Upon her return with her brother, his friends, and Shu Ling, they were welcomed by her parents along with a few guards.
Slavic is a kingdom well known for its soldiers and war weapons. King and Serena were both trained in martial arts and all weapons handling since they were young. Even though King was the older brother and had a better build than Serena, she was better at training than him. Serena was also better at handling all the weapons than her brother as well, thus she was made the crown princess of Slavic instead of her brother.
Thankfully, King had no interest in being the king so he supported his sister in being the future ruler of their kingdom with a deal made between the two siblings. King would be the general of their kingdom while Serena is the ruler and he also wanted his parents to have no say in his marriage as well; something that he told his parents alone without Serena.
Yet, Serena did not foresee this; her parents arranged a marriage for her instead of waiting for her to make her arrangements. Serena went home feeling angry but the moment that she set eyes on her mother, there was no longer any hatred or anger inside of her or any other feelings besides yearning to be inside her mother's arm.
"Mom." Serena said as she walked over to her mother and hugged her mother, ignoring her father.
"Ahem!" her father cleared his throat
"Don't you see that I'm hugging mom?" Serena asked her father and her father glared
"And don't you see that I am standing right here?" her father asked her, the three of them burst out laughing as Serena went over to hug her father as well.
"It's been so long since I've seen my mother." Serena said to her father and he placed his hands on his hips
"And you've seen me more often?" Her father asked her, Serena and her mother shared a laugh before her mother let go of her and she hugged her father as well but she soon pulled away from her father.
"But what is this news about my marriage?" Serena asked her father and he looked away from Serena but she followed his gaze and met with her mother's.
"Mom, was this your idea?" Serena asked her mother and her mother sighs with a nod
"You've met the young man when you were little and wanted to marry him yourself then, you made me promise you that I would let you marry him." Her mother said to her and her jaws dropped.
"I was a little girl!" Serena shouted at her mother
"Yes, but you also asked for his hands from his parents as well." Her mother said to her and she shook her head
"They reached out to me and I agreed." Her mother said to her and she sighs
"Mom, I don't even remember this boy." Serena said to her mother
"But I remember you." Ming Xu said to her and Serena turned around to face him
"It's YOU?" Serena asked him and he nodded
"I knew you didn't remember me when I met you again." Ming Xu said to her and she nodded
"Then you know that I will not go through with this."Serena said to him but he shook his head
"It may have been a child's promise to you but to me...that was a promise to be fulfilled." Ming Xu said to her and she shook her head
"We were just kids." Serena said to him and he nodded
"You were 4 and I was 8 and while you forgot the promise. I thought that I wouldn't feel anything even if I saw you again, so when my parents suggested this marriage. I agreed with it but only after I saw you when I visited you with your brother." Ming Xu said to her and she sighs
"Let's return to the palace before we get into any more details." King said
"Yes, let's return home." Her father quickly agreed with King
"Come now, dear." Her mother said to her and with that Serena dragged her feet along with her parents as they headed to the car.
Once in the car, her parents said nothing other than looking at each other, her mother nudged her father and her father nudged her mother. After a few minutes of this Serena finally took a deep breath and asked her parents.
"Okay. What is it?" Serena asked her parents and her father sighed
"Your mother and I think that you should get to know Ming Xu before you decide to decline this marriage proposal." Her father said to her and she sighed
"What is it about this guy that you guys want me to marry him so bad?" Serena asked her parents
"Well my dear, you were the one who made this promise to him when you were younger." Her mother said to her and she stared at her mother with her mouth open.
"Wh-What?" Serena asked her mother
"His mother and your mother are good friends, you used to play with him when you were younger and had asked to marry him when you grew up." Her father said to her and she groaned
"Ugh! Father, for sure you knew that that was just the words of a little kid and not to take it to heart!" Serena said but her father chuckled
"You cried until we promised to make sure you two get married when you came of age and you made his parents promise to make sure that he come for you." Her father said to her
"Mother." Serena turned to her mother and she smiles
"It's true." Her mother said to her and she sighs.
"Fine. I will meet with him." Serena said as she pouted and sat back in her seat, her parents couldn't say anything more to her so they sat in silent until they arrived home.
"Where's king?" Serena asked her parents
"He's back at his palace, you are permitted to head back to yours if you like." Her father said to her and she nodded with a smile
"Then I bid you a good night." Serena said to her parents before she headed back to her palace.
The next morning she woke up to the sound of someone knocking at her door, Serena woke up and pulled herself up from under the cover.
"Come in." Serena said as she quickly combed her fingers through her hair, the person who came in was her long-time maid. Once Serena saw her, a smile spread across her face, and got out from bed.
"Bring it in." Serena said to her and the maid smiled at her as she walked over and hugged her princess.
"It's been too long, Your Highness." the maid said to her
"It has, hasn't it Meira." Serena said as she hugged her maid, who she had not seen in a long time, she was the only other person that she grew up with since she was one of the kids that was around her age growing up.