Danyel was going on a morning walk with his spy, maids, and guards when he saw a partially huge mess in the swordsmanship-practice area.
The trainees were gathered in a circle and cheering loudly.
When Danyel reached there; curious to see who was fighting, he was shocked to see his friend Amell- one of the best fighters in the empire being knocked about by…Gianna.
Wearing armor, she looked better than he had ever seen her before. Her hair was tucked into a bun which was wet from her sweat. She was smiling and panting at the same time.
Some were cheering for Gianna while others were encouraging Amell to get up and fight back. However, Amell was lacking energy so he gave up. He got up and said,
“You’re such a fighter, aren’t you? You defeated all the best guys here.”
Gianna smiled. She too was a bit tired after wrestling with seven muscular guys without taking a break. She defeated all of them; one by one. Though she was tired, she wanted more.
“Who’s next?” Gianna shouted. She just wanted to reassure herself that she was better than all of them.
No one saw Danyel as he stayed afar. But after seeing the scene, he wanted to try Gianna. He stepped forward.
“I am next.”
The crowd stopped cheering. The whole place went silent. Gianna was giving a victorious smile as if she was saying “You’re going to die.”
After switching into an armor kit which was brought by a trainee, Danyel was ready.
“Ready to lose, Princess?” Danyel asked with a laugh.
“You better watch out, Crown Prince!” Gianna warned.
After a trainee waved a flag, they both started attacking each other. Gianna was fighting way better than Danyel expected. She avoided three punches from Danyel but he could not avoid her shots. Gianna was using different techniques that Danyel never got to learn in the Elville Mountains. Plus, she was super-fast. If Danyel or any other Hesmian had to wrestle with a top-level Strian fighter like Minnah, he would have died immediately.
In no time, Danyel was knocked out too. He was pissed that he lost to Gianna. The crowd was silent because they were too afraid to cheer against the crown prince. But Amell came forward.
“Your imperial highness, your wife is a hell of a fighter.” He said, laughing.
“Shut up Amell. She’s not my wife yet. I just didn’t use all my skills because I underestimated her.” Danyel was angry.
“Up for a rematch?” Gianna asked like a champion.
“No. I don’t want to touch you anymore. It disgusts me.” His heart knew he lied.
“Anyway, good work, Gianna.” Amell gave a high five to Gianna.
Did he just call her by the name???
“Thanks, mate.” Gianna winked at Amell.
“Hey, you’re calling her by her name?” Danyel asked in wonder. They were THAT close??
Amell was one of the closest friends of Danyel since childhood, but he always addressed Danyel as ‘Your Imperial Highness’ even when Danyel insisted to call him by the name.
When Amell was awkwardly thinking of an answer, Gianna replied on his behalf.
“Yes. Are you surprised to see someone say my name correctly? Amell is just sane, that’s why.”
Danyel glared at Gianna and left angrily. Amell was worried about the Crown Prince, but glancing at Gianna washed away all his negative thoughts. He had never met such a fearless girl with a great sense of humor.
Minnah was looking at Gianna from a distance, being proud of her student.
After Gianna changed into a princess robe, she headed to the chamber.
“Amell is a nice guy. Isn’t it Emse Min…Nadya?” Gianna thought that he was more handsome than Danyel.
“Master Amell Bertillon is the youngest commander in the army. Now that the crown prince’s marriage is fixed, so all the aristocratic girls are trying to marry him. But Master Bertillon doesn’t like to get married.” Minnah described.
“Oh, he’s someone like me. I think I’ve found the perfect friend.” Gianna smiled.
“Forgive me, your royal highness, but you’re here to marry.” Sila, one of the other two maids of Gianna reminded.
On her way to the chamber, she saw a woman who might be in her 40s, approaching her.
“That is Lady Nimue; the first concubine of Emperor Narendra.” Minnah whispered.
Gianna quickly bowed to her.
“Oh, dear! You’re not supposed to bow to me.” Nimue said gently.
“You cannot stop me from respecting you, lady…um…Nimue.” Gianna gave a polite answer.
“How kind of you! I heard that you fight well. As the crown prince’s mother is not with us, you can see me as your mother-in-law, if you’re okay with that.”
“Thank you! I like that, mother-in-law.” Gianna thought that lady Nimue was very nice.
***************************************
The wedding day came as the time flew by. The empire was all set for the biggest celebration. Everywhere was decorated with roses and tulips. Both Danyel and Gianna were wearing their uncomfortable wedding dresses which included heavy crowns. Emperor Narendra seemed overwhelmed by the excitement. Finally, his son was going to marry the best girl he could ever find.
Looking at each other, Danyel and Gianna had their inner voices whispering.
“This is the unhappiest day of my life. Maybe this is my punishment for being a coward.” That was Danyel’s inner confession.
“What if this guy tries to do something to me tonight? Though he pretends like not interested, you can’t trust a man right?! Should I kill him? Like…should I kill my husband for touching me?” Gianna had an argument ongoing inside.
The wedding rituals started.
Most of the soldiers who were guarding the Hesmian palace borders were drunk that day. They had no clue that a huge army was on their way to break in.
“Hey, look at that. Isn’t that…isn’t that an army?” One soldier said.
“Yeah, maybe our army is returning from war.” Another one said.
Soon they remembered that the Hesmian army did not go to any war recently. But they were too late by then. The invaders were passing every barrier and swiftly approaching the main gate.
Meanwhile, the wedding rituals were going on, without anyone knowing about the current situation out of the gates.
“Now we come to the last ritual.” Said the nobleman who conducted the rituals.
At that very moment, even before a messenger reached the emperor, the gates were opened. Everyone including Emperor Narendra was shocked.
“Surrender or die.” The hoody guy aka the invader shouted.
The soldiers at the gate instantly directed their weapons at the invader, but something extremely unexpected happened.
Lady Nimue who was sitting at the side of the emperor grabbed a dagger and directed it towards Narendra’s neck.
“Drop your weapons or I’ll kill the emperor.” She shouted.
“Nimue!!”
Emperor Narendra was too shocked as if he was struck by a lightning, so he did not move.
“Nice one, lady. Looks like you’ve learnt punctuality.” The hoody guy whispered.
As they could do nothing but surrender, the soldiers dropped the weapons. Danyel and Gianna were panicked, but they could not move because of their uncomfortable dresses. All they could do was watch.
Then the hoody guy stepped forward and removed his hoody.
“Remington!” Narendra muttered.
Yes. It was Merikh Remington. He was the aristocratic guy who challenged Narendra for the throne, eventually got defeated, and left Hesmia a long ago. Everybody thought he might have died when he went missing because he had somehow vanished into the air. But no. Here we are.
“You’re correct, my friend. Thought you forgot me.” Remington came forward fearlessly, followed by his army.
“But what are you doing here huh? Thought your chapter ended a long ago.” Narendra; who still had a dagger on his neck, spoke calmly.
Remington was slowly reaching the stage where the royal family stood. But the Hesmian archers came forward and covered them. One of them shot an arrow to Nimue’s hand, so she immediately let the emperor go. Then started a huge mess. Remington’s army started attacking and the Hesmian army was defending.
Emperor Narendra refused to leave even though the generals insisted. Instead, he said,
“Take the crown prince and the princess to a safe place.”
Gianna and Danyel were taken away immediately. Neither of them saw the emperor being shot in the heart by an arrow.
Removing all his uncomfortable dresses, Danyel wore his armor and tried to go to the battlefield. His guards refused.
“Sire, we’re ordered to take you to a safe place. You must leave the palace through the secret tunnel. It was the emperor’s command.”
As it was a must to follow the emperor’s commands, Danyel had to leave. But then he remembered that Yasvie was still in there.
“I have to go back,” Danyel said.
“No, your imperial highness. You must come with us.”
Leaving the two guards, Danyel ran to the water maids’ quarters.
“Yasvie!” He shouted.
Yasvie, who was hiding inside a room after hearing about the invasion, showed up in a second.
“I’m scared to death, sire.” She cried while hugging Danyel tightly.
“Shh…I’m with you now. Come, let’s go.” Danyel grabbed her right hand.
When they went to the tunnel, Danyel did not find his guards as they had gone searching for Danyel.
They went through the narrow tunnel and ended up in a jungle. Since Danyel forgot to close the tunnel, some Lisdonian soldiers followed them.
Luckily, Danyel had managed to bring his sword. Upon seeing them, Danyel stopped and directed his sword at them, inviting for a battle. Yasvie quickly hid behind him.
A fierce battle happened between the prince and the enemies. Anyhow, it ended giving Danyel a small cut on the left hand and giving the others…death.
Yasvie was so frightened that she stayed still for a few seconds. She gained the consciousness back only after Danyel shook her. Then they kept running through the jungle but had to stop because Danyel was bleeding. He keenly observed the jungle to find a place to hide which should be hard to notice.
“Look, there’s a cave down there. Let’s go.”
They went on a slope and got inside the cave. Yasvie found some herbs, so she helped Danyel to heal the wound.
Suddenly, they heard someone coming their way.
Upon hearing someone’s footsteps, Danyel took his sword and prepared for a fight. His hand was still hurting, but he did not care. Even though Yasvie wanted to stand by Danyel and help him, she was too afraid to go forward. She hid behind Danyel. Danyel tightened his grip on the sword. The sound of the footsteps was increasing. Using his predicting skills, Danyel identified that only one person was coming their way. But he could not feel relieved because he knew that only one extremely skilled Lisdonian soldier was enough to kill both of them. Every passing second felt so long as if they were experiencing a slow-motion mode. Fear, curiosity, anger…all the emotions were bursting at once. The moment came…and the person was………Gianna! Again wearing armor. “Oh, it’s you! You scared me to death!” Danyel let out a big sigh. “Thank god it wasn’t another Lisdonian killer!” Gianna uttered. She felt so relieved. She was looking for a place to sto
Yasvie felt relieved as Danyel finally agreed to leave Gianna and save their lives. But she was wrong. Danyel had had other plans. After running a few yards up on the hill, Danyel found a nearly-perfect hiding spot filled with bushes. He stopped. “Yasvie, hide near the bushes. I’ll get Gianna.” He already had the idea of going back. “Sire no! Please don’t…” Yasvie did not get the chance to complete her line. “Here, keep this dagger with you.” Danyel gave her a dagger and ran instantly. He opened the temple door with much effort only to see Gianna falling on her knees in front of his eyes after an enemy’s sword went across her chest and belly; giving her a HUGE cut. She was not wearing a metal chest shield. Gianna went unconscious instantly. But she had managed to kill five men of Remington’s army. Seeing this horrific incident increased Danyel’s energy. He swore to himself that he would kill each of them. Showing off the combat
Hesmia was being prepared to welcome the new era under the new emperor. Remington was overwhelmed by the idea of sitting on the throne which he always dreamt of. In his youth, he challenged Emperor Narendra, stating that he could defeat the emperor in any form of combat skills. The reason for his overconfidence was a prediction from an astrologer whom he met while training in the Elville Mountains. The astrologer said that Remington had a kingly aura and that he could definitely rule a widely-spread nation. Emperor Narendra was shocked at his loyal friend’s sudden change. However, the emperor managed to defeat Remington in every battle. Filled with shame and rage, Remington vanished into the evening breeze without a sign. Everyone thought that he might have either changed his identity or been committed to an asylum. Merikh Remington, who was meant to be a forgotten memory, had unexpectedly returned to Hesmia with the most dramatic entrance. Nevertheless, the astrolog
The Great Empire of Hesmia has a long history of 3000 years. It was founded by 'Nihas the great'- a soldier who worked for the Findaivian (now a part of Lisdonia) Emperor. The majority of the Findaivians had fair skin, so the tan-skinned people were considered 'low'. They were given less opportunities and their rights were frequently ignored. Nihas gathered all the tan-skinned people and began a revolution. His side won the war and eventually founded the kingdom 'Hasvia' (Nihas+Findaivia).Its name changed from 'Hasvia' to 'Hasmia', then to 'Hesmia'.Nihas' descendants- known as the 'Sammata clan' continued to keep the monarchy stable. Only the sons of the queen consort were considered heirs to the throne until Princess Anantha defeated all her brothers and uncles in an all-in-one test to prove that she was the most eligible person to be the monarch. After that, Hasvian women got the opportunity to rule.Among the
Danyel came out from the hollow first. Gianna left the hollow only after Danyel confirmed that the villagers had gone. Seeing each other in the bright light was more awkward. Gianna kept staring at the ground while Danyel tried to explain the situation. He could not stop stuttering. “Um…I just… I just wanted to uh, stop you from screaming. If they heard you…um, it would be bad. That’s why I… Gianna, I’m so sorry.” “I-I understand you, sire.” Gianna stuttered too. She wanted to pretend that she did not like it, but she could not deny that she had already developed feelings for Danyel. She just did not know when it started. “You know what, let’s forget it. Let’s both erase it from our memory, alright? Whatever happened between us was a mistake. No need to make it a big deal.” Danyel said while avoiding Gianna’s eyes. Though Gianna nodded and agreed, inside, she felt sorrowful. A man kissed her and awakened her feelings, but immediately told her to forge
The former emperor- Narendra was locked in a prison chamber. His hands were tied to the wall with chains. Remington ordered not to give him any food, but Narendra received a glass of water once a day. Though he was shot by an arrow in his heart, was tortured, and starved for two days, Narendra did not die. He wished to see Danyel saving the nation before his death. But he knew that he did not have much time left. In the evening, Nimue visited him with Nimie. Narendra recognized them and wanted to shout at Nimue but he had no strength to do so. “Look who we have here. Does he look like an Emperor to you, Nimie?” Nimue laughed wildly. Nimie silently stared at Narendra. “NIMUE!! You traitor!! Why did you do this? Why?” Narendra spoke with all the energy he had. “I told you to make me the empress, didn’t I? At least you should have made my daughter a princess. You’re just paying for your faults, Narendra. You deserve this.” “How dare you say my na
Danyel was kicked several times by the Lisdonian soldiers on the way. Those kicks did not hurt him a bit because the inner pain was already hurting him intolerably. Lisdonians mocked him and cursed him but Danyel did not understand what they said. He did not bother to listen to them. His mind was preoccupied with Yasvie. Every memory that he shared with her began to show in front of his eyes, one by one. The girl that he loved with his whole heart had betrayed him for money. He still could not believe it. When the men just reached an area that had a lot of tall trees, a Lisdonian soldier’s neck got hit by an arrow. Everyone looked in the direction in which the arrow came from. Two more men were killed the same way as the first soldier. Eswenth and the Lisdonians prepared their swords while Danyel checked around in wonder. A group of masked people suddenly emerged from behind the trees. There were more of them than the Lisdonians and they seemed more skilled.
Although Kvahiya said that Gianna might not wake up for days, she woke up at the midnight. Waking up, she saw a young man beside her. Prince Danyel had come to rescue her!! She spoke in excitement. “Sire, I thought I was going to die. But you’ve come! Thank…” “Gianna, it’s me, Amell.” It was Amell and not Danyel? “Oh! Sorry, Amell. I didn’t recognize you.” Gianna tried to sit with Amell’s help. She felt a bit sad and awkward. “Careful! Gianna, actually, his imperial highness is here. The prince asked us not to disturb him. We’re on the way to Nemphitre.” Just after Gianna stood up, Danyel reached the duo. “Hey, you woke up. Are you alright now?” Gianna nodded. She felt relieved that Danyel was fine, but she understood that he was attacked by someone. “Sire, you have some wounds. Were you attacked? Oh, where’s Yasvie?” Danyel’s face darkened. The person that he wanted to have vanished from his memory was