  &quot;Is that true?&quot; she smiled.
  &quot;Yes,&quot; I moved even closer, her hand safely engulfed in my hands. &quot;I promise you that no one will ever hurt you, not even me. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe even if my life depends on it.&quot;
  She smiled as she looked down at our connected hands. She then slowly pulled her hand back, &quot;Never make a promise that you can t keep. A promise isn t something to be taken lightly.
  I pulled out my pinky finger and moved it closer to her, almost right into her face. An adorable giggle came out of her. &quot;What?&quot; I asked, trying to stop myself from catching her contagious giggle.
  &quot;Aren t we a little too old for pinky promises?&quot; she continued, still giggling.
  &quot;I don t care,&quot; I shook my head after a short silence. &quot;Do you agree and believe what I just said?&quot;
  She then smiled 

  I stood up and walked towards him, him doing the same.
  It s been a long time since we last saw each other, brother,&quot; he remarked as we shared a brotherly hug.
  &quot;It s nice to see you again, brother,&quot; I smiled as we pulled away. Benjamin has been my best friend since childhood. He s the prince of the Kingdom of Eastern Sun. Everything about our lives is similar. The only difference between us is that he isn t in an arranged marriage.
  I would say he s incredibly lucky with his life.
  &quot;When did you get here?&quot; I asked.
  &quot;A while ago,&quot; he replied. &quot;I couldn t get past your guard. He s quite challenging. He seems to be very protective of you.&quot;
  We shared a quick laugh. &quot;So, you re the man Gonzalo mentioned. He s quite impressive when it comes to my protection,&quot; I answered, almost boasting. Gonzalo deserves all the credit for his e

  While we made our way through the vast plains and to the hills, I was left in awe as I took in the whole view in front of me. It was… breath-taking. It s beautiful to see nothing but green grass, majestic trees, and colorful flowers. And how the slopes looked like, this view is better than the view that I have on my balcony. 
  &quot;This place…&quot; I struggled to form a coherent sentence. The beauty of this place rendered me speechless. It felt like all of my words were taken from my lips. 
  &quot;Don t worry, I know how that feels,&quot; she giggled as she found me almost dumb-founded. &quot;That s the same thing that I said when I first discovered this place.&quot; She hopped down from her horse and I followed suit. We started walking to a hill where a tree stood on top of it, tall and proud. 
  &quot;When did you find this place?&quot; I asked. 
  &quot;When I was first brought 

&quot;Is that true?&quot; she smiled.
  &quot;Yes,&quot; I moved even closer, her hand safely engulfed in my hands. &quot;I promise you that no one will ever hurt you, not even me. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe even if my life depends on it.&quot;
  She smiled as she looked down at our connected hands. She then slowly pulled her hand back, &quot;Never make a promise that you can t keep. A promise isn t something to be taken lightly.
  I pulled out my pinky finger and moved it closer to her, almost right into her face. An adorable giggle came out of her. &quot;What?&quot; I asked, trying to stop myself from catching her contagious giggle.
  &quot;Aren t we a little too old for pinky promises?&quot; she continued, still giggling.
  &quot;I don t care,&quot; I shook my head after a short silence. &quot;Do you agree and believe what I just said?&quot;
  She then smiled her beautiful smile; a smile that accents her beauty even more. I m running out of words to expr

Chapter 12 Unrequited (b)