Someone walked up to the blond man who was feeding a parrot, giving him a quick bow before shouting;
“Your Majesty! I have something very important to tell you.”
“…….”
The blond man let the parrot fly away and turned around to face his servant. He shook off the bits of birdseed left on his fingertips with an indifferent expression. The sunlight hit his beautiful face.
“The ring has been found!”
The man’s eyes lit up once he heard that word.
***
“You useless little girl!”
The nosebleed wouldn’t stop. The voice that she was so accustomed to hearing was especially harsh today.
The child bit her lips and wiped her nose hastily with a dirty sleeve .
“You pitiful little bitch! I hired you out of plain generosity, the least you can do is do your job right!”
The girl clutched her shoulder, mocking the man under her breath.
“For heaven’s sake… You pay me two shillings a week. I’m the only person you could possibly hire.”, she muttered.
He raised his hand again. Blondina clenched her teeth and shut her eyes tightly.
She felt a blow to her head. The blood from her nose dripped down her chin and stained her filthy collar.
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As the man raised his hand one more time, she decided to run. Run away from the inn and from that man as fast as her little legs would take her.
The child’s name was Blondina. She’d been working as a clerk at the inn ever since her mother’s death.
The work wasn’t easy – her hands were swollen from her slow and tedious tasks. But it was the only option she had. For a young orphan like her, it was either this or being sold to some rich pedophile.
She let out a wheezing breath. Blondina didn’t stop until she reached the entrance of the village.
She held on to her necklace tightly, her mother’s voice ringing in her head.
“Blondina. This is a gift from your father. Always keep it with you.”
Her mother handed her a small pouch with a necklace in it.
Inside the worn little bag, along with the necklace, was a shiny ring. It was her sole reminder of a father she never got to know.
Her mother always told her that it was the only thing her father left behind, fleeing as soon as Blondina was born.
Tears started streaming down her face as she caught her breath, but she forced herself to hold them back.
I have pride. This can’t make me cry.
She felt the ring, safely in the pouch. She desperately wanted to protect her mother’s legacy. The necklace. But…
“Mom, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
This was it for her. She had to put her own survival before a ring given to her by a father that abandoned her and her mother.
Blondina started running through the winding streets of the village. She was going to sell the damn ring. Right now.
The jewelry store was at the end of a small alley.
The smell of perfume hit her nose as she pushed open the heavy wooden door. It smelled exactly like a place fancy ladies would visit.
Blondina’s heart was in her throat. She still couldn’t help but feel guilty for selling her mother’s legacy like this.
An old man holding a magnifying glass, the owner, stood behind the counter.
“What brings you here?”
“Good morning, mister.”
“Ah, I assume Nordi sent you to sell something again. He’s got to stop with his funny business if he doesn’t want his hands cut off.”
Nordi, the innkeeper, often asked Blondina to sell jewelry so he would have money for gambling.
Blondina slipped off the necklace and took the ring out of the pouch. The owner finally raised his head as the jewelry clanked against the glass countertop.
“I’m here to sell my own things today, mister.”
“Yours?”
“Yes. My mother left them to me…….”
Just that simple sentence was very hard to say. The owner put his magnifying glass down and inspected the pouch, handling it with a disgusted face as if it was infectious. He frowned and threw it back at Blondina.
“Untie it. By the way, hasn’t it already been three years since Lily died? Just wait for a man you can hang on to…… Such a pitiful girl you are.”
Blondina’s mother, Lily, was widely known in the area for her beauty.
No common woman, what, not even any aristocrat, had her stunning golden hair and blue eyes.
Blondina took the ring out of the pouch with an expressionless face.
The ring sparkled as light hit it, even after this many years. The owner picked it up roughly to take a closer look.
“I’ll let you off the hook on this one, it looks real, but don’t expect too much, alright?”
“Yes, mister.”
“Looks cheap, but somehow well made…….”
He suddenly went silent. His eyes dilated as if he had seen something extraordinary. He stood up. Blondina was following his every movement. His hands were trembling. He couldn’t take his eyes off the ring. Scrawling for his magnifying glass, he inspected it closely. His expression quickly went from surprised, to doubtful, to astonished.
The man took a deep breath.
“You, where did you steal this from! You bitch!”
Blondina could instantly tell that the atmosphere had changed.
She was afraid she’d get hit again, shaking her head aggressively.
“I didn’t steal it!”
“Then where, where……!”
“My mother gave it to me. She… she said it was the only thing my father left me!”
“I can’t believe this! This shape…….”, the man muttered with a blank stare. He motioned Blondina to a chair.
“Stay right here! I’ll be back soon!”
Blondina didn’t say anything. She still didn’t know what was going on.
Rushing like some sort of madman, the owner locked the door and put out the closed sign. Blondina called after him quietly.
“Mister?”
He had already disappeared. What a mystery…
Blondina just stared blankly at the closed door. The dim interior of the store was illuminated with nothing but a candle.
***
Blondina entered the guest room in the imperial castle, carefully lying down on the luxurious king bed.
She was still in disbelief of what was going on. How could she, of all people, be staying in the castle?
Two days ago, at the jewelry store, the owner returned not long after he left, with the Emperor. Blondina couldn’t bow deep enough – she had just seen a nobleman…
She was driven to the castle in a carriage.
That’s how Blondina had been staying in the castle for days now, still not knowing the reason for anything that had happened to her.
She fiddled with the ring in her hand and looked out the window. The sun was setting on the horizon. It bathed the fields outside the window in an orange light as the sky darkened. Blondina slowly drifted away into daydreaming. Before she knew it, the moon and stars were the only things left to light up the room.
She was interrupted by the rattling of the door. It was usually never opened except for mealtimes…
Who could it be?
Uneasily, she picked up a candlestick, the only useful weapon she could think of.
The door opened with an eerie creaking noise.
Blondina put down the candlestick as she saw the gigantic male figures that stood at the door. It would be useless to try and fight them, she thought. By a glance of their spotless skin and imposing walk, she could tell they weren’t just ordinary people.
After all the tall men filed in, a strikingly beautiful young man entered.
He walked in gracefully, followed by his servants. His blond hair shone softly under the light of a torch in the dark room. He soon caught Blondina’s eye and raised an eyebrow. Blondina clasped her blanket tightly as he approached.
“Tell me your name.”
“Who are you?”, Blondina asked, avoiding the man’s question.
He asked again, in a slightly irritated tone.
“Your mother’s name is Lily, right?”
“Do you know my mother?”
Blondina gulped and raised her head to look at the man. .
He gestured at the servant next to him, who gave him a candle. He lifted Blondina’s chin with a hand, as if he were observing a toy, and examined her facial features closely. A bit of wax dripped on the girl’s collarbone.
“Ow!”
She yelped, but didn’t really seem to care much about the pain. Only then did the man’s expression change.
“You look very similar to your mother, you know.”, he said in a low, emotionless voice. His sharp eyes shot through Blondina.
“A mirror image, almost.”
She asked him, in a much kinder voice this time.
“Who are you, sir?”
Instead of answering, the man scanned Blondina’s face again. The blond hair and pretty, twinkling eyes. He could see that she had a very upright character.
He started laughing and stroked Blondina’s head.