Beyond Her Beauty

CHAPTER 1 (Truth and Lie's √)

There was a young sweet girl living on the Mellow wood named Lily. She was kind and beautiful. The Swift family is a family of singers and musicians. Their house is far from the city and there is a reason for that. Lily's parents even go to the city just to play music and earn money. That was not the only reason they went there. Passion is also included whenever they play music.

Lily, Lizel, and Lizen, the three sisters, often accompany their parents whenever they play music on the side of the market, which is well-received by the locals. Lily was not your typical child. Her parents got her as a gift. Even if they are not wealthy or unable to purchase what they want. Everything changed when Lily entered their lives. They believe they are lucky to have her. Lily the most stunning of the three, is one-of-a-kind.

Lily died shortly after birth, a few hours later after birth, she sobbed uncontrollably, as though she was having trouble breathing. Mrs. and Mr. Swift became terrified as a result of what had occurred. At 12 a.m., the sky is amazingly changed. It is surrounded by several light blue stars, and the moon's color is a mix of yellow and blue.

She died in an instant. Lily's mother hugged her daughter for several hours because she could no longer hear her cries. It's one a.m. Lily's little body suddenly lit up, as if engulfed in a halo of white and blue light.

"Dad!" Esther calls her husband. Matt was outside their house and kicked the plants because of the pain of what happened.

Cain, their oldest son, was constantly away from home. He spent much of his time outdoors with his friends. He didn't spend much time at home, but even though his mother gave birth to his first younger sister, he still didn't bother to go home.

“Dad! Come here!"

Matt rushed in, tears streaming down both sides of his face.

“She’s! What's happening?”

Matt looked at her baby. It opened its eyes and its eyes turned blue. Its ear also seems to change and becomes like the ear of a cat. Until its white tail came out as well.

“Esther. That's… ” his wife was surprised when he looked at her baby.

“Do something, Matt! Please.”

"Easther…" he just stared at Lily, who started crying.

He was very well aware of what it was. His grandparents had previously had to inform him about the Vârcopisică. This is a trait that the noble beautiful maiden inherited. It takes a hundred years for it to happen again. And because of that. Lily was saved by her death.

Vârcopisică is an unexplained phenomenon in a lovely woman chosen by a mysterious blue cat said to live on the blue moon. It brings both good fortune and bad luck. Every 12 hours before light, Lily's Vârcopisică transforms.

It is often said that a ritual conducted in a white cave will stop it.

In nature, she resembles a goddess. Bridger was Lily's boyfriend s***h friend when she was 18. In mellow wood, it is the second of just two neighbors. In their place, there are only three houses left. However, she was chosen as an elite participant after that. Her deep desire to join there won and prevailed. Bridger is smitten with her, but it isn't enough to prevent her from entering. So she and Bridger split up before she joined.

Despite the fact that Bridger and Lily were together. Lily did not show her whole identity here because her mother had told her not to.

After Lily had developed into a young woman, and she was able to participate in the Elite election. But her parents are hesitant because they are concerned that others will know about Lily's unusual personality. They let it in because of its gleaming eyes. they knew her very well that she really wanted to go to the city and the kingdom of Milléa.

That's her dream.

…

1 years later...

As I gazed out over Milleá's vast land, I could feel the crisp, fresh air. A fascinating place with plenty of space, beautiful scenery, and friendly people..

The surroundings are peaceful, taking advantage of every second, minute, with him. I lay still, listening to the sound of Kaden’s heartbeat. It was getting harder and harder to catch him in a truly calm and happy moment, and I soaked up the time, grateful that he seemed to be at his best when he and I were alone. I keep enjoying everything around him ever since I started getting attached to him.

Honestly, no matter how kind he was to me. I don’t rely too much on flowery words. It’s impossible he hasn’t been sweet to other elite’s. From 30 women who joined until only six remained. And I’m one of the lucky ones to reach the six elite who deserve to be Milea’s new princess. I guessed he thought he’d have more time to make his choices. And though it made me feel guilty to admit it. I have something in myself that I can't show to everyone. Nobody, and no one should know.

To be honest, I'm not sure why I've been here for so long without anyone noticing my unique personality.

Prince Kaden, heir to the Milléa throne, liked me. He’d told me a week ago that if I could simply say that I cared for him and I'm willing to be with him the way he did for me, without anything holding me back, this whole competition would be over.

Sometimes I played with the idea, wondering how it would feel to be alone with him.

But the thing was, Kaden wasn’t really mine to begin with. There were five other beautiful girls here—outstanding girls he took on dates and whispered things to—and I didn’t know what to make of that. I felt dumb to know that since were equal here, but actually we're not at the very beginning since I was hiding something. I bet everything is a lie and there is only one stating the truth which is Kaden is the only person who knew the answer.

There was the fact that if I accepted the prince, it meant I had to accept to be his queen, a thought I tended to ignore if only because I wasn’t sure what it would mean for me. And, of course, there was Bridger. My old friend turned out to be my boyfriend, and became my ex.

He wasn’t technically my boyfriend anymore—I’d broken up with him before my name was even drawn for the elite selection when he showed up at the palace as one of the guards, all the feelings I’d been trying to let go of filled my heart. Bridger was my first love; when I looked at him … I saw my better self. But seeing Kaden's blue eyes. I saw my feature, my feature life.

Kaden didn’t know that Bridger was in the palace, but he did know that there was someone at home that I was trying to get over, and he was graciously giving me time to move on while attempting to find someone else he’d be happy with in the event I couldn’t ever love him.

As he moved his head, inhaling just above my forehead, I considered it. What would it be like to simply love Kaden? It's not simple at all. I lied when I said loving Kaden is easy. A lot of trial and error will pass for sure. Just to win Prince Kaden's heart.

“Do you know when the last time was that I really looked at the bright moon?” he asked.

I settled closer to him on our gray blanket, trying to keep warm on the cool bright night.

“No idea.”

“A few years ago, my tutor forced me to study astronomy. The Moon is the second-densest star, as can be seen if you look closely."

“Wait, the last time you looked at the moon was to study them? What about for fun?”

“It's entertaining. I’ll have to pen in some between the budget consultations and infrastructure committee meetings before. Oh, and war strategy, by the way, I'm a complete disaster at."

“Are there any other things you're bad at?” I see you as a perfect human being.” I inquired, my hand passing over his starched white shirt. Kaden drew circles on my shoulder with the hand he had wrapped behind my back, encouraged by the gesture. I knew he was perfect in every way.

“Because I really don't know anything about you. And you always appear to be perfect.”

He leaned against an elbow, his gaze fixed on my face. “You know I’m not.

I countered, "Pretty similar." Between us, there were small flashes of contact. Knees, arms, and fingers are only a few examples.

With a slight smile on his lips, he shook his head.

“All right, then. I'm not good at planning wars. I'm terrible at it. And I'm pretty sure I'd be terrible at everything. I've never tried before, so—”

"Never?"

“Have you noticed the groups of people who let you get up to your neck in pastries?

“They also happen to feed me.”

I laughed. I assisted in the preparation of nearly every meal at home, but I'm not the best cook in the world.

“More,” I demanded. “What else are you bad at?”

He held me close, his brown eyes bright with a secret. “Recently I’ve discovered this one thing ….”

“Tell.”

“It turns out I'm really bad at staying away from you, Lily. It is a very serious issue.”

At the same time, I flushed. I look at my fictitious clouds and draw the word LIE.

I cracked a grin. “Have you given it your all?”

He pretended to consider it. “No, no, no. And don't expect me to begin.

We laughed quietly, clutching each other's hands. It was so easy to imagine this being the rest of my life in these moments.

I'm still thinking. Is he treating my other competitor in the same way that he treated me?

Someone was approaching, as indicated by the rustle of leaves and grass.

Despite the fact that our date was perfectly fine, I felt a little embarrassed and sat up quickly. As a guard made his way around the hedge to us, Kaden followed suit.

“Your Majesty,” he said, bowing.

“I apologize for intruding, sir, but staying out this late for so long is extremely dangerous. The insurgents could—”

“Understood,” Kaden said, sighing.

“We'll be right there.”

Our time has clearly come to an end. To be completely honest. Each of us has an equal amount of time with him.

The guard left us alone, and Kaden returned his attention to me. “Another flaw of mine: I'm losing patience with the insurgents. I'm sick and tired of dealing with them.”

He stood up and extended his hand to me. I took it, watching the sadness in his eyes. We'd been attacked twice by the rebels since the start of the Selection, once by the simply disruptive Northerners and once by the lethal Southerners, and I could understand his exhaustion despite my limited experience.

Kaden was picking up the blanket and shaking it out, clearly not happy that our night had been cut short.

“Hey,” I said, urging him to face me.

“I had fun.” he smiled with a mixed hesitation.

“No, really,” I said, walking over to him. He moved the blanket to one hand to wrap his free arm around me.

“We should do it again sometime. And next time you should tell me which stars are which colors, because I seriously can’t tell.”

Kaden gave me a sad smile.

“I wish things were easier sometimes, normal.”

I moved so I could wrap my arms around him, and as I did so, Kaden dropped the blanket to return the gesture.

“I hate to break it to you, Your Majesty, but even without the guards, you’re far from normal.”

His expression lightened a bit but was still serious. “You’d like me more if I was.”

My time is running once I flick my finger. It could be the end of my journey here. It's already 10 at night. I only have 2 hours to go back to my place. I know, I know, it's a lot of time. But who knows if I encounter some trouble on my way? No one can tell me what's happening next. So I should be careful by myself.

“I know you find it hard to believe, but I really do like you the way you are. I just need more—”

“Time. I know. And I’m prepared to give you that. I only wish I knew that you’d actually want to be with me when that time was over.”

I looked away. That wasn’t something I could promise. I weighed Kaden and Bridger in my heart over and over, and neither of them ever had a true edge. Except, maybe, when I was alone with one of them. Because, at that moment, I was tempted to promise Kaden that I would be there for him in the end.

But I couldn’t.

“Kaden,” I whispered, seeing how dejected he looked at my lack of an answer. “I can’t tell you that. But what I can tell you is that I want to be here. I want to know if there’s a possibility for … for …” I stammered, not sure how to put it.

“Us?” Kaden guessed.

I smiled, happy at how easily he understood me. “Yes. I want to know if there’s a possibility for us to be an US.”

He moved a lock of hair behind my shoulder. “I think the odds are very high,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I think so, too. Just ... time, okay?”

He nodded, looking happier. This was how I wanted to end our night, with hope. Well, and maybe one more thing. I bit my lip and leaned into him, asking with my eyes. Showing how I want this place beside him.

Without a second of hesitation, he bent to kiss me. It was warm and gentle, and it left me feeling adored and somehow aching for more. I could have stayed there for hours, just to see if I could get enough of that feeling; but too soon, Kaden backed away.

“Let’s go,” he said in a playful tone, pulling me toward the dark palace. “Better get inside before the guards come for us on horseback with spears drawn.”

As Kaden left me at the golden stairs, the tiredness hit me like a wall. I was practically dragging myself up to the second floor and around the corner to my room when, suddenly, I was quite awake again.

I keep thinking about what has happened. Kissing him is unexplainable. I was risking my life just to get the goal that I wanted to reach.

“Oh!” Bridger said, surprised to see me, too.

“I think it makes me the worst servant ever that I assumed you were in your room this whole time.”

I giggled. The Elite were supposed to sleep with at least one of their maids on watch in the night. As an elite, we should take care of our skin, our body, and mostly our posture. We should be perfect as perfect we can be.

I was surprised that Bridger from the servant turned to be a guard.

I really didn’t like that, so Kaden insisted on stationing a guard by my room in case there was an emergency. The thing was, most of the time that guard was Bridger. It was a strange mix of exhilaration and terror knowing that nearly every night he was right outside my door. How can I sleep well knowing that Bridger is at my door.

The lightness of the moment faded quickly as Bridger grasped what it meant that I hadn’t been safely tucked in my bed. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Did you have a good time?”

“Don't start Bridger,” I whispered, looking to make sure no one was around. “Don’t be upset. I’m part of the Selection, and this is just how it is.”

“How am I supposed to stand a chance, Pardon me but, how can I compete when you only ever talk to one of us?” He made a good point, but what could I do? I reached this point. I can't back off and I won't.

“Please don’t be mad at me, Bridger. I’m trying to figure all this out.”

“No, Lily,” he said, gentleness returning to his voice. “I’m not mad at you. I miss you.” He didn’t dare say the words aloud, but he mouthed them. I love you. He keeps saying the word I love you using his eyes and yes I read it.

I melted.

“I know,” I said, placing a hand on his chest, letting myself forget for a moment all that we were risking. “But that doesn’t change where we are or that I’m an Elite now. I need time, Bridger.”

He reached up to hold my hand in his and nodded. “I can give you that. Just … try to find some time for me, too. I know you just broke up with me for this. But… I also know that I still have a place on your heart."

I didn’t want to bring up how complicated that would be, so I gave him a tiny smile before gently pulling my hand away. “I need to go.”

He watched me as I walked into my room and shut the door behind me.

Time. I was asking for a lot of it these days. I hoped that if I had enough, everything would somehow fall into place.