COMPLETE DUOLOGY - According to the prophecy, Phillip is an impetuous young wizard who is born to save the world from destruction. He is saved from death by the wizard Juan who cares for him. Warlock Klaus who helps the inquisitors to pursue the wit...
King Albert noticed that the look in his son's eyes seemed kind of lost, as if he were on cloud nine. One evening, Philip was in the castle's walls gazing at the stars, when his father approached him intending to understand why his heir seemed so distracted lately.
"What's going on, my son? You have not been talking to me or to your mother like you used to. You seem to be distancing yourself from us."
"It's nothing, father," the young man said, avoiding to telling his father that he had fallen in love with a girl.
The prince was aware that his father would not approve a marriage to anyone that wasn't from royalty.
"I remember behaving like you one time, and it was when I fell in love with your mother. All I could think about was her," the monarch commented.
Philip considered for a moment whether he should open to his father or not. Ultimately, he decided to tell:
"Father, I've met a girl, and she is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in this life."
"Is she a commoner?" The King looked at Philip with serious eyes.
The prince nodded.
"My son, common women are not to be taken seriously. In a few years, you'll be betrothed to a princess from an allied country, so that we'll have our alliance across Europe increased and our nation strengthened."
"But father, I want so badly to choose the woman who I'll marry to."
"Arranged marriages have been a long-time tradition. We can't change them with a snap decision. Anyway, tell me more about this girl... But before, here's a piece of advice: You can just woo her if you want, but be careful and avoid getting in trouble with her family."
Both the King and the Queen aimed to follow the tradition. Besides raising the boy carefully, they wanted to provide him a good noble marriage, designed to strengthen an alliance to enhance the power in their kingdom.
"No, father! Forget about this matter! I guess I was only thinking silly things."
Philip was not in accordance with those traditions. He believed that a couple should love each other genuinely to be together, and then get married. He didn't care about alliances or social status. He wanted to find the right one for him, someone he really loved.
On the next day, Philip asked his servants to get Specter out of the stable, and then mounted the horse to go for a ride and meet Verena. He sneaked out, fearing that his father had ordered someone to follow him.
He passed by the tree where he and Verena had had an encounter the day before, but she wasn't there. He waited for hours and there was no sign of her... Disappointed, he decided to leave.
At night, in his room, he went to the balcony and looked at the stars. They were already in a relationship, and had so many plans... He wondered what might have happened. Something bothered his heart.
"Doesn't she like me? How can I be without her beautiful brown hair and those hazel eyes, as light as honey? I'm aching to see her again." He thought, and then went straight to bed, with her smile in his mind.
The young man's spirit had always been quite confident and bold, but now he felt insecure, maybe due the conversation he had had with his father, or to the fact that Verena hadn't shown up to meet him that day.
Would she have given up on him?
Out the blue, a dove cooed on his window. Philip went to the bird and saw that it had a tiny roll of paper attached to its leg. The young man opened it up and read the message:
Philip, I've learned that you are a prince, King Albert's son. I think it's better for us if we don't meet again. We belong to different worlds. Our relationship would never work, and I'm not the kind of person that lives out of false hopes. I don't want us to be hurt, so we'd better be just friends. It was nice meeting you. I hope that someday you find a nice princess to be happy with.
Always yours,
Verena.
The young prince immediately wrote a message to her, and attached it to the white pigeon's leg, that flew straight to its owner. The message said:
Verena, my world is like yours. Let me see you tomorrow once more. I really liked you. I will wait for you under the fig tree where we met for the first time.
Philip.
He went to bed hoping to meet her again.
In the morning, he followed his routine, but Verena wasn't there. He sat under the tree for quite some time, hoping that she would come. However, only he and Specter were in that empty place. The girl stayed home, gazing at the forest through the window. She thought about the encounter, her mind full of doubts. Had she taken the right decision? Philip seemed so sincere about his feelings.
In the evening, when the young man had returned home, he had a sad face during dinner. His parents noticed that something was wrong. They both asked him why he was behaving like that, but he chose to keep his feelings to himself. He said that he wasn't feeling well and would spend the rest of the evening in the library reading a book.
In the following day, Philip went through the same path he used to meet his lover. When he arrived there, he couldn't believe his eyes... In the distance, there was a woman wearing a lace white dress, the very woman that to him was his princess. He got off the horse, gazing at her, and took her hand. He kissed it and, with his eyes fixed on her, he said:
"I'm glad that you've come. I spent all night thinking of you... To be honest, I think of you every night since the day we first met."
"I have also liked you, Philip. But I beg you to understand me! This won't be good for me. This will get us nowhere, and I run the risk of getting a bad reputation in the village where I live."
"Please, Verena, stop thinking about conventions. If you don't want to be my girlfriend, then let's just be friends."
They stared at each other's eyes. He pulled her to him and kissed her wet lips. Verena surrendered to his embrace. They stayed under the tree for some hours, and it seemed that time had stood still, like it had no hurry to go on.
"I must go! It's getting late. I enjoyed spending some time with you today, Philip, but I don't think you'll be coming back to this place again."
"Wait for me, and you'll see that I'll be here tomorrow."
They kissed once again, and then she put three fingers on his lips, saying:
"Go, now. Night will fall soon, and you'll be in trouble if you arrive late in the palace."
Philip whistled and Specter galloped back. He got on the horse and left with a smile on his face. Verena was also happy with the encounter.
The prince didn't know what he would do by the time his parents decided to choose him a princess. In his heart, his choice had already been made. He decided to keep on dating Verena, and delay the suffering of telling his parents the truth as much as possible. Maybe he would be helped by fate, and life would let them be together for the rest of their lives.
However, Philip couldn't imagine that he would learn lots of new things about himself, things that would change his life dramatically.
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