Capítulo 38: A Princess in Peril
Today started just like any other. I awoke in my bed, opening my eyes to the same spectacular view I saw every morning. I lived on the fourth floor of the castle, and my window overlooked the courtyard of the palace chapel. The courtyard offered a beautiful fountain with live exotic fish as its centerpiece. The fountain was surrounded by exquisitely pruned shrubbery and several flowerbeds housing exotic flowers of vibrant hues of pink, blue, and purple.
When I was old enough to be assigned my own room, I had begged father for this one in particular. Waking up to the view of the courtyard was like a continuation of a pleasant dream.
"Good morning, Princess. I hope you slept well", my maidservant interrupted my pleasant thoughts. "Please hurry up from bed, you don't want to be late for your big day!"
Begrudgingly, I slowly turned my head her way.
"Ugghhhh!", I moaned as I stretched out my arms and legs. "Just give me five more minutes..."
"I'm afraid that won't do, your highness. It's already mid-morning and you have so much to do."
'Don't remind me...', I thought as I looked back outside the window. The chapel courtyard has always been my favorite place in this whole world. Growing up, I spent all my free time there. I used to have tea parties with my friends, would pick the beautiful flowers for mother, and even asked the gardener to teach me how to grow flowers like these.
Today though, I couldn't find any peace in the courtyard. The only thing it brought was a reminder of what was to come. Today was my last day of freedom. My father has arranged for me to marry some noble man that until a month ago I had never even met.
From what I can tell, he seems like a good man, but that doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life with him. For one thing, I don't find him attractive at all. He is a rather portly man over twice my age and has gone almost completely bald. Worst of all, I am going to lose my room in the palace and have to move into his household. My beautiful dream has ended. Now I'm stuck with the reality of my life.
I've known for a long time now that I wouldn't get the chance to marry for love. As the sixth princess of the Kingdom, you would think I had a chance to inherit the throne, but unfortunately I was not born to the queen. My mother was a concubine, and thus, due to my kingdom's traditions, I am ineligible for consideration for the throne. Therefore, it was my fate to be used as a political tool, to be shipped off to the highest bidder just to consolidate power for my father.
Once I finally mustered the courage to get up from bed, my maidservant dutifully dressed me and guided me downstairs for breakfast. I ate with my father and siblings and was showered with congratulations for my big day.
"Thank you... Thank you...", I struggled to maintain my smile as I thanked them for their congratulations. They had served me a fluffy omelet and buttered toast, a favorite dish of mine, but for some reason everything tasted completely bland today.
The whole day seemed to blend together. The next thing I knew I was being dressed in my wedding gown and guided out to the courtyard.
I walked down the polished stone path alongside the beautiful flowers and shrubbery. The courtyard was crowded today. Seated along the sides of the courtyard were my siblings, my mother, and other family members to the east, and family of the groom to the west. There were also several knights, attendants, noblemen, and visiting foreign royalty in attendance in the back.. Waiting for me, standing beside the fountain, was my groom. My father and our head priest stood behind him.
As I neared the fountain, I looked up at the statue in its center. The water spouted forth from the hand of the divine figure of Saint Milis.
Truth be told, I have never been a devout follower of the Milis religion. My faith had nothing to do with my love for the courtyard. It was the unmatched beauty of the place; there was always such a serene atmosphere about it. Nevertheless, as I took the final few steps, I looked up at the statue and silently began to pray.
'Saint Milis, I know I haven't always been your best follower, but please, I beg of you, please save me from this fate. I don't want to marry this man! I don't want to! I don't want to! Please save me, Saint Milis!'
I clenched my eyes shut and could feel tears rolling down my cheeks.
'If you would only let me marry for love, I promise to follow you from now on! I will spend every day in prayer, working hard in my studies. Send this man away and bring me my true love and nobody will be more devout than me. Please, Saint Milis, SAVE ME!'
At that very moment, I felt my stomach up in my chest. It felt like I was falling, like the ground just disappeared out from underneath me, until suddenly it stopped. I was caught. I could feel strong, warm hands holding me.
I opened my eyes, and to my astonishment, Saint Milis had answered my prayers. It was love at first sight. He had long, hazelnut hair and the most beautiful, verdant green eyes. He exuded an aura of strength and yet felt completely safe and secure. Without even thinking, I let the words I was thinking slip from my mouth...
"My Savior..."
***** Rudy's POV *****
After stepping into the teleportation circle, the next thing we knew we were in a dark, dank crypt. I summoned a light spirit to illuminate the place.
Looking in any direction, one would find coffins carved from stone, surrounded on four sides by support pillars that reached the ceiling. You could tell the coffins had been ornately engraved, but the engravings were completely unrecognizable at this point, having been weathered over time.
The coffins seemed to stretch out endlessly in symmetric fashion. This place was huge. The air was also stale and musky.
"What is this place?", Paul asked.
"It's an ancient crypt underneath the Palace Chapel in the capital of the Shirone Kingdom."
There were stone stairs against the north and south walls, but the path upwards was obstructed by heaps of rubble from cave-ins on both sides.
"Under the Palace Chapel? We're going to be sneaking into the royal Palace? Won't that make a scene?"
"No, I've taken this route a couple times before, back before I traveled back in time. I had opened up a path above us that led to a gardener's tool shed. We can head up there discretely and then wait until nobody is around to sneak outside the Palace grounds."
"How can you even tell where to make your path above us? Every room in this crypt looks identical!"
"Simple, I just go four rooms back and three to the right from the north staircase, and then I'll open up a path through the stone straight up."
We walked to the staircase and we walked through the crypt's rooms, counting the rooms as we went.
"One... Two... Three! Ok, now we just need to go straight up from here."
I pointed my hand upwards and started carving a rectangular path upwards through the earth above us. I made the path wide enough on all sides to fit a person comfortably, I did tend to get a little claustrophobic in tight corridors sometimes.
Once I finally reached the surface, something came falling down from above. My first reaction was to dodge out of the way, but I quickly noticed the silhouette of a person and turned back to catch them.
Shockingly, what fell into my arms was a beautiful girl who looked to be about eighteen years old or so. Even more shockingly, she was wearing a jeweled tiara and a frilly white wedding dress.
The girl opened her teary eyes with her cheeks flushed red and stared up into my face. "My Savior..."
'Ah, crap!'
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