"I want the spring collective gone and I want them gone Now!"
the entire room echoed,my fathers roaring voice around the table we sat at.
every day, at 12pm, I sat in the same fancy chair every time for lunch with my family, in the same huge dining room filled with rich statues and paintings.
"Don't get mad for nothing.. it might not be the springs that stole the weapons.." My mother spoke softly.
I never understood how they held their marriage this long, everyone knows they're both complete different people. Even though the marriage was arranged, I would have thought mother would have ran away from him.
Mother came from the Summer collective, thats why she's sweet and loving. Father gets the cold heart from of course, the Winter collective.
thats how we do marriages between the four collectives.
the fall collectives King or Queen marry's someone from the Spring Collective.
the Winter King or Queen marry's the king or queen from Summer collective.
As father expressed, We don't associate with the springs.
we haven't for a while.
I was 6 when the two Collective's separated their trust and friendship.
Father used to be best friends with the Spring's King, childhood best friends.
Hwang Juno, the King of Spring, was in love with my mother, but he knew that it would be my father who would marry her.
my father promised to let him be with the love of his life.
but.. we are from winter collective, our top priority is Money and Power over our kingdom.
a war set loose between the two collectives and we never associated with them since.
all because of love.
growing up as the princess, I had more responsibilities, my father always reminds me of my marriage that will happen when all four kingdoms agree to it.
I usually ignore his speech about it or walk away with my eyes rolling above my head.
its good enough I get to wear a silver shiny crown, why would I need a man to stand next to me when I am the loyal ruler for Winter?
"If I find proof of what the kingdom is saying, I will blow their entire castle in bits."
Even though he sounds, and is described horrifying, he still has a place in my heart.
he taught me how to hunt, helped me find my signature weapon, the bow and arrow. He is my father after all.
"Let some of the hunters sneak in and check if they stole them or not." I shrug and eat a spoonful of soup the maid had cooked for us.
"absolutely not!" My mother spoke loudly.
"it's too dangerous, we can't just lose hunters for stupid reasons." she glared at me as she denied my idea.
of course she denied it because I am apart of the hunters, she's very protective with me.
ever since my father taught me to hunt, I dreamed of being in the huntsman group. a few years ago the kingdom agreed and my father promised that when I turn 20,I control the huntsman as the leader.
"i'm not a child mother, I am the leading queen of the winter collective, we can't just keep fading my ideas away in the wind." I talked back, seeing her face redden of anger towards me.
"Non sense, of course we listen to your ideas as the Princess.. but your mother is right, we cant lose hunters over them.." my father looked at me with a 'stop' look as he discreetly nudged his head towards mother whose head was looking down at her plate.
he shook his head and I sigh, nodding my head and kept eating.
"I didn't mean to anger you mother." I lowered my voice and kept my eyes down at the floor in defeat.
"It's alright Luna" she responds and takes a deep breath.
"What are you doing today?" She smiles at me.
"I think Avalon and I will go hunting later.. Just at the fall border."
I explain.
the four Kingdoms are separated, walls separating us all.
No common villagers have contact with anyone from another collective.
only royalty have that right,to be able to make decisions and the marriages.
"I can, go right?" I ask mother as she nods her head like usual.
"As long as you're careful in the woods." My father adds with a serious look.
"Of course" I say formally.
"May I be excused?" I ask, my hands holding my weight as I waited till my father nodded his head, signalling that I could go outside in the village for the rest of the day.
he nodded his head, just as I walked out of the large room and down the spiral stairs to the main doors where two guards wearing silver armour opened them for me.
on a table next to the door was my gloves and bow and arrow I attached on my back.
I placed the black leather gloves on my hands, since we were in the Winter, it snowed almost everyday with cold air.
"Good day Luna." The guard on the left side greeted me politely.
obviously they are supposed to call me Princess or your highness, but I hate that term. So the guards and maidens call me by my name when my parents aren't around, they would banish them from our kingdom simply because its
'Not appropriate for royalty'
or something in those lines.
I smile, nod my head and walked outside, the cold air immediately hitting my body, I could already feel my nose freezing.
surprisingly it wasn't snowing, the sun was out, shining brightly. you could see the snow melting with puddles of water on the pave road leading down to the village just over the bridge.
"Luna!" I hear a familiar voice shout my name as I immediately notice Avalon Standing at the hunters cabin with her brown leather bag on her shoulders.
"hey." I reply and walk towards her.
"you're not wearing your crown your majesty" She gave a false Shocked reaction as I hit her shoulder as she bursts out laughing.
"I don't want to lose it." I shrug with my chin up, obviously lying.
She knew me all too well, I would rather burn that crown than wear it.
although it was stunning.
"Were are we going today?" her voice became casual again as she picked up her side bow.
"The spring border." I say grabbing a bag of arrows that was attached to the wall.
"what?! we aren't allowed near there Luna.. its dangerous." She looked at me horrified as I eye at her annoyed.
" There's a wall.. besides everyone knows all the animals go there, Its the perfect hunting spot." I attempt to convince her.
she sighed and blinked her eyes a few times.
"come on, I haven't been there in years.." I add
"Alright fine.. but lets go there quickly, my father will kill me if he finds out.." She said as I clapped my hands together relieved that she agreed.
I looked behind the giant structure I called home, seeing the wall separating the winter and Spring collectives.
I could see their pink blossomed trees from here faintly.
but I prefer my snow filled trees.
"alright, lets go before I change my mind." she sighed and we made our way discreetly towards the northern wall.