[The Ancient Garden]
Dunha was happily whistling as she walked through the gardens with two guards and a servant who was holding a basket. She then stopped in front of an open field and looked around her surroundings before grinning at a large bush.
"Open the basket," said Dunha as she put on her gloves.
The servant nodded and opened the basket before presenting it to Dunha. She then took out a chunk of raw meat out of the basket and was about to throw it towards a bush.
"!"
However, before Dunha could throw it, a large tiger with silver fur and crystal blue eyes suddenly jumped out of it and began to sprint towards Dunha. The servant gasped and fell backward while the guards were briefly startled but managed to remain calm.
Once the tiger reached Dunha, it got up on two and began to wrap its paws around her neck with excitement.
"Hahaha! I know, I know, I missed you too, Silendore!" said Dunha as she giggled and patted Silendore's head.
When Dunha first found Silendore, it was the size of a kitten and after living with Dunha for a month, it grew up to the size of a large dog. Unlike regular tigers, the silver tigers have an unusually rapid growth rate.
"It makes me wonder how big it'll come by the end of this year..." the first guard thought.
Once Dunha managed to calm Silendore down, she dropped a chunk of meat in front of him.
"It's beef," said Dunha as she watched Silendore eat. "Huh?"
As Dunha watched Silendore eat the meat, her eyes noticed a certain little cat girl sneaking behind a large bush from a distance. It was her friend, Lily Ashlyn.
"What is she up to?" she wondered.
After giving Silendore another piece of meat and a pat on the head, she walked towards the bush where Lily snook behind while the servant and guard followed her.
"!"
When they reached the bush, they were surprised to see a large hole in the wall behind it.
"What is this?" said the second guard. "Did Lady Lily do this?"
"I don't think a five-year-old child could break through a stone wall," said the first guard.
"This is odd... I could've sworn that the stonemasons checked on the walls for damages, several days ago," said the servant. "They did not mention anything about this."
"That's not important right now," said Dunha. "Where does this side of the wall lead to?" she asked.
The servant was caught off guard by how the princess talked, however, he was still able to answer her question.
"After walking through an empty meadow field, you would reach the Gemstone Plaza, princess," said the servant.
Without hesitation, Dunha crawled through the hole, much to the servant's surprise.
"Princess!" the servant shouted.
"It's dangerous to go alone!" said the second guard.
The hole was big enough to let a small child pass through it, however, it was not big enough to fit a fully grown man. While the servant was panicking, one of the guards crouched down in front of the hole and calmly spoke.
"What are your orders?" the first guard asked.
"Find Clover or my parents and tell them that Lily and I are heading to the Gemstone Plaza!" said Dunha.
"Understood," said the first guard. "Take this," he added.
The guard then took out a small purple stone out of his small pouch and handed it over to Dunha. It was a rare magic item known as the {Stone of Return}. If the user squeezes the stone, it would teleport the user back to a designated area. In this case, it would allow Dunha to return to the castle.
"Please use the stone once when you find Lady Lily," said the first guard.
"I know," said Dunha before running off.
"What? Are you just going to let the princess go?!" the second guard asked.
As Dunha ran off to go after Lily, the second guard grabbed the first guard's red cloak in anger.
"Misha! Why did you just let her go?!" the guard shouted. "What if something happens to her at the plaza?!"
The guard that let Dunha go on her own was the same guard who protected her and Lily during the attack in the library. Misha was badly wounded during the attack, however, he recovered from his wounds and returned to serve the Royal Family once more.
"Don't worry. The princess will be alright," said Misha. "They won't go far. There's another wall at the end of the field."
"You... Ha... Fine. Let's go inform his Majesty or Great General Clover," said the second guard. "You, stay here in case the princess return with her friend."
"Understood," said the servant.
As the two guards ran inside the castle, the guard looked at Misha with suspicions.
"What?" Misha asked after noticing the guard staring at him.
"Nothing," said the guard. "Let's hurry."
The two men then continued to walk without saying another word.
🔸🔸🔸
[The Golden Plains]
Just outside of the walls of the Royal Castle was a meadow field known as The Golden Plains. Dunha was currently walking through the fields to find Lily.
"Is she really trying to leave the castle through here?" Dunha wondered. "If I remember correctly, there should be another wall at the edge of this field."
As she walked through the fields, she stumbled upon an old tombstone.
"Hm? Who's tombstone is this?" she wondered.
As she took a quick look at the tombstone to see who it belonged to.
🔸🔸🔸
[Rest in Peace]
[Katherine Star]
[16**.05.08~165*.07.24]
[Beloved Daughter of ******y Star and Sa*** Y******]
[Beloved Sister of **** Star]
🔸🔸🔸
Due to spending countless years in the open fields and with no one taking proper care of the tombstone, large portions of the words on it faded away. The only thing Dunha managed to learn from the tombstone is that it belonged to someone who had her family name.
"She seems to have died over a century ago..." she thought. "Why is this tombstone here and not in the crypt?"
As she wondered why a lone tombstone was in the middle of nowhere, she quickly remembered that she was currently going after Lily.
"I'll have to ask father about this later," she thought as she ran.
Once Dunha reached the end of the field, her jaw nearly dropped with disbelief. Just like the wall at the Ancient Garden, the wall in front of her also had a large crack on the bottom and Lily was nowhere to be seen.
"What's this? Did someone break chunks of the wall on purpose?" she wondered.
Because of the bushes behind the hole, Dunha was unable to see what was behind the wall, however, she knew that it was the plaza.
"Let's worry about that later... Getting Lily back home is more important right now!" Dunha thought as she crawled through the hole.
Once she crawled out of the wall and bushes, she was now outside of the castle for the first time in months. However, she did not have enough time to get emotional as she was too focused on finding Lily.
"Where did she go?" Dunha wondered as she ran towards the plaza. "It's a good thing I wore these plain clothes instead of one of those dresses."
Due to her clothes, no one suspected her to be the princess of this kingdom and managed to avoid unwanted attention. Few people noticed Dunha, however, they all assumed she was an average child and minded their own business.
"!"
After a few minutes that felt like hours, Dunha found Lily who was standing in an alleyway with a frightened face. Lily looked as if she was about to cry.
"Lily!" Dunha shouted.
"Huh?" (Lily)
Lily turned around and smiled as she was happy to see Dunha.
"Dunha!" Lily shouted.
She then began to run towards Dunha with a smile and teary eyes.
"Where are we?" Lily asked as she sniffled.
"That's my line," said Dunha. "Why did you sneak out of the garden?"
Lily looked at Dunha with a confused expression.
"Me? I didn't do anything," said Lily. "I was sleeping on a soft bed and when I woke up, I was standing here!"
"What?" said Dunha.
Lily then began to cry.
"Uu... I was scared," said Lily as she rubbed her teary eyes.
"It doesn't seem like she's lying to me..." Dunha thought as she looked at Lily's facial expression. "Then what just happened?"
Dunha then pulled out the purple stone out of her pocket. She then grabbed Lily's hand.
"!" (Lily)
Lily looked at her hand and began to blush as she looked at Dunha.
"Dunha?" she murmured.
"Don't worry! We'll get home soon," Dunha thought. "Ow!"
However, before she could activate the stone, someone bumped into her from behind and caused her to drop the stone towards the busy streets.
"Hm?"
The man who bumped into Dunha briefly turned around to see who he bumped into.
"Sorry about that," said the man.
He was wearing a cloak and covered his face with a hood. After apologizing, the man walked away before Dunha could say anything. This caused her to internally curse at him.
"Prick." (Dunha's Mind)
She looked around the ground to see where the stone fell, however, she could not find it.
"Lily, did you see where the stone fell?" Dunha asked.
"Huh? Uh, no... I didn't... Sowwy..." said Lily.
Dunha sighed and began to walk towards the street where it leads her to the castle.
"Alright, we'll have to walk back home," said Dunha. "I don't know where the stone is and I think it'll be faster to walk back to the castle than look for it in this crowded street," she thought.
As Dunha attempted to lead Lily back to the wall, she noticed that Lily was still holding onto her hand.
"Uh... Lily?" said Dunha.
"Hm?" (Lily)
"You can let go of my hand now," said Dunha.
"Ah... Okay..." said Lily with a sad smile.
Just then, Dunha noticed a pair of fully grown men staring at them across the street with smirks on their faces. This caused Dunha to click her tongue.
"Tch, Lily, let's go over here," said Dunha as walked towards the busy marketplace. "If my memories don't betray me then there should be a guard station near here."
In an attempt to lose the men, Dunha grabbed Lily's hand once more and took her to a small alleyway.
"This should prevent them from approaching us at once," Dunha thought. "What a pain... If only that bastard didn't bump into me..."
Just as the children reached the end of the alleyway, another man appeared in front of them.
"Heh, where are you going?" the man asked.
(To Be Continued)
2021/06/22