Her eyelids felt heavy. The moment she became conscious, the tingling pain of a sore neck numbed her mind. The surrounding noises were incoherent, mashed together in an annoying buzz that rattled the ear. A severe sense of dizziness assaulted her head that felt like it had been split apart. As she took in a deep breath, the heavy smell of burning wood almost choked her nose, and with a flinch, Lena woke up.

'...where am I?'

The very first thing that came into view was the rocky wall, cold and hard, which served as a screen for the jiggling shadows upon it. The crackle of the campfire and the rhythmic plop! of water droplets stood out as the only distinctive sounds once the incoherent buzz had cleared out.

'...A cave??...But why??'

Her thoughts were muddled. Everything seemed so out of place and random that she had trouble sorting up her memories.

"...Princess?" a familiar voice grabbed the girl's attention, and the caring, tender tone felt relaxing, but, only for a moment.

'...Princess?...Who, me?...No, no, That can't be. After all, I'm.....!!'

Then it hit. Bombarding her mind like the periodic waves that thrash onto the shore, the memories, the events, all got tidied up in an instant, and Lena was jolted awake with restlessness. Her breathing appeared erratic, she panted hard with her eyes widened, gasping for breath as if she had a nightmare. Sweat glistened atop her forehead, a few disheveled bangs of hair sticking onto it.

The expression of anxiety, confusion, and uneasiness had adorned her beautiful doll like visage. As she sat up beside the shimmering flames, Lena eyed the audience that silently observed her condition, each one showing different reactions.

Granos beside displayed a face laced with worry, a tinge of guilt hidden within his eyes. Reginalt who sat opposite, although had his head turned to the side most of the time, occasionally stole glances at the pallid girl that were mixed with similar emotion. The most attention seeking person in the cave, Cradel, astonishingly displayed the most intense face of concern. It felt like he was barely restraining himself from rushing over towards the confused girl.

Serina being the least to care about Lena's condition, mostly glanced at her leader with a dumbfounded face that felt like she had been maintaining for quite a while now. When glancing at the other side, she simply ignored the haggard child with a look of slight contempt.

"Gra-Grandpa, why are we here?" Lena asked with a face of perplexion.

"Princess..." Granos responded with a solemn tone as he averted his eyes.

"T-Tell me, Why are we here? Who are these people?... Wh-Why was I knocked out!" the girl spoke in one breath, her voice raising a notch with each question. In truth, she had already known all of the answers, just didn't choose to believe it.

"Princess, calm down. I will--"

"No!" Lena screamed, hopping up onto her feet. "I won't calm down! Tell me! What are we doing here! Why aren't we in the village! Tell me everything, this is an order!!"

As she flailed her arms like a child, Lena's atmosphere turned different towards the end of her sentence that surprised the party of adventurers. Cradel's pupils had dilated as a consequence, although it was for a moment, but the aura the girl excluded an aura that seemed majestic and mystifying.

"..." Granos' atmosphere had turned equally submissive as he bowed down in silence.

"No...", Lena's physique trembled and colour drained away from her visage. "No, no, you are lying...right?", she asked with a meek whisper and seeing as the old man still didn't face her in the eye...

swish!

....she dashed away from the cavern.

"Le-Princess!!" Granos shouted, getting up to his feet.

"Stop...ah, um...Girl!" Cradel appeared confused as he similarly stood up.

"hah, what a pain!" Serina spat out a sigh before giving a casual chase.

As the trio proceeded to turn around the cavern paths, shrill screams of the girl had already made its way over.

"Unhand me! Let me go!"

On reaching the area at the cave entrance, a giant Tigre had already caught the frantic Lena by her shoulders while the girl thrashed and hurled around. A rare fluster adorned the young man's face as he seemingly could not decide what action to take.

"Leet mee go! argh!" with an abrupt moan of pain, Tigre loosened his grip so as not to hurt the girl, and just then, Lena slipped past the tall man, dashing into the wall.

schiiing!

Even though she had sensed the wall to be a form of magical entrance considering the man who stood guard right beside, the girl had still braced herself for a sturdy impact out of reflex.

thud!

"ehhgh!"

Passing through the wall as if it was thin air, Lena crashed down atop the hard ground on exiting the cave. Dust smeared all over her face, sticking onto the forehead and the tear stained cheeks, a bloody bruise forming upon her bare knees.

"Princess!"

Lena ignored the worried shout from behind as she glanced ahead for a moment, and her eyes went shut. The bright morning sun rays pierced through with a bright gleam and it took a few seconds for the agitated child to adapt her eyes, that had become used to the dark.

Picking herself up with a few stumbles, the girl had sprinted for another few steps before her legs abruptly slowed down.

"eh..."

As her gaze landed far and high up in the sky, Lena's body froze as she remained rooted to the spot. Her pupils constricted to dots and her skin atop the face went deathly pale. A second later the girl's body convulsed with a spasm before she plopped down to the ground.

"Princess!"

The rest of the party that had darted out in that instance, positioned themselves behind the collapsed child as they similarly gazed into the horizon. A massive trail of jet black smoke stood out like a sore thumb within the bright azure sky. Although it looked like a minuscule stream in their eyes, the party exactly knew what the billowing smoke conveyed at this distance.

Granos stared ahead with a transfixed gaze, his thoughts complicated and unknown. Both Serina and Reginalt held bitter expressions meanwhile as they hatefully glared at the old man. Cradel hadn't shifted his eyes over from the collapsed girl for a second ever since he had arrived and Tigre, well, nothing that seemed discernable.

"....*sob* *sob*...", Lena cried like a baby. The entire situation seemed so surreal that she had trouble distinguishing reality. Maybe everything is just a dream after all.

For a few minutes, the scene remained silent with only the whimpers of the sobbing girl echoing under the rocky cliff, while the rest stared among themselves, conversing through their eyes.

"Why...", an unusual deep growl grabbed the parties attention as Lena turned with her eyes narrowed to slits.

Granos had been prepared for an explosive outburst since the beginning and were just about to speak up, but he stood stunned at the next moment, including the rest of the party as Lena dashed towards Cradel, latching onto his robes instead.

"Why didn't you save them!" a shrill scream escaped the girl's mouth that almost flinched the flustered wizard.

"You people are adventurers right!? You are supposed to help people, right!?"

Cradel eyed the teary, messed up, and desperate visage of Lena that stung like needles with a foolish gaze, and could only nod out of reflex.

"Then why!?"

For Lena, the unnamed village held much more value than just any temporary cover. For the first time in life, she had felt a sense of belonging towards the settlement and its inhabitants. It was her home, one she would not hesitate to dwell in forever given the opportunity. But the girl knew such a thing was impossible and had been always prepared at heart for a sudden departure.

However, never could she have imagined that the awaited event would dawn upon in such a heartless manner and that she would become the very reason for the innocent folks to bid farewell to this world. It made for a pang of guilt so heavy that Lena felt as if a permanent wedge had placed itself in her mind and she had to bear it for the rest of her life.

Just how tragic was their end? The playful voices of those kids, the men's comic and drunk banter, the housewives long and ever diverging gossip, the elders boring and lazy stories, none of that will ever grace this land again. And how about Beti, who was almost a sworn sibling. Had...Had she also breathed her last? What about the sweet Lora who would always cling to her, calling 'pretty sister'? Did even such a pure child...? And then...then...what about him?

'What if...What if they knew that I was the ...!?'

Lena trembled. Her hands that had clutched the wizard's robe suddenly wrapped around her shivering body as if subjected to bone-chilling cold. The girl could suddenly hear voices. Guttural voices of extreme hate.

A picturesque image of the villagers filled her vision, their appearances bloody and ghastly. Some had severed limbs while some had bludgeoned heads, some had torn faces while some had gaping holes. Their eyes spit flames of agony and wrath. Their hurtful sentences condemning the perpetrator like a murderous criminal. Even the innocent children cursed out with ear-bleeding words, including the ghastly images of Beti, Lora, and Legas.

"Ah AH AHHHHHH!!" Lena screamed at the top of her lungs as her mentality started going haywire.

Cradel had been agitated the entire time he was bombarded with questions and just like the other two, he had started glaring at Granos with a comical shift in attitude. Serina had a bitter frown at the girl clinging onto the wizard and was just about to snatch her away when she backed off at Lena's sudden seizure.

"Princess!", Granos rushed over in an instant, clasping onto the girl's shoulder with a face of concern.

"Wh-What happened!" the wizard appeared even more worried, his awkward hands hovering atop the girl, not sure if it was okay to touch her.

"Princess! Hold yourself!"

Lena's eyes had gone dark and her face shimmered with a deathly pallid glow. She appeared terrified, mumbling incoherent apologies like a broken record as she clutched her head.

A trauma. That's what had taken root within the girl's mind and Granos who had sensed the same got flustered all of a sudden. He knew something was needed to be done fast, lest the girl turns into a mental patient forever. Deciding within a split second, the old man raised his wrinkly hand and...

phat!

A resounding slap jolted awake the trembling Lena, pulling her mind back from the brink of a breakdown. The villagers' dreary image instantly shattered in her eyes and the burning pain in the cheeks served as a guideline to distinguish reality.

"Master Augrey what are you doing!" the wizard sounded furious at the old man's actions but Granos ignored him.

"Princess, I understand how you feel at the moment, but you have to stay strong," he spoke in a very heavy voice. "This is a very critical junction, and these people here have risked their lives getting involved in this matter. All for the sake of your safety. So you have to----"

"I won't," Lena interrupted. Her downcast eyes were hidden under the long bangs of hair, making it impossible to read her face.

"I never asked for it, did I?" the girl's voice came out in a stutter, taking occasional sobbing breaths in between. "It is you who has been forcing everything. You who has been deciding everything. I never wanted to be a princess!"

"Mother died before I could see her!" Cradel and Reginalt abruptly flinched at the words. "Father abandoned me before I could remember him! They were the only ones I had, as a family! *sob* *sob*..."

"If you wanted to live, you could have escaped yourself!" Lena grit her teeth hard enough to shatter. "I should have stayed with them till the end! I should have faced those bandits! I should have-----"

phat!

"Master Augrey!" Cradel had almost rushed over in anger but was halted in his tracks by a solemn Reginalt.

The first slap was a desperate measure to wake up the girl. However the second, one was straight out of anger.

Lena stared in shock at the old man's face of fury, an expression she had never experienced, an expression that stabbed deep in the heart. But Granos' next action shocked the spectators even more as he groveled down, touching his forehead to the rocky soil.

"I..I deeply apologize for the hardships you faced for these years. "

"N-No, It's not..." Lena realized her mistake in this instance. In truth, she had not been alone for all this time. Someone had faced the difficulties of raising her as a child, someone who hadn't abandoned her under any situation, someone who had been protecting her from unknown foes ever since.

Granos was no different than a father having parented the girl since her birth. Even though he had insisted on maintaining a master-servant relationship in private, Lena herself had refused such a notion, fondly addressing the man as 'grandfather'. Seeing as that same old man had kowtowed to her for an apology, she couldn't bear it. The girl's raging thoughts calmed down in an instant and her agitated head cooled off.

"Once all of this is concluded, and your safety has been guaranteed, Princess can punish me as you see fit. You can burn me at a stake, or get me hacked to pieces, I am willing to pursue it without hesitation. But princess please, please don't let your emotions cloud your mind, at least not now."

"I don't understand..." Lena said in confusion. "G-Grandpa had also lived among them. You knew them much better than I do, you sang for them, entertained them. You practiced hard as a bard to make them happy. Was it all just for the sake of a ruse?"

"No..." replied Granos. "But sometimes, people have to take stern decisions within the crossroads of destiny. Princess knows, just how big of a plot has been hatched against your family, and the sheer stakes that are put at hand in this situation. You know very well about the events of the current, and the past.

"Just imagine, what sort of atrocities people have to face when 'they' grasp all of the power. They, who don't mind murdering a few hundred innocents to mask their selfish interests. As your father's humble servant, I chose to protect the county's future. That is all," the old man ended the speech on a rigid note, to which Serina's gaze turned into one of absolute disgust, although she didn't voice anything.

Lena simply stood rooted to the ground, her heart drowned in a dilemma. Even if she could understand the logic behind these actions, she found them flawed out of emotions.

"Girl..." Reginalt broke the heavy silence as he clasped one hand atop the girl's shoulders. "Even if you may hate it, you are born into a seat of responsibility. It is a good thing that you feel pained by them villager's demise, but if you simply run away at this moment, that is when you will truly deserve their hate."

"!!!!"

"At times you may have to compromise with conditions you don't like, but if you hold enough power, you can overturn any such situation. Remember, not everyone is fortunate enough to hold such an advantage and have to bitterly endure for throughout their lives," Reginalt eyed the wizard beside for a second with a face of remorse.

"But you are different. If you want to make up for this sacrifice, then as a member of the sacred hero's bloodline, you must be determined to work for the betterment of the living. Holding the reins of prosperity, you have to endure, you have to fight, so that be it a similar village in some distant outskirts or somewhere within a bustling metropolis, the people will remain happy."

Reginalt's words struck like thunder atop the girl's mind as a familiar face flashed forth within her memories.

'To bring a smile onto their faces.....'

Yes, that's right. She had witnessed the selfless atmosphere that had existed around the settlement. She also personally knew a couple of kids around her age, who despite facing hardships and difficulties at every instance, carried on with their respective duties without having voiced a single complaint.

Lena's gaze lingered atop the groveling Granos for a second before she eyed the billowing stream of smoke on the horizon. A resplendent gleam of resolve glowed within the girl's eyes that seemed to have matured within a fraction of moments.

"Very well then...", Lena sucked in a deep breath, an intense majestic presence oozing out from within her frail physique. " I, Ludmillevienna de Palaria, vow under the sacred witness of the five base elements and the four great attributes, that from henceforth, I shall dedicate my entire life...into the service of the living, following the footsteps of my ancestor, The First King Alistar, and shall not step back under any conditions. Given I fail to keep up this resolution, may the divine thunder purge my existence into nothingness!!"

CRACKLE!! RUMBLE!!

In that instance, an unusual golden bolt of lightning tore through the bright morning sky and the earth itself rumbled as if replying to the girl's words of resolve. A bright gleam of divine radiance pierced through a partition within the space, illuminating the flabbergasted royal princess like a spotlight.

And submerged within that, hidden below the girl's clothes, a bright jewel glowed with a powerful glisten that went unnoticed by the rest of the party, who were too busy watching the skies with an expression of shock.

A sacred vow, with the world itself as the witness, a phenomenon that many people would die to experience once in their lives. Not anyone could induce such a response from Eucleia. One had to be special, chosen by the wheels of fate to hold such power.

Cradel could sense it, the immense change in the flow of something within the atmosphere. As a powerful wizard well versed in the topics of the supernatural, it felt as if it was the currents of destiny that had experienced a major ripple, and that this event today would have a major impact in the future of this continent.

"Wh-What was that..." Serina asked with a face of stupefaction.

"It's a sacred vow," Cradel replied. "I'll explain later, but, let's switch locations first. That just now basically exposed us all to danger. Reginalt, Tigre, prepare to leave at once," the wizard spoke with agitation before approaching a smiling Granos, while the said duo rushed into the caves.

"The many reasons you put forth back then...were only a part, right?" Cradel asked as he stood beside the old man, glancing at the mystifying figure the girl with a glint of pride. "You wanted to shape her mentality into that of a ruler. I don't believe a man of your caliber couldn't find another way out of this situation."

"You overestimate me Lord Rosworth," Granos spoke with a wry grin. "As I said, I chose the future over the present."

"Hmph!" Serina snorted with contempt. "If the bastards instigating all of this are bad, then what makes you, who knew everything beforehand but still chose to ignore? A saint? With people like you in the presiding lot, I don't see any of the future you keep talking about," she averted her eyes from the old man as if not wanting to see his face anymore.

"Um, leader..." glancing at Cradel, the woman hinted at something, her eyes narrowing to slits like a viper.

"Hmm..." the wizard pondered for a moment. "If you go, it will be at your own risk. We can't come over to rescue, given you fall into trouble," he spoke with a stern face, suggesting he would not accept otherwise.

"Would you still..?"

"Yes," Serina replied without any hesitation.

"Very well, go..." Cradel sighed. "...and come back fast."

"Yes!" she exclaimed as a gleeful smile and flushed cheeks adorned the woman's beautiful face, and in the next moment...

shua!

she bolted away in a blur, disappearing into the forests.

"What is she...", Granos asked, perplexed.

"It's her personal matter. Master Augrey need not worry. Let's prepare to leave."

The old man didn't pry any further and the two ventured into the cave, leaving behind the solemn figure of the dazed girl. Lena who had her eyes glued to the stream of smoke in the distance, joint her hands as she offered a prayer to the deceased and,

"I'm sorry...", a final stream of tear rolled down her eyes.

The girl began her arduous journey of life, one where she shall remain as one of the centerpieces that would determine the very future of this world.