Familiar Feeling ✓

Once there lived a queen who went out for an afternoon walk. On her way she met an old lady. The old lady looked very sickly, her skin was parched just like centuries old paper.

When their eyes met, the old lady beamed. She said, "Oh dear. You look like someone I know."

"Well that's because I'm the queen of this kingdom." The queen replied casually.

"No, not the queen. You remind me of someone else, my dear." The lady insisted.

"No, I don't." The queen was gobsmacked, a bit offended as well. But she composed herself and added, "You must be mistaking me for someone else."

But the old lady didn't want to believe this. She kept staring intensely at the queen.

Feeling queasy, the queen thought that it's better to leave this senile woman to her devices.

As she started to walk away, the old lady became offended. She raised her arm and shouted, "You do not take my words seriously. You'll see what happens when an affliction falls upon you!" She was indignant.

The queen didn't pay any heed to her words.

But the real problem started the next day at the court. Whoever visited the court to meet the queen, they all looked familiar.

Every time a visitor came, the queen looked at them quizzically and asked, "Do I know you?"

At first the visitors thought it was just a normal question. So they simply introduced themselves. But afterwards, things got weirder.

"You look like someone I know." The queen would say every time, dazed.

The visitors were baffled, some were even flattered.

Eventually, the queen herself noticed her odd pattern of behavior. She tried to brush it off but slowly it was getting out of hand. Everyone gave her a familiar feeling, even her ladies in waiting who were supposed to be familiar by default. The palace staff started the rumor that the queen must be on crack or something.

The queen had experienced a constant feeling of déjà vu the whole day but she didn't seem particularly bothered by this bizarre turn of events.

But the next day, it got even worse. She was more dazed, less aware of her surroundings, and clumsier than she already was. Even her younger sister, the royal medical advisor, felt secondhand embarrassment in the court.

The king was very surprised as well, not to mention suspicious, wondering if this is a new disease. He sought an audience with her during lunchtime.

"What's wrong with you, Queen Rar? Do you have a headache?"

"I'm alright to be honest." She replied. "It's just..."

"Yes?"

She stared at her husband tilting her head. "You seem like someone I know."

"What is this farce?" The king stood up enraged. "Bring the family physician, this instant!"

The royal physician couldn't figure out any solution either. The only conclusion was, the queen was slowly becoming insane.

Queen Rar's younger sister Namee—the royal medical advisor—was standing just beside the physician with a worried look on her face. She had consulted with the ladies-in-waiting earlier and learned that this strange attitude began ever since the queen met a cracked old woman in the marketplace two days ago.

For now, such behavior of the queen may seem harmless but if she actually got mad, this will be a weakness for the king, thus affecting the kingdom eventually. Other kingdoms or empires might take advantage of the situation and try to wage war if the king and the subjects are in distress due to this. She decided it is imperative to keep her sister's current situation a secret from everyone outside the palace, only a handful of the loyal workers should be kept in the loop.

Namee discussed the issue at hand with the king, the chief advisor, the head of the knight, and the lady-in-waiting who accompanied the queen that day. Together they decided to search for that old hag and bring her to her majesty the queen for a cure. Since it was her who apparently made the curse, she's the only one to undo it.

The knights searched for her in every corner of the kingdom but she was nowhere to be found. Of course, they didn't give up. They continued their search. Meanwhile, things weren't improving at the palace.

The people loyal to the crown in the court and the palace tried to focus on the brighter sides. At least the queen isn't exactly insane. She's perfectly capable of taking important decisions regarding her duties. The only tiny nuisance is her tipsy behavior at times. A constant wave of déjà vu, how bad can that be? Big deal, she finds everyone familiar. As she should! Since the people are familiar. She technically grew up in the palace shadowing the former queen.

As they say, in times of affliction, hold onto the silver linings.

The well wishers aware of the misfortune prayed that the meeting tomorrow doesn't get affected due to this. Crown prince Jonathan Bravo of the neighboring kingdom was going to arrive here at the palace. He'd stay here for a couple of weeks to discuss the matter of establishing certain trade routes connecting the two kingdoms.

But something unexpected happened in the next few days.

Queen Rar as usual was with the king to receive the delegate. Things were normal until she introduced herself with the recent addition of "You look like someone I know."

Namee, who was standing right behind the rulers, was this close to smack her forehead but luckily she managed to remain composed.

"Oh, do I, your majesty?" Bravo said, staring at the queen with sheer curiosity.

"Funny, Queen Rar." The king tried to brush it off as a joke. "She's got an odd sense of humor. Don't you, my queen?"

"Okay." A woman of few words in general, the queen didn't drag this particular conversation further.

What the rulers or the people in this kingdom didn't know was that crown prince Bravo was a classic romantic at heart. He saw himself as a dreamer, a brave—pun unintended—knight, and he'd do anything to save the damsel in distress of his dreams. But he wasn't exactly the best at reading social cues. He tended to focus too much on his personal philosophy which was slightly odd. It wasn't unheard of among his subjects that he'd at times misinterpret and get carried away with both his imagination and actions. But nobody ever dared to question the spoiled crown prince. They'd pretend that he's right all the time, like a "true wise king".

This time it was no different either. He misinterpreted the queen's words. He started to wonder if they were destined to be together. Why else would one say that they find him familiar if they weren't lovers in their past lives?

Like always, his advisor neither corrected him about his beliefs on past lives nor he commented on the crown prince's newly developed affections towards the queen based on pure misunderstanding.

After all, if his feelings led him to declare war against this prosperous kingdom and they somehow managed to win, it'd be a win-win situation for both the crown prince and his subjects. And so, the power hungry, drama loving advisor coaxed the idiotic theatrical crown prince into making the wildest decision ever.

Things were about to go downhill soon.