It really is her. Princess Sierra, right in front of me. She seems to be the same age as I am. And as I get a good look at her, she is absolutely beautiful. With her long golden hair and ocean blue eyes. I can already tell that she'll grow even more beautiful as she gets older. The sight of her makes my skin heat and my mind whirring. The men were right.
"I apologise for nearly running you over," the princess states with a dignified and confident tone as she steps out of the carriage and approaches me.
Her approach catches me off guard and I stare into her ocean blue eyes. And they were so beautiful. "I-it's fine, I'm n-not hurt."
"That's relieving to hear, but why do you sound nervous?" she asks with what I think is a little annoyance as she leans closer.
As she does so, my mind goes foggy and I slightly stumble as Robert and the men keep me steady.
Her brow furrows further in annoyance after seeing me stumble. "Are you really alright?"
I try to stand straight and raise my arms to assure her everything's okay. "Y-yes I'm fine, really."
She offers no other response than a nod and heads towards her carriage.
As I watch her leave, I think I have a dumb smile on my face. Captain Robert seems to see it too and has a look of pity which annoys me. However, my happiness is too much that I'll let it slide.
It seems to end however when another horse trots in front of me. And the rider aims a sword at me."Stop looking at Princess Sierra with those lecherous eyes!"
The shout was so loud it seems Sierra heard it as well since she stopped.
Anger flares inside me and I look at the rider, expecting that dead man to be one of Sierra's horsemen.
This, however was not one of them. He looks two years older than me. He seems to have brown hair neatly combed as well as brown eyes staring daggers at me he looks to be bigger and taller. In addition to that, he possess a sigil representing a blue eagle with two swords over a dead red dragon. This sight makes my blood boil since I know that symbol very well. The Empire of Tollen.
They have been our enemies ever since our last war almost 300 years ago when Lumiere was on the day it was celebrating its inevitable declaration of becoming an empire. There, Tollen convinced the other kingdoms of Lumiere's threat and they all attacked us at the same time. We were never prepared for an attack on that day so they crossed through our borders very quickly. After seven years of continuous war, we eventually surrendered since they were almost at our capital. Fortunately, we managed to damage them to the point that they couldn't take over Lumiere. And hence, we're still here yet drastically weaker compared to those times and since then, Lumiere has not recovered while they went on to become an empire and the most powerful country on this continent.
The irony.
I glare at the rider. "You should watch your mouth Tollenisi."
"YOU should watch what you say dog. Disrespecting the crown prince like that," shouts a horseman arriving on the scene and aims a sword at me as well.
I hold my sword's hilt but keep it at my side when I hear his rank. "Crown prince?"
As I look, I also see another group of horsemen with the symbol of Tollen.
Robert and the men get their own swords and points them at the two. "Be careful in insulting the Lumieri second prince Tollenisi scum," Robert says in a low angry tone.
The other horsemen that have Tollen's symbol also raise their swords. Now it's turned into a tense situation. On one side I have forty well-trained men but we are too ill-equipped against a group of thirty heavy cavalry. And just by looking at them, they are elite guards like Sierra's horsemen but the aura they give out is far too... frightening.
Sierra's horsemen just stands back and watch the situation unfold as she looks on with calculating eyes.
In the midst of all this, I see the Tollenisi prince dismount and head to the front as he looks at me mockingly.
"A Lumieri prince? Ha!" the Tollenisi prince laughs out loud. "Then you are lower than dogs. You're dirt. And it seems you still don't have a flag after your last one was destroyed centuries ago!" he exclaims as he laughs along with his men.
Back then, when we were defeated, Tollen and its allies had Lumiere burn its former flags and forbade anyone from passing on what Lumiere's old flag looked like. The reason for that is unknown as they remained silent on the reason. And now, no one, not even the royal family knows of the image of the old Lumieri flag. Or at least, that seems to be the case. And because of that, any sense of nationalism the Lumieri had was gone, making the other territories secede from us as time went on. If it weren't for my grandfather and father, Lumiere would've probably collapsed altogether, making this land into a huge battleground between cities vying for domination.
"You may think that, but your empire is just composed of cowards, including you." I say with bitterness and I notice that more and more people are crowding around us.
His face then turns into a look of someone insulted as well as enraged. "Oh? Do tell why?" Looks like I hit a nerve.
"You knew you couldn't beat us back then, so you asked for help from the other kingdoms. Your empire was built on cowardice. And its citizens are pathetic cowards. " I say in an insulting tone.
Rage finally seems to get to him as he dismounts from his horse and looks at me straight in the eye. "You've got a big mouth for someone younger and smaller than me dirt."
I raise my sword and aim it at him. "I'm more than just a big mouth and let me show it to you."
He is about to charge at me when Sierra suddenly shouts. "Hugh!"
Hugh huh, guess that's his name. And it seems after Sierra shouted he's actually cooled down.
Hugh looks around him and sees the standoff between his guards and mine, as well as several of Vellia's soldiers slowly pouring in.
He sheathes his sword and faces me again with a scowl. "You're lucky Sierra saved you dirt. But next time you do this to me, I'll make sure you won't do it a third time."
He proceeds to leave with his men but glares at me before doing so.
I have a mocking look to counter the glare. "I'd like to see you try."
As I sheathe my sword, Sierra comes to me with a neutral expression and I can't seem to tell if she's annoyed again or otherwise.
"That was impressive. I never saw anyone willing to stand up to Hugh before," she says in what I perceive is a genuine way.
I feel myself getting hotter but I manage to speak. "T-thanks, I just thoug-"
"And that was also stupid," she says in interruption to what I was going to say.
"W-what?" I asked with shock. I thought she was complimenting me.
"Like I said, it was also stupid doing that to Hugh. He means what he says, you should watch yourself around him," She says in calm tone that I think has no amount of concern.
"O-okay, I guess..." I reply as I look down.
"Good." She nods. "And make sure not to start a fight the next time we meet uh... what's your name?"
"Oh," I immediately realize afterwards that I never introduced myself which furthers my embarrassment. "I'm sorry, my name's Leo, Leo Sanloren."
"Alright, nice to meet you Prince Leo, I'm Sierra Missel, crown princess of Cistan, though I suppose you already know that right?" she asks as if it was normal to know her.
"I er... Y-yes." I reply nervously not really knowing what to respond to at least make her smile at me.
"Then I'll best be leaving Prince Leo." She says as she proceeds to her carriage.
"Uh... J-just Leo," I blurt out not really thinking what I'm doing.
She turns to face me again. "Pardon?"
I muster a bit more courage to repeat what I just said. "Y-you can call me Leo."
"Very well then... Leo, I best be off. Farewell," she says with finality.
I watch as her carriage leaves and the smile I had before, returns. "She really is beautiful. Ehehehe." I mutter to myself.
Soon, Captain Robert approaches and clears his throat. "Sir."
I immediately snap out of my trance and look at him with a smile. "Yes? What is it Captain?"
"We've talked to the Vellian soldiers, we're permitted to leave without talking to the lord. They've understood that it was a misunderstanding," he states and looks at the Vellian soldiers with a glare and they look away in fear. "And the supplies are loaded sir, we best leave while we still have daylight." He states pointing to the men preparing to saddle up.
I nod at him. "Very good Captain, then let us be off."
"Yes sir," he agrees and goes to his horse.
As I walk back to my horse, I turn and look at the road where Sierra's carriage passed through.
"I hope I can see her again." I mutter to myself.
"Sir," Robert calls as he trots his horse next to me.
"I'm coming," I reply as I saddle up and we head towards Ravage Rock.