The Martial Unity

”That’s right,” her father replied. ”You are a princess. The princess of the entire empire. One day, you may grow up to become Empress.”

Those words made Ria beam with amazement. She had come to suspect that there was something off about her family that didn’t add up. Though even she hadn’t imagined that she was keeping such a secret from her. Rui had gone out of his way to give his daughter a normal childhood. The revelation of her status as a princess and the status of her family as the Royal Kandrian Family was one that instantly changed her life.

At first, Ria loved it. She thought that it couldn’t be more perfect. Once she had been made aware of the revelation, the entire palace finally began treating her like the princess she was. Everybody would refer to her as Her Highness, which felt extremely extravagant and ostentatious, making her feel very special.

She reveled in the attention. She could seize it everywhere she went. It didn’t matter who was in the room or what they were talking about, the moment she walked in, they would stop what they were doing and pay attention to her.

From that point on, everything was different. A royal gala was arranged for her debut into society as the princess. She was immediately thrust into a lot of preparation for the eventuality, subject to dancing lessons, etiquette, and social protocol. Her aunt, as if she had been waiting for this day for nearly a decade, immediately got to ensuring that Ria was fit to be a princess.

”Your steps must be soft,” she would insist. ”You need to maintain your balance at all times. Your upper body must be level.”

Ria went on to spend much of her day practicing a wide variety of miserable training regimens that didn’t improve her Martial prowess in any way, only polishing her as the princess of the Kandrian Empire.

”Not good enough, try again,” Aunt Ru would say with a strict tone.

It was when the glamor of being a princess wore off. It turned out that the attention she enjoyed initially was a double-edged sword that was nothing short of a nightmare when she simply wanted to be left alone.

The concept of alone simply didn’t exist for a young royal princess. Maids, butlers, and bodyguards followed her everywhere at all times. While she did receive an immense amount of attention, she realized as she grew older that she had mistaken attention for care.

These people didn’t care about who she was. They only gave her attention because of her father. They didn’t care one bit about her personally. The people who didn’t know her personally all slowly disappeared from her life, one by one. Her friends were gone, save for Runark; her training mates also either changed completely after realizing her identity or were also gone, in fear of hurting her during training and facing penalties from the royal family.

There was a period of time where the only people who would call her by her name were her parents.

And, of course, Runark.

”You should just run away if you don’t like it,” Runark had once off-handedly remarked as the two of them stood on a balcony in the Royal Palace, eating some ice cream. The two of them were twelve years old at the time, entering their adolescence.

The bright light of the afternoon sun illuminated the sky in a bright, clear blue. The ice cream they ate melted quickly in the afternoon heat, offering them relief from it. A strong breeze brushed past them, causing Ria’s ostentatious clothes to flutter.

”Run away?” She asked with an intrigued tone of voice. ”Is that really possible?”

”Of course it is, my dad always says that the best way to solve a problem is to run away from it.” Runark grinned at her.

”That sounds like horrible advice,” Ria muttered with a skeptical expression. ”Papa always says that the best way to solve a problem is to adapt to it.”

”The best way to adapt to it is to run away from it.”

”If that was the case, then Papa would also be an evasive maneuverer like Uncle Kane.”

”He should be. Maneuverers are the strongest.”

Ria heaved a sigh of regret even as she took refuge in her ice cream, staring at the sky. One could see distinct structures in the sky, the hazy rings of the planetary fortress that had recently been constructed. Along with other space infrastructure that only grew more and more conspicuous and populous in the Solar System.

”Even if I wanted to run away, there’s no way I possibly could,” she turned to glare at her guards. ”Not with them following me everywhere I go.”

The bodyguards didn’t respond, of course, simply staring straight forward as if she hadn’t said anything in the first place.

”Hmm… running away from the Kandrian Empire is bound to be impossible, especially for you,” Runark remarked thoughtfully. ”Then why don’t you run away with permission?”

”Run away with permission?” she frowned.

”Yeah, get permission from your parents, and then run away,” Runark suggested. ”You’re not gonna succeed in getting away from here without their permission, after all.”

She pondered the option. He was right in that she would be able to change her life unless her parents allowed for it. She had grown sick of being a princess in the past few years. And as she grew older, it would be easier for her to justify her being elsewhere.

”Besides, you’re already a Martial Senior,” Runark told her, eating the cone of his ice cream. ”You’re not some weak civilian.”

”Papa would never buy that; a Martial Senior is not enough to protect myself from the threats to a royal princess,” she muttered with a dissatisfied expression.

”Then you gotta become even stronger, which I’m sure you will,” Runark told her with a confident expression. ”Your rate of growth is monstrous; I’m sure that you will eventually become strong enough to live in the frontier all by yourself.”