THE RESCUE

His image is like a guardian angel, who came to rescue me from the cruelty in the eyes of the man I once loved. Hiroki's maneuvers are amazing, he manages to defeat many soldiers with just a sword; he pushes Satoshi to a wall leaving him without any advantage hitting his head without being able to move, more soldiers appeared until we were surrounded. Hiroki stood in front of me as a human shield preventing them from doing any damage to me, however, he couldn't do much since we were already surrounded.

Satoshi gets up very angry and gives the order to kill us, I can't believe that Satoshi wants to kill me, I can't even move from the impression. One of the soldiers rebels and starts to confront the others unexpectedly, that gives Hiroki time to untie me, a soldier tries to lunge at him from behind.

"Hiroki, watch out!" I alert him, quickly with his sword he cuts his head right in my presence; the blood of the soldiers drips on me, I hear the screams, the swords and the nails in their bodies that did not allow me to blink. Hiroki manages to untie me cutting the ropes with his sword and flee the place running, Hiroki kills them all leaving free the way and leaving no soldiers.

We manage to hide behind some huts to prevent them from finding us, we are very confused about what has just happened, we do not understand why Satoshi made us go through this. We are in trouble and even in these conditions, I kept denying myself that it was true Satoshi's trick in which he lied to me with his games and deceptions, I can not get out of this trance of despair that does not let me move or think clearly, moreover my body does not stop shaking that I do not even move my mouth.

Seeing my father dead in front of me, seeing how his blood splashes me, I am collapsing, paralyzed without even being able to say a single word "What just happened? Why did Satoshi betray me? Why did this have to happen to me?" I ask myself so many questions and it is so sad not to find an answer!

"Princess?" Hiroki makes me react.  "Do you know what the plan is?" I look at him confused, not knowing what to say with my eyes shaking showing my desperate state and mentally begging him to help me.

"We don't have time!" reproaches the uniformed boy on duty.

"mmm... Do you know how to shoot?" Hiroki asks the guard. He nods very confused -we'll climb the tree behind those huts, then we'll shoot those guards, cross to the wall and run to the forest- he points with his index finger to the two guards and the tree behind the huts and next to the wall.

"OK... But... Princess, will you be all right?" the man in uniform asks me. I nod a couple of times trying to get out of this trance that barely made me pay attention to Hiroki.

Quietly we head towards those huts, stealthily without making any noise as if we were ghosts. We arrived at the huge tree, the guys started to climb without any problem, however, I am the only one who cannot cross because of my short stature, as I cannot reach the right branch; Hiroki rolls his eyes and lifts me by both arms with a lot of force and abruptness leaving me a little sore. We hide among the leaves so we won't be detected.

The attack was as expected, the guard shoots without being seen to one of the guards, the alert expression of the guard who is still alive looks everywhere and moves me too much, he made us miss the shot and left us an easy target. That guard gives a very loud alert and without realizing it a group of guards also found us and began to shoot us together, but without any scratches, we jump on the edge of the wall, one of the arrows manages to hit the man who is accompanying us, but that does not stop him and he manages to jump to the other side. I'm afraid to jump, they are pointing arrows at me, "What should I do?" Suddenly Hiroki lifts me up, and we jump to the other side of the wall, his body prevents me from getting hurt falling on top of him.

"Hiroki are you all right? - I ask him worried.

"That doesn't matter, we have to get out of here" he gets up and we run to the forest. The distance of the palace seems to grow and without realizing we stop seeing the huge house; we are running into the middle of the nature "now where are we going to go? We run as fast as we can looking to get away from the Castle, I feel tired and scared without understanding anything, without being able to think clearly, I just want to get out of this horrible darkness that does not leave me alone and is consuming me.

I stumble with a tree branch, Hiroki stops and carries me in his arms with great delicacy. The sky began again to fall its icy drops and I feel the touch of those drops on my face until the rain increases so strongly, he does not stop, I think we are lost and it is better for them to never find us.

We hide in a cave and protect ourselves from the storm, Hiroki lays me down on a rock very carefully, he treats me like a little porcelain doll that he didn't want to break; however, I am already broken inside, I still can't believe what just happened; I am so scared that my throat feels very heavy and I can't stop shaking.

"that's not Satoshi. He wouldn't be able to do this." I think carefully trying to get out of my paranoid state, to think that all this is a lie and that at some point I will wake up and pretend that nothing really happened, that my father will welcome me with a hug and this emptiness I feel is just an illusion.

My head starts to recall those recent events that we have just lived together. As much as I try I can't stop remembering over and over again as if it were hell, a punishment of reliving it in my memory as if it were happening again.

I wished to keep forever the moments spent with Satoshi. I feel that everything was a lie, that it was all a farce, those memories are not real and less what I had felt with that kiss, that kiss that seemed so precious to me, that kiss full of poison, that kiss so warm that it hurts me to remember it, that kiss that now I hate and I hate having to relive it.

The guard sits with the open wound on his right arm, I notice that he is bleeding too much and I feel sorry, I feel pity that Satoshi did this to this poor man who only wanted to protect us, I feel so helpless, I approach the man looking at his badly wounded arm, I tear one of the sleeves of my dress and I dress it to him carefully grateful for what he did for me.

"Prince Satoshi is a traitor!" the uniformed man mumbled. I can't take it anymore, the tears I held back came out of my crystalline eyes; they are tears of hatred, of sadness, of confusion, of fear.... I can't believe that the love I thought he felt was just a sham. I stare at the ground endlessly remembering and saying "Enough!" but I just can't help being consumed with pain.

"Yes... You're right..." I say in between crying  "he's a traitor.... And I trusted a disgusting traitor..." I bring my knees to my chest, I prostrate my face on my knees and my arms covered my face; breaking into tears remembering every false moment I had lived.

"Was any of what he told me real? Why did I have to give my heart to a fake like him?", for 8 years I had blindly trusted a fake man. For 8 years I believed he had feelings for me, for 8 years I was in love with a lie, he pretended to be a lamb, but in reality he was a hungry wolf ready to eat anyone, even if it was his family.

Hiroki shelters me with his dark blue cloak to at least feel some warmth in this cold and merciless night, I raise my look surprised seeing him in his dark eyes, his frown feeling pity for me, with my look I thanked him, without understanding why he is helping me and they are generous, his silence tells me everything, then he just moves away from me and sits down together with the general, he lies down with nothing more to say, but none of them hits the eye; I also go to bed, wrapping my cloak around me while watching the rain come down harder and harder.

That night I did not sleep; I thought that, if I fell asleep, the memory of seeing my father dead would be the greatest nightmare. Being awake doesn't help much though; I feel the weakness both physically and emotionally. I don't even want to be alive. I had lost my family, my home, I had lost everything, even my confidence. Hiroki and e guard were finally able to sleep even a little.

It was dawn, the birdsong was so beautiful, it lulled me so sweetly, it was the only thing I had at least as a distraction. I climb out of the cave and settle on a rock to look out at the refreshing morning in the forest, it is damp after the storm and I see the dew on the grass.

I break into moans and groans in a quiet way so they won't hear me. My head is spinning, I have many unknowns, for example why did Satoshi do something so horrible to me, why did Hiroki decide to defend me, moreover, can I trust him? All these questions make my head and eyes ache, of course it's also because I haven't been able to sleep.

I feel Hiroki's presence sitting next to me, I try to avoid eye contact, but his presence is so strong that I simply can't avoid looking him in the eyes. He returns my gaze, it's so deep, fixed and cold, but in his pupils I didn't notice so much his coldness, but at the same time he has that touch of warmth that makes you feel comfortable next to him. He brings his hands to my face and with his fingers dries my tears.

"Those tears won't help you in any way" he doesn't even give you any expression, his frown is always a frown that sometimes intimidates and other times makes you feel confident. I nod leaving my whining still aside, but the melancholic feeling does not leave me. I can't now let myself be carried away by what I see, I'm actually afraid of Hiroki, I don't know if I can trust him or if he also wants my throne and crown and I'm just a trophy between Satoshi and him, although his look reflects confidence, I just can't let my guard down "don't be afraid of me, I can't betray you, I promised your father I would protect you" he says this so directly that I can't believe he did this.

"My father?" I question him very confused, I don't understand why my father asked him to do such a thing. Hiroki nods giving a half smile that only makes me trust his words.

It's a bit confusing, I didn't know my father had asked him to do this kind of thing. I feel a little sorry for him "why is he practically obliged to protect someone he doesn't want to protect with his loyalty?" My father doesn't have to have asked him in this way to this poor young man, who now because of me or not so much my fault, is in this situation where he can die by Satoshi's hands.