A Great Ruler

Sitting under the giant mushroom, Ariel uses her hand to support her jaw as she was deeply immersed in thought. Her maids stood still behind her but none of them dared to confront the princess about what she was thinking.

The poor lass was thinking about her dream, the dreams were getting more creepy. What truth is she yet to discover? Does she have a hidden identity?

She was sighing endlessly.

"What a life!" She sighed.

This statement made her maids think if the king was maltreating his wife, for her to give this kind of remark.

Sabre sighted the king heading towards their direction from afar. She knew both the king and the princess were not an item, so the thought of the king maltreating his wife sounds awkward.

The princess was still lost in her thoughts and didn't hear any sound of footsteps approaching her.

"It's like someone is lost in her world of hallucinations." The king said, with his hands clasped at his backside.

Ariel was shocked to see him. He didn't make a sound as he was approaching her or maybe she didn't hear his movement. She gave her maids a knowing look and they bowed before leaving.

She turned to face the man before her and was stunned by his appearance. She wondered how his hair happened to grow so fast. His hair was cascaded down on his shoulder, while some strands fell on his face and a golden crown sat on top of his head. His black royal robe was adorned with golden embroideries and trailed behind him.

He's the definition of royalty, a great ruler. He possesses the attributes of a good ruler and so much power according to his name...

...Vladimir.

"You need to stop staring at me for some odd reason." He spoke calmly, enough to make the woman in front of him melt.

"I can't remember the rule that states, I shouldn't stare." Ariel retorted bluntly.

A smile played on his lips as he took some steps close to her before joining her to sit on the bench.

"You're pretty good with comebacks." He sneered before he continued speaking. "Would you join me for a horse ride?"

Ariel's face lit up a bit on hearing his words. She turned to face him with excitement. "Of course, where are we going?"

"To a small town in Vallat."

"Huh?" Ariel raised her brow in curiosity.

What was the king going to do there?

"Lord Luthur reported to me about the poor management concerning the town. I'm going to check it out myself." He spoke with so much concern.

As a leader, you'll need to have your subject's welfare at heart. And this King portrays the qualities of a good leader.

Ariel thought that if her father had the same good leadership qualities as her husband, their Kingdom wouldn't have fallen and besides she wouldn't have gotten married against her wish in the first place.

No wonder, Vallat is the most powerful kingdom because it has a powerful ruler.

She took it as an opportunity to explore the Kingdom of Vallat and agreed to go with him. Since she has been married to him, she was always inside the castle and never left the castle walls.

"Go get your horse ready then. I'll be waiting at the entrance." He stood up and left while the excited Arielle went to the stable all by herself to see her horse; Patty.

Patty was also excited to see its owner. As the horse didn't give Ariel a hard time as she climbed on her horse majestically and went on to meet with her husband at the entrance of the castle.

They both rode off with their horse and Ariel was so excited as she was all smiling.

Moving at a fast speed almost 30 mph on the back of a horse has always been Ariel's dream. Although, she has experienced riding on a horse with him this time it felt good because, during the previous ride, he guided her all the time but now, she got to ride all by herself.

Feeling the connection between her and the horse, Ariel felt like she was on top of the world, and knowing that she had completed one of her goals in life to learn to ride a racehorse was what made it so much better. "How could anyone hate this?"

At least she was away from the castle now.

She came across some villages, markets, and other places. The market they came across was crowded and they had to slow down not to hit anyone with their house. The people recognized their King even though they only saw him once in a while, they still recognized that great leader that never one day disappointed them.

Sadly, they didn't recognize Ariel as his wife.

If she was, she would be crowned Queen of Vallat. That was the thought that went through the minds of the people.

They continued hailing their King, singing all sorts of praises to him.

Ariel was amazed.

"The people of Vallat are great, irregardless of their standards, they treat themselves equally," Ariel remarked. She wished inwardly that Macbeth would someday be like Vallat.

"Why won't they treat themselves equally?"

"You know, in a large society, favoritism is likely to occur," Ariel said thoughtfully.

Two years ago when she was still living with the civilized tribes, they treated her unfairly because she wasn't like them. She was uncultured and they favored their people more than her even though she possessed the proper skill.

They were still riding gently with their horses and had a little time to conversate.

"There's no room for favoritism in Vallat." He said. "Get ready, we need to speed up!"

Ariel focused on the road, they rode with extra speed. She tried to keep up with him but, Patty wasn't moving. Something seemed to be holding the horse. And the horse neighed loudly. The thing seemed to have a stronghold and Patty kneeled, while Ariel fell from her horse.

King Vladimir stopped in his tracks when he felt like his wife wasn't riding beside him. To his dismay, his wife was being dragged away by a certain being.