EN | Chilumi Week Summer 2021

DAY 6 | 2/2 - The heavy burden of a princess

NB: Second part of the Zelda botw AU! As for the first chapter of this two-shot, some knowledge about the universe of Zelda botw are recommended, but not absolutely needed from my point of view. Some spoilers of the game might be in there. 

A big thank you to my beta-reader :)

---

Subtitle: The end of destiny

Lumine.

Golden eyes, silky blonde hair, and a strong character. It was clear that she was stubborn from the way she stood up to her father the king and tried to reject the order to have a bodyguard.

Nonetheless, she didn't have the leisure to resist any longer before her father forced her. It was from that moment on that I became her faithful servant and bodyguard, having to melt into the darkness of her shadow for the sake of my mission. However, from the moment we left the pomp of the throne room, I was continually rejected. Her behavior toward me might have seemed childish at first, like a young person looking for a new friend to play hide-and-seek with throughout the castle, roaming the gaols, going through the banquet halls, locking herself in her chambers, and so on. It could have been amusing for some, but there was a major nuance: she had in mind to lose me for good. By every glance that was addressed to me with a tiny hint of fury in them, by every gesture that she made towards me that was filled with a barely hidden disdain, I understood very quickly that I was not welcome behind her, and even less at her side.

A capricious and arrogant princess, forced to kowtow to her father, the king, which her developing adolescence only tolerated because she was intrinsically obliged to do so; that was what I thought at the beginning when I was with her. However, usually too perceptive for my own good —which allowed me to read with facility the moves of my opponents— it was easy for me to put in relation all the information that I was scratching over the days chasing her through the palace for the sake of my mission.

A chin insufficiently raised to honor the title of princess that etiquette and common sense demanded, shoulders though frail, contracted to excess, a look lowered every time she crossed the slightest person in the castle; all this added to the fact that she was portrayed as an incompetent and failure of a princess by those same people living at the court —be they nobles, servants, or even the simple guards—, the deduction was easy to make.

She was despised and denigrated by all, no matter how hard she tried to awaken her power.

From that moment on, the image of the selfish, arrogant young princess gave way to the cliché of the young damsel in distress. She didn't reject me out of pride or even smugness, she rejected me because she didn't want someone who —she thought— despised her, to stick her against her will for the sake of her mission.

She pushed me away to indulge in solitude, but it was obvious that her heart yearned for a release from this vicious circle that had imprisoned her for so long. Each glance of disdain at the beginning, then of impassivity that she threw to me, let unceasingly filter a spark of despair mixed with what looked like a light and subtle touch of joy. This princess, who wouldn't let me approach her, gave in minimally —albeit reluctantly— by allowing me to do my job by watching her from a wall opposite her in the room where she was meditating.

I didn't fail to notice the glances she gave me when she thought I was letting my guard down, but I didn't say anything, content to meet her gaze and spy on her every move for the sake of my protective mission.

So the statu quo started from there. I followed her like a dog would have done with its master, silently, accomplishing my mission by embodying her shadow to protect her from anything that would constitute a threat. However, the corridors of the palace were not full of monsters I could fight against, but only perfidious and disdainful human beings who swore only by social rank and talent, glaring at the princess at every opportunity, followed by outrageous whispers.