HER MAJESTY, HIS ROYALTY

EPISODE 11: A ROYAL WEDDING

MSHELL

I woke up to a day brimming with light and life, yet my emotions swirled in tangled knots. Carmen was getting married. As a hopeless romantic, she had always dreamed of a love story worth remembering—and now she was living it. Her marriage wasn't arranged like most of my cousins'. She had chosen her future, and I was genuinely happy for her.

But beneath that happiness lay a quiet ache, sharp and stubborn. Carmen was moving out.

The night before had been bittersweet, heavy with the same melancholy that lingered before my graduation. We sat together in the vast library of my family home in Athras Central—her curled up with a comic, me lost in a poem. The scent of old books mixed with the sweetness of her strawberry milkshake.

"We won't get to do this again, will we?" My voice was soft, almost swallowed by the stillness of the room.

"Of course we will." She paused, her gaze lingering on the comic's pages. "Just... not as often."

A lump rose in my throat. "This is tough for me... saying goodbye to two of my favourite women in the same year." The words spilled out before I could stop them.

Carmen nearly choked on her milkshake, laughing through misty eyes.

"Ouu, your favourite women," she teased, her voice warm with affection.

"There's a library at my and Kale's new home," she added, her expression softening. "Not as big as this one, but... big enough."

The air shifted. The word home felt foreign on her lips when it didn't mean here.

I would miss her fiercely. She and Kale would still live in Athras Central, but it wouldn't be the same. She would be someone's wife now.

"I'll always be your big and only sister," Carmen said, her voice soft but steady, as though sensing the storm in my mind. A small smile tugged at my lips. Her words wrapped around me like a warm blanket, soothing the ache I didn't know I'd been carrying.

Before I could respond, a familiar voice shattered the library's quiet.

"Oh yes, there they are! What did I tell you, Joe? Of course, we'd find these nerds holed up here," Kenzo called from the entrance, his booming voice echoing through the shelves. He and Joe strolled over, grinning like they owned the place.

"Ugh! When was the last time we were all together like this?" Joe asked, plopping down beside us, his eyes sparkling with nostalgia.

"And this might be the last," I muttered, the weight of the words sinking into the space between us. Carmen shot me a sharp look, her eyebrows knitting together in silent reprimand.

Kenzo clapped his hands together, breaking the tension. "Well, why don't we do something fun while we still can?"

"Like what?" the rest of us chimed in unison, curiosity sparked. Kenzo's face lit up with a mischievous grin, the kind that usually spelled trouble—but the kind we could never resist.

Before anyone could press him further, the distant hum of rotor blades cut through the air, growing louder by the second. We all turned toward the windows just in time to see two sleek royal choppers descending onto the field outside.

Kenzo's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Let's go have some real fun, Carmen. One last time." He was already moving toward the exit, his stride confident and purposeful, as though he'd planned this all along.

"Doesn't Carmen need to finish getting ready before the wedding tomorrow?" I complained, folding my arms. The sharp look Kenzo shot my way made me instantly regret asking.