***

As the early summer tournament approached, the atmosphere in the castle grew sharper, as if everything had been set on edge. The maids were busy preparing rooms for the lords and their knights, but they were also anxious and nervous, hoping not to be noticed. Of course, there were some maids who would say, “If even one of the knights takes an interest in me, I’ll marry him!” but others would scoff, thinking it was simply due to their naivety..

The stableman took good care of the horses, and Paradi’s cloak shone. When one of the king’s knights saw Paradi, he remarked admiringly, “If only this horse didn’t belong to the princess, I’d be the one to ride it…”. Paradi pretended not to notice, then quietly approached the knight and kicked him with his hind leg.

The knight’s leg broke.

The real problem was that the knight had been chosen to represent the king in the tournament. While dining with the second lord who had arrived at the castle, the king became furious when he heard the news.

“Hang that wretched horse’s head from the castle gates!”

As the owner of Paradi, Malyn was summoned to the dining hall before she’d even finished her meal with the king and the visiting lord. She was forced to kneel and beg for mercy.

“I am deeply sorry, truly sorry. Paradi has been trained since his youth to follow only me, and he doesn’t take kindly to humans. I am willing to accept punishment for the offence of my horse injuring one of your knights, but he is a beast who cannot understand human words. I beg for your mercy.”

Kneeling before the king was familiar, but somehow it felt strangely humiliating to have a stranger at the dining table witness her plea.

Isn’t it strange? When you sleep on straw, you don’t notice how rough it is, but when you sleep on a soft pillow, you feel the roughness. It hasn’t been that long since Malyn started living as a princess, so kneeling before a stranger shouldn’t be that hard… and yet it feels especially hard now.

With these thoughts in her mind, Malyn simply spoke the words that came to her.

“Please forgive me, I was wrong. My horse’s fault is also my own, so punish me instead. This horse is my only childhood friend…”

Whether her words had any effect or not, the Lord at the table finally spoke.

“Ha ha, Your Majesty. Let her go. What would a stupid horse know? It is unfortunate what happened to your knight, but we all know that your honour will not be diminished just because he cannot fight in the tournament.”

“Ah, Troy, my uncle. Your words are reassuring. But what of the knight’s hard work, after all the time he has spent preparing to fight for me? To think that a mere horse, especially the horse of the princess, would undo all his efforts”.

The Lord called Troy was a middle-aged man with a thick black beard. His small, narrow eyes gave him a cunning appearance. But the kindness in his words reassured Malyn more than anything the king had said.

“And besides, it’s really pitiful to see such a beautiful woman begging with tears. Isn’t she your woman? Her tears fall like pearls…”

Malyn shivered slightly. The king, still masked, looked at Troy and let out a small laugh.

“Very well. I’ll let her go.”

“Thank you!”

She bowed deeply at once. The king rested his chin in his hand and looked at her before speaking.

“You said it was your horse’s fault, didn’t you?”

Cold sweat dripped onto the floor where she lay. What was this wretched man going to say now? Malyn answered slowly.

“Yes.”

“Good. I will not kill your horse. But you must accept the punishment in its place.”

“Punishment?”

“Are you unwilling?”

How could she know if she was unwilling without knowing what it would be? But she remembered the look on Layla’s face as he stroked Paradi – a warm expression, as if the insolent horse was part of the family. And so Malyn lifted her head and replied.

“No, I’ll accept it.”

The king smiled cruelly.

“Yes. To atone for your horse’s sins, you will warm the bed of the knight who wins the tournament.”

Malyn couldn’t believe her ears.

* * *

She couldn’t remember how she made it back to her room, staggering. Ann, who had accompanied her to the king, whispered to her in a faint, trembling voice. She explained that Troy commanded the most powerful knights among the lords and had no reason to remain lord of Veldam other than a long-standing pact with the former king.

Since Troy himself had praised her, the king wouldn’t miss the opportunity. Malyn laughed bitterly. Ann whispered urgently, trying to comfort her as she rubbed Malyn’s cold shoulders.

“It’ll be all right, Princess. You’ll be all right.”

How could anything be all right? Malyn remembered the atmosphere at the table after the king’s declaration. Troy had paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

‘The king’s woman to the knight who wins?’

‘Yes, or perhaps to the lord of the victorious knight.’

‘That’s quite a price, isn’t it?’

As he said this, Troy gave Malyn a subtle look. It wasn’t a look of lust, but of dominance. Remembering that look, Malyn shuddered in fear. If it had been her he wanted, it might have been easier to accept. But that wasn’t what the lord wanted; he had no interest in Malyn’s body. For her, this was simply a way to assert her power, like animals asserting their rank among each other.

She had thought that King Veldam was the most terrifying person in the world, but now she realised that there was another like him.

There was no end to it. Malyn felt overwhelmed.

‘I suppose I should have my knights stand up and resume training immediately.’

‘Leave them alone, they’re probably still tired from the journey.’

It was disgusting. Her gaze drifted unfocused through the air, nothing around her really registering.

“I’m going to die…”

“No, Princess. Why do you think that?”

Ann prepared her bed and suggested she go to sleep early, then left. As Malyn lay in bed, she could hear Ann whispering to someone outside, “Please call the head maid, quickly. I can’t do this anymore. I just…”

If Anessa was desperate to get close to her, Ann seemed just as desperate to get away from her. She was probably calling the head maid to ask for a transfer.

Ann’s suspicion wasn’t wrong. Malyn could clearly see the path that awaited her. It was typical for men not to lend what they considered theirs, and that included women. Especially not to men below them in rank, and even less to those above them.

The king hadn’t just offered her as a prize, he had essentially given her away. What would happen when the lords left? Malyn agonised over this. There was no way Troy would take away a princess sent as part of a royal marriage, so whatever awaited her in Veldam was bound to be grim.

Anger welled up inside her. She lay there, digging her fingers into the sheets. She wanted to find Paradi and vent her frustration, but after what had happened to the knight, Paradi had been locked up in a small stable under guard. Even if she visited Paradi, she wouldn’t be able to get him out or hold him.

It was suffocating.

Even if Layla came to visit, she had the feeling she wouldn’t be able to tell him anything. Malyn closed her eyes.

Malyn, don’t you want to live in luxury?

The thought made her want to claw at his face and scream. If she had known that a life of wealth and gold would be like this, she would never have agreed.

But Malyn also remembered how she had felt then.

Not so long ago, she herself had rejoiced at the thought that a wandering girl seeking work as a servant by the roadside could become a queen. She was the one who had asked if he wouldn’t regret it, and she was the one who had accepted the offer in exchange for a single slap on Layla’s cheek.

So she couldn’t blame Layla. Not now, when he didn’t even come to her bed anymore, just hovered around her, and lately, when he saw her, he would turn away and disappear, shoulders hunched, to find something else to occupy himself.

There was no point in asking him why he had made her this way.

Instead, she found herself thinking about her mother for the first time in a very long time.

Mother, why did you bring me into this world so thoughtlessly?

She fell asleep, repeating the words that countless daughters had uttered through painful nights. Layla did not join her that night.