The secret life

Chapter 2

There was a tavern, and five princes were talking together, their voices low but intense, as they debated who among them would find true love first. Each had tales of courtships, of dances under moonlight, of noblewomen with sharp minds or soft smiles. Laughter echoed against the stone walls, but it was tinged with competition, as brothers often have.

Yet, "The youngest of them, Wēi Rén—whose name meant 'Majestic Benevolence'—wasn't listening."

His gaze had wandered, drawn by something beyond the tavern's warmth and merriment. Out through the arched window, just past the gate of the kingdom, he saw a flash of movement. A girl, small and swift, was racing toward the inner courtyard. Her dress was simple, dusty at the hem, but her face glowed with joy, as if she were chasing the wind or perhaps carrying a secret too big to hold.

Elian rose without a word. His brothers hardly noticed — not at first.

He stepped outside, into the fading gold of late afternoon, the tavern's chatter falling away behind him. The girl had stopped now, panting and laughing, holding something small and gleaming in her hand — a pendant? A charm?

"Hey!" he called, unsure why. Maybe just to keep her from disappearing.

She turned, startled, but her smile didn’t fade. “Are you a prince?” she asked boldly, brushing a curl from her cheek. “You look like one.”

Elian laughed, caught off guard. “And you… look like you just outran the guards.”

“I did,” she whispered mischievously. “But only because I had to bring something important.”

“What is it?”

She glanced down at the small, worn trinket in her hand, then looked back up with wide, shining eyes—half-serious, half-mischievous. “It’s a secret,” she whispered. “Something I found deep in the woods when I was with my maid. Something nobody’s supposed to see.”

Elian took the trinket, turning it over in his fingers. It was just a plain, smooth pebble—nothing special at all.

He looked up, amused. “That’s it?”

The girl burst out laughing, her small shoulders shaking. “To you, maybe! But to me, it’s a treasure.”

And in that moment, Elian knew — whatever his brothers were chasing in their tales of love and glory, it wasn’t this.

This was something else.

Something beginning.

The maid who was with small girl came running to catch up with her. She was carrying a large bag. So then the boy or the prince understood that they had come a long way here.