The King declared that the day of the twelfth's birth was to hence be known of The Day of Her Joyous Sacrifice. The Queen gave her very life, to bring another beautiful child into the world, and King Thirsh decided that the day would be a holiday, and that a statue was to be erected in the Royal Gardens, one of her in all of her queenly beauty and virtue.
Never the less, the baby princess was still a happy occasion to be about, despite the shadow of sadness that dwindled upon it. After the first week of the incident, the majority of the kingdom had gone back to some sense of normality.
However, all was not well for Princess Adelaide. She had refused to eat, and only ate when her father forced her to. Her servants were frantic, begging, pleading with the girl to eat something, a little something that would keep her body alive.
It wasn't until the 8th day of her hunger strike, that her father came to see her personally. "Adelaide, this has to stop." His voice was tired, weary, as if he had been awake for a very long time and never slept in his life. The princess decided that she had never seen her father look so old in her life.
His simple words and the begging look her father gave her was enough for Adelaide to eat once more. But no sooner did one problem leave, did another appear, and it seemed to her that her life was nothing but problems.
On the first day that Adelaide began eating again, Jason came to see her. "Adelle!" He cried, using his personal nickname for his friend. "You're never going to guess what happened."
She was silent, a slight nod of her head gave him the cue to continue. "Well, remember last year when I told you of that sorcerer that visited and lodged at my family's castle? Well, he has returned, and he told my parents that he would like to teach me his magic arts! Just think of that, Adelle! I'm going to go off and train with him, and when I come back, I'll be the first Mage King that my kingdom will have!"
At first, Adelaide was happy for her friend, overjoyed that he would go and do what he obviously wanted to do. But after a few minutes of his rambling on of the details, she realized what this truly meant. The only other person she thought she cared about in the world was leaving her.
When she rose to her feet, Jason was startled back into reality. "Adelle?" He asked, his brow knitting with concern. She shook his worry off with a movement of her head. "I'm feeling a bit ill, excuse me, please." Her excuse was not a complete lie, but her illness was not one that makes the body ache, but the heart and the soul.
Several weeks later, Jason left, without ever even saying goodbye to Adelaide. Her world was even more crushed than when her mother first died. Her life melted into pure protocol. She ate, slept, was taught in the finest arts, made public appearances, attended banquets.. The list was endless. She fulfilled her duty as crown princess with a fake smile and polite manners, and no one would believe that there was truly something wrong with her.
This continued for several years, until she was 15. It was then, that she discovered the wonders of the Underground World...