Son Ombre

Prologue

Chopin's Number Ten Waltz plays again and again, my fingers running on the edge of the table, imagining myself playing the piece playing in the background as I look ahead. 

Sunlight enters the hall through the large windows and my eyes travel from one person to another. I sip from the cherry wine glass and hum to myself the piece that plays in the background until my eyes lose focus. Everything became blurred. I look at the shiny floor and finish the wine. I notice that my eyes are on a shadow that appears on that shiny floor.

I see a shadow.

A shadow of a body I'd never seen before. And the curiosity in me was enormous, so I look up from the shadow.

Then I see him.

The first time I caught sight of him, his body, his upright posture, his eyes, his nose, his smiling lips, and a loud laugh that burned a few seconds in my ears, I was seventeen, standing in the new blue dress I had sewed a week before.

His appearance was new to my eyes and to the palace. On the first day I didnt know his name. I knew only two things that were connected to one another. He came from the faraway Korea. according to his luxurious Cape with its rich appearance and embroidery.

I thought he was a prince at first, his Asian look caught my eyes, who refused to cut off my long eye contact with his stay together with other royal families gathered in the guest hall, I could hear his voice among all the people in the palace, Then he started to talk in korean and after a while I began to scan all the people who came with him, their suits were the same but his was special, the golden embroidery on his cloak caught my eye as his eyes made me jealous and made me look at him.

I wondered if he would look at me or at least toward me and at the same time I hoped that I would not have to get up and imagine myself introducing my name because we were the ones who hosted them.

These were Father's business, he liked to make friends with various foreign countries, especially with important people who knew that this rule was not a game. He wasted a lot of money to entertain them, that's what I heard a few days ago as I stood listening to his and Mom's conversation.

As a princess, I was different from the other princesses. It's not that I did not learn different languages, I learned them and spoke fluently in seven languages. I liked playing the piano that Sir Anderson taught me, I also liked to plant flowers in the palace courtyard. I embroidered my dresses occasionally and painted on canvas. I would be standing in the corner, drinking from the chreey wine glass and watching the people dance on the dancefloor, listening carefully to my parents, the king and the queen, and I continued to be the best princess in the palace, because I was the only one.

I had to marry two years ago when I was fifteen years old. He was my age and he was crown prince to the German royal family. The king and the queen could have sent me to Germany But with how good and friendly Father was, he would not accept this marriage.

I remember seeing the prince himself, I remember seeing him once when they came to us for dinner and invited us to their palace in Luxembourg, but Father refused any suggestions they made. I dont know exactly what the reason was and why we were not engaged at the time, especially when I liked it when he presented himself to me as the prince who would make me queen one day. Well, I was not stupid, but I could not stop myself from blushing because it was the first time anyone said such a thing.

But we were young than.

It was accepted that two children, heirs, who would make the kingdom theirs when they came today, would marry and raise a family at that age.

That means I was supposed to be a mother of two at the age of seventeen, living in the German palace under the rule of King Francis, the father of the prince who was supposed to be mine.