The Forest

The Crown

Morning is different here. Very different from the palace. I can't see the sun rising because of the dense forest surrounding the cottage. This cottage is quite smelly too. And other than that the cottage is so old and worn that the sunlight barely comes inside. The palace was quite the opposite. 

The palace was always dazzling no matter what time it was in the day. On the other hand, this cottage is in the midst of the Skotadi forest, where normal folks are afraid to come in the daytime, let alone the night. That's because dark beasts that lurk around here can kill a person without so much as blinking. 

But Edward and I are quite safe here since I am a light magic user and he is a green magic user. Light magics are considered holy, so dark and poison magic wouldn't work on me. My magic will protect me from them and dark beasts contain a very considerable dark magic and some poison magic, so I don't have to worry about them. 

On the other hand, green magic can communicate with its surrounding natural green magic and manipulate them. In simple words, green magic can control the greenery around them. So, Edward can communicate with his surrounding greenery and avoid encountering any kind of danger. 

We arrived very late in the cottage last evening and were very tired so we had gone off to bed earlier. We didn't notice the layout of the cottage. And now we do, I feel like I am in another world and I like it much better than the palace but still I miss the warmth of the palace and the smiles and giggling of my sisters, the enthusiastic greetings from the servants and all. It's make my heart heavy. 

 This cottage not too small or too big. Just perfect for two banished birds to stay here. Yes, it is a bit too worn and smelly but if we wash it properly then it should be just fine.

It's not like I hate my palace but there are too many rules there. It's sometimes tiring to follow them all. And it is not like I am very much reluctant to sit on the throne. It's just I am scared, that I might mess up something and ruin the country my ancestors put so much effort into building. That's all. I am not running away from my duties. I am just taking my time to make them mine. 

"Lush!" Edward calls me from downstairs. "I made breakfast, come here and have some." 

I jolt and hurriedly say, "I am coming!" as I haphazardly try to fix my clothes. I have been trying to put them on for half an hour now and this shit isn't shitting properly. 

How do people even wear this?

I thought wearing normal clothes would be easier than royal clothes but it doesn't seem so. Should I call Edward? He will chew me up alive. And other than that I'm still getting used to him calling me "Lush". I might sometimes tell him to call me "His Highness". It will at least put me in some mental peace. 

"You are late," Edward says stonily. 

"I couldn't figure out how to wear these." I splay out my arms to show him my messed-up clothes.

Edward sighs and walks down to me from the kitchen floorboards which are squawking beneath his boots, "Your H-Lush, you should now learn how to wear these clothes. We are not in the palace anymore." He starts to fix my clothes and I stand here with my hands on my sides at my shoulder level, letting him fix my clothes properly. 

"I know," I counter, "And you can call me 'Your Highness' if it's more comfortable to you." 

Edward's eyes light up, "Thank you, Your Highness. I thought I was going to suffocate if I kept calling you by your name." 

"You are being dramatic now," I comment. 

"Anyway, please have some breakfast." He beckons me to the table. 

Edward is my best chief. I only like and eat his food aside from mine. Of course, who doesn't like his own cooking? I learned cooking because I can't eat anything that is not made by Edward. So basically to learn how to survive without him, I learned to cook. 

"What did you cook today?" I swipe my eyes over the unknown dishes labeled on the table before me. 

"We don't have anything on standby. If we want to eat something we need to buy it." Edward starts, "We didn't buy anything on our way here so, I picked some herbs and cooked them." 

I gasp in horror, "You did what? You picked up wild herbs? What if they are poisonous?"

"They are not. I checked." Edward replies blandly. 

"How?" I arch a brow. 

"I ate them and am still standing." He replies nonchalantly. 

"You did what?!" My eyes widen as I grab his throat, "Spit it out, spit it out!" I start to jerk him and he looks like he will vomit any moment now. 

"Your Highness, please calm down!" He gasps, "I will be fine. I can heal myself!"

"Oh yeah, that's right." I abruptly let go and he staggers a little, coughing before gaining his footing again. 

"Even if the herbs don't kill me Your Highness sure will." His voice wobbled and hoarse. 

I laugh nervously, "But it's not my fault." I say in my defense, "Whether we can heal ourselves or not it doesn't mean we will willingly eat some random herbs." I reach for a money pouch hidden beneath my clothes and give it to him, "Go to the nearby town and buy something eatable for us to eat"

"But Your Highness," He takes the pouch from my hand, "Will you be fine all alone?" 

"I will be." I assure him, "Just be back before the nighttime. It's dangerous out there." 

"Okay, Your Highness." He acknowledges and then leaves with his horse. 

I spend the rest of the day cleaning the interior of the worn-out house. It looks much cleaner now. Could anyone ever imagine that the Royal Crown Prince of the Blade Empire is doing house cleaning? At least I couldn't. Wish my parents and siblings could see me like this. They would get a heart attack from the sight. I chuckle as I paint the picture in my mind.

But it is late. Why hasn't Edward returned yet? The sky is black. It's about to rain. I should have brought two magic communication stones with me from the palace. 

Magic communication stones are used to communicate with the other stone's owner. In other words, you can communicate with whomever you want if they have magic flowing in their veins and have the communication stone's other half that you are using. 

But it's no use thinking about it now. I should go and look for him. I leave the cottage and start to walk in the direction we came from yesterday. But after a few good minutes, I realize that I have made a mistake.

This forest is a magic forest and its layout changes every twelve hours to prevent normal folks from entering here. The map that my mother gave me was magical too. It was made by her space magic. The map's layout changed with the forest's layout. And I didn't bring the map with me.

 I am cooked now for sure. 

I don't recognize this part of the forest. It means I didn't cross this path yesterday with Edward. And this part's trees and sky look a bit too different from the other part of this forest too. They are a bit too big and monstrous. Like they are staring through me. They are sending storm after storm of shivers down my spine and making my stomach twist. Something about this area of the forest does not feel right. 

The shades of the trees are a bit too darker than normal trees and they barely have any leaves on their branches. And even if some of them have some, they are entirely different from what actual leaves look like. And over that, I don't recognize any of the trees surrounding me. They are so thick and their branches are so overbearing that I can hardly see through them. This thing is making me even more uncomfortable. There is no sound around me aside from the cracking of dry brunches beneath my foot and my footsteps. I have a feeling that I shouldn't be here. Like I don't belong here. 

I have spent almost all my life learning about various kinds of creatures, trees, herbs, and the history of three realms and different kinds of battle arts, martial arts, magic arts, and various types of magics and the spells their user uses through them.

 I almost know everything about demons, Gods, and humans' history and present. I know particularly everything about the trees that exist in the Human realm. But I have never seen these kinds of trees and the sky looks weird too. It's so cloudy that it's almost undetectable whether it is day or night. 

Wait. Wait a damn minute. I don't recognize the trees and the sky looks weird just like…just like how it was described in the history books related to the history books of the Demon realm. Now don't tell me that I am fucking standing at the borders of the Demon realm!

Oh God…did Edward somehow… No, no. He has green magic. His magic guides him where he is supposed to go. So seemingly, He didn't come here. 

As much as our kingdom has several blessings. It has some curses too. And one of them is the Demon realm. The borders of the Demon realm are located on the southern side of our Empire. It is connected like the two sides of the same coin. And worse the part of the Demon realm that is connected to our Empire is the southern lands of the Demon realm. And the overlord who has been dominating the southern part of the most resourceful and powerful part of the Demon realm is Vermilion.