It was crowded; the crown prince had returned from war, and everyone was celebrating his victorious return. The streets were filled with shouting, music and dancing. Flowers were thrown toward the procession in admiration.
In the midst of the crowd, a person with a black hood pulled over her head was secretly trying to get out. She moved against the tide of celebration, careful and quiet. On any other day, her suspicious behaviour might have drawn attention, but the joy was too loud and the moment too grand. No one even noticed her.
With her hood shadowing her vision and she kept her gaze lowered, unsure of where to go, she accidentally stumbled into a knight on duty. In that moment, her hood slipped back, revealing her face, and before she could fall, he caught her.
"Are you alright?" asked the knight.
At that moment, it felt as if the world had stopped spinning. His heartbeat skipped a beat, his breath caught in his chest. Her hair was white as snow, spilling free, and her eyes were a bright, light green like an untouched forest hidden from the world. Her beauty felt unreal, almost other-wordly. She was ethereal, as though she did not belong among mortals.
At the same time, the crown prince noticed her from atop his horse. His gaze locked onto her, and in that fleeting instant, both men fell in love at first sight. Startled, she quickly bowed and ran away without uttering a single word, disappearing the crowd as if she had never been there at all. The knight and the prince remained frozen, astonished, as though they had witnessed something from another world. Her appearance was so rare that it left them speechless, questioning whether she was truly real.
Yet beneath their awe lingered unease. Her presence carried an atmosphere of danger, as if someone so unreal could not appear by accident. It made them wonder whether she was hiding something.
But what could she possibly be doing?