The capital blurred past my carriage window, glowing gold and lilac in the soft spill of dusk. We were leaving the polished heart of the city now where everything sparkled like a fantasy and were rolling toward the outskirts, where manicured streets gave way to blooming wilds and few lantern-lit trees swayed gently in the breeze.
The road twisted and rose slightly, winding through the low hills that cradled the outer edge of their capital "Elaris". I could see the slopes dipping into forested valleys, the treetops dyed amber and violet by the fading sun. It was the kind of place where fairies might flit between the leaves or where a shy heroine might trip into the arms of her beloved.
"This is it," I whispered to myself, grinning like a maniac.
"The first kiss scene. In the majestic garden. With the soft piano track in the background. The blush emerging in Mira's face . Their shy eye contact. This is peak fiction." I added, unable to stop the ridiculous smile and hysteric giggles spreading across my face.
Beside me, my maid Talia, long-suffering and lovely, sighed like she had personally raised me from birth and regretted every second.
She was beautiful in that elegant, understated way: smooth brown hair pinned perfectly behind her ears, soft brown eyes that always looked slightly exasperated, and the grace of someone who could balance a tea tray while lecturing you about royal etiquette.
Basically she is the older sister I never asked for in this story but absolutely needed.
"Princess, please don't fall out of the window trying to see them before we arrive."
I gave her a half-turn, wide-eyed. "Talia. My girl. My soul cannot rest if I don't witness this in real time."
"Didn't the Princess once claimed your soul left the mortal realm because of embroidery?" Talia murmured, one brow arched.
I gasped, clutching my chest as though mortally wounded. "Ah, the best companion, Talia, remembering my every word, huh?"
She rolled her eyes, but I caught the little smile tugging at her lips.
My gaze returned to look out again. Gods, I am excited.
I'd waited for this moment ever since the first update dropped. The kiss scene. The fluffy, heart-squeezing payoff of ten whole chapters of slow-burn tension and sweet misunderstandings. This was what one expects from a pure romance fluff novel, people, the good kind. The kind that makes you kick your feet and squeal and then replay it in your head fifty times before bed.
I knew every frame, every line of passing dialogue. I even imagined the camera angle which the story would've used if it were a drama.
Callisto would lean in, just barely, hesitant but magnetic.
Mirabel would look up in his eyes, her eyes shimmering like tea with too much honey, and then, slowly, she'd rise onto the tips of her toes, breath held, lips parted, expecting something sweet and inevitable.
And then, just as the flower petals fell…
Her cheek went to a crimson shade, fully blushing-through-her-bones red. So yeah, I was glued to the window like a deranged romantic raccoon.
"I don't know how you can be royalty and this... unserious at the same time," Talia sighed.
I didn't even registered but I was kicking my feet in spirit, gripping the window ledge like it was a popcorn bucket at a midnight premiere.
And then suddenly—
The sound returned.
*zzzzzZT—kkkrrrzzch—*
A glitch was breaking through the kingdom. A pulse, a tearing seam in the world that no one else seemed to notice.
"The tale is unraveling," the mechanical voice hissed faintly again. Almost beneath the wheels, beneath the wind, like something desperate to exist, but not yet permitted to be heard.
At the same time rustling was heard where the road bend as the carriage slowed down. Soft at first, it could pass like the wind brushing through leaves. But no, this wasn't the kind of rustling that belonged in a romantic and quite night scene. It was too sharp, perfectly timed and deliberate. It came from the trees. Right from the wrong side of the road.
Talia also tensed, instantly sensing the shift in the air, her entire body going still and alert. Her eyes narrowed, trained toward the tree line like she'd just heard death itself shift behind the bushes.
"What? Why? It's just—"
"Shh." she hushed ."Do you hear that too, Princess?" she whispered, tilting slightly toward me, her voice barely audible.
I opened my mouth to answer, but everything shattered at once. My body jerked to the left, violently thrown by the force of impact.
CRACK!
Something beneath the carriage gave away, a loud, splintering crunch was heard. The left wheel jerked broke, shrieking in protest as the entire carriage tilted violently to the left. Fortunately, its frame held on, sturdy enough not to shatter completely despite the impact, although the windows exploded into shards.
As I was pulling myself up from the tilted carriage which was still moving, clutching the edge with shaking fingers, my mind scrambled to make sense of what just happened. The entire carriage was leaning at a precarious angle, and I realized I was on the knees, sitting, not on the seat, but somewhere entirely unintended; God knows where. Both Talia and I were struggling to steady ourselves after the impact, trying to find balance in the tilted, groaning vehicle. Dust burned in my throat, and everything felt too loud and too fast to comprehend.
That's when I saw it. Movement in the bushes, moving alongside with our slowed down convoy. A figure emerged from the tree canopy, half-shadowed, dressed in black, crouched low like a phantom peeled from the trees.
He wasn't panicked, he was waiting and moving patiently in the tree-line along the road. And now he was moving, along with more behind him, riding their horses with our pace, like wolves breaking from their cover.
My heart lurched, seeing the scene unfold before me.
This wasn't a story event. This wasn't supposed to happen. I thought, with my heart thudding loudly and panic clawing at my chest like static beneath my skin.
And then again, without any warning—
CRACK!
The second wheel hit something, a sharp, metallic spike hidden beneath the dirt.
The entire carriage lurched sideways with a sickening jolt. This time again I crashed into the opposite wall, my head spinning from the impact now.
"Trap!" a guard roared. "Protect the Princess!"
"Shields up!" another shouted as steel clashed.
Steel clashing sound emerged from everywhere. Hooves screamed and arrows sliced through the air. From all around us, enemy erupted. Shouts and screams tore through the air. Metal on metal filled my ear.
The carriage shuddered from the impact of loosing it's both wheels, eventually stopping altogether, its body groaning under the sudden weight shift.
I caught myself just before I fell again, hands braced on the paneling, heart hammering like it was trying to beat its way out of my ribs.
I looked out of the broken window in the front and my stomach dropped. The carriage guard was no longer in his saddle. He lay sprawled several feet away on the dirt road, unmoving. His helmet rolled into the bushes like a toy.
The reins of the horses had snapped, trailing uselessly from the harness. One of the steeds had bolted in panic, the other bucked and screamed in place, eyes wild.
I stared, stunned and still in haze. My ears were ringing, my mind scrambling for logic. My elbows ached from where I'd slammed into the carriage wall.
Finally, my voice cracked, dry and shaking:
"This... this ....what's happ—"
Just then suddenly, I flinched, as an arrow ripped through the air, slicing past the carriage window and went past too close to me. It stung my cheek and buried itself in the seat cushion beside me.
Talia didn't wait for me to finish. She grabbed my wrist with a strength I didn't know she had.
"R-run, Princess!"