(Eri's POV)
From the moment I was born, my place in the palace was already decided.
I am the only child of King Korei, ruler of Kazunaga.
Because of that, the crown of Kazunaga will one day belong to me.
The law of our kingdom is clear. If the king has a child, that child inherits the throne.
And I am the only one.
Even if I am a girl.
Of course, not everyone in the palace likes that.
Some people believe the crown should pass to Haru, the son of Princess Sato. Others think Kazunaga needs a man to rule.
They do not say these things in front of me.
But palaces have thin walls. Words travel easily.
Even when I was young, I could already hear the whispers.
Still, the law has not changed.
And the law says the throne will come to me.
My childhood inside the palace was quiet.
I rarely saw the people of the kingdom. Most of the time, I stayed inside the palace grounds. Tutors came and went, teaching me history, politics, and the laws of Kazunaga.
My father made sure I learned everything.
Sometimes even more than Haru.
I remember once hearing a minister say that Haru was being trained to lead.
But I knew the truth.
My father was training me far more strictly.
"I was born to lead," I once thought.
Even if the kingdom did not know it yet.
The strange thing about my childhood was how rarely I saw my parents.
My father was the king.
Most days he was busy with meetings, councils, and the endless work of ruling a kingdom.
Sometimes weeks passed before I saw him again.
When he did appear, it was usually during my lessons.
He would ask questions about politics or strategy. If I answered wrong, he corrected me. If I answered well, he simply nodded.
He was never a warm man.
But I knew he was watching.
My mother was different.
Queen Catherine of Aryanda was rarely seen outside her chambers.
When I was small, I sometimes visited her.
Her room always smelled faintly of herbs.
The curtains were usually drawn, and the light inside was dim.
Most of the time she was lying in bed.
Thin blankets covered her body, even during warm days.
There was always a strange haze around her bed—smoke from the medicines and herbs the healers burned to help her breathe.
Her hands were almost always covered with gloves.
Even when she held my hand.
I once asked a maid why.
She only said the queen was sick.
What kind of sickness, no one could explain to me.
In those days, people did not understand such illnesses very well.
If your body was weak, you were simply called fragile.
If the sickness was rare, the healers only tried herbs, prayers, and old remedies.
There were no real cures.
My father believed I might inherit the same sickness.
Because of that, he kept me away from the public.
To him, I was something delicate.
Something that could break easily.
But the palace was not completely lonely.
I did have someone to play with.
Haru.
He was older than me, and many people in the court treated him with great attention.
Whenever nobles visited the palace, it was usually Haru they saw.
He appeared in the training yards.
In the halls.
Sometimes even beside the ministers.
Many people treated him like the future ruler of Kazunaga.
Even though the law said otherwise.
I noticed it even when I was young.
The way the court bowed a little deeper to him.
The way servants rushed to him first.
The way the nobles praised him loudly.
Of course, I also had people taking care of me.
Tutors.
Guards.
Maids.
But the attention around Haru felt different.
Sometimes, when I passed through the corridors, I heard quiet conversations stop the moment I appeared.
Whispers followed me when I walked away.
I once heard something that stayed in my mind.
"They might change the constitution of Kazunaga."
"They cannot let a woman rule."
"If the law changes, Haru will become the heir."
I pretended not to hear them.
But I remembered every word.
Even as a child, I understood one thing clearly.
Inside the palace, the crown was not only about law.
It was also about power.
And many people were already preparing for a future where I did not exist.
But they were forgetting something important.
I am the only child of the king.
And the law of Kazunaga has not changed.
One day—
whether they like it or not—
the crown will still come to me.