"Aaaah!" The small boy screamed full of power. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for him
to lift the sword which weight felt too heavy to lift. He panted in shame and failure. More
tears ran from his big blue eyes. His hair was partially covered in blood. His, mostly. His
clothes--the best silk of Aronia--was torn, showing his wounds and scars.

He couldn't do it. He never could, and never would. He looked at the wild griffin in front of
him. Yesterday, his enemy was a bear. Chamuel's eyes were getting blurry and he started
to feel that he couldn't breathe.

Chamuel took a long gasp and fell to the floor. He still could see the brown, dusted floor tiles.
But he couldn't move his body. He couldn't even feel the sword's grip in his hands.

Blood everywhere. Not in the sword but from Chamuel's wounds. The man ordered some
people to take the wild griffin back to its' cage. By then Chamuel was still conscious. The
man came and knelt beside him. He raised Chamuel to his arm and bruised his bloody
blond hair that was covering his face.

"D...dad...I'm...I'm sorry..." He said weakly. The man he called "dad" took a long sigh and
held his son. Chamuel fainted.

-----

"How could you do that to him?!" Queen Katharine held her sleeping son gently. "He's your
son!"

The King looked at his wife with empty eyes. He loves Chamuel. Him being the cause of
Chamuel almost died was a fine proof of how he loves him.

"He's...he's just a kid! Not even ten!" The Queen said again. Tears in her eyes and heart.
She knew Chamuel had to be strong. He would be a ruler of a kingdom unknown to the
world. And as a single lilly that's growing in a meadow of thorned roses, Chamuel should
know how to protect himself. He should know how to be feared.

"I'm doing this for his best! For his sake!" The King finally let out his heart, trying not to
scream because Chamuel is sleeping peacefully. "...This is hell. He lives surrounded by hell,
Katharine. How do you expect him to rule this hell if he can't even kill a deer in a hunting
game?"

Katharine covered Chamuel's body with the blanket. His skin was covered with bandages in
so many places. He lost many blood. If it wasn't for the Queen's Archangel Rune, Chamuel
would be in a coma state by now.

"I know...I know... He shouldn't be a king, no, I wasn't supposed to be a Queen. But what
can I do?" Katharine tried to recollect the memory of her and her sister--the woman who
should sit in the throne of Aronia. "But I want her to be happy...it's not her fault..."

"I didn't say it was... It's my fault. All my fault. Chamuel almost died because of me..." The
King sat down. His heart was torn too. "But this fault, my dear, so unfortunately, is
necessary."

-----

Chamuel woke up early that morning. His wounds was partially healed. He heard if the
Requiem Rune was here, not even the morbid wounds he had yesterday would make
him feel any pain. How convenient. Chamuel remembered seeing the white angel while he
was sleeping. The angel with wings made of light always comforted him when he's sad. She
was so pretty. So divine. And he knew, she was the Archangel Rune within his mother's
chest.

The kid took his clothes and wear them on his way. Everyone was still asleep, even the
maids. He told every guard he passed to be quiet. The stable was cold as freezing hell.
And beside it, a griffin was wide awake.

As he stood before the cage of the beast, Chamuel stared deeply in its eyes. Dark brown
eyes he remembered when its beak and talons torn his skin yesterday. Chamuel already
took the key to its cage, along with a steel fork they used to sort straws.

As silent as the night, Chamuel opened the cage. The beast raised its feathery wings and
shrieked in rage, ready to attack the little boy.

And as silent as dream, everyone in the castle awakened by the loud scream of a boy and a
beast. The King recognized it as Chamuel's voice and rushed to the stable, along with some
guards. He could feel his heart stopped and jumped while worrying about his son. What did
he do? Did he tried to kill the griffin while its asleep?

-----

"Father! I did it!" Chamuel was smiling innocently to his dad. The King silenced in surprise.
There's a body of a wild griffin before his son. Dead. Torn up. Worse than how it torn the
little boy yesterday.

The King took the steel fork from Chamuel's hand gently. The kid was still smiling, his face and
body was splattered with blood. This time it was the beast's. The King embraced his son in
fear and relief.

-----

Little Chamuel ran through the hallway to his mother's room. He was so happy like a rabbit
that found a field of carrots. He opened the door and found her mom lying in bed.
Apparently still sleeping. Queen Katharine did not wake up when everyone was surprised
by the screams earlier.

"Mommy! Mommy! I did it!" Chamuel shrugged his mother's body. The Queen slept like an
angel in her white cloud. "I did it! Daddy praised me and told me I don't have to wield his
sword again!"

Unfortunately, his mother didn't wake up no matter how hard little Chamuel tried. And right
when he's tired Chamuel realized her mother was not breathing at all. He remembered his
father said that means death.

Death.

Dead like the griffin he killed.

And every definiton of death Chamuel ever heard resounded in his mind.

When The King came to the room's door, Chamuel already understood. Chamuel touched his mother's hair

and kissed her cheeks.

"Good bye mother." Little Chamuel said. He lay down close to her mother and held her body
tightly. That time, the only thing that crossed Chamuel's mind was the lullaby his mother
sang to him yesterday before he slept.

And little Chamuel sing, in silent tears,

Little Lily
near the sea
can't you see
even with no merry,
that I love thee...