Chapter Four: Saphi’s silence

"Welcome his royal highness and her royal highness!!" A royal guard yelled out.

Syfyn hopped out the carriage smiling eye to eye. But the atmosphere around her was gloomy and grey. She looked at Gnox who had both of his hands behind his back. They were trembling. 'Does the royal family Aufri not have good relations with its people?' She thought.

The people were aware that they were going to possibly in the future have this princess from the kingdom of gale as their new successor. They didn't think she would last long. All of them glared at her with cold eyes. The prince she was next to was a form of curse. The reason why all of his family have met an untimely death.

Syfyn knew not of the occurring issues and the rumors of her husband.

"May you introduce yourself to the people princess," the guard suggested.

Standing in a huge crowd gloomy, and a quiet Gnox beside her, she gulped, taking in a deep breath before speaking.

Taking the steps up to a podium she showed her face to the kingdom. The princess from gale was indeed beautiful. Even the crowd that seemed unaccepting could acknowledge that.

"I am syfyn Edenwal from the kingdom of gale. I wish a blessing upon this kingdom. Worry not I will ensure that you all thrive in prosperity with this alliance, free from the harm of demons." Syfyn announced. She felt embarrassed afterwards. She was not familiar with the people of Aufri, she needed to do more than just a little heart felt speech to gain the trust of the biggest kingdom. When she glanced at Gnox, he had his head down. But feeling her eyes on him, he give her a gentle proud smile.

Not knowing of the struggles between Gnox and his people, Syfyn went down to grab his arms leading him onto the podium. The people stared in disbelief at her bold actions. Gnox was confused by her actions. What was she doing. Gnox could not face the people. He just couldn't, they probably hated him after all.

"Umm…I'm not sure what's wrong, but I think it's best if you show them that they can trust you by communicating with them. Just try." She nudged at him.

"I…uhh…" He struggled to voice his words. He stared at her desperate dark brown eyes.

He faced the people of Sapphi with a straightforward glare. "I know you've been through a lot. But as one of the many protectors of this kingdom, I hope you a have little more faith in me. I won't let you down. I'm sorry." As he finished his speech he teared up a little. He turned his back on Saphi to wipe his tears.

Syfynn held his hand with comfort. "You did well."

There were cheering and clapping suddenly coming from his back. He turned around to see crowds of smiling people. He was pleased.

The people realized that disowning their potential ruler won't help them when they are now the weakest kingdom after a major loss in a war. Putting a little faith in the prince and princess might not be that bad. After all the prince was from a royal bloodline, he was powerful enough to keep them afloat.

Gnox who hadn't shown his face to the people in in ten years felt his heart calming down "I'll be sure to keep my promise!!" He shouted out.

The crowd cheered even louder.

Knox slowly grabbed syfynns hand, "shall we take our leave?"

They headed towards the carriage, waving goodbye to the people. They could no longer feel the gloomy atmosphere from when they first arrived.

"You look tired." Syfynn said to Gnox.

"Huh? N-no, I'm just relieved." He answered back. He let out a huge breath of relief. "I was scared for a moment, that was the first time that I had to speak face to face to the people."

Syfyn give him a warm smile. She tapped her lap signaling him to lay his head down. He looked at her in shock, cheeks flushing.

"What are you doing?" He questioned her with slight fear in his eyes.

She went over to his side of the carriage forcing his head down on her lap. He was stiff at first feeling unimaginable terror.

But he could not resist her kind gesture, "Thank you," he said while he rested his eyes momentarily but after a few minutes later he ended up falling asleep.

Syfynn stared down at his face. He was pretty like a rose. She patted his fluffy hair while humming a tune. She looked out the window feeling a little sad and homesick. She had a new home now, but she missed them all. Her father, her mother, Sazza, Anna, Odo and Troy, the Ederwals. She wondered how her siblings were doing without her. Her brothers had probably started sword training. She thought of how happy her sisters were now that she's gone. She always used to annoy them, never letting them take a break, they were older than her but she treated them like they were younger. It's only been 2 days since she saw them but 2 days can turn into years.

"Your highness, we're here" syfyn called out to the sleeping prince.

Gnox heard her voice calling out to him. He quickly sat up with with messy hair looking lost and confused.

'Cute' syfyn thought.

They walked into the palace feeling nervous. They had to meet the Gnox's grandpa, the king. Syfynn had never seen the king before her heart was beating in anticipation.