Real Story

...

Berry's story was true to some extent, but there were so many made-up tales added to it by his ancestors.

...

"You should stop now. You are supposed to be the role model for our empire; if you believe in such dark superstitions, what will happen to our countrymen?" The queen was fed up with the King now.

First, he made her move out of the palace to an isolated place, where she had to suffer even for daily necessities. She is not a greedy or luxury-loving person, but still, the problems she is going through don't even make sense. Why does she need to be away from the palace? It's not like the king was cheating on her. If it was so, then still she could still have tolerated her suffering, thinking of them as her fate.

It was still adjustable, but that was not the only reason for her anger. She just recently found out that the king was going crazy for eternal life. She tried to talk sense in him, but all in vain.

Now she understood the saying of never-ending greed. The king has everything one can ask for. He doesn't even need to bother about wars or strikes. When he ascended the throne, his empire was all happy. The king doesn't need to bring a frown on his forehead, thinking about the troubles of the court. It does seem too unreal, but it is true that he has got many loyal ministers in his court. He literally has everything one can ask for, but now he is running behind non-existent things.

"Who said that it is nonexistent? It is real, and I'll prove it to you." The king always just smiled and told her this. His smile was neither arrogant nor angry. He always had a gentle smile and a cool look in his eyes whenever he talked to the queen.

"But why do you want to be an immortal in the first place? If I had the power to make someone immortal, I would do it to someone I hate the most. Living a life with no end is not a joke. There must be a reason that god gave us limited time. You should understand it and accept it."

The king was the only person alive who can make the queen lose her cool. Anything did not bother her at all. She always had a calm tone while speaking. Even the king looked different from the other typical greedy kings. He was handsome and young, and he had a carefree look on his face all the time.

Neither did he give off a king-like superior feeling, nor did he have one, as villains do.

His eyes told a totally different story. A story of someone who just kept longing for love all his childhood and when he finally got it, he realized what death is. His childhood was so different. The only thing which got struck in his head was that he'll live with his wife forever. He will not let any of the people close to him ever die again.

...

6-year-old price,

"Son, you need to rule the world in the future. You can't waste your time playing. Go and study. It's time to study geography now."

'I don't want to rule the world.'

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10-year-old prince,

"Go with the general and take a look at how hardworking our army is and you can't even pick a sword up?"

...

12-year-old prince,

"You can't have a sibling. You don't understand it yet, but later you will thank us."

'I understand what you mean. I'll willingly give even my part of the country to my sibling. Please let me have someone around me."

...

13-year-old prince,

"Listen, son, today your father is going to have a battle with the county on our west. Pray to the god that he conquers it."

'But isn't the king of that country, father's older brother?'

...

16-year-old prince,

"Your father won another country. You are going to get a bigger responsibility in the future."

'What about my little cousins? Did you even kill them?'

...

18-year-old prince,

"Your father has worked hard to make our empire this big. Now it's your turn to do something. You need to marry the princess of the southern empire. If this happens, we'll be invincible."

"But I don't even know her."

"We are not asking you, we are telling you. Everything is set and your marriage is next week."

...

The prince had no other option. He had to marry her. But all this marriage changed was that they had one more member of the family. Prince still was the same, everything was the same. Neither the price nor the princess bothered about each other. The situation forced both of them into marriage and they both had little resentment toward each other. Just in a few months, the prince had his crowning ceremony. The former king still handled everything. The prince was now a king, but only of the name.

All he did the whole day long was look back on his past. He never saw his parents smiling gently at him. Whenever they smiled it was for a new conquer, even at that time they didn't have a satisfied smile, but it was more as if they were looking at the future expansion of the country.

Suddenly, everything changed one day. Both his parents died, and the imperial doctor said that it was because of a snake bite. Even the dead king was laughing at the lameness of this excuse, but the prince did nothing about further investigation. It was not like as if he cared about them in the first place.

He knows what is coming ahead. There is going to be a dispute in the court and he'll be thrown out of the palace, and for the worst, maybe he'll get killed tonight. The prince was thinking about it, sitting on the topmost stair of his study. Right after he came back from his parents' ending ceremony, he dismissed all the maids and servants. He was sitting there all alone, laughing at his past and his future. The prince was preparing himself for the things he was going to hear when he goes out. He was feeling peace inside, finally; the monsters died. No one else will have to die a meaningless death anymore.

He kept sitting there for the whole day. No one dared to enter. Almost at midnight, when the new king fall asleep sitting there, someone opened the door. The person made no noise and slowly tiptoed towards the king.

King was not sleeping. He felt something walking toward him. But it was so dark that he was unable to see anything, but this meant that the intruder was unable to see anything as well. King got up very silently, ready with the dagger he was carrying with him since morning.

He was listening carefully, just a slight noise and he'll attack.

"King, where are you? Hello? Speak up, at the very least, turn the lamp on. King!" It was definitely not a slight noise, it was more like the intruder talking casually with him.

King was caught off guard..., or maybe he was caught on guard. Who can be such a dumb murderer to wake his target before killing him? Moreover, it was a woman's voice.

"Oe, are you even alive?" The voice was coming toward him. King found this voice familiar but forgot where he heard it. " Is it my mom? No-no, that's impossible. She died just in the morning. Who's it then?"

He heard the footsteps now, still walking towards him. The voice was coming closer and closer now. He suddenly realized that there was a staircase in front of the owner of the voice. But it was too late now.

"Wa.aaa.." The person most probably lost her control. There was still no noise of falling down.

The king just held out his hand, thinking maybe she'll grab it. He just did it out of formality and randomly. But a hand really did grab his hand.

'What the heck? I am dead now.' Instead of saving the girl, he himself lost his balance and both of them rolled down the stairs. It was the first time the king realized how long the staircase was. When he finally landed down again, he realized he was alright.

"Are you the king? Are you ok?" The voice was still the same, with no signs of discomfort.

"Yeah, I am alright. What about you?

"Thanks to this royal dress, I used to hate it till now, but I guess it does have a use." She said and laughed a little. King laughed too. It was still dark.

"Wait, did you say royal dress? You are..."

"Thank god you asked me, I finally got to say my name. I am Marie. If you remember, then you have a wife in this palace."

Oh yes, I do have a wife. I almost forgot about her. He got up and searched for the candles for a while. He finally found them and lighted one.

He heard something. His wife got up and was coming toward him. He quickly finished lighting the rest of them and turned back to look at her wife. As soon as he turned around, both of them were scared to death and screamed together.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, it's you?"

"But why did you shout?"

"Look at yourself and you'll know."

They both spoke in sync till now, and now both of them were silently amazed by what happened.

"You should probably look in the mirror." The king said and busted out laughing. He laughed straight for an entire minute. Until he finally realized that he was getting death stares.

"Where is the mirror?"

The mirror was on the other side of the room. He held her hand and took her there. He was still trying hard not to laugh.

The queen looked in the mirror. Her hair was all messed up. Her hairpin was standing vertically behind her head. And her lip paint was all smudged on half of her face. She kept staring for a while, even the king got serious looking at her serious face.

"Is this ghost me? Did I die? Is this what ghosts look like?" She said and started laughing, even harder than the king. The king smiled at her reaction.

It was the first time in his life that he saw someone making fun of herself, more specifically someone from the royal family doing it. King remembered that the queen screamed as well earlier.

He looked at himself in the mirror. Everything was all right. He wasn't wearing any makeup, nor did he have any long hair. There was nothing wrong with his face at all.

"Why did you scream earlier? There is nothing wrong with my face."

"Do you need something else on your face to make it look scary?" She just blurted it out without thinking.