Chapter Text
P R O L O G U E
There's an independent kingdom called Artenia, it is kilometers away from Mondstadt. Artenia is a closed kingdom unlike the other 7 countries of Teyvat where the relations and trade between Artenia and other countries were severely limited, since their country was full of resources they didn't need other countries to help them or help other countries. Unfortunately, it is governed by a repressive regime as well.
The king was cruel, he's taking advantage of his power to dictate what people must or mustn't do. He does not love his own people and vice versa— the king isn't loved by his people, they despised him instead. The king only loves being on throne, being above all the people in Artenia. Even if the people hated him, they could not do anything about it because if they defy the king, they will get executed.
The kingdom was very strict too, to laws and everything else. It is difficult to enter or leave the country, they need permission from the royal palace first in order to leave or enter. The country was surrounded by oceans so people can't easily do what they want, they need ships or boats.
But nevertheless their awful king, the kingdom has a kindhearted beautiful queen who devoted her life to keep the country thrive and keep the people safe from any harm even from her own husband. Not only that, the king and queen have twins— female and male who look like they are a gift from the Archons because of their breathtaking beauty, many could not resist them because of their captivating features. Although, the prince is more ethereal than the princess because the queen resembles the prince very much. He has a feminine face more than his twin sister even if he's a male, said by people from the Artenia Kingdom.
The twins have the same personality of a queen, they are a goodhearted and compassionate person towards other people just like their mother. In short, the three royals are the complete opposite of the king.
The queen only married the king not because out of love, but because it is a duty. The duty that needs to be fulfilled. The king deceived the former majesty into marrying his daughter, the former majesty thought that he was a kind man that will do anything for his daughter and for the people. But he thought wrong— when the former king died, everything changed. Artenia Kingdom became a closed country and people have been forced into labor even if they're not receiving fair treatment in return, this goes mostly to peasants.
That's an awful truth behind the wealthiness of the country and the queen hates it very much because she couldn't do anything about it. Unfortunately, she's only second in command and the king is above anything else because he is the law. But she's doing her best to avoid any harmful events inside the country because she can't stand violence. She's not used to violence and she could never get used to it even if her husband was always hurting her, not just mentally but also physically. That's how cruel the king is.
But even if the king was inhuman, he gave her the most wonderful gifts— which are the twins, her children. She only had children with the king because it is a duty 'they said', it is an obligation to bear a child with royal blood to be next in line 'they said'. But they are not just an obligation to bear, they are her precious children and she wanted them in the first place even if with a ruthless king. The twins are going to save this country, they are her only hope. She will continue to teach them to be good rulers with her heart content, just like the former majesty. The twins are her happiness, she loved them with all of her heart, she loved them more than she loved herself.
Although that happiness did not last long, someone took away that happiness from them. There's a tragedy that suddenly emerged in the Artenia Kingdom. The queen died, in a most tragic way because she died on a sixteenth birthday celebration of the twins. Someone put a deadly poison in her drink, they did not know what poison it was so they couldn't cure it. They couldn't do anything but watch the queen as she took her last breath saying her goodbyes to the twins.
As saddening as it was, someone from the royal palace killed the queen and up until now— they did not know who it was and their purpose.
"But I don't want to marry—!" Before the prince could protest, a loud impact befell on his cheek. The king slapped him and the sound of it echoed through the entire throne room. The princess cupped her mouth in shock, and couldn't believe that their father hit her twin brother.
"It is your duty, don't you dare whine on me when you are only good for nothing!" The king blustered, glaring at the prince in front of him who was still shocked because of what just happened. His face was still facing the side while feeling the sting on his cheek, trying to regain his composure.
Good for nothing. He's been hearing this from the mouth of his own father ever since his mother died. Four years have passed but whenever he's hearing those, it still hurts him.
"I will marry anyone but the harbinger, please, Your Majesty." The prince pleaded, there's a small part of him hoping that the king will listen even though he knew from the start that he won't. Maybe he's just wasting his energy, maybe he should just accept this. He glanced up and then continued. "Please listen to me..."
"You don't get to choose who you marry so do what you've told." Every word was spoken in a demanding tone, as if he's already settled with his decision.
All hope was shattered, he indeed just wasted his energy trying to protest because from the start— he doesn't have the right to complain. His father doesn't even like him, he hates him in fact so why would he listen? Every single day, all he got was nothing but harsh words coming from the king.
"Your Majesty, what if I marry him?" The princess spoke out of nowhere, the prince's eyes widened.
"Lumine, stop!" The prince immediately stated, narrowing his eyes as he glanced at his twin sister. This is my fault. Princess Lumine wasn't looking at him, she was standing tall while staring at their father straight in the eyes.
"Oh, don't be foolish, my girl. You are not the sacrifice, you're next in line to the throne so you must not carry the harbinger's name." The king's voice softens.
Sacrifice. The prince bit his lower lip, lowering his head as he formed his palm into fist. Yes, that's how he is and will ever be— just a sacrifice. He's so weak that's why the king is ashamed of him and only sees him as just a sacrifice. The king couldn't even stand seeing him, he's a male yet he's not next in line to the throne. He doesn't have the same guts as the king. The prince couldn't even properly fight with a sword, he does not like violence. He couldn't make hard decisions because his heart was too soft, and that's not how the ruler was supposed to be as their father stated.
And yes, that is true. Princess Lumine is the next in line to the throne because unlike her twin brother, she's a strong woman that can take anyone in the battlefield, she's very independent, has a strong mind, has a strong heart to make a decision even if it's wrong and she's capable of ruling a country. His Majesty favors her very well, he's treating her a complete opposite of the prince.
"But harbingers are your friend? Are they not?" Princess Lumine questioned.
"They are not a friend of mine, I'm just pretending to be their ally. Harbingers are nothing but trash, I only need them because I want something from them." The king stated, snickering.
"Pardon my objection, Your Majesty, but how can you be so sure that they will give you what they want if you let one of the harbingers marry Aether?" Princess Lumine asked again, continuing, "The harbingers are known to be an enemy of the seven countries outside Artenia, am I right?"
"That's right, my girl." The king simply responded, pursuing his lips as he looked at Prince Aether. His lips slowly curved into a grin, narrowing his eyes onto him. "And I'm not sure about our alliance that's why Aether is the sacrifice, the harbinger caught the sight of him when they visited here and immediately wants to marry him. He desires for him, it's not my fault why he looks like that. Maybe he bewitched the harbinger."
"We're twins so I look like him, I can marry the harbinger." Princess Lumine said, reason for Prince Aether to glare at her. He wanted to stop her from saying anything anymore.
"You cannot, you are supposed to marry a man who's just like me— that will fit to be king. Besides, the harbinger only set his eyes on your brother. Maybe because he looks weak, unlike you, Lumine. Weak ones are the easiest to control, to handle, to manipulate. Is that right, Aether?" The king questioned in amusement, Prince Aether did not answer anything. None of them did. He just let the king say what he wanted to say to him.
The king stood up from his throne chair, walking towards the prince. "He's only capable of becoming a property with that face of his, he only looks good in bed. What do you think of that, Aether? Can you warm your soon to be husband's bed? Just like your mother warmed mine?"
Prince Aether froze in his place with his eyes widened, mouth parted into two. How could he say that to my mother? Most of the people in the throne room were caught off guard, even the servants and the royal guards. Princess Lumine was shaking all over, she had this intense look as if she's ready to let her body act on her own. The knight beside Princess Lumine didn't let her, he was trying his best to stop her from doing anything reckless, he was gripping her arm so hard. The king suddenly laughed because of the sudden tension in the atmosphere.
"You will marry the harbinger, I'll set an arrangement next week whether you like it or not."
"I want to kill him." Princess Lumine spouted the moment they entered the prince's royal chamber.
"You can't." Prince Aether sighed in defeat, letting his body fall on his bed.
"I know but I can't take it anymore! The way he's treating you!" The princess raved, anger remains to boil inside of her. "You can't marry that damn harbinger!"
"It is my duty." The prince said in a low voice, enough for his twin sister to hear it.
"It is not your duty, forming an alliance with harbingers is not a duty. They are dangerous, they are threats to this country and we both know this." Princess Lumine clearly enunciated, eyes are sharpened.
"Then why did you want to replace me?" Prince Aether asked her in disbelief, remembering what happened not long ago. He gazed upon her with his eyebrows both furrowed.
"Because—"
"Lumine, you've been protecting me since we were kids. I should do that since I'm older than you." The prince interrupted her, sitting up.
"You're like 1 minute older than me." Princess Lumine walked near him, sitting beside her twin brother.
"But still, I want to protect you too..." Prince Aether whispered, biting his lip and stared at his twin sister.
"Aether, I can't stand seeing you marry some horrible man. That guy saw you once yet he quickly wants you as his property, he will do no good for you. You are not an object to own and obviously that's what the harbinger wants— to own you. God knows what he will do if you get married!" Princess Lumine ranted, shaking her head trying not to think about it.
"This is what father wants..." Prince Aether uttered, flashing a force beam at her.
"For his own sake, not for the people!" The princess exclaimed, trying so hard not to let her tears fall even though she's on the urge because of the anger she felt.
"We both know that we couldn't do anything about it." The prince responded, holding his twin sister's hand to help her calm down somehow and showed her that it's okay— Prince Aether got this.
"Aether..." Princess Lumine stared at him, she had this look Prince Aether couldn't even explain. Tears started to stream on her cheek, smiling at her twin brother but he could notice the pain in her smile. It worried the prince so much.
"Lumine, why are you looking at me like that?" The prince asked in confusion, wiping her tears using his finger. Princess Lumine tightened the hold on his hand and leaned on his touch.
"Run away from here." Princess Lumine told him, reason for the prince to stand up in surprise from his seat.
"What?! Are you out of your mind?" Prince Aether was met with an expression of incredulity.
"Please, this is the only way." The princess let out a heavy sigh. She's serious about this and it shows. Prince Aether tensed up.
"I can't... Lumine, how about you—?" The prince's voice cracked, suddenly, there's a lump in his throat.
"Don't worry about me, okay? I will be queen and besides, the harbinger doesn't want me. Father doesn't even want me to get married to the harbinger." Princess Lumine reassured but the prince didn't seem satisfied with her answer.
"Lumine... I can't leave you." Prince Aether sat beside her again, gripping both of his twin sister's arms. The prince shook his head again and again whilst biting his lip, he couldn't do this. He couldn't possibly leave his sister like this, even though she will be queen.
"And I can't let you marry that man! I can't let our father win. Trust me, our father and the harbingers can't do anything about it when you disappear. The harbingers can't attack this country since they knew we have strong forces here and our father can't fully form an alliance if you're gone. Our people will remain safe from the harbingers' hands. We can't let them, Aether." Princess Lumine stated as she stood up, her eyes were clouded with madness that was caused by their own father who did nothing but hurt their feelings and messed up with their emotions— mostly to her dear twin brother.
And she couldn't handle this anymore, she wants the best for the prince— because it is what he deserves. Prince Aether deserves to be happy, to be free and not just to be caged by the ruthless king and the harbinger.
"I don't know..." The prince muttered, looking down to avoid his twin sister's eyes.
"You have to do this, Aether. Please, run away." Princess Lumine continued to plead, not wanting to give up on him.
"What if you're wrong? What if they still formed an alliance even without me? What will happen to our people? To you?" Prince Aether argued even if he knew that there's no point not agreeing about this because he can already feel that his twin sister was already certain.
"Aether, don't you want to explore the Teyvat? Don't you want to see the world outside?" The prince tightly shut his eyes when he heard his twin sister asking that.
"That's not fair..." His lips shivered, feeling his heart aching as tears streamed down. Princess Lumine knows how much Prince Aether wants to explore Teyvat, she knows how much he's in love with the idea of traveling outside Artenia Kingdom. She knows how much Prince Aether wants to learn new things from exploring the world and it's unfair because she was using this to push him into running away.
Don't get him wrong, he wanted to run away ever since their mother died, he really did— but of course with his sister. He wanted to travel the world with Princess Lumine, but it was all just a desire and nothing more. Because in the end, they have a duty here. People from the Artenia Kingdom need them, they need to protect them.
But with what's happening right now, it seems like they need to avoid the situation where the king and the harbingers can fully form an alliance. And running away is the only choice they have right now but he doesn't want to leave his dear sister behind.
"You can come back here when I sit on the throne, okay? I will open this country and I will bring back the peacefulness of this country." The princess said with determination in her voice, they couldn't lose hope right now. They need to be strong in order to protect this country, to heal its scar.
"Lumine..." The prince softly called.
"I will ask Sir Dainsleif to help you get into a ship without being noticed." Princess Lumine walked towards him as she wrapped her arms around her twin brother, hugging him. Prince Aether hugged her back, so tight, so warm, as if he doesn't want to let go.
"I will come back, sister. Wait for me, okay?"
"I will, brother."