The room was drowned in a faint darkness…
Not the darkness of someone who closed the curtains,
but the darkness of a soul that could no longer bear to look at the world.
LOUVNA stood before the mirror.
She didn't recognize herself.
Her torn royal dress…
Strands of hair clinging to her face, heavy with sweat and dust…
A thin streak of blood along her shoulder…
And her eyes—
Those eyes that once radiated life…
Now empty. Extinguished.
Like a pit where light had fallen and never returned.
She lifted her hand, touching her trembling cheek.
"I… am not a princess."
The words were heavy, crashing into the room like a stone.
She placed her hand over her chest…
Her heart shook with uneven tremors, each beat carrying a memory:
MESNAS wounded.
ZARIOUH falling.
The MONKEY raises his sword toward her.
MONA and SOLIMON were injured.
MOHITO… standing like fate itself.
Then… he vanished.
Gone…
LOUVNA let out a small gasp, gripping the edge of the table so she wouldn't fall.
"I should have stayed…"
"I should have… died with him."
She slowly sank to the floor…
Her back against the bed…
Her knees drawn to her chest…
This was not the LOUVNA everyone knew—
The one who drew a smile to hide her fear.
This was… LOUVNA.
Helpless.
Broken.
Long moments passed…
Or minutes…
Or hours— it made no difference.
Tears flowed endlessly until she no longer had the strength to cry.
As if her eyes were weeping on their own, without her will.
And in the middle of her collapse…
Her voice emerged, broken and hoarse:
"MOHITO… why didn't you take me with you?"
"Why am I the only one who has to live?"
She inhaled deeply, then gasped again as she whispered:
"I'm not a princess…
I'm just the reason others die."
"I told them… that I wasn't afraid.
But the truth…?"
She lifted her head toward the dark mirror:
"I'm afraid.
So afraid."
She pulled her legs closer, as if shielding herself:
"I don't want this world…
Nor this war…
Nor this title…"
"I can't endure this anymore."
Silence fell—
A heavy silence, like the weight of a grave.
Then…
A soft knock on the door.
Just one knock.
That sound…
Impossible to mistake.
The second knock came—
Slightly stronger—
"Open the door. We need to talk."
LOUVNA whispered, her voice trembling:
"…SHOUTNA."
****************************
The room was wrapped in heavy silence as the door opened slowly,
Without haste…
As if the one entering knew perfectly well that the person inside would not run.
SHOUTNA entered.
He didn't speak.
He advanced as if stepping into an operating room— not the room of a girl falling apart.
LOUVNA stood quickly, wiping her tears with a trembling hand, as if trying to hide her weakness.
But the traces of crying on her face…
And the broken sound of her breathing…
Exposed everything.
SHOUTNA closed the door behind him—
With cold calm.
He spoke in his deep, emotionless voice:
"Do you truly want to give up your title?"
She couldn't look at him.
Then she exploded:
"Don't come at me with that voice…!"
Her voice trembled as she continued:
"How do you expect me to go on?!
MOHITO… might be dead!
MESNAS is on the edge of life!
ZARIOUH blames himself…
And SOLIMON… I don't even know how he's still standing!"
Her breathing rose, as if she were running while standing still.
"You act as if this is normal!
As if my life is more important than theirs!"
She struck her chest with her palm:
"Why?! Why me?!"
SHOUTNA remained unmoved…
No pity in his eyes.
He stepped forward.
As if the air itself pressed against LOUVNA, making her tremble harder.
He said calmly:
"Because you are not one of them."
She lifted her head sharply, her eyes widening.
"What…?"
SHOUTNA repeated:
"You are not one of them."
The sentence was harsher than a blow.
LOUVNA shook her head:
"No… don't say that. They risked their lives for me!"
SHOUTNA replied:
"Yes. Because that is their duty."
He stepped closer.
"And because MOHITO… chose to die instead of you."
LOUVNA gasped as if the air had been torn from her lungs.
"You say that… so easily?"
SHOUTNA's voice was solid as stone:
"That is the truth. If you cannot bear it… Then you are not ready to continue."
LOUVNA gasped:
"Ready?!
"I never asked to be a princess!
I never asked anyone to die for me!"
Her voice rose:
"I'm not strong!
I'm not brave!
I'm just—"
SHOUTNA cut her off, cold as ice:
"Just a coward?"
LOUVNA froze.
Then she cried out, broken:
"Don't say that…!"
SHOUTNA repeated:
"A coward?"
LOUVNA screamed through tears:
"I told you not to say that!!!"
SHOUTNA stepped closer—
No mercy in his eyes.
"Then prove otherwise."
LOUVNA trembled…
Her tears fell like rain.
Her voice came out faint, like a lost child:
"I can't…"
"Take your time to fall apart,"
He said without emotion.
Then added:
"But tomorrow… You will stand."
"Tomorrow… you will be a princess.
Despite the pain.
Despite your desire to run."
LOUVNA shook her head helplessly:
"I… can't."
SHOUTNA stood before her, staring without blinking, his eyes steady as stone.
He raised his voice just enough to reach the defeated part inside her:
"Let me tell you something about life."
LOUVNA's tears paused for a moment.
"You don't get what you wish for—
You get what you expect."
She raised her face fully toward him.
"Wishing is passive,
expectation is belief in motion."
"If you walk like it's yours,
Talk like it's yours,
work like it's coming—
The universe starts moving things in your direction."
Light reflected off his shoulder as he said:
"This is called the Law of Life."
He paused.
"But here is the key."
He lowered himself to her level, her trembling eyes meeting his clear, piercing gaze.
"The Law of Life does not work without the Law of Action."
LOUVNA's chest shook slowly…
As if the words passed through a wound she had long hidden.
"Thoughts are powerful…
But actions are what prove you're serious.
see it in your mind…
Feel it in your heart…
But build it with your hands."
"The future you want is already out there… waiting.
But it is not coming to meet your excuses—
It is coming to meet your efforts."
His voice softened slightly as he continued:
"So... dreams big.
Speak boldly…
And move as if the world is watching."
Then he stood.
The sound of his boot against the floor felt like a seal of fate.
He walked toward the door.
As his hand touched the handle…
He paused for just one moment.
Without turning, he said in a firm, unwavering voice that struck the heart like a drum:
"Because the world… already is watching."
****************************************
Nothing moved in the room after SHOUTNA left.
The door closed softly… yet its echo continued to strike the walls of LOUVNA's soul, awakening something she didn't know was still alive.
She slowly raised her hand…
Wiped her tears with trembling fingertips, as if erasing fear itself, not water.
She didn't rise all at once—
But like someone who had sunk to the bottom of the sea, then discovered there was a sky above.
She stood before the window.
Her scattered hair slipped over her shoulders…
And inside her eyes, a faint light began to ignite.
Outside, the night was retreating.
The sky opened into a calm violet hue, as if welcoming her back.
The first ray of sunlight touched her face.
And though the tears had not fully dried…
And though the pain had not yet vanished…
She lifted her chin slightly, with new resolve.
And took a deep, long breath—
Closer to the beginning of a new life.
She whispered, barely audible— yet strong enough to move mountains:
"I will not be a burden anymore."
She placed her hand over her heartbeat and whispered:
"I will stand… I must stand."
Then she closed her eyes.
She no longer saw the darkness of the room—
She saw him.
Not MOHITO with his faint, sarcastic smile,
Nor the calm MOHITO who watched the world as if following a plan—
But MOHITO in that single moment was engraved in her soul,
When he stood before her,
The first time she felt there was someone who did not belong to her world…
Yet chose to stand with her.
LOUVNA lifted her head slightly.
opened her eyes toward the horizon, golden light tracing her pupils.
"Just as he stands… I will stand."
The sun continued to rise.
And LOUVNA began to reclaim herself.
Not as a princess.
Not as a symbol.
But as a new force—
Born from tears.