Chapter 6: A Trip Down Memory Lane

The next morning, when Azrya woke up, Akio was not by her side.

"I wonder where he spent the night." She thought to herself.

She got up and looked out of the window. Down below were Akio's men busy packing supplies for the journey ahead of them to the kingdom of Magnus, which Akio had been gifted by the king for his victory in the Great War. She caught sight of Akio, overseeing the men.

The sun seemed to beam down on him like a spotlight, emphasising how handsome he was, and his usually black hair shone blue in the light. She could clearly understand why the maids, and even her sisters, couldn't help but stare in awe at such a striking man whenever he entered the room. As if he could somehow sense someone watching him, Akio suddenly turned around, looking directly through the window at Azrya, and she quickly ducked down on the floor hoping he hadn't noticed her, crawling away from the window.

But at the same time while she was crawling away from the window, her embarrassment was further increased as her maids happened to enter the room.

Startled, Azrya tried to play it off mumbling,

"Oh, don't mind me I just dropped my earring,"

Then pretending to pick up an object off the floor she shot up exclaiming,

"Found it!" while her maids subtly glanced at one another, giving each other a look as they could clearly tell she was lying. They then got to work, preparing her for leaving the castle.

Earlier that morning...

Akio left the room, feeling a strong, unsatiated longing throbbing in his body. Despite his overwhelming craving to be with, touch, and hold Azrya, he had to hold back. To distract himself, he made his way to the castle courtyard and sat on a bench, staring up at the stars, which seemed endless and lit up the pitch-black sky.

In his mind, thoughts of the past filled his head, as he sipped the red wine. Azrya hadn't recognised him, but he had never forgotten her since the first day they had met six years ago.

They had encountered each other more than once since then, at various feasts and balls, but he had always kept his distance, simply satisfied with just catching a glimpse of her and her silver hair. He hated attending such meaningless social events, where the nobles would turn their nose up at him, but he always found a way to make himself present, whether he had to squire, be a stable boy or even a cup bearer. He did all this just so he could be near Azrya.

At one ball in the kingdom of Volos, where he worked as a stable boy looking after the horses of various knights attending the event, their paths happened to unexpectedly cross. Akio was asleep in the stable when he was suddenly disrupted by a noise. He shot up immediately, thinking he had been caught sleeping by one of the knights. Instead, what he saw was the silhouette of girl, as she was petting one of the horses. The sound that had woken him was her giggling as the horse tenderly nuzzled her as she stroked its mane.

Upon seeing Akio the horse neighed, and Azrya turned around.

"Oh my, I apologise for waking you, I thought I was being quiet."

Azrya said addressing Akio.

Akio stood dumbfounded at the girl who stood before him. She was in her mid-teens with silver bouncing curls that reached her waist, and big grey eyes that looked at him with gentleness. It was Azrya.

Snapping back to his senses, he quickly mumbled,

"It's okay, I wasn't asleep anyway. Just resting my eyes." He said scratching his head nervously.

Azrya turned back to the horse, stroking it once again saying,

"Of course, my bad, I guess some people tend to snore while resting their eyes."

Akio had a mortified look on his face, feeling embarrassed at the revelation that he had been snoring, and as Azrya turned back around to face him she burst out laughing at the expression he had.

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone. It will be our little secret."

She said still laughing. However, the tone of her laugh towards him wasn't like what he usually heard from other people who mocked and looked down on him. Her laughter was a sweet one full of innocent delight and cheerfulness.

Akio couldn't help but laugh with her.

They stayed like that for a moment, and Akio savoured the pure bliss before they were interrupted.

"My Lady"

A guard said approaching, while glaring at Akio.

"You should not be out her alone. Your father would be furious if he found out you were wondering about. Please follow me back to the ball."

Azrya's smile brusquely dropped, and she meekly followed the guard out of the stable.

But before she left, she turned around to Akio one last time and smiled, then stuck her tongue out him in a childish, playful manner.

Perplexed by her unexpected cheekiness, Akio stood wide-eyed for a moment then smiled at her shaking his head, as she walked off back to the ball.

Returning back to the present day in his thoughts, Akio stared down into the cup to find it was empty.

"Time to go back."

He thought to himself, groggily standing up off the bench, slightly tipsy from the alcohol.

Back then he couldn't possibly think of approaching her with his lowly status, so he was determined to do all he could to rise up the ranks socially, and one day ask for her hand in marriage.

Now that the first step was completed and Azrya was officially his lawfully wedded wife, his next goal was to ensure that she was happy and to earn her love no matter how long it took. Even if it meant it took years before they physically consummated their marriage, he would not pressure her and wait until she was ready and truly wanted to be with him out of love and not duty.

However, despite his strong feelings for her, growing up being a stranger to love, Akio struggled to openly express his care towards Azrya, due to his toxic childhood. Would he be able to overcome the emotional trauma he suffered throughout his life and knock down the barriers surrounding his heart, or will his past disrupt his future, not allowing him to open himself up to Azrya?

He made his way back to the room, quietly opening the door as to not wake up Azrya, who was sleeping soundly. Silently, he moved the chair in the room next to the side of the bed where Azrya lay peacefully.

He sat watching her. To him she looked precious and angelic. While he stared at her as she lay in slumber, he quietly whispered,

"I will protect you no matter what. I promise to give you the world and so much more."

He vowed to her while reaching out towards Azrya to gently push a strand of her silver curls, out of her face.

With that, Akio dozed off in the chair next to Azrya, like a guard protecting a precious treasure. He awoke early to prepare the supplies for leaving Azrya's family castle in Toria. Before Akio left the room, noticing the duvet had slid down Azrya, he went and pulled it back up covering her delicate body, tucking her in, worried she would catch a cold.

He took one more glance at her before leaving the room.