The Prince fell onto his butt and yelped in pain as he heaved every breath he could take, “can we take a rest now? You’ve been handing my butt to me since we started.”

“I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no,” said the shirtless commander as he stretched out his arm. The Prince noticed that despite this man's old age, he still has a pretty ripped and muscular body even though it doesn't show under the armor he always wore.

“Well I command you to stop,” the young prince stood up and rested his hands against his knees.

“I'm sorry but I did not hear any command, something was stuck inside my ear.”

“You can’t treat your prince like this.”

“And why not?” said the old knight with a single eyebrow raised.

“Because! You're supposed to protect me, not hurt me,” said the Prince with an arrogant smirk.

“Let me tell you something, my dear prince,” without any warning, the old knight swung his wooden sword, but thanks to the goddess, the Prince saw the incoming attack and dodge just at the right moment. “Always question the loyalty of your subject, not everyone has your best interest in their mind,” he swung his sword again at the Prince.

Once again the Prince blocked it with his wooden sword, “Ain't that a terrible way to live? Always, in a constant state of paranoia. Besides, people love me, am I wrong?”

“Love is subjective, and it’s my job to be paranoid, my prince. Or you wouldn’t be standing here with me,” he swung his wooden sword again, and the Prince blocked it with his, “and practicing sword skill might help you one day."

"Help with what? Chopping onions?"

"I'm serious, my weak prince."

"Weak? Ain't that a bit harsh, I am strong like an Ox," Victor said as he flexed what minuscule muscle he had.

"More like a puppy. Sarcasm aside, there will be a time when I can't protect you and when that time comes, I want you to be ready. Now, Block!" the commander yelled as he brought down his wooden weapon onto the Prince. Victor blocked it with all he got, but the sword slipped out of his hand and caused him to stumble a couple back then fall onto his butt.

"That attack is pretty unfair, ain't it? How in the hell do I block that, you're far stronger than me."

"Let me tell you a story, once upon a time, a rich noble got robbed. He dies. The end…"

"Boo, bad story, where's the drama, the tension, the damsel in distress?" the commander raised an eyebrow at the Prince and the kid replied with a half-smile.

The old knight sighed as he walked to the nearest table and leaned the wooden sword against it, "Life is unfair, my Prince." He grabbed an elongated item that was covered with old fabric off the table and turned to present the item at the Prince.

"You were lying about sending someone to approach the light, right?" said the Prince with a smirk, the old knight stopped for a few seconds and ignored whatever the boy just said.

"So what did you see?"

"It must be something really shocking that you would lie to the King about it."

"I saw a potential threat."

"What kind of threat?"

"A threat—that the kingdom has no way of fighting it."

"You still haven't told me what it is," asked the Prince, but the old night remained silent while his sight downcast at the item.

“Your father had these to protect himself during those tough years, and I hope it can do the same to you,” said the commander with a proud smile and melancholy gaze as he unwrapped the item and revealed a silver sword underneath it.

The Prince stood up with awe in his eyes, he took the sword by its black leather grip; the weight of it was unexpected, so Victor almost dropped it but managed to bring it up again. “It’s heavy,” he chuckled as his finger grazed against the steel blade, feeling every crevice of the fuller and smooth surface. The guard was v-shaped rather than the standard cross guard and the pommel itself, something was etched into it; a signet of a rabbit.

“It was your father, now. It is yours.”

“I-I can't accept this. What would I do with a sword anyway?”

“If you feel not worth being protected then, protect the people you care about.”

“But--” their emotional exchanges were disturbed when a knight came into the room and saluted the commander.

“I’ll have to go, we’ll continue tomorrow,” said the commander as he walked to a coat rack and grabbed his clothes before leaving Victor alone in the training room with the sword.

***

Time passes with no sign of stopping, Victor alone in the library was reading a book about exotic animals, his attention was kept getting bothered by the sword leaning against the wall near him. He sighed and closed the book while turned to face the frozen window beside him. Victor couldn’t focus on his reading, he kept thinking about the weight of responsibilities that were given to him; to have a sword mean, to grow up, putting childish things behind and rise to become a man.

Truth to be told, Victor doesn't think he is up for it.

“My Prince, are you feeling well, you seem troubled?” asked Maid Gabriella as she appeared out of nowhere.

“Gabriella? Where have you been all day?”

“Baking muffin,” said the maid with a bright smile on her face and a basket full of freshly baked muffins.

“Gabriella, before you work for the kingdom. When you were a child, did you ever think that your life was gonna end up here with me? In these constraint walls, serving my every whim, taking care of my every need, don't you want to be something more than a maid?”

“What are you talking about? Serving you has been a great honor and I wouldn't trade it for anything else,” laughed the maid as she found the question earlier funny.

Victor groaned as he placed the book down on the window sill, “I shouldn't ask you.”

“What is the matter, my prince?”

“You know, it shouldn't be the commander to give me this sword, to have the talk. It should have been my father! Where is he, huh? Too busy to spend time with his only son? I don't get it.”

The Prince grabbed a muffin and stuffed it in his mouth, “Wh-mm-hy I ne-mm-ed an sw-mm-ord any-mm-way?!” Said the Prince with the muffin filled inside his mouth.

“You know the King is very busy.”

Victor swallowed the muffin, “I know that, but what I am asking is a bit of his time, to chat, to train sword together perhaps? I’m not that bloody selfish, am I?” he looked at the maid and she looked away wishing to avoid answering the question.

“Ugh, great! Now my maid thinks I am a brat.”

“Not at all, My Prince,” said the maid as she wiped the crumbs off Victor's cheek, “I think that you are adorable. Wait here while I grab you a cup of tea.” Gabriella left the basket of muffins on the table and left the library; leaving Victor all alone again.

Victor warmed up his cheeks and looked out of the window once more; weirdly noticed that there is an unusual number of guards at the entrance of the dungeon, it shouldn't be that many and that when a thought crossed his mind. The girl. He had forgotten about the mysterious girl, so that’s where they have been keeping her. Victor wanted to see her, but he doubts the men down there would let him.

Luckily, but unfortunate to them, their Prince is an expert in getting into places that he is not supposed to, via secret ‘passages’. Victor grabbed a muffin and headed to the history section of the library. At the end of the section, stood a bookshelf attached to the wall, he ran his finger on each of the books and found a book about his grandmother, he slid it out and reached deep into the newly made opening until he arrived at the back of the bookshelf and felt a knob behind it. Twisting it causes the bookshelf to jerk forward a little, creating a slight jar crevice behind it. He pulled the bookshelf open and entered the dark passage behind it after he closed the bookshelf behind him.

Descend the damp tight corridors and the freezing staircase. Down there, it's dark, darker than anyone could imagine because there's no source of light in those secret passages. However, Victor had memorized every route he had taken in those maze-like paths, he even hidden a lantern in one of those corridors. Using a piece of flint beside it, he lights it up and let the darkness be banished--well at least, a couple of feet away.

The dim light waves across the slimy passageway, and brightened the mossy wall and ceiling. Common people would be afraid to traverse in the creepy corridors, but not Victor, he found it exciting, almost like an adventure. After a while, he reached it, with a single push the wall moved and to his luck, the end of the hallways is the cell he's looking for.

His heartbeat grows louder by the second as he slowly walks down the hallway. He asked himself, 'Why now? Why is he so nervous but at the same time afraid of what beast lies behind those bars'. That thing is behind a secure cell so his fear is nonsensical right now.

So what could it be?

Pearlescent skin almost seems unnatural; long white hair that reached her knee, straight and untamed by the sunlight, and the warmth emanating her from her caught Victor off guard. It can be felt even from a few feet from the cell and it’s unnatural because it felt alive, yes, the warmth felt alive; it kept pushing and retreating almost like it was breathing.

The closer he gets, the bigger his half-smile gets.

When he arrived and cleared his throat, a quiet moan could be heard coming from the girl. She wiped her nose while yawning as hard as she can then slowly blinked her eyes open. At that moment, Victor was at awe toward the girl. It’s a pretty common saying that the eyes are the window to his or her soul, but what are those eyes are a window too? Because there is nothing but pitch black in her eyes, no pupil, only balls of black.

Yet. Victor took a step closer to get a better look and that when he saw it; the night itself filled with glimmering stars.

The girl crawled up to him with her big eye on the boy, curious about the creature standing before her. Victor extended his hand slowly, however, his expectation was diminished when the girl’s attention was pulled away by the freezing floor beneath her. He was curious about what was so interesting that the girl had to ignore the living person in front of him and when he crouched down he saw it; a seedling, between the brick floors.

The more closely Victor gazes at the girl, the more curious he gets when she starts to blow her breath against the seedling. From a seedling to a full-grown flower in a matter of seconds, a glowing flower is also known as; “Ipomoea alba, Moonflower.” Only known to grow in a tropical region, so this is the first time he saw it.

Victor tried to get closer and finally realized the metal bars. In her cell were voids of basic needs, no bed, food, or even a toilet. Even if the girl herself is naked, he knows that she emanated warm, and warm clothes don't make sense on her, but she is naked for goodness sake and he doubts the other would be so kind to treat her with respect.

He had decided that he needed to free her, “Just you wait, I'm going to get you outta here.” Scurrying around the hallway, he found an old wood just long enough and a brick height enough for his grand plan. Victor wedged the wood between the bottom of the bars and used the brick as fulcrum underneath the wood.

“Stay back!” The girl looked at him confused, Victor facepalms his forehead, the girl probably doesn't understand what he was trying to say so he tried gesturing. At first, the girl was confused, but along the way, she understood the gesture and backed away from the bars.

“Let’s do this!” With a single jump, the wood lifted the cell door out of its hinges and let it fall on the other side. The noise shuddered the desolate hallway, Victor heard the commotion from upstairs where the guards should be and quickly gestured to the girl to run with him and surprise, surprise, the girl doesn't know how to walk except for crawling. So he turned back and put both his hands under her soft body and lifted her facing the secret door at the end of the hallway.

He ran quickly and managed to enter the passageway along with closing the entrance behind him before the guards arrived. Victor looked upon the eternity of steps he had to take and sighed deeply before starting to climb the staircase.

“Please Gidona, have mercy on me.”

“I should have asked Gabriella to come with me.”

“Ugh, how high up is it?”

“A couple more.”

“One step at a time.”

He kept complaining and complaining along the way until he reached the top of the topmost tower of the castle. With heavy breathing and trembling legs, he glanced down and found the girl happily taking a nap in his arms. Without ever noticing a smile appeared as he laid his sight on her sleeping face and like magic, his fatigue was washed away instantly.

He takes a deep breath and goes through the frozen patio door. No matter how he saw it, this dome greenhouse always looked so depressing with its dead plants, dead dirt and dust all around. A sigh of disappointment escaped his lips as he made his way toward the sofa in the middle of the greenhouse. The girl lay on the sofa still sleeping, he scanned her body for any injuries and finally realized that she is naked; Victor’s cheek blushed as he took off his cape and covered the girl with it.

With a single look around the greenhouse, Victor decided to clean it, grabbing a broom; he started sweeping; due to his lack of knowledge in cleaning, the greenhouse’s air quickly filled up with dust. He coughed and coughed until he opened up a window and let the cloud of dust out. He checked on the girl and the girl seemed fine, unaffected by the dusty air.

It doesn't take a lot of time for the Prince to get tired again and when he looked around, his effort seemed pointless, barely anything had been cleaned except for a small area around the sofa. Victor groaned after letting go of the broom and lay on the dirty floor.

"Gabriella, how do you do it all day? Who knew that cleaning is hard work, my legs and hands are cramping out. I don't want to clean anymore. I want food. Oh, right the muffin!" He reached into his pocket and huffed in disappointment when he saw the squished delights.

Glancing to the right, Victor's body jolted in surprise when he saw the girl beside him with her focused dark eyes on him.

"Uhmm?"

When Victor traced the girl's gaze, he found out that it wasn't meant for him, she was looking at the squeezed muffin in his hand. He extended the muffin near her lips and the girl munched and almost bit Victor's finger before she took it off his hand.

Victor chuckled at the hungry girl, "I'll make sure to get you some more from Gabriella." His gaze passed the girl and onto a book underneath the sofa. Curiosity had him as he moved away from the girl and went for it.

Sliding it out, he blew the dust off the cover, the girl looked at him with wide eyes, "Huh, It's a book about animals and plants. I'm quite familiar with the author's work and this particular book is an outdated one. However, the best part about this book is its illustrations. Here let me show you," Victor opened a random page between the books and found a picture of an exotic animal.

“They called this animal, a black panther. It is different from our snow leopard, in color, and mostly the ability to live in different places. The snow leopard here can live in our frozen country while the black panther only lives in warm places like Ghanad and Yakawa.” Victor turned to the girl and finally remembered that the girl doesn't even understand what he said.

However, she got a pretty keen interest in the illustration as she stared deeply and ran her finger on the paper. Victor turned the next page, revealing two panthers leaning their heads against each other as a form of bonding.

“You like the picture--” the girl leaned her forehead against Victor’ and he was shocked to the core by the action that he froze in place.

Her scent was different than any scent he had smelled before, something fruity, something delight, he can't quite put it in place. Her breath was like molten lava that the moment it grazed him, his spine gave out. Never had he felt this way about anyone, the thumping of his heart, the sweating of his hand, and the grumbling of his stomach. Her eyes were closed the entire time, Victor’s gaze rested on those soft lips that he had to back away, interrupting the moment.

“I’m going downstairs to get you what you need, so wait here okay?” said Victor with a trembling voice, but the girl just tilted her head slightly.

“Don't worry no one gonna come here, no one knows about this place except for me. I will be right back.”

Victor burst through the door and was heaving as he tried to calm his turbulent heart.

“What happened? Why is my heart so loud and why...do I want to be by her side as soon as possible? What is wrong with me?” Victor chuckled as he made his way down the spiral staircase.