The Cursed King

It was the heartbreaking loss that destroyed whatever connection Loriel had built with his wife. Before, every time he saw her, he would think about how this beautiful woman was the mother of his child and they would have a family of their own.

Elise was an only child and Loriel was not close to any of his siblings. Both were lonely and longed for family, and it seemed the baby they could have had would become the bridge that connected their hearts and made them real husband and wife.

However, now the baby was gone. They had not even had a name for her. She was gone before she existed.

Soon, Loriel buried himself in work and kept himself busy. He found many things to do that would require him to leave the palace and not return for days. He couldn\'t really see Elise\'s face without remembering what they had lost.

It allowed Loriel to not think about his pain and instead focus on important tasks in order to keep his mind away from the things that hurt him.

Elise herself cried despondently in her room and refused to see anyone.

Even Brick was incapable of making Elise smile because of how depressed that she was. She did not want to eat, drink or even sleep and instead spent her days weeping until she finally fell asleep in exhaustion.

Loriel would make Horatio or Zaff check on Elise every day, have the maids cajole her into eating and telling her she needed to stay alive, but he stayed away from her so he wouldn\'t trigger her or make her cry even further.

When there arrived an opportunity to leave? Loriel took it. Duke Lance Goodwin advised him to visit their colonies to strengthen their grip on those lesser kingdoms. 

This journey expedition would require Loriel to go on a five-month journey around Summeria and along to other colonies that they have conquered and so he would embark on this trip. Perhaps it would help him forget the pain.

Distant lands far away from his home, it would take Loriel\'s mind off of things that pained him, and perhaps when he came back, everything would be okay again and he could pretend that it was all a terrible nightmare.

For now, Loriel did his best to muster up the strength to even talk and care about other people.

"Horatio, please look after the queen and the royal palace while I am gone for this expedition," Loriel instructed the old man with a tired voice.

Horatio bowed his head. "I will, Your Majesty. Please take care of yourself during this trip."

"I will," Loriel said.

When the king looked around the palace as he rode on his horse and joined the cavalry for their expedition, there was no sign of any blossoming flowers and neither were the trees green at all.

Loriel sighed inwardly and pushed his horse onwards and out of Castilse. 

The state of his palace reminded him of the time when he first visited Myreen and winter took hold around the edge of its kingdom while king Alexander was ill. An entire lake was frozen over because of how sick the king became.

It was a great testimony to how a Leoralei affected their environment. Maybe… Castilse was experiencing drought and gloominess because the queen was sick?

Loriel didn\'t even want to go to Elise\'s palace to check on the royal garden.

He already heard the news of every plant dying there and he couldn\'t even muster the courage to step there. Not only did he hurt at the thought of seeing Elise, if he were to see the sight of his mother\'s, the late Queen Maude\'s beloved garden dead and unalive, but it would also break him further.

And so that was how Loriel left. He left to mend his broken heart. However, everywhere he would go, he was reminded of Elise and what they failed to have.

Whether it was a simple and innocent child\'s laugh in a village they passed through, or the old couple he would encounter on the road and even his own soldiers who sometimes spoke of wanting to reunite with their wife and children after grueling travels—Loriel found himself thinking of Elise in those times.

He would come to realize that it wasn\'t only his palace, or Castilse that was devoid of flowers blooming. The entire land of Summeria and its colonies were thrown into a disarray at the lack of growth.

It was as if spring refused to come in Summeria.

There came people, mages, and wizards that attempted to fix the situation, they would pray to the goddess of the earth, cast spells to make flowers blossom because it was essential to how a kingdom survived.

Loriel left them to do as they wished, but there were only small successes and most often, the flowers would quickly close their petals and refuse to open again. 

It was a disaster that Loriel knew he was incapable of mending. How could he heal Elise\'s heart when even he was not able to heal his own broken heart?  Only temporary solutions were made.

***

Before Loriel knew it, the five months already passed by him so fast. Loriel was still reluctant to go home and return to a palace devoid of joy and happiness. However, suddenly, there was something he noticed during the end of his expedition.

Loriel would see a couple together and the man already had a bouquet of flowers in his hand and offered it to the woman.

He couldn\'t believe his eyes.

"Is it… spring again?" Loriel asked himself and he was baffled.

Before Loriel knew it, the king of Summeria reached Catilse at last and quickly headed for the queen\'s residence. He passed by his royal servants, butler, and other people without a care and rushed ahead of them into the garden.

And it was there that Loriel saw his wife after months of not seeing each other.

Everywhere around her was a vibrant and rich color, the trees were a strong green and the flowers aplenty were blossoming as a fragrant odor filled the air with the sweetest of scents like perfume.

However, all of them paled in comparison to the sight of Elise in the garden.

There was a butterfly perched on her fingertip and a beautiful smile on her face.

"Elise."