"Your Majesty"
"Luna…"
I turned my head around and saw Luna slowly walking over, using an Earth Dragon as support, so I stood up to help her. Luna went along with me and leaned into my arms. I held Luna in my arms, sat down and leaned on the sleeping Earth Dragon. I looked at the fire before me and s.p.a.ced out. Luna was wrapped up in a thick woollen blanket and curled up in my arms. She breathed softly and gripped my chest tightly with one hand.
"I had stopped caring about how my Guard Unit saw me. It was just as Lorana said. If we"re all in this together, a little bit of romance is nothing. I don"t care even if they do spot us together anymore."
"I was planning to maintain a master and servant relations.h.i.+p with Luna from now. Luna didn"t want to be like Nier and Lucia, either. She knew that she could never be together with me, given what her body was subjected to in the past. The agreement we had let us live peacefully for a long time, but all of that went with the wind, after I held her beautiful and weak body just now. I discovered a different feeling with Luna than with Nier and Lucia. I did it to save Luna, but then I couldn"t hold myself back from kissing Luna"s lips."
"Just how shameless am I?"
Luna"s condition showed immediate improvement as if her body rebooted its functioning. After her body began recovering, we looked into each other"s eyes. Luna then took the initiative to kiss my lips. While we were still sober, we stuck to each other, but not out of pity or necessity.
Our relations.h.i.+p finally crumbled in the end. I"m married. I have Nier and Lucia. I had Nier"s protective talisman on me, yet I tore down the wall between Luna and myself.
"How are we going to face each other from now? How am I going to face my wives? I don"t know."
"I can"t just leave Luna to die. If I do that, I"d be the same as those who messed with Luna in the past. But I can"t give Luna anything, either."
Luna is definitely aware of this, as well, but she definitely also understands my feelings.
"How many more times are we going to do this from now on, during this half-month we"re away from home? Is Luna going to go from my maid to my mistress? Nier and Lucia could never accept that. If Luna is gets busted, Nier will definitely kill her."
While in my arms, Luna rolled over and looked at the stars in the sky. She extended her hand out and tried to reach for the dark sky she couldn"t possibly reach. She waved her hand. She smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, did you know what I was thinking just now? I was thinking that if you were not the Orince, would our ending be more beautiful?"
"Your highness… if… if you were not… the Prince…… Perhaps… Perhaps… our ending… would have been better……"
That voice from the past pa.s.sed through time and broke through the wall I had put up to avoid recalling those memories to ring in my ear again. The flame reflected Luna"s face. Her face was still pale like my lover that had pa.s.sed away for some time. They were too similar. Everything was too similar. It was like I was in that moment again. It was just as when I tightly held Mera in my arms, the same as when Mera spoke those final words…
"If I didn"t have these things, if I wasn"t the Prince of either nation, would the people around me not get taken from me? If I wasn"t the elf-prince, Lucia wouldn"t have to travel so far, while she"s so weak. If I wasn"t the human prince, Nier wouldn"t have been locked up in a dark prison crying. If I wasn"t the prince, Mera wouldn"t have died. Those brave soldiers wouldn"t have had to die a decade ago and none of this would"ve happened."
"I now see that all of this misfortune is because of me. I"m tightly working hard futilely to make those around me happy, but they continue to meet with danger over and over because of me. I"m powerless to do anything. Everything I do just causes more people to die."
"Just what am I doing…? Why did I have to receive this body…? Just how many people… have I destroyed?"
"But then… if you were not the Prince, I wonder who would have bought me. I would have been moved from one place to another over and over again. If it were not for you, Your Majesty, I would not have freedom or dignity. I would just be a public tool for relief, locked away in a prison somewhere until my death."
Luna placed her hand down and gently clasped my face. She gently wiped my cheeks then with a smile added, "Your Majesty, why are you crying again? You have not done anything wrong. I am happiest when I am by your side. Your Majesty, you are the Prince… Mine… I am so glad."
"Luna… I… I…"
I noticed I was crying when I went to speak. My cheeks felt cold as they were smothered with my tears Luna wiped away. Luna looked at me and softly told me, "Your Majesty, you are the Prince. Please do not ever question that. As the Prince, you make us feel honoured. We are willing to give up everything for you. We feel that everything we have is valuable, precisely thanks to you. Everything. Everything I have was given to me by you. Your Majesty, I have never felt fortunate that it was the prince that rescued me. I felt fortunate that it was you who rescued me, Your Majesty. Your Majesty… I am so glad… that you are the Prince…"
"Luna… I… I can only bring misfortune to you… Everyone around me… because of me… I don"t want you to…"
I wiped my tears and desperately tried to say something.
"I don"t want Luna to become a second Mera. Mera"s fate is so similar to Luna. Too similar. And that scares me."
"That will not happen to me, Rour Majesty. As long as you are here, all will be fine. Your Majesty, I am your personal servant. That will never change. I am just your personal servant." Luna emphasised that and then struggled to sit up. She cupped my face and sincerely continued, "Your Majesty, you are an outstanding King. Do not ever think "It would be good if I wasn"t the Prince". If you were not the Prince, Miss Lucia would just be a very ordinary elf, Miss Nier would be a Valkyrie until death, while I would still be abused somewhere. Humans and elves will never get along. The world is different for everyone, because of you. Your Majesty, you are a very outstanding King. You are a very outstanding Emperor. I want to watch you become more and more powerful. Please do not waste too much time on me. I am just your personal servant. That is all I am…"
I tightly hugged Luna in my arms and she gently hugged me back. She rested her head on my shoulder, as she gazed at the stars in the sky. Luna is different to Mera. Luna wanted for me to continue advancing forward. She wanted to me to continue like this. She didn"t want for me to stay by her side, even though we knew that we were just like Tarak and Nara.
Next to my ear, Luna quietly murmured, "Your Majesty, last time you said that Mr Tarak continuously giving his best for his love was blissful… I feel the same way now… Sometimes, protecting another"s dream is more blissful than destroying his dream…"
l