Blue Knight | DAERIN

Chapter 1

Danielle stood on the balcony above the grand archway that created the entrance to the castle, her hands balled up into fists and her breaths short. The sunlight shone onto her golden hair but wasn't strong enough to force her to squint at the pathway ahead. It was a little cloudy that day, and the normal commotion of the castle was in full swing. Out here, it was only the faint sound of men and women's voices. Danielle tried to steady herself. She was fine.

"Princess!" Called a happy voice, and Danielle looked over her shoulder to see a redhead with a giant smile.

"Hanni" Danielle said softer, smiling a big in return.

"I should've guessed you'd be out here, waiting." She wiggled her eyebrows and squealed excitedly as though it was scandalous. "How romantic."

"Hmm." Danielle replied softly, feeling uneasy.

"Don't you want to prepare?" Hanni asked with a cocked head. "I mean, you should look your very best considering what today is."

Danielle waved her off. "I can do that later. I want to see them come in"

Hanni said something unbearably sappy that Danielle didn't catch and the Princess wondered if this was what it was like to have a parrot. Hanni, even as her most favorite maid and trusted friend, simply could not shut up at any given time. If she sensed how nervous Danielle was she didn't bring it up.

"I bet she'll be so handsome." Hanni nudged her, smirking, which looked very odd on her. "I bet she's all buff from the war."

Danielle's teeth grinded inside her mouth. "Maybe."

"Haerin and Danielle. Oh, you just sound like you're going to be adorable together." Hanni mused, humming a tune that Danielle barely recognized and busying herself like Danielle was with watching the road. "What are you going to do when you see her?"

Danielle raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I would run up to her and give her a kiss." Hanni said with a very serious tone. "That way everyone in the castle would know that she's mine."

"You've thought about this a lot." Danielle chuckled. "Maybe it's from too many romance novels."

"Nooo!" Hanni protested. "It's your fault for teaching me how to read anyway."

"I am not going to do what you suggested." Danielle shook her head, smile dropping. "I'm nervous, actually."

"Nervous? What on earth for?" Hanni gasped. "You're the Princess. Haerin is the one who should be nervous."

Danielle bit her lip. "I know. I don't know why I'm like this." She turned to Hanni. "What if she doesn't want me?"

"Hey." Hanni frowned. "She'll want you. You're a princess, you're beautiful, and you were friends once, right?"

Danielle sighed. "That was years ago. War must change a person, don't you think?"

"It could've changed her for the better." Hanni said positively. "I don't know what the arrangement was, but shouldn't she still want you all this time? I mean, she fought for you. She probably killed for you."

Danielle winced.

"Why wouldn't she want you?"

"The agreement was that I was to marry the man who killed King Son. I didn't think, I mean no one thought she would be the one to do it. But the news was given to us early in the War. The war continued because the Edentia refused to surrender. She told me long ago that she would be the one to do it." Danielle laughed. "I didn't believe her. We were just kids."