The Princess' Decree

by Ryotzalcoatl

AN: I made some minor changes for Miakis' thought, because a friend told that it somehow didn't fit into the story. Keep all the reviews coming! A constructive one is more than welcomed!

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Two moons had passed after the defeat of Godwins. The Senate had been dissolved and in its stead a parliament was formed. It was a smooth process despite much opposition from the nobles in the Senate.

Lym let out a loud sigh as she walked to her chamber in the east wing of the Sun Palace.

"Tiring isn't it?" Miakis said cheerfully while tailing her charge.

"You were sleeping during the entire assembly. How could sleeping make you tired?" Lym scorned that constant companion of hers.

"Princess, that hurts me! I did close my eyes, but I'm listening carefully, you know?" Miakis looked hurt.

"Hmph!" Lym didn't buy it. She knew her personal guard was only pretending to be hurt. "I'm going to change. This outfit is really annoying. Why should I wear this just to attend the assembly? The usual one would do just fine!"

The kimono she wore was definitely very different from her usual ones. It had several layers. The upper part had hardly any opening to show her skin, except for the upper arms part. And unlike the short kimonos she had always worn, this one was long enough that its end reached down the floor, covering her feet. The sash wrapped on her waist was tied on the front and its end was let loose to hang down. Lym had to be careful not to step on it and let herself trip.

"No, that won't do! As a queen to be, you should present yourself with dignity. And of course, with a proper clothing!" Saying this with joking tones, Miakis did mean her words. Not that she thought the usual ones were improper. Rather, this one made the little pug-nosed Princess she always teased looked much more mature and elegant. Miakis couldn't help but feeling a bit proud of her charge.

"Nonsense! The usual one is just as proper!" Lym continued to walk down the hall.

As Miakis wanted to open her mouth to reply, Lym cut her. "And I don't want to hear your opinion in this!"

Miakis raised her eyebrows. Just now, did her charge just tell her to shut up?

That was something new!! She would usually scorn her and keep grumbling about.

Halting her steps, Miakis took a look at Lym's retreating figure. Apparently the little tomboy of a princess had gradually changed.

Well, that was something to be expected, wasn't it? Afterall, she would be the Queen by the next new moon. She couldn't afford staying childish just as she had always been, couldn't she? A Queen should present herself with dignity.

'Yes, a queen should present herself with dignity...' Miakis thought.

But somehow, in the most deep corner of her heart Miakis could feel something was amiss. Something she couldn't really fathom herself. It was upsetting her. And as she was staring at the retreating back of the Princess, her anxious grew. She suddenly had this urge to run to the princess, hug her tightly and never let go.

'Ah...' suddenly she understood.

She was lonely. Her Princess was going away, further and further apart from her.

When the new moon came, the little Princess she had known since her infancy would become the glorious Queen of Falena. A change of title and position. And everything would never ever stay the same again. Even she, Miakis, the personal bodyguard of the Princess, wouldn't be needed anymore. The task of guarding the Queen would fell into the hand of the Queen's Knight Commander. And she would only become a Queen's Knight under his Commandership the Prince, which had been agreed by the parliament, would take the honored position. It's just felt like that time when Gizel had robed her from her position as the Princess' bodyguard.

But she shouldn't feel this way! This was the proper coronation, and her Princess would be the Ruler, not some kind of puppet figure on the throne. She should be happy about this. Yes, she should be happy. It's not like she wouldn't see Lym ever again. After all, she was one of the Queen's Knights.

Too deep in thought, she didn't notice that Lym had stopped and looked back at her. Irritation showed on her face.

"Miakis!" She called out. "What are you daydreaming about? You're my escort, aren't you? What use of it when you're only standing there and looking at my back?"

Snapped out of her thoughts Miakis just grinned then hurrily came to her charge's side. "Sorry, I just thought how big you have become. Time did really fly, didn't it? And in less than a moon, I won't be always by your side just as like now."

Lym knitted her brows. "What are you saying? You're not planning to quit being my bodyguard, are you?"

"Huh?"

"So, brother hasn't told you yet, huh? I'm going to have a word with him!" Lym returned pacing to her chamber.

"Tell me about what?" Miakis, didn't understand what her charge meant, followed her.

"I didn't bring this up to the Parliament because I don't see the need to tell them. After all the Queen's Knights themselves exist to protect the Queen. About who will become my personal guard, it doesn't matter who as long as they are one of the Queen's Knight. Am I right?"

"Well, that's true...but according to the tradition, the Queen's Knight Commander should be the one." Miakis somehow had a strange feeling about where this talk was going.

"I'm not one who always follows tradition!" Lym stressed her point.

"...you're right..." While she didn't mean to criticize Lym, Miakis blurted.

Lym acted as if she didn't hear that. "I have discussed this matter with brother and he agreed to my decision." She then abruptly stopped and looked up at Miakis, who was a head taller than her. "You'll keep the task, Miakis!"

At that moment Lym felt for the first time, as Miakis' eyes grew as wide as a saucer pan, that she had somehow succeded at exacting her revenge on her bodyguard for teasing her all these years.

But she regretted it soon after.

Miakis had flung her arms around Lym and pulled her tightly in a strong hug. "Oh, Princess! Thank you! Thank you so much!!"

"Y-you dummy!! Let me go! Let go, I say!!" Lym tried to push her bodyguard away. But Miakis was much stronger than her.

"Nooooo, I wooon't" Miakis was too happy to let her little Princess go.

Lym thought to herself that she maybe had made a big mistake by keeping Miakis as her personal bodyguard...

-END-