Lycoris Radiata

LYCORIS RADIATA Also known as the red spider lily

Lycoris Radiata (or the red spider lily)

Beyond being beautiful, red spider lilies have a symbolic meaning. The flowers mysteriously bloom right around the autumnal equinox and are associated with the coming darkness of winter. Over time, this fact has led Japanese to associate the flowers with the transition between light and dark, life and death. Japanese often plant the beautiful, bright-red flowers around cemeteries to placate spirits and create a colorful boundary between the world of the living and the netherworld beyond.

So this is where our story begins;

It was like any other day, or at least it was supposed to be...

Let me start from the beginning, my mom is a mage, and a powerful one too (which I of course have inherited), so being as powerful as she is, she works in the castle as a royal physician.

Ever since i was little she would bring me to work with her, learning the ins and out of healing magic and herb properties, everything was much simpler back then, when one of the young prince would fall and scrape there knee and i would be left to deal with them as my mom worked on more serious injuries.

Honestly, at the time i was annoyed by her doing that, leaving me alone with the royalty, I was always so worried I'd mess up and get her in trouble. However looking back now, I realise she must have seen the spark, the one that led the 15 year old prince Adrian, to do this, "Seraphina." i still remember how shocked i was when he said my name, i must have looked as though a deer caught in headlights, still i responded with a calm voice "yes your highness?" my heart was beating faster than a hummingbird's wings, I couldn't have prepared myself for what he said next, "when we grow up, will you marry me?"

aw struck as a blush brighter than the roses in the royal garden covered my face, returning to cleaning the cut on his knee i responded so quietly i wasn't sure he would hear me "....yes!..." but he did hear me and continued to make me promise him, and so, promise him I did.

But that was so long ago, surely he didn't remember..... right?

<time skip to 4 years later, girl just turned 18>

It was a calm autumn day in the medical wing when prince Adrian walked through the doors, without sparing a glance around the otherwise empty hospital floor before he headed straight to my station, where I was preparing for the day, greeting him with a smile. I asked "what seems to be the problem, your highness?" In return he threw me a mischievous smile, "I hurt myself in training" as he showed me his bloodied hand.

Gasping at the sight I instructed him to take a seat whilst I got what I would need to disinfect the wound and give him stitches, once I gathered all my materials, I carefully grabbed his hand, turning it this way and that.

judging by the clean line of the cut and the depth of the wound, it was most likely inflicted by the sword of whomever he was training with. i thought to myself as i started to clean away the blood surrounding the wound, giving me a better view of what i was dealing with.

Once the blood was gone i wasted no time, threading my needle i starting to stitch up the wound, it wasn't terribly large only five, maybe six stitches total were needed, all the while i could feel the prince staring at me with a gaze so intense you would think he was trying to bore holes right through my skull.

Attempting to fill in the silence that threatened to crush my lungs with the same ease a child would crush a bug under their foot i spoke, "if you don't stop trying to burn a hole through my head i'm going to mess up" looking up at him with a slight glare, in return all i got was a cheeky smile and a half shrug causing me to shake my head at him with a slight laugh.