Princess of the haunted kingdom and forgotten warrior

I walk through the Haunted Woods as if they are breathing with me.

Mist coils around my ankles, pale and obedient, and the trees bow under the weight of their own memories. This forest was here long before my kingdom raised its black spires and long before I was crowned its heir. Still, it knows who I am. Every leaf that withers at my step, every whisper that fades when I pass, answers to the same truth.

I am Y/N, Princess of Death.

The title follows me like a shadow—unwanted, inescapable. Even here, where spirits wander freely and sorrow seeps into the soil, I feel the pull of my power. Souls murmur just beyond sight, drawn to the quiet authority in my veins. They always are. Especially near the river.

The River of Tears lies ahead, its soft weeping carried on the wind. Legends say it was formed from grief too heavy for the dead to take with them. I believe it. Each time I return, the air grows colder, heavier, as if the river remembers every loss carved into this land—including my own.

I step closer, my dark cloak brushing against damp grass, and that is when the forest shifts.

Not in fear....but In warning.

I stop.

My gaze lifts, sharp and certain, toward the riverbank—and I feel it. A presence that does not belong to the dead, nor entirely to the living. It is old, worn thin by time, yet stubbornly to this world. My heartbeat slows.

Someone is here.

That alone is unusual. Few dare enter the Haunted Woods, and none approach the River of Tears without purpose—or regret. I move silently now, each step measured, my senses reaching outward. The spirits grow quiet, retreating like a held breath.

Then I see Minho.

A lone figure kneels by the river, head bowed, armor dulled by age and neglect. He does not flee. He does not turn. It is as if the river itself has claimed his attention completely.

I should summon the dead, remind him whose kingdom this is.

Instead, I watch.

Because for the first time in a very long while, death is not the only thing that has followed me into the woods