The Beginning

Resting magnificently on a hill, the Royal castle oversees the beautiful city capital of Dignor, Kingsland. The City was bustling with activities, the smiles on the faces of the citizens especially Merchants expressed a clear message, profit and prosperity.

Dignor is widely known for its magic and renowned powerful cultivators, prestige, military prowess, significant economic growth and most of all, Peace.

Since the onset of King Rufus the Third, Dignor changed from being a war-torn country to being a stabilized and prosperous nation, war became a thing of the past, conflicts were easily resolved without it escalating to something else.

Putting it in shorter words, Dignor was peaceful all around.

Within the Royal castle walls, the sights of a young girl-child running unchecked with either a wooden sword and shield or a wooden Lance in her hands was no longer a new thing.

This child was Yenefa, King Rufus first daughter.

She was the talk of the day, literally every day. Not all the talks and gossips were nice remarks, for the king's daughter to act almost like a boy wasn't normal. Each time she ran past, the maidservants would whisper and gossip.

"Why would a girl be so overactive and doing things a boy should do?" One of the servants asked in a hushed tone. "Not even Prince Henry does this."

"Maybe it's a curse. She could be a boy in a girl's body." Another maid replied, chuckling. The others joined her in laughter.

"Curse? I don't think so, probably her mother was like that before she married the King."

"Don't you all have duties to attend to?" A calm but yet a stern voice sounded from behind them.

"Your Majesty!?"

The maidservants jumped in shock and fear, realising that the Queen had heard their discussion all along.

"Very sincere apologies, Your Majesty. We..."

"Silence! Get out of my sight and to your duties before I have you hanged!" The Queen's voice boomed.

The Maids without a word, scattered to their respective duties with fear of incurring the Queen's wrath.

Watching the Maids run off, her stern face softened, becoming very sober. Viewing it honestly, the maids were undoubtedly very correct.

Her daughter behaved and acted out of the way a normal princess should.

Women are not supposed to have anything to do with cultivation or swordsmanship especially as a royal. Even being a mage would require a lot of backup from a noble family.

But if that way of life would make her daughter happy, she will do anything to keep it that way.

********

12 years had passed.

" Your highness? Your highness?" Yenefa's personal maid, Eva, repeatedly called out to her from behind. Yenefa had been staring vacantly at the mirror for more than 30 minutes, unmoving.

Eva moved forward and tapped gently on her shoulder, jolting Yenefa back to reality.

"Em... Yes??" Yenefa turned to face Eva.

"It is already time for the ball, I wanted to make sure you're ready." Eva gave her a calm, soothing smile.

Yenefa faced the mirror again.

"I am not ready." Her voice sounded gloomy and irritated.

"Your highness, you have to be. Many are waiting for you at the throne room. Today is the best day of your life." Eva reassured Yenefa.

She had been with Yenefa right from birth up till today. Yenefa was like a open book to her.

"Tch. I wish it was. Today is obviously one of the worst days of my life." Yenefa grumbled, resting her chin on her arm placed on the dressing table.

Eva laughed lightly and came closer, embracing Yenefa from behind. She no longer spoke like a maid to her mistress, she spoke like a coaxing elder sister to her younger one.

"I understand how you feel. Sometimes, we don't have choices in most cases of life. But Destiny has its way of working things out for us all. We can't go against destiny, or else we will bring dire calamities on ourselves."

Yenefa stared at Eva through her reflection on the mirror. "But I don't want any of this, I want to be a warrior, one of the most powerful female cultivator in Dignor and beyond not some sort of political pawn."

Yenefa's eyes brimmed with tears, pain and anger flashed in those blue icy eyes.

"That's quite a big ambition. Like I said, destiny will have its way, don't worry too much about it. You will eventually get what you want when the time comes." Eva poked Yenefa's nose, making her giggle. " Now, let's get you dressed for the ball. Make them drool."

Yenefa got dressed with Eva's help and then headed to the ball with Eva following closely behind her. Yenefa soon reached the doors of the throne room, sudden fear and uneasiness enveloped her, making her stop in her tracks.

She was afraid of going in there.