Chapter 6: A Love Abandoned in the Desert
THEY entered their fourth year, and as always, Oriana remained in Class 2.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yana! Welcome home!” Oriana was in the midst of unpacking in her dorm room when Yana walked in. Oriana threw her arms around the princess, her tiny, petite body fitting snugly in Oriana’s embrace.
“Yes, good to be back.” Yana softly leaned her weight against Oriana, as a show of how happy she was at their reunion. It was like being showered with affection by a lover who was normally ice-cold.
Shook to the core, Oriana swayed back and forth before squeezing her friend tighter. “How was the break?” she asked.
During their long holiday, Yana had stayed in a hotel in the capital. Apparently, several staff from her homeland attended to her there, and she found herself dragged off to all sorts of high society events. She was thoroughly exhausted, having spent her entire break acting as a diplomatic liaison in her capacity as Ete Karima’s princess.
“Nearly every person I met had the same annoying, redundant questions about whether my trial was up yet or not. A glare from Azraq was enough to silence them most of the time, but when he wasn’t around… I wonder if next year I can drag him along and flee somewhere else.” Yana sounded genuinely perturbed. She was smiling, of course, but she let out an enormous sigh.
This was the first time Oriana had ever heard her friend complain so openly. Before she even knew what she was saying, she blurted out, “How about staying at my place next year?”
Friends though they might have been, Yana was still a princess, and Oriana’s invitation was far too casual. Just as she started reflecting on how discourteous it might have been to offer so offhandedly, Yana’s mysterious black eyes fixed on her.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“What? You mean you’ll actually come? Of course, I’m sure!” Oriana nodded eagerly.
Yana’s face lit up. Her expression was always beautiful, to be sure, but her genuine smile was so powerful it knocked Oriana out completely. “I’m so happy you’re willing to have me. Thank you. I hope you won’t change your mind when next year comes around,” said Yana.
“Don’t worry. You’ll forever be adorable to me, Yana.”
“Oh?” Yana giggled. As she finally set about changing out of her travel attire, Oriana jumped in to help.
✦ ✦ ✦
❦❦❦
“OH my, so you received a bouquet this year as well?”
“Yep. Here, see? There were some really fragrant flowers among them, so I turned them into a sachet.” Oriana had brought up the topic of the bouquet she received every year as they unpacked, but she paused briefly to outstretch her hand, a tiny little bag cradled against her palm.
After enjoying the bouquet for a while, she enlisted a company to dry the flowers with magic. She then wrapped them in some organdy fabric and tied it with a golden ribbon. The material was so sheer that the dried remnants of the various flowers were visible.
“Oh, how cute.”
“Right?” Oriana grinned. “Even I think I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.” She studied the sachet as she praised her own work. When she pressed the bag close to her face, the flowery scent caressed her nose. It reminded her of the joy she’d felt receiving that bouquet on her birthday.
“I wonder why this person keeps sending me one every year, though,” she muttered to herself.
“Are you sure they’re not in love with you?”
“From the time I was a little girl? Besides, if that were the case, wouldn’t they have at least revealed their name by now?”
“Maybe they’re waiting for you to find them.”
That made some sense, but even so, there were too few hints for her to go off of. The only clues she had were the card with the standard greeting and the wildflower bouquet itself.
“If I get one next year too, I guess I’ll try to look into who the sender is.”
Yana nodded. “Splendid idea. I will be happy to help.”
“A princess acting as a great detective’s assistant? I’ve never seen a story like that even in books.”
Yana giggled as she stowed her clothes away in the closet.
“A bouquet of wildflowers, hm… Yana, if it were you, what would you send your beloved?” Oriana asked.
“Me? Well, let’s see… Azraq likes alcohol, so—” Yana froze in the midst of hanging another outfit in the closet. Thinking it strange that she hadn’t moved an inch, Oriana moved closer and peered into her face. Yana’s cheeks had lit up bright red, and sweat was trickling down her forehead.
“Yana?”
Yana flinched. Her fingers slipped and the hanger she’d been holding fell to the ground along with the outfit dangling from it. Yana whipped around to face Oriana directly, but her eyes were nearly spinning in circles as she stuttered, “Uh, um, uh… Well, you see… I, um…”
“Yana…”
“No! It’s not…that’s not what I… Hold on. It didn’t make any sense just now for me to bring up Azraq, did it? Please, forget what I said and let me answer properly this time.”
“Yana, I want to know the truth.” Oriana grasped her friend’s hands tightly.
Yana glanced down at their interlocked hands before peering up at Oriana’s face. Her lips trembled. “Nngh…”
“So cute…”
“Nngh….” Her face flushed an even deeper crimson. She groaned like a wild beast, but her eyes were those of a girl in love. It was so adorable that Oriana could barely contain herself. Resigned, Yana mumbled, “I’m just so exhausted. I was finally released from my duties and returned to the dorm, and it’s been so long since I last saw you that I just…I let my mouth slip.”
“I know.”
“I wanted to keep it under wraps. My love for him, it’s…not right.”
Oriana nodded. “I get why you don’t want to talk about it, but I’d like to hear. Can’t you share with me?”
If Yana refused her, Oriana wasn’t going to press the issue, but apparently her feelings got through. Yana peered up at her with teary-eyes, as if she was at her wits’ end and begging for support.
“I…I love Azraq.” Yana’s body was still stiff as a board, but her voice was unbelievably soft. It was as if she’d summoned all the courage in the world to eke out those words, conveying how genuine her feelings were. “I’ve always, always loved him. Ever since we were children…” She squeezed Oriana’s hands tight.
✦ ✦ ✦
❦❦❦
FOR as long as Yana could remember, Azraq had been at her side.
Ete Karima’s royal palace was lauded as one of the most luxurious in all the world. The pillars within even had jewels embedded into them. In the courtyard, pillars of water would shoot up every hour. The garden boasted flowers from all over the world, and the place was always filled with the laughter of beautiful girls in opulent attire.
Children of the king spent their youth in the harem until they reached eight years of age. Thus, until she was six, Yana was raised alongside Shinra, her older brother, and Azraq, who was almost like a brother, too, despite not being blood-related.
Yana always loved Azraq. She had nine older brothers, but she was more attached to him than any of them. There was even a time when she refused to leave his side, when her right hand was always joined to his left.
Once she passed the age of six, her naughty side hit its peak. She would frequently sneak out of the harem if the person watching her looked away for even a second. During these times, everyone would immediately look for Azraq. Instead of trying to pin down the location of an unprecedentedly rambunctious six-year-old, it was faster for them to hunt down the mature eight-year-old boy instead. Every time, without fail, she would be right there beside him.
Since Yana was so attached to him, they decided to saddle him with the role of being her bodyguard. Azraq was already devoting himself to martial arts at the time, and even though he was only eight, he was still strong enough that he could easily take down a full-grown adult. That was what prompted the grown-ups to entrust the job to him.
Once Azraq was around her full-time, Yana’s mischievous streak came to an abrupt end. It made sense; she’d only avoided her caretakers because she wanted to seek out Azraq and be with him, but now that he was with her all the time, it wasn’t necessary to shake anyone off.
With Azraq by her side, Yana learned the necessary grace and tenderness befitting a princess. Their days were peaceful and calm, and she thought they would continue that way forever.
Things changed on her twelfth birthday.
“Yana, I’m going to marry you off to Azraq,” said her father.
“Oh? That’s one thing I absolutely cannot accept.”
It was around that same time that she realized her love for Azraq wasn’t platonic.