The Cursed Prince

"Father!" Harlow called out to Mars and that meant that his beloved daughter had come running out of the castle and in the presence of the dragon.

But as the King of Draec had expected, it started a flash of recognition from the dragon. 

The mid-sized creature finally moved and flapped its wings wildly and caused terrible gusts of wind. It blew away the multitude of the soldiers, archers, and even the other children.

The dragon cared not for any of the people but only had eyes for Harlow.

Mars barely managed to keep himself up as the dragon cleared the crowd away and then trained its eyes on Harlow. The majestic, powerful and even confident dragon finally bowed its head to Princess Harlow alone.

"Is this mine, father?" Princess Harlow couldn't help but smile brightly at the creature. Not only had she won the bet with her beloved cousins, but this was also bigger than anything she had ever seen before.

"Can we go ride it, Your Highness?!" an excited chirp came from Jorei as the soldiers all started back up to their feet and pointed their swords at the creature. Most of the people and even the children looked up warily.

"As long as it doesn't bite you maybe," Princess Harlow called out to her friend and dared a step closer to the dragon. She was looking at it in the eye, but not out of fear but as if she was inspecting the creature.

"Look at that wingspan!" Loran laughed.

"I heard stories about princesses that were abducted by dragons," Ava called out a bit afraid as she clung to Louis' shirt. "Aren't you afraid???"

Earlier it looked fun to come running to the royal gardens but now seeing it nearby actually made the child wary. However, Princess Harlow didn't even bat an eye at it and was only confident. She exuded an amount of charm and grace of an eager child who was actually looking forward to riding on the dragon's back and then soaring to the winds.

"No, this dragon looks cool, Ava," Harlow raised a thumb up. "Look, he is not attacking me."

"But still…." Ava bit her lip.

"Don't be a scaredy-cat…" Harlow laughed. Then she turned to the dragon and inquired, "Hey… cool guy,  can you breathe fire?"

A snort of smoke came out of the dragon's snout, but instead of fire and sulfur, the air was actually chilly and cold. Frostbiting even. Its scales were a majestic color of dark blue, glacial and beautiful.

"Woah, snow." Princess Harlow exclaimed in surprise and then delight. "This dragon doesn't breathe fire… but snow!"

The others were also surprised to witness the scene. The only dragon that Mars, Gewen, and Edgar had ever seen was a fire-breathing dragon, so they assumed this one was like that too.

However, it apparently breathed… snow?

It looked so surreal! A snowflake actually flew out from the dragon's ice breath and gave the young princess a surprising chill. Harlow sneezed a little but was undeterred and only pleased to know that her dragon was an ice one.

The dragon was actually fearsome up close, frightening, and ferocious except to those who were familiar with such creatures, but Princess Harlow drew closer to it and held out a hand. There was a look of recognition in the dragon's eyes and it didn't move as she came closer.

"Harlow, please don't step close to it." Mars warned his daughter. His voice was firm and laced with worry.

Emmelynn rushed out of the castle and saw the dragon, saw her daughter coming closer to it but instead of stopping the Princess like her husband had done, there was actually a look of surprise on her face.

"Oh, it's a dragon this time?" Emmelyn said in surprise.

Behind her came the rest of her closest friends and even parents to Princess Harlow's best friends and companions. Edgar, Clara, Kira, Gewen, and along with Mars' cousin, Athos, and Lily all looked up in amazement at the dragon.

"I knew I shouldn't have betted on a golden fox," Kira muttered an oath and tossed a coin to Emmelyn, and shook her head. It hadn't exactly only been the children themselves who were gambling on what the mysterious gift sender would bring.

Emmelyn caught the gold coin expertly and grinned. She was impressed by Harlow's latest gift and felt excited for Harlow to have her own dragon.

***

LATER THAT DAY

"The dragon seems friendly…" Emmelyn pointed out to her husband with a smile that said she might have also wanted to try riding on it. She had ridden a dragon in the past when she traveled to Myreen with Maxim.

"Emmelyn," Mars sighed a bit and held his wife's hand. They were in the throne room of Draec and were in the council of wizards who had come summoned into the throneroom for answers. 

For the past ten years, the king and queen accepted the fact that someone sent gifts to their daughter from faraway. It was not hard to imagine that perhaps a wealthy kingdom wanted to forge bonds

An eager king who wanted to matchmake his son with their only beloved daughter might have wanted to gain favor by doing such a thing. Or if not a king then perhaps a wizard, someone who could acquire the precious gifts that came with no names attached to it whatsoever. 

Emmelyn's expression grew serious and she understood that it was not time for games. She only wanted to ease up the concern of her husband, but even the queen of Draec held a great amount of concern towards the incident.

A little bird, the red phoenix, was a lovely gift and obviously came from someone who was so powerful that both Emmelyn and Mars accepted it because it might cause offense if they rejected the gift. 

In fact, the phoenix wasn't actually that dangerous. It was indeed magical, but in terms of danger, its flames did not hurt its owners. The gift came suddenly on Harlow's second birthday.

Then came the other gifts, on the third year, fourth year, and every year without fail. Harlow had got beautiful glass slippers, a crystal tiara, a big fat cat with golden fur, and so on and so forth.

Those were truly gifts fit for a princess.

"Should we actually try our hand at returning it to the sender?" Emmelyn consulted with the wizards. She tapped her finger idly on her throne and sighed inwardly.

After the dragon, finally, Mars and Emmelyn decided that this whole gift thing had become way overboard and they were now suspicious of the mysterious sender's intent. 

Emmelyn added, "It's a dragon and no one has actually taken care of such a creature before here…"

"Especially since it seems impossible to know who the sender is." Mars narrowed his eyes at the wizards who served Draec. "First and second time, it was nice and fun. But It's been ten years and if we accumulated the value of gifts Harlow had received, they have amounted to.. a lot. I don't want my family to owe anyone anything. Also... it's a dragon, for gods' sake. What if it hurt my daughter???" 

The entire group of wizards gulped and shuddered slightly under the reproachful gaze of their king. However, it wasn't their fault! It wasn't exactly their incompetence or lack of ability, but they claimed that the sender was impossible to track.

No traces, no magic, and not even a single indicator to who sent it.

One was better off sending a message in the wind and hoping someone would hear it, based on how the magical arrival of the gifts all seemed to know and locate the whereabouts of the recipient without any fail.

"Your Majesty, the dragon is not evil," Elmer the wizard, who was the oldest and most respected of all the wizards, spoke up in defense of the creature. The king of Draec might have already tried to battle the creature and skin it to ensure the security of his kingdom, but Harlow was enchanted with it.

King Mars' expression was cold and the other wizards were quick to clarify it.

The old man bowed respectfully and said, "We mean to say that the dragon is not in any way whatsoever hexed, cursed, or will cause any potential harm whatsoever to Princess Harlow if she were to keep it."

"Should we actually let a young child keep a dragon?" another wizard asked and then politely added. "If His Majesty will keep it, then it could be an asset to the kingdom."

Even here in Draec, some knew of the stories of the great wizard Renwyck of Summeria who had three dragons with him. Their queen, Emmelyn, had been acquainted with the wizard and knew for a fact that even having one creature was enough to elevate the kingdom.

"But that is… if this dragon can be tamed." Mars massaged his temple. He knew it was nice to have a dragon in his kingdom. Dragons were mythical creatures and their presence would enhance magic around them.

Mars had heard many amazing stories about how wizards and witches gained more power when they were living near the dragon's den. Unfortunately, those stories were more like a myth for the people in Draec because there was no dragon around them….

Well.. at least until today.

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From Missrealitybites:

I will publish for the Christmas Mass Release tomorrow, December 13. Since we are in different time zones, expect the chapters to be early or late in your place.

We will read more about the mysterious gift sender (ssshh... not so mysterious because WE already know who it is... ahaha), and we'll also meet Maxim again.

If you have read his story in "The Cursed King", you will understand why he is no longer the king of Summeria at this point in time.