Chapter Text
"No... This doesn't look good either"
Ena sighed deeply as her eyes stared at her freshly drawn painting. She thought that she will be able to copy the statue they have in their castle but it seems that she fails at it too. The princess looked at the statue before her and tried to spot what she did wrong. As far as she knows it's her grandfather's statue.
He was a powerful man that ruled the kingdom with hard hand. Everyone respected him and thanks to his smart decisions their kingdom was one of the strongest kingdom her times. She has never met her grandfather but the respect remaied strong. If not that man, she would be in much worse castle and possibly in danger too. Good that her grandfather remaied strong at those times.
Ena looked back at the painting and carefully studied every single line she did. At first it seemed that everything was fine but then she noticed many unfinished lines, weird color mix and the fact that the face was very deformed. One of his eyes was much lower that the other one, his jaw looked like an egg. Everything added together made him look like a jester rather than a strong and independent man he was. If her grandpa would see that, he would definitely be disappointed in her.
She picked up a pencil and tried to correct the lines to make him look even more realistic. Sharp movement of her hand was supposed to show his strength but actually made him look like even bigger clown. Ena used end of the pencil to scratch her brow in thoughts. No matter how many times she tries to draw it always ends up looking like a caricature rather than a portrait.
Ena tried to at least draw the sunset behind the statue but every single line felt rushed and imperfect. She corrected it many times but each time it ended up even worse than last time. The pencil was slowly getting shorter and shorter as she continued drawing. Her entire side of the hand was black from touching the canva. It wasn't princess-like to look like this but Ena couldn't care less. She wasn't like other princesses.
Every female around her tried to look stylish and feminine. They put tons of brightly shining jewelry and expensive dresses every single day. Their hair was always loose and brushed perfectly straight. At first they might seem like a flawless doll to grab and play with. Ena knew better than that. None of those perfect woman was like this inside. Every on them had million ugly secrets they hide under wall of make up and gold. Side not much people can see.
Ena didn't play the same game. She wasn't the type of person that would fake herself. Of course she won't jump into crowd of people and scream her flaws but she won't play perfect doll either. She liked attention of the crowd but not by sitting in one place. She didn't like the idea of changing your entire personality and worldview just for the kingdom, that wasn't in her style.
Ena took a deep breath in and out to look at her painting again. So many imperfections she made with her hands. The only things that she wanted make perfect are her paintings. As a child she drew like a maniac but after years passed, more responsibilities appeared on her road. She was taught how to act around people and even how to help her brother, the future ruler. Maybe Ena was the older one but Akito was a man so he had to take over the kingdom. Better for her. Ena never wanted to be the ruler anyway. All she wants is to become a famous for her art and not what blood goes through her.
Ena placed the pencil on the side and laid her back behind. Her eyes started watching the sky as it slowly began to turn orange. First stars started to appear in the sky and made her realize how much time she actually spend here. A few good hours spend on just moving her wrist around and hoping for good results. She was really that hopeless. The drawing looked terrible even after she poured her soul out. Ena put her face in her hands and let the fail sink in again. Why was she even doing that.
Ena wiped her tired eyes and looked away from the painting. The world looked much brighter now. All she did for over four hours was looking between a white canva and white statue. It was stuck before her eyes now. The view didn't disappear immediately but took a few blinks. Maybe next time she will draw something good... Maybe one day the actual motivation will come back to her.
The princess corrected herself on the chair and looked around the royal yard she was sitting in. It was calm place where not many people came at those hours. At daytime you can see there actually people but it's closed for normal people after the sun starts to set. It was perfect place for Ena to just sit and relax after hard day of being herself.
Ena slowly raised from her chair and her hands went to her clothes to straighten them after hours on being in one position. She had zero plans for today, that means she will probably just sit in her room and die from boredom... again. With another sigh she placed her hand on the side of the canva. Another wasted paper. Why can't she draw like those famous artists. She would sell everything to be like them. Noticed for their talent... Talent she was lacking of.
Ena noticed a movement in the corner of her eyes. She wasn't expecting anyone to actually come to this place at this hours. The gardeners finished their job here so they shouldn't be there. Royal guardians are probably in the castle so another option was crossed out. It must be someone from the royal family then. Her father was probably working and Akito had his sword training with officer Aoyagi today, at least he should have them. Was it her mother or maybe Akito finished early.
No matter who that was, she still tensed and looked at the sound. Who knows what could have sneaked into these places. There wasn't a single guard at the gate so people could easily enter this place even if they aren't allow to. It came out that nobody was around. Ena was very confused when she realized that. Was she hallucinating after hours of working with no break, that was a very likely scenario. Normally she would brush it off but something still felt wrong.
Ena took her pencil to protect herself if needed. You never know what might happen to you, especially when you are a well known and respected princess of a strong kingdom. Everyone could be a threat to your safety this can be a case as well. She slowly approached the sound and kept her pencil strongly in both of her hands.
When she got close enough she noticed that someone indeed was hiding in the bushes she heard the sound coming from. It wasn't a normal animal but an actual human... No, they had horns on top of their head. Strong black horns resting between their long pink hair. Their eyes met for a few seconds before Ena let out a loud squeak in shock and fear. The creature's pink eyes widened and they quickly started running away.
"Hey! Where are you going! A-and what are you doing here!" Ena tried to call for the unknown monster but she was met with absolute silence. She knew that chasing after that thing was a good idea but she was too weak to fight this unknown thing.
Ena still didn't lower her pencil and tried to see if she was safe or not. The creature ran straight into forests and seems to vanish for good. When she realized that, her weapon slowly lowered and she was finally able to relax even if slightly. She expected everything but meeting with a mystical creature. Her entire life she was sure that creatures with horns were just a myth. Of course they have mages in their kingdom but that..? It was something new for her.
She took a few steps back and stared at the place the monster was standing just a few seconds ago. It was hard to even understand what was that. Her body was frozen for a few seconds and then she realized that she can go to the library and find books about those monsters. Let's hope books about them even exist.
Ena took her painting and started running into the castle. She quickly opened the doors to the castle and started dashing inside. The guardians only looked at her to check if she's fine but other than that they didn't try to stop her. Ena arrived to the library door and looked around. She can't just go inside with a painting, can she? The princess quickly noticed a maid cleaning around and ran to her.
"Excuse me, can you place the painting into my room? Thank you" Ena placed the canva in maid's hands and quickly went to the library, leaving the maid no time to refuse or even answer.
Ena entered the place and silently closed the doors. She saw a few students reading books by the big table. The king sponsors many starting magicians and help with their studies. He wants more people to join their army as wizards, they lack strong magicians by their side. If a kingdom wants to be strong, they need both strong knights but also strong magicans. Recently they started working on getting more wizards with huge knowledge.
She looked away from the students and started walking through the alleys to find the right book that might help her understand what just happened. The image of the monster was repeating in her head all the time. Pink hair, pink eyes and those black horns. She needs to find out what that was, no matter what! Even if that means chasing after the monster into the forest. She was suddenly determined to find out.
She entered another alley and almost bumped into the main librarian that was just leaving the alley she wanted to enter. Both of them gasped and looked at each other shocked for a few seconds before Ena found her voice again.
"Ah, my apologies, Asahina-san"
"That's okay. It's my bad as well" The librarian stepped aside with a huge smile on her face, letting Ena pass by.
"Oh well... Do you know where I can find book about mystical creatures. Im very curious about one creature" Ena quickly used the situation to ask her. Asahina has been working around for a while now so she definitely knows where to seek.
"Mystical creatures? Of course, please follow me" She turned around and started walking towards 10th alley. Ena quickly followed the girl and watched her pull a specific book. "I think this is the best one. Feel free to explore rest of them as well"
"Thank you so much" Ena nodded her head and quickly went to find a perfect place to read. She found free table and took a seat.
The book was feeling heavy again her hands as she threw it on the table. It made a pretty loud sound, making one or two students look in her way. They quickly looked away when they realized the princess was there, not wanting to seems mean or something like that. Ena wasn't the type to fear royals but she could understand why normal people might do. She was above them after all.
Ena started moving through the pages in hope to find anything that might look like the monster she met in the yard. Of course she found some basic ones but nothing that might look like them. Were they some sort of unstudied species... That seems like a bigger and bigger possibility. She was about to close the book but she noticed something interesting on the last page. Ena moved closer and took better look at the page.
"Hermit curse
Year 1097
There was a tribe that was ahead of their own times. They had machines no human could even dream of, it felt almost like they were a time travelers from the future... It was because it was the truth. People found them dangerous and tried to end their entire bloodline. Of course they were too smart to die from normal war, their machines were too strong. The people started praying to the god himself. After years of begging for help, the god answered. It knew that those people broke the law of time and indeed time traveled so as a punishment he put entire tribe into the future and cursed them with ugly horns. There was no escape, their children were born with horns too. People from their times found them scary and tried to kill them. To protect themselves, the creatures sacrificed two thousands sheeps for shadow power that fly through their veins to this day"
Ena finished the story and looked at it in shock. So it wasn't just a storyless creature, it was a former human. She tried to find more about them but there wasn't any next page. It was a bit disappointing but she didn't plan to give up now, not when she knew the interesting background behind them.
She quickly went to 10th alley and put the book back on its place. Ena saw that Mafuyu was putting books on their places so she decided to speak up to her. The princess tried to look nonchalant as she approached the librarian.
"Excuse me. Do you know where I can find book about the hermit curse?"