he was still under the muse that Lillemor loved her father despite all the maltreatments the old man had caused to his daughter.

But no.

Lillemor just couldn't admit it out loud that it was all just a front.

  From the other side, she caught a pair of beautiful blue eyes looking at her ... Peter.

Then his eyes turned and he was now looking at the love of his life, ... Easton.

A wave of pain splashed through her at the sadness evident on his face.

Peter loved Easton, and Easton loved Peter. It all happened when the young prince of the Eastern Kingdom of Salem came over to woo Princess Lillemor, as instructed.

The prince was nice, but not someone Lillemor wanted to be married to.

So when she was supposed to spend time with prince Easton she occasionally abandoned him with poor peter.

  The three clicked well, but in the background, the young prince ended up spending more time with the blue eyed boy.

  Maybe too much time.

Lillemor wasn't sure what happened but in a fortnight, prince Easton had confessed his secret liking to the boy. Asking the princess to help him win the boy's heart.

  Lillemor knew better because well, she was already aware of how her best friend seemed to have the same feelings for the prince.

Lillemor had never seen a calm blushing Peter before until prince Easton burged into their lives and turned the confident archer into a shy uncomfortable mess.

Heck, it almost made Lillemor laugh. And of course, teasing the boy about it became her new favourite hobby.

  Lillemor smiled at her best friend, who seemed torn but managed a slight upturn of the lips.

Lillemor knew what was wrong.

Peter wanted a chance to dance with his boyfriend ... Yet with the crowd, the two lovebirds had to keep away from each other.

  It was a forbidden affair.

Easton couldn't get his boy and neither could Peter get his prince.

It disturbed Lillemor. And as Prince Easton waltzed her on that floor and twirled her around as if she was the one he was dreaming about, a pain tugged at her chest.

This shouldn't be me.

This is Peter's place. Not mine.

  Peter was the one who was supposed to be in the most beautiful royal gown, being the most beautiful person in the room, and being twirled by his handsome perfect prince.

But he wasn't.

Why?

  He was a few steps away with a girl in his arms, pretending to be a man he wasn't.

  This was the boy she called her best friend.

And she let him suffer in a life where his love life was something that went strictly against some insane and antiquated moral code. God knows who made the damn rules of this Kingdom. Lillemor wouldn't be surprised if the man behind them turned out to be Umayr.

I mean, he was a dick. Aka the right asshole to have time and a mind stupid enough to ink down such absurd rules on a scroll.

Honestly, Lillemor couldn't wait to slash a sword on his damn neck.

   'I promise you you won't have to suffer anymore when I'm in power', the girl promised her best friend through the look in her eyes.

She was going to give them a happy ending.

She promised herself that the day she saw the way happy her best friend was whenever he was spending time with the young prince.

  'I'm scared of how we'll work this out', Peter's eyes seemed to well up with tears, breaking Lillemor's heart.

  She really hated this.

She hated all this.

As if it wasn't painful, the boy glanced their way one more time before excusing himself, running out of the ballroom.

  Looking back, a broken Easton stood staring at the door.

"Go after him", Lillemor pushed the prince but he didn't move.

"Your father seems to be in total bliss right now, he's finally assured himself that after all the time we've spent together, we've liked each other.

.... I guess I'll have to marry you, as much as I hate to admit"

"Easton-"

"I will", he looked at her. "Because I can't let you suffer forever. You're Peter's best friend, which makes you my best friend too. His problem is my problem."

"I can end my own suffering", she whispered, scared to reveal her own ulterior motives.

"How? ... What do you trust so much that makes you feel like all your misery will end?", the prince argued in worry.

"Fate, Easton", She breathed tightly "Fate will get me out of here."

"Stop the absurdity. I can help, Lillemor. I can pretend to marry you, you can pretend to be in love with me. I know it's going to be hard considering it's all just a facade but ... please. Do it for me", he looked into her eyes, swallowing hard. "If you can't do it for me then do it for Peter. Because he is the sole reason why I'm doing this in the first place. He treasures you the most and he declined eloping with me until I save you first. So please, Lillemor."

"Why are you so invested in this?", she moved close to him, putting her head on his shoulder. Her father was watching intently, nevertheless out of earshot.

"Because you're the center of Peter's life, his happiness."

"And if I wasn't ..."

The statement made him pull apart so he could look at her face again.

"I would help you, still. It's what friends do. Save each other."

He said the last part like a question.

  Lillemor looked back at him.

He had a point, she hated to admit.

"I want you to know that ... There's no way in heaven or hell or Salem that I would take Pete and leave you trapped in this castle living unhappily."

   Easton and Peter were both paying her with a kindness that she couldn't afford. She had no interest in taking it either considering she had deemed herself undeserving.

Her father cared nothing about her.

And even her own servants treated her like trash because she had no power against them. Her father was in charge of everything, including her. Well enough, especially her.

If her father ordered the maids not to serve her dinner then they didn't.

And she had no say in it.

She was just a girl trapped in a castle waiting for a hero.

But deep down she knew, marrying off wasn't going to save her from her father's realm and audacious control.

She has to save herself.

She was the hero she dreamt of.

"My fate isn't to be the princess who lived all her life locked inside a castle with an abusive father forever, Easton. That's not my fate."

"Why do you believe so much in that?"

Lillemor didn't want to enclose that part so she pushed him again.

"Just go, Easton! Peter needs you right now"

  With a chuckle, the prince twirled her around one last time before kissing her forehead lovingly, making sure everything they were doing were on King Sedek's line of view. The ideal performance acted out from the King's wildest fantasies.

Of course, he saw them. And he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

The imbecile.

  "Go get your boy", Lillemor insisted and he finally let go of her, making the act look like he didn't want to let go of her but he had to.

"I love him", he whispered into her ear one last time.

"He loves you too", she whispered back, and with a squeeze on her hand, the prince left.

  Lillemor watched him till he disappeared out of the door

She hoped the prince found his boy and managed to put him in his arms at least a little, she hoped they could waltz together on the rooftop and under the moonlight where they felt safest. It was their rendezvous, yet Lillemor felt proud to know about it.

  "That was the most romantic thing I've ever seen, I can't believe my daughter is finally in love", that was the last voice Lillemor desired to hear.

  But in practiced reflex, she fake blushed.

"Stop it, Papa"

"And what was that he whispered in your ear?"

  She fake smiled.

"He said he loves me .... And I told him I love him too"

"I can't believe all this is happening", King Sedek was on the edge of passing out from contentment.  "My daughter is finally getting married."

"And it's all thanks to you, Papa. If you hadn't forced me to meet up with prince Easton on that first day, I'm not sure what would've happened.", Lillemor made sure to stroke his ego as good as he wanted.

  Her father chuckled, putting his arm around her daughter's shoulders and leading her aside.

"You haven't told me why he left so abrupt,"

  "Said he had urgent duties to attend to. I can't believe I have to spend time away from him, I know he said it'd just be for some time but I don't think I can take it, Papa. I miss him already."

"Don't worry, he'll be back before you realize it. He is your knight in shining armor, after all.", the King smiled before he set off to pick another woman to dance with.

    King Sedek, Lillemor internally grimaced.

She abhorred the man so much that she was dying to end this. All of it.

Tonight.

She wasn't the girl she used to be and he wasn't aware of that yet.

    The princess' demeanor fell, her happy-face mask melting away once the King turned his back on her.

She watched him waltz a young lady on the dance floor and she almost voiced out loud her thoughts ...

'Happy death day, Papa'.

This was the last time she was ever going to keep the old man humoured.

  Lillemor's expression tightened from a hidden temper as she moved away, heading off to her room.

Guests went out and about on every corner, on the stairs and on bedroom doors. Talking, drinking, and laughing.

It was a celebration thrown by King Sedek to honour his successful long reign but to Lillemor, it was a bitter excuse to exercise public debauchery.

  The girl walked into her room, and the first thing she did was strip off the pink gown.

Untying the corset, she let out a heavy breath. She felt lighter and more herself out of that thing.

  Lillemor knelt before the bed, pulling out a box under it.

It was a gift from her best friend on her twenty second birthday.

She smiled, missing him already as she opened it once again.

  Her fingers tattooed fingers grazed over the dark cloth and black metal before pulling out the armor from the box.

  It was a childhood dream.

To be a warrior.

And it manifested within her that she made sure to learn all the necessary skills of archery and sword-fighting no matter the cost of how illegal it was for a Salemite princess.

Nobody was there to give her an applause for her hard work but deep inside, she felt that she had mastered it.

Lillemor stood before the mirror, and stared herself down.

She had grown older.

Peter said she had become more beautiful but to her, she now owned a rock for a heart.

Slowly, with both hands, Lillemor removed the crown from her head ... and held it before her eyes.

It was a nice little thing that defined who she was from without; a mere princess and her father's daughter.

Yet within ... She was an inborn warrior with a yearn to kill and a desire to rule.

  The girl threw the crown to the floor, angered by the sight it gave off.

She tied her hair in a knot and covered herself with a warrior mask.

She looked at the mirror again, a cunning grin crossed her face as she admired her new view.

This was what she wanted to be.

Who she was born to be.

  She felt free, from her father's control.

From the walls of the castle, from handsome princes, from mighty duties, and cynic responsibilities.

And underneath this armor ...

She was a knight.

She was a misrule.

She was an honour.

She was queen.

She was an avenger.

She was a prisoner set free.

She was no longer her father's pawn.

She did want to be a royalty.

She was the princess of the Northern Kingdom of Salem, she was in the shoes of every girl's dream.

Once her father fails to take charge, she could be heir to the throne.

But Lillemor was not that girl anymore. The one that sat back and watched life play out the way it pleased. The one who waited.

No.

She was not a 'lay back and watch the show' like how her father brought her up to be.

She dreamt to run the show, and she dreamt of only one crown to own ...

  Her father's.