Chapter 3: Not Alone

ᜀᜅ᜔ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜋᜎᜃᜐ᜔ [The strongest will remain] - is a contest that took place in the 19th century, in which participants with different powers will fight to be included in the five powerful personnel of the kingdom of Prostatévo.

━━━━━･ ｡ﾟ★: *.☪.* :★ ﾟ｡･━━━━━━

A few days passed but the said attack still did not continue. Luna remained alone in her room, she was no longer satisfied with what was happening in her life, she could no longer understand her father's reasons why she was here in the room and completely alone.

She always wonders where are the people who used to be by her side and are willing to listen to her stories? She still couldn’t quite accept why she had to be left alone? Has she committed any sin? Is there a story that hasn’t been told to her? Is there anything else she doesn't know?

As usual, she was here in her room, peering out the window while drawing things that came into her mind. She felt as if she were like a cripple with no hope of walking and feeling the tread on the ground.

Because cold cement, a sacred room, and windows that serve as doors for her to see the beauty of the world are all she can see. She is getting tired.

"Your Highness." 

She no longer bothered to look at who was speaking, she knew it was Edmondo.

He laid the princess's food on the table as he always did.

"Eat a lot, I'm leaving."

"Wait-" She couldn't stop herself from crying, she always cries when alone but not in front of other people. The paper she was using in drawing was now soaking wet because of her tears that kept falling.

"Your Highness? What's the matter?" Edmondo asked worriedly. 

Luna turned to him.

He was shocked when the princess ran towards him and hugged him tightly.

Edmondo could do nothing but let the princess cry on his shoulder, "What's the matter, Your Highness?"

"Please, I can't afford to stay here much longer. I am so eager to see up close the things I can only see here. I really want to be with my father for a long time and I am very anxious to see your son Arayan," she cried in response.

"But Your Highness-"

"Please, I beg you! Just let me out for a few minutes, even a moment!" Luna's plea.

"Your Highness…"

"Edmondo!"

"…get ready to go out." 

Luna's eyes widened because of what he said, she let go of it to look him in the eye.

"Are you sure?" Luna asked hesitantly.

"Don't you want to?" 

"Thank you so much! I'll get dressed!" she smiled hugely.

"I'll wait outside and don't forget to put a fabric on your face." He reminds the princess before leaving the room. 

Luna immediately changed her clothes, she put on a white dress and put an expensive fabric to cover her nose and mouth.

She hurried to go out and found Edmondo waiting outside, "Where do you want to go, Your Highness?" he asked as they walked along the hallway.

"I would have liked to go to dad but he might get angry when he sees me go out," Luna replied.

"That's why I let you out, the king is not here, your father has gone somewhere," Edmondo replied. 

Luna's eyes widened as she looked at Edmondo's wide back.

"Where did he go?"

"He's very busy right now, he's preparing too much for an attack-"

"Attack?" 

Edmondo stopped walking because of what the princess said, it hit him in the back so he immediately apologized.

"I didn’t say anything like that, Your Highness."

"But I heard you say that-"

"Here we are."

They stopped in front of the back of the kingdom, it was wide and it was often chosen as a place for a few soldiers to train. The princess was amazed at the beautiful view, there was a forest in the distance and she could soon step on the grass as she wished.

She had no shoes on her feet that's why she hesitated to step on it, but she could not restrain herself from putting her foot on it. She felt a tickle. 

"My son was there," Edmondo said while pointing to a handsome man who practices to use a bow, all the arrows he shoots hit the middle, he does not miss a single one.

His yellow hair brightens when it is exposed to sunlight, his blue eyes are very beautiful as the sea and he is full of armor on his well-built body.

A slow smile worked its way across Luna's face and into her eyes, she felt relieved and a tear formed at the corner of her eye.

"Let's go see him." 

Luna nodded excitedly and followed Edmondo.

"Someone wants to see you, I'm sure you want to see her too," Edmondo said to his son who was busy shooting. 

He didn't even look at his own father.

"Who is it?" Arayan asked. He fired another bow before turning to his father. 

The first thing that the relaxing color of his eyes saw was Luna, he frowned at her when he saw her staring at him.

"Why did you let her out? What if someone saw her?" Arayan seemed irritated.

"I'm leaving first, so you two can talk," Edmondo replied, ignoring what his son said. He walked away and left the two standing there, both feeling strange.

"How are you?" Luna asked, smiling. She was embarrassed but she approached it first. 

Arayan turned to her, but even before their eyes met, he immediately bent down to prevent that from happening, "What do you need from me, Your Highness?"

The smile faded from her face, "Y-You," the princess answered sadly. 

She tried to smile but she couldn't. She felt different, as if Arayan's treatment of her was not the same as before. She was about to remove the cover from her face but Arayan stopped him immediately.

"Sorry, Your Highness, but you need to go back to your room. The king will definitely not like it when he sees you out here. I will accompany you to your room." Arayan can't look her directly in the eyes. 

Luna raised her hand and gently touched his chin, his heart pounded as he looked into her gray eyes. They said nothing, just stared at each other for a few minutes.

"Arayan…" They heard a woman's voice.

Luna let go of Arayan and they turned to the woman who had just arrived.

A beautiful woman with white hair tied up appeared in front of them, armed with a bow and arrow. 

The woman looked at Luna in confusion but immediately knelt on one knee to pay her respects.

"I'm very sorry, Your Highness, if I didn't recognize you right away. I'm sorry if I disturbed your conversation." 

"All right, you can stand up." Luna finally met another person besides her father Arayan and Edmondo. 

"I am Maia, I faithfully serve in the palace. I am the daughter of Cerberus, the general," Maia introduced herself. 

Luna smiled at her and Maia saw it under the fabric covering the princess's face.

"I'll take you to your room, Your Highness." Arayan held out his hand on the way into the palace. 

Luna's heart ached, many things went through her mind. She felt that Arayan didn't want to see her anymore, the reason why he stopped visiting her. 

The princess looked in another direction, she could no longer look into the eyes of a person who didn't care for her anymore, "I'm fine, I can walk alone. You can leave now." Though painful she forced herself to be calm.

"But I must not leave you alone."

"You've done it, Arayan. You've been doing it for a long time," Luna said, seriously. 

Maia's hair almost stood on end at the princess's cold look.

"Your highness?" Arayan asked incredulously.

"You can leave me now." 

They stared at each other for a few minutes before Arayan bowed and decided to leave, Maia followed him after saying goodbye to the princess.

The princess's tears suddenly flowed incessantly. She thought that maybe she just thought she was alone but it turns out that it was true, she was really alone. Her hand trembled as she picked up the bow and hit the small circle that Arayan had been aiming at earlier.

━━━━━･ ｡ﾟ★: *.☪.* :★ ﾟ｡･━━━━━━

"I could see the sadness in her eyes, she was trying to smile but she could no longer do it. She was so sad," Maia said to Arayan as they walked away.

"There's nothing I can do," Arayan replied seriously.

"She herself came out to see you, even though she knew the king would get mad when he saw her outside. The princess did it to see you."

"What do you want to convey?" Arayan stopped walking and faced Maia.

Maia averted her eyes, "She likes you, don't you love her? Why don't you fight for her?"

"She only considers me a friend." Arayan continues to walk.

"But the longing for you is obvious in her eyes- W-Why?" Maia asked when Arayan stopped walking again.

"I have to go back." Arayan ran to the back of the palace.

"Wait!" Maia shouted but she didn't follow it anymore.

When Arayan arrived where he left the princess, he saw it holding the bow and arrow, he also noticed her sobbing.

He walked slowly towards Luna. He stood behind it and held its hand holding the bow, he supported it to shoot properly even though he could see that almost everything that Luna fired hit the middle. 

Luna was shocked and walked away from him, she wiped away her tears before facing Arayan, "Why did you come back?" she asked with a smile.

Arayan lowered the bow and took the weapon he had left, "I left it," he replied. 

Luna looked at his sword with a touch of blue.

"All right, I'm going inside." Luna smiled again and stepped her feet inside.

"Your Highness, let me accompany you." 

Luna stopped walking and turned to Arayan.

"Don't worry, I will never go out again. So you have nothing to worry about, I don't want anyone to enter my room either," she said with a smile and then walked away from Arayan.

"Ughhh…why did I come out? it just confirms to me that there's no fun here." She raised her voice to let Arayan hear it, she wanted it not to think she wasn’t okay. She didn't want him to think she was sad because he wasn't visiting anymore.

Luna walks down the hall of the kingdom, she can't help but cry again. She grabbed her chest because of the pain she felt.

"Oh-"

Someone suddenly pulled her into a room. She leaned against the door as a man covered her mouth.

"Who do you think she is?" a woman with long black hair asked, her upper red cloth is just like her lips color, her chest is exposed, her leggings is color black with a red stripe on the side, and her high heels are made of gold. The color of her gun is also similar to her high heels.

"Maybe an enemy?" another woman with white hair asked, her body armor was so strange that her two thighs were exposed, she was holding a whip and had a red cape. Her eyes are purple.

"She's so beautiful, how could she be an enemy?" a man with gray messy hair whispered. His body armor was made of silver, his eyes were blue and he had a scar cut on his left eye.

Another woman with long yellow hair stood up. She approached Luna and pushed the man who pulled the princess inside.

"Not because she's beautiful, she is no longer an enemy." She wiped the tears from Luna's eyes with her finger before removing the fabric from her face.

"Her beauty is ethereal! Is she a goddess?" astonishing question of the man with gray messy hair.

"Shut up, Sebastian!" The woman who removed the fabric from Luna scolded him.

"I'm just telling the truth, Hazel. She's really beautiful," Sebastian said. Hazel just stared at him.

"Tell me what's your name?" A handsome man confronted the princess. His shoulder-length hair is brown as well as his beautiful eyes, and his body is as strong as a rock.

"I-I'm Luna," the princess replied nervously.

"L-Luna?" a woman with short white hair stuttered. She immediately bowed and so did her four companions, "Sorry, Your Highness for the blasphemy we did."

"Y-You're the princess?" the man who pulled her asked. It touched Luna's hair but Sebastian immediately hit its hand.

"Don't touch her!" Sebastian's complaint. He looked at the princess and smiled at her, "I'm Sebastian Chamillet, the most beautiful man that you will see in Magia." 

He looks like an angel but is a thorny warrior because of the scar on his eye.

"I am Cassius Rodgers, Your Highness." the brown-haired man introduces himself, at the same time kissing the princess's hand.

"I'm Lucy Millicent! The youngest and most beautiful among the girls!" The woman with short white hair had a big smile, she even shook hands with the princess.

"Can we touch her?" Sebastian whispered.

"I just imitated Cassius," Lucy replied smiling.

"I was not involved when you were beheaded huh? Huh, understand?" Sebastian asked irritably.

"I'm Hazel Saunders and this is Lydia Pierce," a woman with a straight facial expression with yellow hair introduces herself. She also introduced Lydia who has black hair. 

They are all beautiful women and men, with great bodies. Yeaaah~

"Nice to meet you all." Luna smiled at them.

"And so do we, Your Highness. We don't expect you to be this beautiful, you look like a goddess. We are serving your father, the king. And we promise that we will also serve you faithfully," Lucy said.

"We are the five strong soldiers of the kingdom, we went through a lot to be defenders of the kingdom and five of us succeeded." Sebastian held out his hand in front of his companions. 

Luna nodded and just listened to what they were saying as they sat around the spacious and large room.

“That competition was called ᜀᜅ᜔ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜋᜎᜃᜐ᜔,” Lucy said.

They continued to impart knowledge about the palace to the princess. She still listened to their stories even though she was reading books about their kingdom.

Luna felt at ease, she felt safe with new acquaintances. From day one she already considered them as her friends. She realized that she's no longer alone because there are actually people waiting for her and wants to get to know her.