This afternoon you left me a note, telling me that you wanted to see me at our usual spot, to practice self defence. Your request wasn’t unusual, not after dealing with it for almost a year now, but each time my heart squeezes a bit, afraid of what would happen if someone found out what we were doing.

You’re the princess of England and I am the king’s — your father — knight. We’ve been friends since we were babies because our fathers are best friends, even though they try not to show it to the public, because it’s not proper to have a knight as a close friends. But none of them cared and so we grew up close.

I used to spend every afternoon playing with you in your palace or in your gardens, until one day my father forced me to take classes to become a real knight, just like he did many years ago.

Suddenly I didn’t have much time to see you anymore, even though we still remained best friends and we spent lot of time together. What I was doing was important and useful for the kingdom, so I tried not to be annoyed by the fact that we couldn’t hang out all the time. If I was lucky enough though, in the future I could be your personal knight and every day I trained as hard as I could, so that I could achieve that.

But I should’ve known better. You’ve never been the typical princess that loves ball gown, doing her hair and painting in nature, no. Instead you enjoyed wearing pants, having short hair and running in the woods. You are some sort of “rebel” since you don’t respect the rules that the society gave and that is exactly what I loved more about you.

Your father allowed you to be free for 18 years, but as soon as you became an adult he demanded for you to stop with your “bullshit” and to start acting like a real princess. You had responsibilities to fulfill and one of them was finding a husband as soon as possible, so that your kingdom could expand.

On top of that, the king recruited the most fearless knights to protect you even though you never asked for it. In fact, you never liked having to depend on some men for your safety, so, since your birthday, you asked me to teach you everything I know to help you protect yourself.

We had to meet at night, mostly in your room or in empty places so we wouldn’t get caught. It fas thrilling and definitely worth it to see how you improved and your progress.

The first lessons were all theoretical, in which you learned how to hold a sword in the right way and the basic movements you needed. You thought it was easy and I was foolish enough to believe you were ready, so I told you that we would simulate a fight.

I prepared everything I needed and when it was time to go, I made my way to our spot.

When we started to fight, I didn’t use my full strength on you, but you noticed and you asked me to fight fair. So I did, but not even a minute after, you fell on the ground, wounded by my sword. You huff, annoyed that you can’t beat me.

“Careful, sweetheart. You need to work on your emotions, or you’ll get killed.”

You roll your eyes at me and that’s when I realize that you still have a long way to go to be ready. But you’re stubborn, so that could help you. I offer you a hand so you can get up.

“Wanna try again? Maybe this time don’t let your guard down.”