Princess Without Limits

Chapter One

(Lena)

(Arrived at Momosu)

My breath caught as he walked closer. Dark, smooth brown hair paired with the most perfect blue eyes. He walked straight towards us, flanked by a Japanese prince and - most probably - his aide. He has an aura of importance radiating from him.

This must be Gion, I thought. It had been a while since I met him - five years to be precise - but I could never miss that suave, charming look of his.

He glanced at me, trying to register who I am. I was ten when I last met him, and I had grown from a young, innocent girl into a teenager since then.

"Princess Lena, it's an honour to meet you again," he greeted with a smile. Memories danced through my brain as I briefly recalled my childhood with Gina and him. I barely remembered what I knew of crushes at that age, but I did recall a very distant memory.

Gina and I laid in the grass, watching the butterflies dance their way around flowers. We were eleven, but our parents often said we were much more mature than those our age.

"You know, Gina," I started.

"Yes, Lena?" Gina looks at me curiously. My voice rarely took up a serious tone; I was more of the carefree type.

"Remember in school our seniors said something about crushes? They told me it means having an intense infatuation for someone, even for a small period of time. I think I have a crush on Gion," I confessed. Gina sprung up immediately.

"Lena!" she exclaimed, "He's my brother!" I nodded sheepishly. She tackle-hugged me.

"You don't say!" she chided playfully. I laughed along with her.

I was young then, but perhaps I had known what a crush meant. The fluttery feeling in my stomach didn't lie. There he was, still as perfect as I remembered. My childhood crush. I realised he was still peering at me when I adjusted my eyes to my surroundings. I hoped my face wasn't as red as I thought it was.

"Oh, um, the pleasure is all mine, Prince Gion," I fumbled. Gion gave me another brief smile, and though it was more of courtesy sake, I felt my cheeks flush again. Luckily, he didn't pay much attention, only turning his eyes from me to greet the others, particularly his sister.

Gina nudged me discreetly. I looked at her and turned away flushing when she gestured to me and her brother. What a good friend, I thought, with the tone most would use when their friends started shipping them with someone else. I was distracted from Gion when my eyes met with those of my brother.

Leon was most definitely not in a good mood. He tapped his watch impatiently. "You're late by an hour," he states, clearly displeased. I nearly forgot how much my brother valued time.

"Sorry," I mumbled an apology for us, hoping that the rustle and bustle of our visit to Momosu would train his thoughts away from our past.

How wrong I was that day.

(On the way to meeting)

Despite the blistering heat that Su Jung and Maria kept complaining about, Momosu was fairly okay. It was busy and crowded, but that was good, no one could recognise us.

I had grown up with the hatred of being spotted by an adoring fan while on my shopping duties. Father got so flustered with the attention I was receiving on social media that he forbade me from going out for a week. I remembered protesting with him. I loved my shopping trips then.

When we were younger and not as distant as we were now, Leon used to stand up for me. More often than not, Father was left with a red face at being contradicted by his two children.

I gazed at Leon, only to be pinned by his cold, assessing stare. I stared back, hoping to convey my message, like how Leon and I used to communicate through stares when we were young.

Can't you be kinder to me? Since ya know, we kinda just met since the last time just now.

I haven't seen you in slightly more than a year. I thought you knew our reunion would be less than nice at this point of time.

I bit my lip. What he conveyed through his penetrating stare stung, not that Leon is sensitive enough to care and acknowledge. But I always reminded myself that Leon is extra inflexible with his feelings, sometimes he didn't mean it.

We were like two planets revolving around each other, close enough to feel the others' presence—perhaps planets that were born from the same star. But we were too different, the distance between us still long enough to bore enough differences, enough to rip us apart like we were of different origin, enough to fear being too close. My family was like that. It made me feel isolated, even from my own brother. I didn't hate us, though. I loved my family to unimaginable ends, my only regret of being part of us was being shunned by my older brother as we grew older.

I bit my lips so hard that I tasted blood, not that it mattered.

Nothing ever matters when even your own brother is disgusted at you.

Gina shifted beside me, perhaps sensing my discomfort. She wouldn't understand, not when she had Gion who loved her so much, who doted on her lavishly. I had heard from Gina of all the gifts he had bought for her before. I would forever be jealous of the light pink ball gown Gion gave her for our school dance a while back.

I couldn't help but make a silent curse to all the siblings that have such a loving, sweet relationship.

"Gion?" Gina piped. Gion spun around to face her, and for the first time, I saw softness in his eyes. The kind of softness that I had never seen in my brother's eyes since three years ago, even though we shared the same blood. He was handsome and suave, loving and caring, as if all the perfect features of a brother were born into one body. It stung a little, to see Gina have such a perfect brother while mine was more than disappointed in me.

I spun to meet eyes with Leon again. His eyes steeled when they met mine. He frowned - one of the things he was exceptionally good at when it came to me - his eyes shining with long-termed disapproval for something I did a long, long time ago, something I didn't want to talk about.

Prince Albert of England must have felt the tension in the room, because instantly, he said, "It's been a while since we met, Lena. How have you been?"

I stared at the floor, and braced for the critical remark that would find Leon's mouth in the matter of seconds. To his credit, he didn't say a thing, even after one minute.

"I'm okay, I guess," I muttered under my breath.

Albert heard it - or at least he pretended to - and smiled. "That's great. You weren't there the last time we went to Germany. Were you on one of your trips around the world again?"

Before I could open my mouth to say anything, Leon shot a glare at me. I looked at him immediately, but turned back instantly as if nothing had happened. I didn't want to see the pressing look of distaste. Even then, I could feel his withering glare aimed right at me. It clawed me from the inside, and suddenly, I found it hard to breathe.

I don't  understand. Was it wrong that I just wanted to have a normal sibling relationship with him? Like how Gina and Gion were so loving? Why couldn't I have the one thing I desired the most? Why couldn't I go back to before things went so wrong? I wanted to scream at my misfortune of being, well, me. If I hadn't been so foolish, nothing would have changed. Tears burned at the back of my eyes as I stood. I could literally feel Gina's concern wrapped around me like a blanket but I pushed open the doors and ran out, rubbing my red sore eyes.