21

-Then, you are saying that I am lying?

-I am saying that you have to stop this joke, and apologize to everyone. Madaran is your kingdom and you are the future queen, if you are behaving as a little selfish girl and our people starts to hate you, then they will refuse you as their sovereign and our dynasty would extinguish.

But the young princess tried one more time to convince her mother about her sincerity.

-Mama, I saw Evralian. I swear. I saw it in the park, the sanctuary of birds among his fellows. And he even looked at me. He was as beautiful as the book described. Why would I invent such thing if it was not true? I am your daughter, so I beg you, you have to believe in my words and my candor.

The disappointment appearing in her mother's eyes throbbed her heart, so she finally realized that all her acts were a vain battle.

-I hate you mama! She screamed angrily.

And she ran away.

-My little daughter, whispered the beautiful sovereign sadly.

One of the advisers reassured the queen.

-Everything will be all right your majesty, you've done well. She needs to grow up, and the time will help her out to do so.

-I know. Order that we leave her alone for now.

Meanwhile, I am going to arrange the situation with Maradan, and definitely erase this hurtful nickname from their mind.

-Yes your majesty.

Annie was deeply sad, so she run and run until the park where she said, she saw Evralian. There, she stopped and sat by the lake. Head down, she sadly contemplated her reflection in the water, her tears were falling in and troubled the calm, sparkling surface.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the boy approaching her.

-Why are you there crying like a baby?

Anna rose her head and looked at the person that talked to her with a sweet, veiled voice.

-I am her, crying like a baby because I am sad. Sad and angry.

He gently smiled and sat beside her.

-It's only morning, the sky is blue and the birds sing endlessly around us. So, for you to be that sad despite such living scene, someone or something must have hurt you deeply.

Annie nodded softly.

-What happened?

Annie hesitated to talk about her problem to the stranger, but her heart was so full of sorrow that the words came out mildly.

-Are you a local? She asked.

-No, I am a stranger, a simple stranger who is visiting Maradan now.

-But you have already heard about Evralian right?

-Evralian, the mythic bird? Yes, I already heard about it. They said that he is as immense as this lake, and painted in thousands colors. So what about it?

-I already saw him.

Annie spoke in a very low voice but the kind boy heard her.

-You already saw Evralian?

She nodded and hid her face under her arms. She was so afraid that this boy who was so gentle to her and approached to comfort her, will start to behave like all others and treat her a liar. She desperately closed her eyes for the moment the boy became a haters, but nothing like that happened.

-Where?

-Huh?

-Where did you see him? Evralian.

She looked at him and smiled.

-I saw him here in the park, or to be precise, there beside the forest. She had a nostalgic expression, her eyes gleamed at the remembrance of that precious day.

-He was even more beautiful than how they described him in the history textbooks. I loved him.

-Yeah. It must have been magic to meet him. But I don't really envy.

Annie contemplated the boy, stunned by his words and the way he said it. She stretched out her hands to touch his hair. A glowing hair that shone in the sunlight.

-Your hair is so beautiful, so brilliant like the glowing dusk, the feathers of his wings were also red, but even so, it was not close to your hair.

The boy looked at her with gleam eyes like sun.