Chapter two -The boy outside the gate
613 Words
“Princess Ariya?”
The moment those words left Kai's mouth, Ariya's heart raced.
She looked behind her.
Two palace guards were making their way through the crowd, their eyes searching desperately for her.
“Oh no.”
Kai glanced at the approaching guards, then back at Ariya.
“You're actually the princess?”
Ariya didn't answer.
She couldn't.
“Princess Ariya!” one of the guards called again.
People on the street began turning their heads.
Ariya quickly grabbed Kai's sleeve.
“Please.”
Kai looked down at her hand before looking at her face.
“Please what?”
“Don't tell them where I am.”
He stared at her for a moment.
“You ran away from the palace?”
Ariya nodded.
“Why?”
She hesitated.
“Because I wanted to know what it feels like to be free.”
Kai's expression changed. He looked at her differently this time—not as a princess, but as a girl who desperately wanted something she couldn't have.
“Then you picked a terrible place to hide,” he said.
Ariya frowned.
“What do you mean?”
He pointed toward a narrow alley beside them.
“Come on.”
Before she could ask anything else, Kai hurried into the alley. Ariya followed him, trying not to look suspicious.
They stopped behind a small building.
The sound of footsteps passed nearby.
Ariya held her breath.
One of the guards walked past the entrance of the alley without noticing them.
After a few seconds, the footsteps disappeared.
Ariya finally breathed out.
“Thank you.”
Kai shrugged.
“Don't thank me yet. You're still going back.”
Ariya's smile disappeared.
“No.”
Kai raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
“I don't want to go back.”
“You can't stay outside forever.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
Ariya looked at the ground.
For the first time, she didn't have an answer.
Inside the palace, everyone seemed to know exactly what her future would look like.
Outside the palace, she had no idea what came next.
Strangely, that uncertainty didn't frighten her.
It excited her.
Kai studied her quietly.
“You really don't like being a princess, do you?”
Ariya looked at him.
“I don't hate being a princess.”
She paused.
“I just hate that everyone thinks being a princess means they get to control me.”
Kai nodded slowly.
“That makes sense.”
Ariya smiled.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
He stepped out of the alley and looked toward the busy street.
“Everyone deserves to make some choices for themselves.”
Ariya followed him with her eyes.
She had spent her entire life surrounded by people who told her what she should think, what she should wear, where she should go, and eventually, whom she should marry.
But this boy barely knew her.
And somehow, he understood her better than most people inside the palace.
“So,” Kai said, turning toward her, “what are you going to do now, Princess?”
Ariya smiled.
“Don't call me that.”
“Why?”
“Because tonight, I'm not a princess.”
Kai smiled back.
“Then what are you?”
Ariya looked toward the glowing streets ahead.
“Just Ariya.”
For the first time that night, she felt like the palace was a million miles away.
But neither of them noticed the figure standing at the end of the street.
Someone had been watching them.
And that person was holding a palace communication device.
The secret wouldn't remain a secret for long.
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