Mother

Seven years ago...

Horo-Horo was stunned. So their mother wasn't coming back after all. It's not like he had expected her to return. When he saw Queen Yuki's statue, it had already crossed his mind that his mother was probably dead.

"Father, I saw a statue that looked like Mother at the festival."

"Of course, they would make her one. The whole celebration was in her name after all. Yukina, your mother, was lovingly called Queen Yuki by her people."

So that's why she looked so familiar. Horo-Horo tried to digest every single word he had heard.

King Lycan sat on the grass next to his son. This was a long tragic story which he intended to tell to his children only when they were much older.

"I met your mother at the Royal Patch Academy's friendship ball fifteen years ago. She was such a beautiful and refined lady from a powerful and rich kingdom while I was a lowly hairy prince from a struggling monarchy. Nevertheless, our status differences did not stop us from falling in love."

"I wooed her every time I had the chance to visit her kingdom for business reasons which was rather frequent because I served as an emissary for Kouri to market our kingdom's butterbur produce. Eventually I asked her father for her hand in marriage but he vehemently disapproved. He couldn't let his daughter marry a pauper prince. In addition, she was already betrothed to the son of the king's royal adviser. So one night, we eloped." King Lycan smiled as he remembered how he had hidden his wife-to-be in an empty wooden box they used to transport butterbur leaves.

"We were married here in Kouri and then you were born and Pirika came two years later. One day, your mother received a telegram from your grandfather pleading her to come home. The king was dying from old age and Yukina, being the only child was the next heir to the throne. If she didn't take his place as soon as possible, their ambitious relatives were already poised to fill in the seat of power. The king wanted to prevent them from exploiting the kingdom to their heart's content."

"That's why she chose to leave us," Horo-Horo whispered sadly.

"Your mother made a difficult decision but she promised that she would come back. For several years, we waited for her return but only a telegram came. It was from Liam Diethyl, your mother's ex-fiance. He informed me of Yukina's deteriorating health. I sailed as fast as I could to see her but when I came, she was already dying. She said she was sorry a couple of times, sorry that she couldn't be able to come home like she had promised. She was really planning to go back to Kouri. In fact, she already gave away the whole kingdom to her advisers so that she won't have anything to mind other than her family. It was too late though. She already succumbed to her illness and died on the day of her supposed-to-be departure to Kouri. The night before she passed away, she made me promise not to tell you until you were much older the reason she had left, that she chose her kingdom over her children. She also asked me to send you to the Royal Patch Academy so you could have a chance to receive good education for free and also to see the world."

"You could have told us everything. We could have understood her situation."

"Could you? You were too young to understand everything. Being king is a tough job. When people look up to you as their leader, there are sacrifices you have to make, sacrifices such as personal happiness. I am not scaring you my son. I am just telling the truth. From this day on, you are no longer deciding for yourself. You are deciding for the whole kingdom. Are you up for the job, King Horo-Horo?"

The young boy nodded, "I prefer King Horokeu."

"Good. That's my boy." Lycan rested his arm around his son's shoulders.

"What will you be doing now father?" the newly-appointed child king asked him curiously.

"Oh, I'll still be working in the background. There is something I must do. I'll tell you about the good news later."

"Big brother!" a young girl's voice called out from Horo-Horo's room. "Your door is open so I came in."

Pirika's small face looked down at the pair from the balcony. "What are you two doing there?"

"My little princess," Lycan's voice rose one note higher. "Pack up your things. In a few days' time, we will be sailing off to a beautiful palace in a foreign land."

"Really?" the girl's eyes shone with excitement. "Will there be other prince and princesses, too? I'm sick of seeing big brother's ugly face."

"Yes, my sweet little butterbur. There's no ugly big brother there."