Early Dawn - Trust Without Reason

The sun is high in the sky. It is very warm, and the air is humid. The leaves rustle softly in the summer breeze. Down on the streets of the capital city of Rosaria, there is panic and distress. A young woman is chased by the royal guards and the daughter of the powerful King Heraclius, for stealing from the Town Market. Running through the concealed alleyways and barely avoiding obstacles in her way, Chara tries to find shelter to hide from the guards.

Shaking, sweating, and with only worry on her mind, Chara runs without looking back. Negative thoughts are filling up her head quicker than she can sprint. Shouts and screams from people catching up behind her echo in her ears. In an attempt to escape from them, Chara takes a sharp turn on the intersection and into an alleyway on her right, and ducks next to some crates, pulling the hood of her black cape over her head and trying to stay as still as possible.

Panting and out of breath, Princess Stella holds onto her crimson-red gown while running for the culprit, with an armored guard with a long spear and two unarmored men following behind her. The princess, obviously out of stamina, struggles to keep up with Chara, resulting in the guards slowly catching up to Stella.

"Your Highness! Are you alright?" said an unarmored guard to her.

"Yes...I am...I'm fine...please go on...catch them..." replied Stella, clearly struggling, "They mustn't get away..."

"Your Highness," said another guard to her, "Please don't push yourself. We will apprehend them."

"Thanks...guys...just...go on without me..."

As the guards go past the princess, they continue chasing the thief and follow them as they take a sharp right turn. Stella takes a short break next to a street light while everyone hurries ahead of her. It's been a while since she was running towards anything. The guards run past several wooden crates, ceramic pots, and continue down the alleyway. Chara, shaking and almost crying to herself, her breathing ragged, barely managed to slip undetected by the guards chasing her.

"Oh god...oh god...what did I do...it's all my fault...if only...I stayed at home...no...I had to go out...nice one, Chara..."  she thinks to herself, doubting her actions and wishing it was all over, "Now you have the royal guards on you...that's it! That's it...they will kill you...they will kill you Chara! Or...or take you away from your family...please...just let this end already..."

After a few more seconds of standing still, Chara realizes that this is her only opportunity to try and return home unseen. She gets up, her hood still over her head, and quickly backtracks into the previous street. Upon entering it again, she sees the princess standing next to a street lamp, catching her breath. Stella's eyes widen and she gasps slightly upon seeing the teary face of the culprit. As they lock eyes with each other, the moment feels everlasting. Stella analyzes Chara's face in perfect detail, noticing every smudge of dirt and dust on her face and her body. Her short shadow-black hair, and her caramel-brown eyes. She reads her body language, realizing she must be the culprit. Stella opens her mouth to speak to the thief, but Chara quickly runs forward to the street to Stella's left in the intersection.

"H-Hey!" is the only word Stella manages to let out, before beginning to run towards Chara once more, this time seemingly more motivated to catch up to her. 

As the street they've entered is under temporary renovation, there are obstacles in Chara's way. She kneels underneath ladders and stone blocks suspended by rope, while Stella jumps and carefully sprints on top of wooden boards placed above the holes in the road where the cobblestone is supposed to be placed. They run past several people, confused and not following them.

Chara continues running away from the princess, until she hits a dead end. Her panic breaking her, she turns around to see Stella running towards her. Her legs give up on her, and she falls to the ground. When Stella caught up to her, Chara began begging to her for mercy:

"Please! I beg of you! I apologize...I apologize for everything! I will never-I will never steal anything again! I will do anything...please...please do not harm me..."

Stella flinches, noticing the distress the thief in front of her was in, "Hey...Are you from here? The Kingdom?" She steps towards the young woman, and Chara immediately shivers, clasping her hands together while her tears fall to the ground in droplets.

"Please...Yes! My name is Chara...Chara Kring...I live here..with my mother and sister. I have all the papers. Please...it will never happen again...please..."

"Hey...hey...don't cry...I-um...I won't harm you. It's okay. Just...stay calm...h-hide those apples you stole." Stella softly replies. She doesn't seem to be angry or frustrated anymore, instead endearing towards Chara.

At that moment, the guards find them, and catch up. They aggressively shout, "Filthy peasant! What have you done? How did you enter the Kingdom's walls?" and start approaching Chara, who began shaking even more intensely.

"S-Stop! This isn't the c-culprit!"

"Your Highness, do not worry, we have the situation handled."

"No! This...this woman is not who we are looking for. She e-escaped."

"Escaped? Who is this then?"

"I've just stumbled upon t-them...They have all the rights to be inside the walls t-too..."

"Your Highness, are you sure?"

"Y-yes! Yes I am! Guards, back a-away."

Upon hearing her command, the guards back away and stand still, saluting the princess. After speaking more to Stella, they turn away and head back towards the carriage. Stella looks back towards Chara, with a soft smile, before following them back as well. Chara is left alone on the ground, still shaking and trying to gather her thoughts, before getting up and returning home.

She walked back home, tired and drained from what she had just experienced. Upon entering Sir Drake's building on Aloe Street, she walks up the stairs, greeting a middle-aged man coming down the stairs from the second floor. She enters her home on the third floor, takes off the cape she wore, and immediately collapses on the bed, with a wide smile on her face; laughing maniacally at what she just experienced and how lucky she is.

***

Several hours later, inside Fort Marigold, a serious discussion is being held by King Heraclius and everyone else present in the room. The discussions are about certain relations with the other nations, as many representatives, ambassadors and generals are attending. Alongside everyone else, Heraclius' daughter and Princess of Rosaria, Stella Widowgast is also here. Sitting quietly, and not speaking unless prompted to, Stella listens to the conversation, but secretly begins to wish she was home. Her father doesn't know what she did earlier that day, only that the thief escaped. She didn't tell him, and surprisingly to even herself, she doesn't plan to tell him the truth.

Throughout her youth, Stella always followed the rules. This was due to the way she was taught by personal teachers, her parents, and the situation she was born in; being a member of the royal family. She would never think about doing something out of line, yet today, she did. The thought creeps on her constantly, and she can't stop thinking about what happened. She helped a criminal, without hesitation. If anyone were to learn what had happened, and what she had done, she would be in a serious problem; yet she doesn't feel regret and instead she feels satisfied with what she had done.

"Why did I do it?" she thought to herself while listening to the generals talking, "Did I feel pity? Was it that I felt I was in power? That I had control over the situation? Did I feel bad from the sight that was in front of me? I don't know. I don't know why I did it. I did it without thinking."

She looks away from the table and looks at the glass window to see outside. The sun had already set a few hours ago, and she couldn't wait to go home. She will probably take a nap on the carriage back. But still, her thoughts trouble her.

"What would've happened if I wasn't there? That's a stupid question, I know what would've happened. And I'm glad it didn't. Did I like her? Did I do it because I took a liking to her? No...I've only met her today. S-She...was beautiful...but surely not. It can't be. I've never...acted like this before. And besides...she definitely didn't see me as someone who she would have liked at that moment. Why...do I even think about that. No. I...I don't know what this feeling is."

To be continued.