By The Sea And The Land

Chapter Thirteen - A Marriage Proposal

      Me and Sven have become a very good friends in the short time he’s staying over the palace.

      After he’s healed from his sickness, I take him to walking around the palace every day and teach him some simple gesture, before moving to the more complex one. Sven is a very good learner. He looking closely at what I did and practicing it afterwards. There’s some mistakes and errors, but overall, he’s the fastest at learning it than any other people I know, and I’m feeling proud for him.

      We talk about a lot of things, often random, and dancing together when we feels like doing it. I found out he is a remarkable dancer on the rainy night one week ago.

      I couldn’t sleep, and looking at the ocean from my own terrace that faced the sea, listening to the sounds of the waves hitting the rocks and coral reefs around the surface of the water.

      When I saw that the skies getting darker from the rain clouds, I turned around and just about to get inside when I saw a silhouette of a man—I guessed—moving around on the terrace at a far corner from my own location, but I still can see him clearly under the dimmed moonlight.

      He moves gracefully, moving in one place then the other, I saw his hair swaying along with the moves of his head, dancing under the drizzle that starting to coming down from the skies, without music accompanying his wonderful movements.

      Even though I saw him from afar, I recognize the golden hair and his features immediately after looking more closely while squinting my eyes to the dancing man.

      Sven. No one have that kind of beautiful hair on the palace.

      So I rushed to where he is, slowing down when I get close to him and catching him hiding behind the pot with big leafy plant. I coughed, smiled when I heard a sigh and watching as he's walking out from behind the plant, eyes looking at me, and then down, droplets of water falling down from his hair and his clothes is wet.

      I ask him why he’s dancing in the rain, and he gestured that he can’t sleep, like me.

      He scratched his head, unsure what to say next, and I can’t help myself grinning at him and I pulled him to the rain, startling him, and ask him to dance like what he does before. His usual smile came back, and he dances. I watched with awe, and started to dancing with him, and he raising his eyebrows a little, and we laughing together, don’t really care if anyone hear us.

      I caught a cold the next morning though.

      I’m just about to going to the lake together with Sven like usual when father's advisor told me that my parents called me to the study to talk about something.

      I sighted, while Sven patting my shoulder sympathetically. I told Sven to wait for me at the lake, and he nodded.

      I walked to the study, following the advisor and faced with… something unusual. Mother and father is smiling, telling me to coming inside, and I just walking in with confusion. But the one that confuse me the most is the lady that sitting on one of the couch in the middle of the study with my parents.

      She smiled when I'm walking in, her green eyes soften on her beautiful face, platinum blond hair swaying slightly when she nodded at me. She’s standing up along with my parents and lifting her dress slightly, and raising her hand for me, which I took and kissed, still with confusion.

      She then gesturing to me, saying hello, and I answer it the same, awkwardly asking why she’s here, which answered by my parents, saying that she is the neighboring kingdom Princess, Regina, that I supposedly proposed when I got shipwrecked a few weeks ago.