Happy ever after...

The cold, harsh winds blew in from the south, slapping and battering against the reddened flesh of her exposed skin; the snow riveted about her feet, billowing through the crevices of her pale hair; and the pallor in her visage accentuated the flushing of her cheeks. Goosebumps slowly, one by one, emerged from the pores of her sickly white arms, her hairs grazing against the warm fur of her trench coat. With her piercing onyx eyes facing directly forward, she stalked impishly through the treads of snow, unfazed and monotonous, despite the itching groans of fatigue scratching at . 

"Young Mistress, please come back inside!"

The young mistress doesn't listen. Instead, she glances down at the spot before her feet, her long bangs shielding the black of her irises; the long fringe of her hair cascades down past her shoulders and to her waist, wrapping around her slender silhouette as the winds grew harsher. Her melancholy eyes softens, upon sight of the tombstone planted in front of her; her lips twitching into a downwards scowl - one drenched with regret and fierce objection. She encases her slender fingers around the hilt of the sword stuck weakly into the Earth beside the tombstone, fingertips grazing gently over the amethyst jewel at the pommel of the fine blade. Blurred vision followed, due to the emerging tears pooling at the corner of her eyes.

Her teeth clattered furiously together - a reaction to the cold, as well as a reaction to her pending anger. This can't be..

"Young Mistress!"

The elderly man stumbled out into the purlieus after the young woman, his fat belly hindering proficiently as he jogged mindlessly toward the cloaked figure standing before the late king's tombstone. He panted breathlessly, laying his hands at his side as he got down respectively onto his knees. "Young Mistress, please run inside before you catch a sickness yourself! The plague is believed to still be hanging in the air and --"
"Ho Dong-shii," she whispered weakly, "please be quiet."

Her hand released the sword promptly, leaving the sword still within the frozen dirts of the Earthen grounds. She looked at the engraving upon the stone, before her eyes skimmed through the inscription engraved elaborately onto the platinum blade of the katana. She grimaced knowingly, hearing the blaring of horns sound from the courtyard of the village square.
"It's time," she murmured gently, tightening the cloak around her trembling figure. "Let's go."
"But Young Mistress, will you not retrieve your father's blade at this time?"
"This ceremony is simply a coronation," the young mistress returned curtly with a frown. "And this holy sword," she whispered, then, grazing her pinkish fingertips across the wrappings of the handle, "is made divinely for battle, for warfare only... so we shall return for it later."

"Let's go, Ho Dong-shii, our people are awaiting their new Queen."

...doesn't exist in this lifetime.

Once upon a time..

Yixing quickly races into the court in a high state of flurry, his mishapen hair strewn about in all directions. "I say," he exclaimed, "do you know? Have you heard, yet, Your Majesty? Is it supposed to be a secret?" The multiple knights enveloping the barren space picked up their heads, eyes wide with curiosity; five pairs of dark irises glued to the young vassal, probing him silently to continue. "Is it a secret?" Yixing simply repeated.
"Is what a secret, what?" they questioned him petulantly.
"Why, the King!" Yixing cried. "You know, about the King?"
"What about the King? King of where, what?" Lu Han demanded calmly, sitting erect upon his jewled throne. His dark blonde hair pushed back, exposing his fatigued wrinkles curving about his flawless forehead. An impatient mark glazed his eyes as he looked upon the inferiority of his flustered vassal. "What is it, Yixing?"

"He dead!" Yixing blubbered tragically. "The old King of the Moon clan is finished! He's dead, my Lord, and cannot proceed to attack our realm any more!"

Zitao stood up respectfully and bowed to Lu Han before removing his cap of maintenance. "Long live the Ki --"
"Don't," Lu Han muttered softly, rising stiffly to his feet. "The old King may be dead, but it's not time to mourn, especially with the fact still in mind that he's our enemy. Dead or alive, any member of the Moon clan is still an enemy," Lu Han informed gruffly. He turned to Yixing. "Then, his heir?"
"Heiress, my Lord," Yixing corrected solemnly. "The King's eldest and only daughter is amongst her people this very moment, at her coronation."
"And you know of this how?" Wufan barked impishly.
"I heard of it travelling about the forest, hunting, my good man," Yixing remarked wittily. "It shall be true; I heard it from a monk, and no monk lies -- at least not in this kingdom."

"Heiress?" Lu Han echoed incredulously. "A Queen.. a woman?"

"Surely she won't interfere with our journey to London," Xiumin stated calmly. "Why bother? She won't be around to hinder in our way of acquiring the Godly sword, anyhow."
"That might not be true," Lu Han uttered briefly, pacing down the steps before his throne. Once situated at the center of the barren room, he stopped, hands grazing at his trouser's pockets. With his head lifted confidently, he declared, "with her being the late King's daughter, it is a definite fact he must have influenced her. She will be after the Godly sword as much as we are."

"The sword must be a fluke," Chen argued. "Why make a fatal journey all the way to the Europeans land because of some mythical hoax?"
"I don't think the sword is that much of a wonder," Xiumin argued. "The people from all sorts of lands will be trekking to London in hopes of retrieving the Godly sword and in hopes of acquiring all Godly authority!"
"Hoax or true, we will still be going," Lu Han commanded shortly. "We cannot afford to lose any opportunities, especially during this time, where our peasants are revolting against the papacy. The realm is under utter distraught, and if the sword is what it is, our kingdom will be restored once again.. I can't risk missing that chance," he whispered. "We will be trekking to London -- and you are all escorting me there."

"Then what about the Young Mistress of the Moon clan? Surely with her coronation ending tonight, if she truly is her father's child, she will be journeying to London, as well. She may as well be leaving as soon as we are," Yixing retorted bluntly.
"If she bothers to interfere, we stop her," Lu Han returned briefly. "She's a Queen now, not a princess or a noblewoman. We stop her using bloodshed, and through warfare. We show no mercy; the Moon clan are still our enemy, let us not forget that simply because the successor to the throne be a woman."

"Yes, my Lord."

...is only one time.