Zanine had no reply. Because every word was true.
Aleel slowly leaned back, "When I first entered these walls… I believed noble blood meant noble character." She laughed softly. "Oh! What a foolish girl I was." Her eyes drifted toward the ceiling, "I was such a young and naive little girl. And I thought, love was all that mattered in the world. I had thought that with enough love, everything could be made right."
The snow outside reminded her of another winter— another lifetime. Long before palace walls. Long before jeweled hairpins. Long before royal titles. Back when she had still answered to simply… Aleel, or at the most, Lady Aleel.
Her childhood home stood on the outskirts of House Tasan's vast estate, not because her family lacked wealth. Quite the opposite actually. The Tasans possessed enough land that one could ride from sunrise until midday without leaving it.Her father liked to boast about that. Aleel, on the other hand, never cared. She preferred flowers, books, embroidery, music.She was the youngest legitimate daughter of the Tasan Patriarch. And unlike her elder sisters, she had little to no interest in politics.
The adults often joked that she had been born with spring in her heart.
"You smile too easily," her mother would gently scold. "The world is not nearly kind enough to deserve it." But Aleel always smiled anyway.
There had been a plum tree near the western wall of the estate. Every spring it blossomed before every other tree. She often climbed it despite repeated warnings. Her father hated seeing noble daughters behave so improperly. She loved the view from the highest branch.
Beyond the estate, she could see ordinary people. Farmers. Merchants. Children chasing chickens. They looked truly happy and carefree. She couldn't help but to envy them.
One afternoon, she nearly fell. Her foot slipped on wet bark.
However, just before she lost her balance someone caught her wrist.
"You'll break your neck." The voice had laughed. It sounded warm and youthful, despite it's obvious cockiness.
Aleel looked up and saw the young man who stood effortlessly balanced upon another branch.
She blinked, "...Who are you?"
He grinned, "The gardener's new helper."
She frowned, "Gardeners don't climb trees."
"I was rescuing an idiot."
"I wasn't asking to be rescued."
"Then, I guess you would've preferred if I had let you fall. Even if you didn't break a bone or a few, you would've certainly been scarred for life. "
She had wanted to thank him but his words and tone had offended her and so she childishly refused to speak to him for three whole days.
He didn't seem bothered by that though. Every morning afterward he continued to work in the gardens. She pretended not to watch him and he pretended not to notice.
His name was Caelan, he wasn't really a gardener. His uncle served as the estate's head groundskeeper. After his parents died during a harsh winter, the old man had taken him in. He worked harder than anyone on the estate. He also laughed louder than anyone. He spoke to servants and nobles exactly the same way.
Fearlessly.
Aleel found it fascinating. She found him… interesting.
Months became years.
Whenever lessons bored her she would escape to the gardens.
Caelan was always there. Sometimes trimming hedges. Sometimes planting flowers. Sometimes lying atop the grass watching the clouds drift overhead.
"You'll get scolded." She would warn him.
He shrugged, "Probably."
"So why do it?"
He looked toward the sky, "Because clouds don't care whether I'm noble or poor."
Aleel quietly sat beside him.
They watched together.
"What would you do..." he asked one afternoon, "...if you weren't born Lady Aleel?"
She considered the question carefully, "I don't know. You?"
He smiled, "I'd open a little cloth shop."
"A cloth shop?"
He nodded enthusiastically, "One with colorful fabrics from every kingdom."
"You dream too small." She laughed.
"I think it's the perfect size. And you?"
She hesitated.
Then admitted quietly, "...I'd help."
He looked surprised, "You'd work?"
"I'd own half!"
He burst into laughter. "There it is. The noble lady finally appears."
She nudged him, "Only half. The other half is yours."
He stared at her, not laughing anymore.
"...Deal."
Neither of them realized...
They had just promised each other a future.
Winter arrived again, snow blanketed the estate. The plum tree stood bare. Aleel had turned sixteen, she was a young woman now. But even so, she and Caelan remained close.
One day, she found Caelan repairing a wooden cart, "My father summoned me."
He stopped working and turned to face her, "Why?"
She forced herself to smile, "He says I've come of age."
The hammer in his hand slowly lowered.
Neither spoke. Neither of them needed to. They both understood. Daughters of great families… were not free.
"My congratulations."
His smile looked wrong. It was too forced. She hated it.
"I don't want congratulations."
"No?"
"I want..." Her voice caught, "I want you."
Caelan looked away with his ears burning, "So do I."
Days later marriage proposals arrived, not from ordinary noble but from princes and military families of merit; all powerful clans. Every letter represented another political alliance. Another future chosen by someone else. Aleel read none of them while her father read every one.
One evening, Caelan was waiting beneath the old plum tree, "I found a place."
She frowned, "A place?"
He nodded, "North. No one will know us there. I've already spoken to a merchant caravan. They leave in twelve days." His voice trembled. "Aleel. Come with me."
She forgot to breathe. For a long time neither spoke as the snow fell quietly around them.
Finally… she stepped forward, placed her hand over his and smiled, "...We'll open that cloth shop."
He laughed. She laughed too, both of them unaware of the coming danger.
Not too far away, inside the grand hall of House Tasan, her father was already kneeling before a royal envoy.The King had made his choice. He wanted a daughter of House Tasan; not because he loved her but because he needed her family, and in the eyes of politics one young woman's happiness was worth less than a signature on a royal marriage contract.