LEGEND OF THE SHADOW KNIGHTS

King Detrus and his wife, Queen Avili had three children. The eldest, Aster, aside from being the crown prince, is a renowned knight within the kingdom. At the age of sixteen, his military achievement had exceeded that of his father. The second princess, Deili, is brilliant when it comes to court matters. Within the Kingdom, no one of her age comes close to her level of expertise when it comes to handling official matters. She gained her own title within the court without the help of his father; relying solely on her brilliant mind. As for Aspen, the third princess, no one knows of her, no one speaks of her. In a world where glory is the only way to get known and the only way to purge an identity, Aspen, who seemed to have shown no interest in power and military gains, fades slowly into the background. ... Early morning, a few rays of sunlight escaped the mountain wall at the east of the kingdom and casted a gentle light on the Reca Palace. Left-wing of the Reca Palace, inside the Princess Chamber. A girl can be seen sitting by the window's stool with one foot up; her back was reclined on the wall. One of her hand is playing with a dagger. Still drowsy, she yawned and with half closed eyes, she stared at the apple tree in front of her window. Standing a few feet away from her is a trembling maid in an anime-like maid costume. "Y-your highness," the maid, with her gaze on the floor, called out to the girl at the window. "The Queen requests your presence," the maid continued. It's not that they're forbidden to look at the Princess. Only, this Princess is different from the rest. One glance and they feel like they'll freeze to death. "Hmm," hummed the Princess as she nods her head. This answer left the maid speechless. 'What "hmm"? Is that a yes or a no? You got to be direct with your answer alright?' grumbled the maid inside her mind. She can't help it, this is the third time she's been sent here and the Princess's answer was still the same. What was she supposed to say to the Queen then? Should she tell her that her daughter was still on her nightdress, with loosened hair, and was playing with a dagger? The maid shivered with those thoughts. She can't and must not. Or else the Queen, which was known to be strict when it comes to etiquette, will be raging in anger once more; of which they'd have to tread carefully around the castle to survive this day. Not really a good thing to start the day. While the maid was still lost in thought, the girl on the window gave a command. "Give me a string," said the Princess. Although startled, the maid rushed outside to obey the command. A few seconds later, she returned with a string in her hand. It was unknown where she took it in such a short time. Nevertheless, the princess took it without a word. She then carefully tied it to the hilt of the dagger. Afterwards, she aimed it at the apple fruit and then threw it, making the air whistle as the dagger cuts through the space. 'Purch!' It hit. This made her smirk, pleased at her marksmanship. Retrieving the dagger with a tug, the red apple pierced by it draws out a beautiful arc in the air before landing on her hand. Not minding the wetness of the morning dew on the fruit's surface, she took the dagger out and threw the apple to the stunned maid at the side. "Here, catch" Surprised, the maid caught it in a flurry. It can't be helped; besides the name and appearance, she knows nothing about this Princess. All she knows about this girl are few rumors that are often hushed the moment it starts. This made them fear this Princess for a bit. After all, not even the Queen has the power to stop those tattletales. Also, with the girl's short replies and stoic face, they can't help but misinterpret her to be a cruel type of royalty. This is the only Princess who refused to have a personal maid too. With no source of information, this girl remained mysterious until now. 'Pah! Pah! Pah!' While the maid was lost in thoughts, consecutive sounds of the dagger lightly piercing the apple rang in her ears. Before the maid knew it, the Princess's nightdress, which she folded in a bag-like form, was already loaded with apples. "T-that... Uh, s-should I go get a basket?" asked the maid. Although it is her first interaction with this Princess, consciously or not, she is slowly feeling comfortable around her for some reason. "Hmm," the Princess replied. The maid took it as a yes and went away to get a fruit basket; the Queen's order completely left her mind. Not long after, she returned with a fruit basket in her hands. She handed it to the Princess and watched as she transferred the fresh fruits into the basket. They were in that position when a series of footsteps announced someone's arrival. The maid's heart started to beat furiously for an unknown reason. 'Was it the Queen?' she thought while mentally berating herself for forgetting her job. The maid stared at the doorway and soon enough, the Queen made her appearance. Unlike the princess who acts in an unladylike manner, the Queen's posture and aura screams regal and elegance. The Queen's hair was tied in a neat braid. On top of her head, a white silver crown lies in silence, merging quietly with her curly copper brown hair. Her emerald-long satin gown barely shows skin. Still, it wasn't enough to hide her curves. The maid has no chance to be awed when the Queen released a loud booming, "ASPEN!!!" echoed across the four corners of the room. The maid and the attendants that the Queen brought along with her grimaced and lowered their heads to the point where their chins almost touched their chests. If only they can disappear, they surely will. Meanwhile, Aspen only laughed awkwardly inside. "Ah yeah, I forgot about that," she mumbled beneath her breath, seemingly unbothered by the Queen's raging eyes. "Morning mother, want some apple?" she greeted carefully, offering the Queen an apple on one hand while munching the one on the other hand; trying to sound as casual as she could. The Queen's chest heaved up and down, her eyes glaring with rage and her face is flushed red in anger. "The audacity!" The Queen seem to forget all elegance and regality whenever she's facing this child. This kid brings her nothing but shame! Besides having no talent in the arts at all, she also attracts all kinds of trouble. And just like that, the memories of this girl’s unpleasant past flashed before her eyes. During her younger years, she got expelled from a painting class due to passing a blank canvas and calling it art. To make the matter worse, she argued with her instructor that the beauty of art lies in perfection. "...the canvas is already perfect on its own. It doesn't need any dot, line, or color to be called an art," she heard Aspen said, making her halt in the hallway and grit her teeth in rage. She knew, that prodigal daughter of hers was only feeling lazy to do her task. Having no face to show to the painting instructor that has been renowned for teaching generations after generations of nobles and royalties, she left and let her attendants settle the case instead. However, the matter doesn't end there. She had her take a musical class like what a proper princess should learn, but she ended up breaking those instruments into pieces. She had her take a dance class, but she only made her dance partner come to the throne room; limping, crying with eyes covered in black and bluish ink. Upon conducting a few interrogations on her tensed classmates, she discovered that her foolish daughter keeps on stepping on her partner's foot. Embarrassed, she punched the boy until he was unconscious. When she asked her why, her dumb daughter only answered "...so that he'll forget about me stepping into his foot. If his brain would be shaken to a certain point, he would forget about what happened and won't tell it to anyone." From that day forward, she left the girl to live on her own, limit her public appearance until eventually, she was forgotten, but even with that arrangement, the trouble she made never stopped. Last week, the captain of the archers came to her because of the lack of arrows. She conducted a personal investigation and found out that it was this child's doing again. The brat broke all of the arrows for only one reason, "The archers have been using the animals as their targets during practice then left their dead bodies in the forest; wasting food on the process." Having all remembered all of those, she wasn't able to keep her calm. "How many times do you think I've sent someone just to fetch you, huh?!" asked the Queen, imaginary smokes of anger rose from her blushing cheeks. "I lost count," she answered with a calm facade before taking a bite from her apple. She has been dozing off all this time, there’s no way she’ll know. While those thoughts run in her mind, she put the apple back on the fruit basket and hopped down from the window. Then she walked and took a sit at the foot of her bed and placed the fruit basket on top of a small round table beside her. Since the Queen showed no interest in the fruit, then she'll have all of these to herself. Besides, she doesn't want to share it in the first place. After all, her appetite seems to be growing larger as days pass. "There's a limit to your misfits, Aspen," said the Queen and threw Aspen a cold look. It was unknown if she managed to calm herself down or was just preparing to vent her anger.