The King's Lost Princess

Chapter 3: “Five Idiots and a Destiny They Don’t Know About”

The next morning began with chaos — which, for Seina and her squad, meant everything was perfectly normal.

“WHO STOLE MY HAIRBRUSH?!” Mia screamed from the bathroom.

Elena didn’t look up from her eyeliner. “Check Luca’s pocket.”

Luca sputtered. “Why would I have your hairbrush?!”

“You have big hair now,” Elena said simply. “Adapt.”

Seina stumbled into the kitchen, yawning. Her hair was tied in a lazy ponytail, and she was holding her phone upside down without realizing it.

She sniffed the air. “Is that… burning?”

“Yes,” Arjun said calmly, flipping a pancake that resembled a crime scene. “This is what happens when a man with zero cooking skills tries to feed the people he loves.”

“That pancake looks like a failed planet,” Seina said.

“I’d still eat it,” Luca said.

“Of course you would,” Mia snapped. “Your stomach is made of steel.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Seina giggled.

She opened the fridge, grabbed leftover tiramisu, and Mia shouted across the room, “SEINA. No dessert for breakfast.”

“It’s called coping,” Seina replied.

“It’s called diabetes,” Mia corrected.

This was their routine.

This was their rhythm.

This was family.

But as Seina spooned tiramisu straight from the box, the same unsettling feeling flickered across her chest.

A tug.

A warmth.

A whisper of… someone.

She pressed her fingertips to her temple.

“You okay?” Elena asked softly.

“Yeah,” Seina said quickly. “I just… didn’t sleep well.”

Not entirely true.

She had dreamed again —

shadows,

voices calling her name,

and a man crying out in agony somewhere far away.

She shook it off.

As they walked to campus, Seina checked her phone.

A new e-mail blinked at the top of her inbox:

“Congratulations, Ms. Wilson – You have been selected for the Milan Global Finance & AI Summit.”

Seina stopped in the middle of the pavement.

“NO WAY.”

Mia spun around. “What happened? Did someone leak your browser history again?”

“That was one time,” Arjun muttered.

“No!” Seina said. “Look!”

They all huddled around her phone.

Elena gasped. “Seina, this conference costs more than our rent combined.”

“Not if someone sponsors her,” Luca said.

Seina blinked. “Why would anyone sponsor me?”

Mia grabbed her shoulders. “Because you’re a genius!”

Arjun frowned. “This is weird. Selection is random, but sponsorships aren’t. Someone had to recommend you.”

Seina’s heart skipped.

L. W.

She hadn’t told anyone, but she’d seen that initial pair again last night — embossed on the sponsorship banner of the conference website.

“Seina?” Elena asked, noticing her silence. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Seina said quickly. “Just… shocked.”

She wasn’t lying.

She was shocked.

She didn’t know someone had been watching her academic progress for years.

Someone who knew her real name before she even knew her real roots.

Someone who had chosen her for a path she didn’t know existed.

Later that afternoon, the five friends gathered in the courtyard, relaxing on the steps of the fountain. The sun warmed the pavement. Students lounged around with gelato, books, or the delusion that they would pass finals with vibes alone.

Mia was tossing grapes into Luca’s mouth.

Arjun was coding something illegal again.

Elena was sketching leaves falling on the water.

And Seina… was staring at the conference e-mail again.

Luca nudged her. “Earth to princess.”

“I told you not to call me that,” Seina laughed.

“But it suits you,” he insisted.

“No,” Mia said. “If anyone here is royalty, it’s Elena. She looks like she stepped out of a Renaissance painting.”

Elena blushed. “Stop it…”

Arjun snorted. “Please. If Elena is a painting, Seina is the financial calculator beside it.”

Seina hit him with her notebook. “I take that as a compliment.”

Arjun rubbed his arm. “It was meant as one.”

“So…” Mia leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “Are you going to the summit?”

“I… don’t know.” Seina bit her lip. “What if I’m not good enough?”

All four friends stared at her like she’d insulted the Pope.

Mia grabbed her cheeks. “You are Seina Freaking Wilson.”

Elena nodded. “You’ve solved financial models professors can’t explain.”

Arjun added, “You’re literally the reason I passed computational statistics.”

Luca flexed. “And you tutored me for criminology.”

Seina snorted. “Luca, I drew a diagram for you with stick figures.”

“And I passed,” he said proudly.

They all burst into laughter.

Warmth filled Seina’s chest.

Friendship was funny like that.

It made the world feel less frightening.

Less unpredictable.

Less lonely.

The group slowly went quiet as Seina continued reading the email’s fine print.

Her heart stopped.

She whispered, “Guys… the conference host is L. Wilson.”

Four heads snapped toward her.

“Wilson?” Mia whispered. “As in the Wilson family? As in the Wilson empire? As in the richest dynasty in Europe?”

Arjun squinted. “Isn’t their patriarch some mysterious billionaire? People barely see him.”

Elena touched Seina’s arm. “Maybe it’s a coincidence.”

Seina nodded slowly, but… she didn’t believe it.

Not with the strange sightings.

Not with the tug in her chest.

Not with the dreams.

Across the courtyard, her breath hitched.

The same older man stood behind the iron gate.

Not moving.

Not hiding.

Just… watching.

Her pulse spiked.

Mia followed her stare. “Who’s that?”

“He’s been around campus before,” Elena frowned. “I’ve seen him twice this week.”

Arjun narrowed his eyes. “He doesn’t look like a professor.”

Luca stood, protective instincts kicking in. “Should I go talk to him?”

“No,” Seina said instantly, surprising even herself.

Her heart raced.

Because the man’s eyes — warm, sad, familiar — softened when he saw her.

And she felt it again.

The pull.

Strong enough to steal her breath.

Warm enough to sting her eyes.

Deep enough to shake her bones.

Like she’d found someone she had been missing her entire life.

He nodded at her once… with an emotion she didn’t understand.

Then he turned and disappeared into the Milan crowd.

That evening, after everyone left her room, Seina sat alone on her bed, hugging her knees.

Her laptop hummed softly beside her.

The city’s faint music drifted through the window.

Mia snored in the next room.

Seina stared at the silver bracelet on her wrist.

S.

Just S.

“Who was he?” she whispered.

“Why does it feel like… he knows me?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Why do I want to cry when I see him?”

A tear slipped down her cheek before she could stop it.

Somewhere in the city, Leonardo Wilson sat alone in his dimly lit study, staring at a photo — a tiny baby wrapped in white, wearing a bracelet with the letter S.

His voice cracked.

“Soon, my princess.

Soon.”

And far away, in a towering skyscraper across the world, Kendrick Lee Peterson stood at his window, preparing for a gala that would bring him face-to-face with Leonardo Wilson for the first time.

Their worlds were moving.

Fast.

Quietly.

Inevitably.

Toward each other.

Morning arrived too quickly.

The sun hadn’t even risen properly when Luca banged on Seina’s dorm door like the police.

“OPEN UP! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!”

Seina bolted upright, hair sticking out in twelve different directions. “I swear if someone ate my tiramisu again, I will personally—”

The door burst open.

Luca stood there holding a cat.

A fluffy orange cat.

“It followed me,” he said seriously.

Seina blinked. “So you kidn*pped it?”

“It CHOSE me,” Luca insisted.

The cat meowed angrily, clearly disagreeing.

Mia appeared behind him, rubbing her eyes. “Why is there a cat in our hallway at seven in the morning?”

“Because it followed ME,” Luca repeated, offended that no one believed him.

Arjun walked in next, fully dressed and sipping coffee like the CEO of chaos. “I knew it. Luca is officially a Disney princess.”

Seina burst into laughter. “He does have princess hair.”

“ENOUGH,” Luca said. “Someone take responsibility. I am late for class.”

“Put it outside!” Mia scolded.

“I tried,” Luca said, “but it followed me back. Twice.”

Seina knelt and pet the cat softly. “There, there. What’s your name?”

The cat headbutted her palm.

Elena, emerging from her room like a sleepy angel, murmured, “Maybe it sensed her sadness.”

Seina paused.

Sadness?

She hadn’t told anyone she cried last night.

She hadn’t told anyone about the dreams.

Or the man she saw on campus.

Or the strange pull in her chest when she thought of the initials L.W.

“Sadness?” Mia asked, concerned. “Seina? What happened?”

Seina quickly smiled. “Nothing. I’m fine. Just… lack of chocolate.”

Mia narrowed her eyes but didn’t push.

Arjun checked his watch. “We have to go. Bring the cat or leave it. Those are the only options.”

Elena gently scooped the cat from Luca’s arms. “I’ll take her to the animal shelter. Go to class.”

“But I miss her already,” Luca muttered.

“You knew her for ten minutes,” Mia said.

“Love has no timeline,” Luca whispered dramatically.

Seina’s laughter rang through the hallway, echoing like tiny bells.

Even Elena smiled faintly.

And the cat purred.

Later, after lectures ended, Seina wandered through the streets of Milan alone. The city pulsed with its usual charm — chatter from cafés, tourists marveling at architecture, the seductive scent of baked goods drifting through narrow alleys.

She sipped her iced espresso while window-shopping near the Duomo.

Her phone buzzed.

Mia:

Group dinner tonight? Carbs compulsory.

Luca:

I found another cat.

Arjun:

Please stop bringing animals home.

Elena:

Guys, I’m at the shelter. They say the cat was abandoned recently.

Seina smiled softly.

God, she loved them.

She tucked her phone away and continued walking.

Then—

Someone bumped into her shoulder.

“Sorry!” Seina said automatically. She looked up.

A woman.

Tall.

Red nails.

Sharp eyes.

Expensive coat.

But what stood out wasn’t her beauty —

it was the way she assessed Seina.

Like she wasn’t a person.

Like she was a puzzle piece.

Or a file.

Or… a threat?

The woman frowned. “Be careful.”

Seina nodded. “I will.”

The woman walked away quickly, heels clicking sharply on the pavement.

A chill crawled up Seina’s spine.

She looked back.

The woman disappeared into a black car.

Was she imagining things?

She hoped so.

But tension brewed inside her.

Something was shifting around her life… quietly, invisibly.

She just didn’t know it yet.

That night, the squad gathered at their favorite trattoria — a tiny place run by an old couple who treated them like grandchildren.

They squeezed into a round booth, elbows touching, plates overflowing with food. The air smelled of tomatoes, basil, and garlic.

Mia was already ranting.

“…and then the professor said ‘imagine the patient has a broken femur.’ BROKEN FEMUR. Imagine! Imagine your femur broken! My legs felt pain!”

Luca nodded, sympathetic. “I broke my femur once.”

“YOU WHAT?” Mia shrieked.

Arjun facepalmed. “He’s lying.”

“I COULD break it,” Luca clarified.

“Shut up,” Mia groaned.

Elena was sketching the restaurant interior. “Hold still, Luca.”

“Why?”

“You have a heroic jawline today.”

Luca immediately froze.

Seina laughed so hard she nearly spilled her soda.

This was what made her heart warm:

the noise,

the chaos,

the love.

Her childhood had been filled with silence and survival.

Adulthood was filled with people who would die for her.

As she twirled pasta on her fork, she thought:

Maybe life finally decided to be kind to me.

But fate had a twisted sense of humor.

Because at that exact moment, her bracelet slid down her wrist —

the thin silver one she’d worn all her life.

Elena noticed first. “That looks old. Where is it from?”

“I don’t know,” Seina admitted. “I was found with it as a baby.”

Mia leaned in. “Wait, does that engraving say something?”

Seina held it closer.

The tiny letter S gleamed faintly under the restaurant chandeliers.

“Just an S,” she murmured.

“Maybe for Seina?”

“Maybe for something else,” Arjun murmured.

“Like what?” Seina asked.

He shrugged. “Sara. Sofia. Stella. Or… someone’s last name.”

Seina blinked.

He was right.

She hadn’t thought of that.

Luca took the bracelet carefully. “This is real silver. Old craftsmanship.”

“Could be from a rich family,” Elena observed.

“Or a royal one,” Mia whispered dramatically.

“Please,” Seina laughed. “Me? Royal?”

They all laughed with her.

But their laughter died when a man entered the restaurant — tall, broad, dressed in heavy security black.

He scanned the room.

His gaze froze on Seina.

Her breath caught.

He nodded respectfully at her…

confused, hesitant, as though he thought she was someone else.

Then he left.

“What was that?” Mia murmured.

Seina’s heart hammered.

“I… I don’t know.”

The world was tilting beneath her feet.

She felt it.

Something was coming.

Something big.

Something dark.

But she didn’t know that the man who had looked at her wasn’t a stranger.

He was a guard from the Wilson household —

recognizing the granddaughter he thought had died 23 years ago.

Later that night, Seina returned home alone. Her friends lived nearby but had their own plans.

Rain sprinkled lightly, catching the streetlights, making the pavement shine like molten gold.

Seina pulled her hoodie tighter.

She passed the university gates, heading toward her dorm.

And then—

Lightning flashed across the Milanese sky.

She froze.

A tall figure stood across the street.

Under a black umbrella.

In the rain.

Watching her.

The same older man.

Her heart stuttered.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t approach.

Didn’t turn away.

He simply watched her with…

love?

Longing?

Pain?

Tears pricked her eyes for reasons she couldn’t name.

She took one small step toward him.

But a bus passed between them—

and when it rolled away,

he was gone.

Again.

She whispered into the rain,

“Who are you?”

But the city couldn’t answer.

The man who could answer…

was too afraid to break her world just yet.