Paradoxical Love

Chapter 30: False princess

I had a hunch Helenia knew about something but I didn't realize she was actually the girl I married in the game. She further fell into her bottomless fantasy to be with the one she promised to love now that she met the one who's been giving her property of consolation.

The reason why she was speechless when she saw my character avatar was that she also can't believe that the odds of meeting me were that slim as she expected. Even if the memories are all merely recollection and none other than a fleeting fragment of our memories, still, for her, it is her everything.

The human eye will never lie, her comfort had been settled because she was reunited with her past. Even though she was in tears, there was still a trace of incomparable bliss. A real and actual princess is weeping before me, I wanted to console her, but I'm the reason she's in such a worried-state.

The poems that I made for her were the ones I wrote 'cause I'm bored to death. But even so, she cherished each and every one of my pieces. I still remember the last poem I wrote just for her back in the days since I decided to refrain from playing DAO as it has been affecting my daily productivity.

I was actually pleased knowing that a princess liked my poems, those works became her comfort when she's in blues, and will always be as I reckoned the several letter envelopes on her desk contains my poems for sure.

Topping it off with her costume, it was the last outfit she wore before I logged out of the game that time. Her getup was a magical girl with a majestic crimson uniform who came out from an academy for mages.

The wand that she's holding has a pink star on its tip; I would never forget its coolness, the memories of the past rushed in me as if my reminiscence were occurring right before my very eyes.

I remember the eternal white clouds above the blue skies, birds fly gracefully every time their wings flutter beyond the clouds in the sky, as well as towering lawns and small but pretty irises of various colors; may peace prevail with every gust of wind that comes our way.

Everything I'm seeing in the game was all visuals of graphical scenery, but once I close my eyes and open it again, the imagination comes into life. Inside the game, we were in my house amidst the ancient trees, I'm with her spending the time before we part ways and do well in our lives.

"Salvation, are you really leaving the game today?" I read her personal message aloud. It's painful to accept but it's really inevitable. I tend to cut classes and study in my bedroom alone, but because of DAO, my self-study sessions get skipped as well and thus lowering my overall productivity.

"Yes, Safiria. The wind never ceases to flow, so does the life it bears would surely unfold." This is how I am whenever I'm in the mood to entertain her.

I use figurative words because Safiria also gets into the conversation pretty easily, we have the same wavelength and understand each other close enough that can probably be good friends in real-life.

"But why do you need to leave? Won't you visit me every now and then?" She was troubled, I can tell she took her time to send her message.

"I couldn't... I need to defeat the demon lord of my life." The demon I told her I should conquer was my habit to play games all day long, I'm the one who I should defeat, and to do this, I need to quit in this game as soon as possible.

"Then... I will defeat your demon beside you! So please!" She was desperate to have an adventuring companion forever, little did she know it was me who I should overcome. I kept tapping the buttons as soon as I read her reply to reciprocate her determination.

"No. The words of an unyielding knight shall never change. My Safiria."

Although I'm sweet and gentle to my words for her, there's still no certainty whether the one who's operating the character avatar was a boy or a girl. I simply assumed she's a girl and I wouldn't forget the fact I'm inside a game so meeting her in real-life will never happen anyways.

"You must've mustered up your resolve, Salvation, will you please hear my story before you leave me behind?" She implored, I'd never turn down a friend of mine who accompanied me in my adventures within DAO.

"Anything for you, my Safiria." I'm all ears for her as this will be our last conversation. I have no choice but to wait for her reply. She's certainly typing a bunch of words so her story must be very long, I decided to get some snacks while waiting.

I ate a few bags of chips, I can't tell if she had fallen asleep or she's having a connection difficulty. It was as if she was hesitant to tell me a story from her side, but even so, I waited no matter how long her message gets.

When she shared her story, I was surprised it was a bit longer than I expected so I read it thoughtfully that my two eyebrows almost became a straight line with the excessive profundity of the words she used.

"Once upon a time, there is a princess who was so kind and thoughtful. And one night, she woke up only to see her get massacred before her, she was the only one who survived. But her fragile heart couldn't take such heavy sorrow in her chest, she died of lament and hopelessness..." I read her story aloud, I took a deep breath, and wiped my tears away.

It was so sudden that the princess died of loneliness, anymore than this I might have an outburst so I kept reading it to know what comes next. "For the long bloodline of the family to remain in the surface of history, a young girl the same age as her was forced to become the princess and continue the legend of the royalty she never knew. Obscure as it may be; she had no choice but to live alongside the fate she never wished for."

It was really an ambiguous tale but it was something I didn't understand. I failed to even decipher its true meaning, why did she even tell me a sorrowful story? In the first place, where did this tragic tale about a princess came from? Only she knows the answer, and even if she tells me, I'm aware it was something I can't catch on.

I wanted to grill her where did she get her piece, whether it's true or fiction, but I remained silent as I clenched my fists, my arms were numb, trembling for no reason, I meditated by clearing my mind and breathing in a trance, I have a feeling there was a reason why Safiria told me this before I quit the game.

"Did the false princess... really accepted her fate?" We became emotional before we can console each other.

In another perspective, According to her statement; the real princess died, so I wonder if a false princess accepted her privilege as royalty.

"That... I don't know..." After she sent her response; she swapped her character avatar costume to a cute frilly academy uniform with a matching crimson light aura that perfectly fit along with her crimson hair inside the game.

"Is that so..." I sent the personal message and held my chest tight, I guess that is all I can learn. Maybe she was also using analogy to depict her situation in real-life, I have no idea what she was telling me anymore.

"Salvation, will you write me one last poem about the tale I recounted to you earlier? Please give the fraudulent princess a happy ending she deserved..." She asked, I'll gladly make a poem if that will lift the heaviness in her chest.

That's the reason why I write poems, to soothe the feelings of those I wrote them for, even if we're far apart, I'm sure the word will reach wherever she was.

"Yes. Just wait for a moment." I implore her to wait, I took a notebook on my desk and a pen to begin writing a piece she will never forget.

"I will... Salvation." She agreed, I started making the last poem I would give her. With the power of words, every emotion that dwells in my heart and mind, I laid everything I have for this piece just to give the false princess an ending she longed for.