Michael and Emilia were childhood friends. They were both born into commoner households. But Michael joined the king's knights as soon as he reached the required age. He fought hard during the wartime, and his heroic deeds impressed the king enough to reward him with a duke’s title at an early age of twenty-three. Michael earned countrywide fame for his efforts, and the royal families flooded him with marriage proposals. But even though he earned a lot of success, he never forgot his childhood friend. He went and proposed to her for the marriage even though she was still a commoner. Emilia was quick to accept the proposal, after all, they both had loved each other from the day they met. 

The love story got him the praise of the bards and the adoration of his subjects, but earned the enmity of several of the royals. Michael was a man of principles. He didn’t argue or complained about the problems that were caused by the nobles. He worked hard day after day and made his dukedom rise to the pinnacle of authority, only second to the king. 

In the process, somehow, he lost his smile and emotions. He became the best ruler of his duchy, no doubt about that, but his life became completely empty for the next six years of his life. That was when his daughter was born and things changed for him as he once again became the cheerful man he used to be.

When Emilia learnt that her daughter was in love with someone with a lower status, she had a nostalgic feeling. She wanted to see her marry the man she loved, just like she did once. But the thought of what would follow this was eating her from inside. She feared that Michael would have to suffer once again because of the enmity that would come after the royals get to know about it.

After she sent Titan away, she began thinking of a way out, but the only way that would make Michael suffer the least was to send her daughter away in anonymity and declare her missing.

****

“Do you even know how much he loves you? If I told him that you love someone, he won’t think twice and do whatever you wanted, happily. But that is dangerous for both you, Titan and Eastshire. So I have decided to send you away to a faraway place where nobody knows about you and your background.”, said Emilia with a grim face.

“But Mom, I don’t want to leave you two.”, Shilpi said, crying on her shoulder. “Sometimes things don’t go according to how we want, and we have to deal with it. I want you to remember my words, look here”, Emilia held her by her arms gently and pulled her chin up slowly, “Remember my words, a lady must always protect her man’s honour. So no more crying. I don’t want you crying as I send you away from me. You have to grow up. And remember, we will always love you no matter where you are. And whenever you find things too difficult for yourself, use this.” Emilia handed out a small amulet shaped like a compass made out of glass. “Break it, and you along with whomever’s hand you are holding will arrive wherever you want to. It is one of the last magical devices which your father was bestowed upon by the King himself.”, Emilia explained.

The next morning, Emilia discreetly went out to meet Titan’s father, Caelus Aether. Emilia knew his father from her time as a commoner, as she worked at his then newly established company at the post of supervisor. Caelus was quite senior to her in both age and experience, but they shared a close relationship. Caelus never had a sister, Emilia was the only one who came closest to becoming one. That is why, when Emilia married Michael, she used her influence to help Caelus establish the traders’ guild. Moreover, she always bought things from their guild in order to build public trust in it. Caelus was grateful for her kindness and tried to reciprocate her in any manner he could. In a manner, Titan and Shilpi’s love was fated to happen.

As soon as she reached Caelus’s house, she was welcomed by him in person. Caelus’s house was nothing compared to the Duke’s manor, but still it was one of the biggest and most luxurious in the capital city of Eastshire. Caelus and Emilia sat in the drawing room for almost an hour and discussed the subject of matter. After the discussion, it was concluded that the couple would be sent to a faraway kingdom of Aruna. Some of Caelus’s relatives lived in the kingdom in a small village named Simapur. It was a border village, so the kingdom’s politics lay far from them. This removed any possibility of their discovery. Also, the village had a fairly good connectivity with Monad so if there arose any need, the duke could easily reach his daughter.

They decided to execute the plan on the day of Shilpi’s birthday, since on that day the security was supposed to be laxed due to the heavy influx of guests.

The fateful day came. The entire Eastshire was celebrating the young lady’s birthday. The duke distributed alms to the beggars, and tax concessions for the commoners were announced. Michael was a benevolent ruler. He didn’t want to leave anyone out of his happiness, so he decided to do something or the other so that no one remains unhappy on that particular day. Titan secretly snuck inside the mansion in the uniform of a carriage driver. As soon as he entered, he rushed towards the garage to find the carriage with a yellow flag on it as instructed by the duchess. Finding the carriage didn’t prove to be much of a problem for him. 

Immediately after he located it, he entered its compartment. Inside he found both Emilia and her daughter sitting. Emilia was dressed more lavish than usual to not arouse any suspicion, but Shilpi was dressed in a rather simple outfit. “Thank heavens you arrived on time. It’s almost time for the call.”, Emilia said with a relieved sigh. Although it didn’t show on her face, but her voice trembled as she spoke, her fear and sadness were evident. Shilpi too had a gloom on her face as she looked at Titan, who was displaying a false smile on his face. “Now, remember my words Titan, I am leaving my most precious jewel in your hands. Make sure you never make her cry, and if she ever did-”, a teardrop rolled down from her eyes as Emilia spoke, “You will find me haunting your sleeps at midnight. Am I clear?” Emilia smiled as she wiped her tears with her handkerchief. Titan smiled at her in response and said, “I promise, Ma’am, that if she ever cries, those would be the tears of joy only.”

Emilia took out something from her bag and handed it out to Titan, Titan looked at it carefully. It was a Duke’s insignia. “If you ever encounter any problems on the way, use this. It would provide you a smooth, uninterrupted clearance. And also I want you to pass it down to offspring and send him or her to the dukedom as soon as they reach a certain age so that we can pass on to him our inheritances. Is that clear?”, Emilia instructed. “As you wish, Ma’am.”, Titan agreed. Emilia then put both of them together in her arms and kissed on their cheeks. “You can call me Mom too, you know.”, Emilia said with a shaky voice and a gentle smile. She got off the compartment. “Bye Mom.”, the couple said in sync with a heavy heart as Emilia waved goodbye to them.