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Royal Palace, East Wing – Midnight
"Do you ever wonder… what she would look like now?", Queen Liora asked her majesty.
King Aldren quietly closing the book he wasn't reading
"Every day."
A long silence hangs between them, heavy but familiar. The Queen's fingers trace the rim of her teacup, the surface trembling ever so slightly.
Queen Liora
"She'd be twenty-six today." A faint, hollow smile appeared on her face, "twenty-six. Imagine that."
"Don't do that to yourself."
"How can I not? Aldren, we buried an empty casket. An empty casket. I stood there and lied to our people, said I made peace with her passing". Her voice breaks slightly
"....but I haven't. I never will."
Aldren stands, walks to the balcony doors, and pushes them open. The cold night air rushes in, carrying the sound of distant city lights.
"For nineteen years we searched quietly. Discreet inquiries. Silent investigations. Bribes. Favors. All for nothing."He exhales, jaw tightening. "Maybe we were wrong to stay in the shadows."
"You made that decision for us. For her safety."
"Yes. And I would make it again."
He pauses. "but… I think the danger has passed. And if she's alive, she deserves to be found publicly and officially."
The Queen freezes, her breath caught.
"Aldren… what are you saying?"
"I'm saying we stop whispering." He steps closer, lowering his voice.
"I'm saying we stop pretending she died."
The Queen's eyes widen with disbelief and a fragile, rekindled hope she has suppressed for nearly two decades.
"If we do this, if you make this announcement, our entire kingdom will start searching again. Reporters. Investigators. Opportunists. Everyone."
King Aldren:
"Good."
His voice strong now. "Let them look. Let the world know the royal family is missing a daughter not mourning a dead one."
He reaches for her hand, and for the first time in years, the Queen does not pull away from the subject.
"And if we find her?"
Her voice is barely a whisper.
What if she doesn't remember us? What if she hates us for losing her?"
The King softens.
"Then we'll love her until she can't."
The Queen finally breaks, tears slipping down her cheeks not the grieving kind, but the kind soaked in something dangerously close to hope.
"Make the announcement."
The King nods once, determined and Final.
Outside, the moon glows over the kingdom, unaware that by sunrise, everything will change.