Town of Gualflem*

A lot of things happened after I came to this town of Gualflem, it took me a while to grown accustomed to this place and its culture. After I met Mister Robert and Bocho, I told them what happened to me that night in the castle of Maysiah.

"I understood, that explains the mysterious creatures appearing in the forest and the ocean, probably it was that man's doing" Mister Robert stroked his beard with his brows furrowed.

I read a book about sorcery before, along with that I remember that the book mentioned monsters and spirits.

While the usage of sorcery and magic was in its prime, monsters, and spirits could often see anywhere and harm the people. It's said that the animals—birds, reptiles, sea creatures, mammals—originally came from those monsters, in other words, they are their predecessors.

After he—the one who build this country and forbid the usage of sorcery—annihilated all the monsters in this small country, nothing's left but the ordinary creatures that we saw in this current era, it's less harmful than I read in the book.

But it makes me wondered how could he won against all the monsters alone. I knew he was an ordinary human, a traveler who happened to pass by on our country, a traveler who wields a long sword that almost reaches the height of his body.

But is anyone could wield a sword that long? is it harder to swing it than the normal size sword? more importantly, could a single swordsman defeat thousands or even a dozen of man-killer beasts?

That was the only information written in a book about him, there was no name and no other description of him, it just 'a traveler who happened to pass by, save this country from monsters and forbid the people to use magic anymore.

"Princess, are you okay? it seems that you lost in your thoughts. You should've rested in your bed" Mister Robert looked at me with a worried on his face. Meanwhile, the bespectacled lad who was with us a few moments ago was nowhere to be found, it seems like he left even before I and Mister Robert started our conversation about the mysterious creatures.

Now that I mentioned him, he asked me to be his bride earlier, honestly, it took me aback, no one dares to say those words before me when I was in the castle. Of course, no one would ask a princess that kind of question boldly. It makes me admired how courageous he is, but what was this feeling that after a few years I'll feel awkward to him and I'll treat him as a creep.

How strange.

Back to Mister Robert, I gave him a faint smile and said "I-I'm fine, nothing to worry about, more importantly, what was the day today?" changing our topic.

My eyes widened as I heard his answer, it sounds unbelievable, and it made me doubt if that was true. It was two weeks passed since the incident in the castle happens and I was floating in the ocean for two weeks. No human could still be alive after that, but how did I...

"There was a strange light emitted from you when we first saw you in the ocean, I remembered it was your necklace that shone that time" Mister Roberts continued.

It only means that this necklace saved me when I fell from the cliff and led me to their boat and this town. In the end, Auntie Isabella saves me from danger.

"Auntie Isabella..." I muttered as I held the ruby necklace on my chest with my right hand. Wherever she is right now, I hope she's doing fine.

The silence from the room broke as the door was slammed open, the bespectacled lad was standing at the door with his hands hid on his back. He called my attention and walked towards me.

"For the second time, can you be my bride?!" pulling his hands and brought them into me, holding a bouquet of roses. Mister Robert stood from his seat and grabbed the back collar of the bespectacled lad, dragged and tossed him out of the room.

I'd just left dumbfounded but ends with a chuckled. They sure were pretty close.

"I deeply apologize for my son's behavior, it seems like he was captured by your gorgeousness," He said as he sat back in his seat.

"So, he was your son?" I asked nonchalantly. I thought he was just a lad from the other door. While Mister Robert here was acted as a fine nobleman, he was the opposite.

"More or less..." he paused and fell silent for a second "Originally, I wasn't raised in this town, while on a journey on finding myself—I met Bocho, he was still a child that time, a child with a frail body, I saw him sitting in front of his dead parents, with his arms held his knees and curled up in a ball. There's no shred of tears on his eyes, just a confounded face, I supposed he was still young to understand what happened to his parents" He explained.

I remained silent listening to Mister Robert's story, This must be the fruit of war, I thought.

"Then after that, I took him with me and treated him like my own son. At first, I thought I couldn't be a great father to him, first of all, we'd just met—I was a stranger to him. It took a couple of months before he started to talk to me with ease, just remembering those days made me feel nostalgic" he continued with a shade of happiness on his face.

As I continued listening to him, I hadn't noticed that a single drop of tear fell on my left cheek. I remember my father, I couldn't say that we were on bad terms when I was in the castle, I couldn't say that we were that close either. I knew he just couldn't accept my mother's death thus, he turned most of his attention on his job, and to me, even I—myself couldn't accept that and locked myself in my room but after all, even what happened between us—my father was still my father, he was aware that he wasn't the only one in pain.

I turned my face and secretly wiped the tears on my cheek.

"Are you okay, princess?" Mister Robert looked at me with a shade of worriedness on his face. He took the handkerchief from his pocket and reached it to me.

I gave my thanks, as I accepted the handkerchief and wiped my tears that were now falling from both of my eyes.

"Princess..." he called my attention "this was just my opinion but I suppose we should change your name" my brows curved and looked confounded at him.

My name? what's wrong with my name?

But before I uttered those words in my mind, he started to explain "If the people of this town found out that you were a princess of one of the kingdom, for sure this would become trouble for you since you must hide your identity from the man who attacked your kingdom"

He has a point, I might put not only myself but the other people in this town in danger if I continued walking around with the name of a princess.

"Is Veronica will do?" I asked. I chose this name not because it was quite close to my true name, of course, I have a great reason for it "Veronica is the name of my late mother; the queen of Maysiah... you see, my mother is a kind woman I've always wanted to be like her that's why..." while looking downwards, my vision became blurry as if something was covering my eyes, what was this? water? but there's no way it's raining, not to mention we were inside of a house.

I felt a hand on top of my head, gently stroking my hair. Mister Robert was looking at me with a smile on his face and it felt relieving. I don't know why but he gave me a comfortable aura, just like an aura of my father when I was a child.

"It's okay, Veronica... it's suits you well..."