How To Rule ✅COMPLETE

The Coronation Goodbye

Tenen watched her on the dais.  She wore a ballgown the colour of spun gold which made her look even more like a queen. Her red hair was twisted into a crown on the top of her head in a way that would allow the crown to sit comfortably on her head. As he looked closer he realised her hair was different. It had streaks of white that had not been there before. It was strange and it made him look even more closely at her. She wore gloves upto her forearms, and as he continued to watched her, he realised she was itching to take them off but she did not and he did not know why. His mind tried to convince him it was because of the millions of people who were in attendance but at the back of his mind he knew that that was not it. She did not look like the type to care what others thought so it was strange. And as he watched her laugh just a little too hard for just a little too long he realised that she was not okay at all and it killed him to not be standing by her side ready to make everything okay.

The day was finally coming to a close. The ceremony of her father's death had marked the end of the day but watching him being buried right next to her mother caused her to bottle her emotions even deeper until all she felt inside was emptiness. She had seen Tenen watching the ceremony but he had dared not come any closer to her and it had hurt. If only he had been at her side maybe the day would not have hurt as much. As she walked silently to the throne room after laying fresh flowers on both her parents graves, the day and what it represented finally weighed down on her shoulders and she felt suffocated but most of all caged in a life she had not chosen for herself.

'Your father would have been proud. You look every bit a princess'

Gavin watched as Rin looked blankly at the throne before her. She was in deep thought but her eyes looked sadder every time he looked at her and all he really wanted was to make her happy again but he knew too much had happened for her to smile at just a simple joke. His words seemed to bring her back to the present and after a minute he noticed the look of determination replace the sadness.

'I don't want to look like a princess, I want to look like the queen everyone expects me to be, the one they are supposed to fear.'

Rin walked slowly towards the throne, her throne. Every step she took she felt the burden on her shoulders increasing. She sat down in the chair and it finally dawned on her, this was the life she was to lead effective after her father's death and it was about time she fully accepted it. Even as she thought about her father, she blamed herself. She could have saved him if she had tried earlier but she had ignored its call and that decision would always haunt her.

Her father had been the villain in most of her peoples eyes, apart from a handful and she knew they would soon view her as such. Deep down she wanted no part in it but someone had to continue her father's legacy; who better than his only daughter.

Her.

Rin had accepted her descent into the darkness, she knew her reign had to begin with bloodshed but she feared it would almost wipe out her people. For the very first time she detested being next in line for the throne and all the decisions that came with it, especially fulfilling her father's last wish.

To wipe out the resistance.

Tenen knew he would find her in the throne room. He walked in and she was seated in the throne chair looking like the queen she truly was. He knew he would one day rule beside her if she accepted the offer he brought her, but he did not cared about any of it. All he really wanted was her. He knew she sensed his presence when her eyes focused on him and she slowly stood up. Her walk towards him was slow and when she stood before him he pulled her into his arms and hugged her willing everything to be alright though he knew it never would.

'Rin baby, I'm so sorry about his death. I wish I was by your side during his funeral. I'm right here right now baby. But I have something to ask you, you're the queen now and you have the power to stop this war.'

Rin almost broke down when Tenen hugged her but her days of being weak in front of anyone, even him were behind her.

'The war my father started must go on.'

Tenen looked at her. She was different. The crown had changed her and it had been on her head for less than a day. She was slowly turning into her father and it scared him.

'Are you really still a queen if your kingdom is in ruins? If there is no one left to rule but corpses?'

Tenen couldn't understand why she just wouldn't stop. Her father was dead. He did not dictate her every move so why was she still under his rule? They had been talking in whispers so close together that they heard each word the other said but he needed to see her face, make her know who she really was before she destroyed herself trying to prove herself to a dead man.

'You are not as evil as people think you are, you can change Rin.'

Rin almost smiled when he said those words. He was looking into her eyes and all she really wanted to do was get lost in his electric blue eyes and dream of a world where they were together and nothing else really mattered but she had given up that luxury when her father died and the kingdom became hers to rule.

'I cannot change if it is my birthright. I have to do this. I passed that point when they put the crown on my head.'

The decisions she needed to make would be even harder than when she had not yet ruled. And as she looked at him realise what she was really saying, she knew she would turn into a monster who was hated by most and loved by a handful.

Just like her father.

'I think its best if we go our different ways and maybe after the war we shall see where it goes.'

'What are you talking about Rin ...I love you...don't...don't do this'.

It was almost laughable; Rin knew he didn't love her even if he thought he did. She thought the realization would be a type of closure but it still hurt all the more. He loved his people more and put them before everything.

Before her.

'Let's be honest, it's just the bond. If the bond didn't exist would you still love me. Let me make it simpler, would you look even twice in my direction or immediately kill me on the spot'

Tenen was speechless he didn't know what he would have done if he was speaking genuinely. But it seemed he didn't have to reply. She took his silence as answer enough.

Of course not.

'Goodbye Tenen'

Rin had never known heartbreak could hurt so much though she had never felt it before she knew that was the only way to describe how her heart felt like it was caving on in its self. How it hurt to breath, each inhale as painful as the next. Maybe it was for the best. Her father would have been pleased; she would no longer have her attention divided. He had been right, she could never have chosen between the two sides but lucky for her Tenen had chosen for her, even though he had not realized it.