Lost Journey
Cupid at Heart
A huge rounded carriage, coated with the finest and most polished marble, waited at the front entrance of the palace. Considering the late queen’s obsession over the color red, the carriage was painted in dark red to symbolize Heart’s signature color. Two horses—pristine white in contrast—grazed the stoned pathway, waiting for the take off.
The moment Hyunmi walked out of the palace, her eyes were in immediate search for cupid. Her heart nearly sunk when she failed to spot him, but she didn’t dare asking for his whereabouts. Showing too much concern might arise suspicions.
“Your highness,” Hoya called out as he held the door of the carriage open. Her father, Dongwoo, and her two elder sisters were already seated inside.
Hyunmi slightly lifted her dress to prevent the bottom of her equally red gown from touching the dirty floor. She turned to Hoya with an indifferent look. “Is it only you today, sir Hoya?” Which was a subtle translation for “Where is my knight?”
“Yes, your highness.”
Fortunately, the princess was trained to keep her expression poised at all times. No one noticed the falter in her excitement and how much she wished to return from the trip already.
“Growing quite fond of your knight, eh?” Dongwoo teased when his youngest sister got on the carriage, taking a seat next to him. He chuckled to himself, completely missing the slight flinch in her usual composure.
“He is splendid at what he does,” she replied vaguely. What Woohyun did best was infiltrating her mind; he was the first person she thought of when waking up, and the last person she remembered before falling asleep. If one’s presence could infinitely linger the mind, Woohyun’s did.
Kihyun was seated at the front, hollering at the horse to start trotting to the Diamond Kingdom. He gripped the rein in one hand, and whipped the horse’s backside with the other. Hoya followed closely from the side, mirroring the movement as he mounted his own saddled horse.
“You do seem happier lately,” Dongwoo told his sister when the carriage was set in motion. His smile softened.
“Of course!” The king decided to interrupt, having heard the conversation from the opposing seat next to Soonkyu and Hyoyeon. He giddily applauded and jumped in his seat. “With an admirable husband-to-be and a bright future laid out, she has no reason to drown in misery.”
Hyunmi offered a feigned smile, looking away at once. She was afraid her father would discover the truth if he gazed too long into her eyes. What would he have done if he discovered her secret affair with Woohyun? How would she relay the truth?
“There is no reason for you to worry,” Dongwoo suddenly said, lightly rubbing his hand on top of his sister’s. His face lightened up with warmth, displaying the jolly and positive attitude he was famous for. “I am the one to be engaged this week, not you.”
“There is a difference, dear brother. You are fond of the princess, while I, on the other hand, have a hard time keeping my smile whenever the prince offers himself an arrogant commentary.”
This made Dongwoo burst into a carefree laughter, quite unfitting for a royal. His cackles resembled beastly roars, and he scrunched his face in such a way he barely looked like himself. The two elder sisters looked at him in aghast, but the king seemed to not mind. Hyunmi was especially fond of this particular trait; it made her brother more human.
“Truth be told,” he leaned in to whisper a secret, “I have never met her either.”
Hyunmi pulled away in completely surprise, startled at the revelation. “Surely you have met her during royal gatherings. What about the masquerade ball?”
“I heard the princess is rather weak and is forbidden from too much exposure to the outside world. I never had the chance of meeting her during the ball. Perhaps they had cancelled their attendance. Seemed like the wise thing to do considering the shenanigans caused by the chimera.”
The memory made Hyunmi look away with guilt. She had yet to apologize for the mayhem created by her stupid wish. Someday, when the time was right, she’d confess.
“Why do you agree to this engagement without knowing the princess?” She continued asking.
Dongwoo hummed out loud, staring at the crystallizing ceiling of the carriage. The reddish color almost seemed to sparkle against the morning sunbeam.
“I suppose I have to follow our parent’s footsteps.”
The answer was less than satisfying, and Hyunmi wished for nothing more than to argue otherwise. She glanced at her father once before returning her gaze to her brother, lowering her voice. “They were never in love. You can see it. We have a choice to choose our own path, and therefore, can choose to love.”
The soft smile returned, and only now did she realize the hopelessness in them. Dongwoo raised the white flag before he dared stepping into the battle.
“Normal citizens have a choice. We are of royal descendants and have not been granted with such privileges,” he said. “Besides, I saw the way father looked at mother on her deathbed. He truly did care about her.”
Even if the king was truly fond of the queen, the same thing could not be said of her. The queen’s heart had always belonged to someone else, and Hyunmi had seen it through the emptiness in her mother’s eyes.
“Perhaps if you had someone dear to you, you’d be willing to fight for your choice,” Hyunmi mumbled under her breath, once again thinking of Woohyun. For as long as her heart continued to beat, it shall only beat for him.
A small chuckle escaped Dongwoo’s lips, and he looked at his sister with narrowed eyes. “You speak as if you have someone in mind. Do you?”
The question was too sudden and she was caught off guard. It was too late to hide the blush heating up her face. “No,” the answer was less convincing than it sounded in her head.
His hand lightly tapped against hers, wrapping it inside his bigger hands as a sense of protection and security. “You know I shall be the first person rooting for your happiness, sister. If your heart belongs to another man, you need to ensure he is as equally fond of you as you are of him—if not, more.”
Hyunmi curled her lips into a loving smile. She loved her brother with all her heart. Storge—as she was taught—was the love towards family members, and it poured with abundance in her heart for him. Hopefully, he wouldn’t make a wish he’d regret in the future.
“Your Majesty,” Kihyun’s voice suddenly spoke as the carriage came to a complete halt. He muttered quick mumbles of apologies when everyone got pushed back into the soft cushion of their seat.
“What is the matter, Kihyun?” The king bellowed, looking up calmly with no sense of alarm.
“I… I am afraid we’ll be late,” the human rabbit spoke, his white bunny ears twitching. Then again, he was quite infamous for uttering panicked nonsense. “The roads are blocked by fallen tree trunks.”
Several pair of eyes peered to the road ahead, discovering the pathway was completely off limit. Not only were huge logs clogging the way, but fallen rocks from nearby mountains added to the impossibility to advance.
“I blame those bloody weather. Heard it was raining for weeks outside of Heart,” Soonkyu complained.
“Should we turn back and cancel the engagement?” Hyoyeon offered a simple solution, which Hyunmi unconsciously nodded to in agreement.
“Nonsense! We have caused an inconvenience during the masquerade ball. We must show up, or a bad reputation shall forever haunt us,” the king spoke, reminding the true purpose for the arranged marriage. Wealth, status, merger, a silent treaty, peace between kingdoms, and more.
“You Majesty,” Hoya interrupted, his voice always stoic. For once, the calmness helped everyone ease away from panic. “I could go explore the area and try to find an alternate route.”
“But we will be left here to starve! I have never starved before!” Hyoyeon cried out woefully, and Soonkyu began to sob along.
Clearly, they had not been exposed to the lifestyle led by the lower class citizens of Heart. Hyunmi had known all about it, for she had escaped the castle several times, and saw the look of tearful delight when she offered the humble street vendors an ample sum of money. Five coins of silver were of little value to the royals, but to the people, it was worth more than anyone could imagine.
“Do not speak such bunkum!” The king warned again, massaging the side of his temples as he considered the options. “Sir Hoya, I assign you to go and search for an alternate route.”
Hoya firmly bobbed his head. “Yes, your majesty. I shall not fail you.”
He swayed the rein in his hands, cueing the horse to go off into the distance. The animal began galloping at once, and the distance was impeccable in no time.
Despite the her older sisters’ noisy chatters, the king giving instructions to Dongwoo, and Kihyun completely worrying they would run late, Hyunmi looked down to the wooden floor of the carriage.
She wished Woohyun was with her.
Since his birth, Hoya was foretold to stay loyal to the king. Not once did Hoya disappoint the king of Heart. His father was one of the strongest men who kept the royal family from danger, and Hoya wished to walk in his father’s footsteps. He could not disappoint the king, his father, or himself.
He yelled out a random shout, gave the white horse a small kick for it to gallop twice as fast.
The forest was also struck by the thunderstorm, more fallen trees blocked the way. He kept moving from one road to another, not forgetting to mark his way by carving a symbol at the surface of the tree trunk. A heart shape, naturally. He could find his way back to the king using this method.
The knight did not know how many minutes he had lost, or how far the distance he had gone, but he finally sighted signs of civilization. The path of the forest ended and connected to a stony pavement in a rather small but open alleyway. A small water fountain stood at the center, and a tiny cherub statue blew water out of its diamond shaped trumpet.
He had arrived at the Diamond kingdom, but there was no single soul.
The sound from the rushing water fountain calmed him, and he stared at his surroundings. The walls were decorated with vines and flowers to create a god-like scenery. A sweet fragrance filled the air, almost like peach and cotton candy combined together. Perhaps he had set foot in Utopia instead.
“Excuse me, sir. But you aren’t supposed to be here.”
Hoya swiftly turned around, surprised at the female voice, but even more surprised that he failed to catch someone's presence. How could he have missed the sound of approaching footsteps? If the king was present, he would’ve failed.
But when he spotted the person in front of him, he froze. The big doe eyes that once looked at him in fear, her long silky black hair that once covered half of her face with sweat, and a long pink gown resembling the one she wore to the ball...
It was her.
He kept quiet, hoping she would remember him. He was never a conversation starter, and only spoke of the things worthy of interest to the king. But seconds went by, and they had only been openly staring at one another. Perhaps the memory of that night was one-sided.
“This is the royal area. It is reserved for the people within the castle,” the girl continued to speak.
Though her words were more of a warning, she spoke it with so much kindness. There was a light airy tone to her voice, and every word came out as a careful whisper.
“Ah, is this the castle of Diamond?” Hoya immediately remarked. As usual, his job came first, and he couldn’t help but ask for the things that would benefit the king rather than himself.
“Yes.” The girl nodded, her black hair bouncing along. Even her bangs bobbed to the small movement, almost covering her eyes. She was holding onto a ceramic vase that seemed too big for her fragile looking body.
“I come from the Heart Kingdom, and my king wishes to wed off his son to the Princess of Diamond,” Hoya said, the words coming across as a memorized verse. He truly had no idea how to interact with others.
“So I’ve been told,” the girl said, and the smile remained fixated on her heart shaped face. “The kingdom is excited to celebrate it.”
“It is a gleeful event.”
“Indeed.”
They were silent for a moment, indulging in the awkward silence filled with the girl’s kind smile and Hoya’s crooked hinge on the lip. One might mistake him for an offender.
“I have to return to the king. He is waiting for me,” Hoya informed her and offered a polite curtsy to the lady.
“Godspeed,” she said politely, barely audible enough for him to pick on.
When he reluctantly turned his back, she was already walking to the water fountain, dipping the vase inside the fountain. She continued the movements several times until the vase became too heavy for her to carry. As an attempt to balance her weight, she nearly stumbled backwards from the overbearing weight.
Hoya, who had still been observing, quickly walked up to her and placed his arm around her back. He pulled her against his chest, and kept the vase from falling at the same time.
“Are you hurt, milady?” He asked, staring at the girl cradled in his arm. The fright and surprise on her face resembled the way he had remembered her that night.
“Heavens, this is the second time you saved me,” she stated with a dreamy voice, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
The confession made Hoya widen his eyes. “You do remember me.”
“I’d remember the knight who saved me.”
Hoya quickly let go of her, thinking it would’ve stopped his stomach from acting all strange, but it didn’t. It began to feel more foreign instead. “Do you hear that?” He suddenly questioned.
“What?” The girl questioned.
“Something’s drumming, exceptionally loud.”
“I don’t hear anything.”
Hoya frowned, moving his hand toward his chest. He clenched the side of his armor, realizing the origin of the loud noise. It was his heart.
“Are you alright? If you are tired, I could ask some men for help and have them retrieve the King of Heart in your stead,” the girl offered. She balanced the vase in both hands, staring at the man with sympathy.
“No, it’s quite alright. I’d hate to bother you, milady.” Hoya quickly lowered his arm to his side before the girl could worry about him. “I should go.”
He stepped unto his horse, and the girl continued to watch him with a curious stare. “Will I… Er… Get to see you again?”
“I come here everyday to take water. It bears magical powers, sir,” she said and smiled. “It is most likely we shall meet again.”
Her words made him anticipate his return to the fountain, though he did not know which part he was more eager of. To be exposed to the magical water or to find her there?
He returned to the others, and Kihyun kept nagging he had kept them waiting for at least twenty minutes. Honestly, Hoya thought he had been away longer. The moment with her seemed to fly by too quickly, like Kronos had snatched their precious seconds together. Even so, it still wouldn’t cover his curiosity of her. He completely forgot to ask for her name. Although, he wouldn’t possibly know how to ask for it anyway.
Like the dependable knight he was, Hoya successfully led the carriage into the kingdom where a grand welcome sign indicated their arrival at Diamond. Houses were painted red and were wittily accessorised with heart shaped decors back at home, but everything here was a shade of pink and took on shapes of a diamond. The houses were diamonds, the breads were shaped like a diamond, even cats wore a diamond shaped collar. Sweet smells of candies and cinnamon blended in the air.
They had arrived at the Diamond kingdom.
Introducing the love story of other members~
Yay! Won the bid today! I hope you will enjoy the story~ Would love to know your thoughts, so please do leave comments too~ Thank youuu <3
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