You Were My Sl*ve - Side Story Chapter 4

“Father!”

“Father!”

As soon as Emperor Sindar stepped into the princesses’ garden, excited voices rang out.

The two young girls, who had been trying on their shoes for the banquet, abandoned them immediately and ran barefoot toward their father.

“Come here, my little princesses.”

With a warm and generous smile, Kazan lowered himself and opened his arms wide. The two Ashatra princesses jumped into their father’s embrace, giggling as they clung to him.

“Goodness, Lamia! Dina! You shouldn’t be running around barefoot! What if you get hurt?”

Elona, who had followed closely behind, lightly scolded them while brushing the dirt from their feet. However, the mischievous four-year-old twins, Lamia and Dina, only laughed playfully in response.

“Mother, look at this! Miriam made me a bracelet!”
“And I got a necklace! Mine is prettier!”

Perched atop their father’s broad shoulders, the two girls enthusiastically showed off their new jewelry. Elona, watching their excitement, gently stroked their hair and eventually let out a soft chuckle.

“Still, you should wear your shoes properly. The princess from Bahalen is coming today—you’ll want to behave properly in front of her.”

“Yes!”

“Okay!”

The two mischievous princesses had little idea what “Bahalen” actually meant, but they nodded anyway.

Elona smiled as she gazed at her daughters, so different yet equally precious.

Lamia and Dina, two years younger than Ashad, were fraternal twins.

Lamia, the elder twin and the first princess, had inherited Elona’s golden hair and fair skin, along with Kazan’s striking red eyes.

With her large, beautiful eyes, high nose bridge, and delicate lips, everyone in the palace anticipated that she would grow into a great beauty.

Meanwhile, the younger twin, Princess Dina, had taken after her father entirely, with his jet-black hair, sun-kissed skin, and crimson eyes.

Unlike her sister, she cared little for books and was far more interested in martial arts and outdoor adventures, never able to sit still for long. The palace staff often mused, half in amusement and half in concern, about what kind of person she would grow up to be.

“Mother, are guests coming today?”

Lamia, who had nestled into Elona’s embrace, asked with an air of curiosity befitting a princess. Elona gazed affectionately at the daughter who resembled her most and replied,

“Yes, guests from a distant land are arriving by ship. They are our neighbors, so we must be kind and welcoming.”

“But what if they want to fight? Of course, we’d win, though!”

Still seated on Kazan’s shoulders, Dina asked excitedly, clearly looking forward to a potential battle. Seeing the warrior spirit of Kalima, the god of strength and earth, alive in his daughter, Kazan playfully responded,

“There won’t be a fight, because we’d win too easily. After all, I’m here, Sir Zerox is here, and of course, so is our Dina.”

“That’s right! Sir Zerox would take care of everything!”

Kazan had originally summoned Sir Zerox to the palace to train Ashad in swordsmanship. However, it was Dina, not Ashad, who had become a regular at the training grounds.

“Mother, about Ashad…”

Just then, Lamia, still quietly nestled in Elona’s arms, whispered softly.

“He said he’s going to Aslan today. It’s Lu’s turn.”

“What? Ashad is at the temple right now?”

“Yes. He only told me.”

Elona and Kazan exchanged surprised glances. Their usually reserved son was close enough with his younger sister to share secrets?

Meanwhile, Dina, who had climbed down from Kazan’s embrace and was now playing nearby, suddenly recalled something.

“Oh, that’s right! Brother said he doesn’t want to get married!”

“What in the world…?”

“I don’t know! Brother is weird!”

Though baffled, Kazan and Elona knew they had to head to Lu’s temple at once.

After sending their daughters back to the princesses’ quarters, the two of them quickly set off for the temple of water and life.

***

After the restoration of the ancient capital, Luka, the Temple of Lu was gradually reclaiming the glory it had lost for centuries.

Countless devotees offered tributes and prayers to Lu, the god of water and life. As a result, the number of priests and priestesses naturally grew, and what had once been a ruinous temple, now flourished under the imperial family’s patronage, radiating an air of grandeur once more.

Yet, despite the bustling crowds outside, the underground spring at the heart of the temple remained eerily quiet.

“I dreamed about you last night.”

A small child’s voice echoed through the cavern-like spring. Gazing at the still water that did not stir even with the faintest ripple, Ashad, only six years old, murmured with a composure far beyond his years.

“I won’t wear the crown. Lamia and Dina can share it instead. I will go find you—to the land where raindrops fall, and flowers bloom…”

There was no one else in the spring. The Crown Prince of Ashatra, who bore an uncanny resemblance to his father as a child, blinked his lake-blue eyes in quiet contemplation.

He was speaking to the girl from his dreams.

Last night, she had appeared as a young girl, but sometimes she seemed older, a mature woman. And at times, she was just a child, the same age as him.

Since his earliest days, when he first met the silver-haired girl in Luka, her presence had never left his mind.

Back then, Ashad had understood nothing about her. But as he grew older and his memories solidified, he began to grasp the truth.

The woman he often encountered in his dreams was someone he had been with long ago.

Perhaps she had been his lover in a past life. Or maybe she was a guardian spirit who had watched over his soul for ages.

Whatever the case, Ashad believed she existed somewhere in the real world. Even if the girl he had met in Luka’s temple had vanished like an illusion, even if every morning he had to wake up from the dreams where she appeared—he believed he would find her.

After all, this was Ashatra, the land blessed by the gods.

Beyond the desert, where the reach of the gods faded, supernatural events were reduced to mere legends.

But in the vast dunes, where sandstorms raged and the sun scorched the land, the power of the gods was real.

Water gave life.
Wind carried death.
Fire granted wisdom.
And the earth bestowed strength.

Thus, Ashad knew—one day, he would meet her again.

Whether she was human or divine did not matter.

As someone born into the Mileshatra imperial bloodline, Ashad himself was both mortal and divine.

“Then, you must head south, mustn’t you?”

A sudden voice broke the silence, and Ashad flinched, turning around.

A man with pale ivory hair and olive-green eyes approached the spring with a gentle smile.

Though startled, Ashad quickly relaxed and grinned in a way befitting a child.

“Aslan, you came to get me? Did Mother send you?”

“No. But the entire palace is in an uproar over your disappearance, Your Highness. However, Her Majesty has yet to summon me. So, rest assured and continue what you were saying just now.”

Settling himself comfortably by the spring, Aslan, the High Priest of Lu, gazed at the young prince.

“In your dream, you saw such a place, didn’t you? A land where the rain falls and the flowers bloom.”

“Yes.”

Though Ashad rarely allowed people close to him after meeting the mysterious girl in Luka, Aslan was an exception.

The boy nodded obediently to the high priest’s question.

“There was blue water everywhere. The rain kept falling from the sky, and my hair was completely soaked. Beautiful flowers grew as high as my knees.”

“And where was she?”

“She was…”

Ashad furrowed his brows slightly, trying to recall. He knew only one thing for certain about where the girl had been.

“She held me… and then disappeared.”

Aslan did not ask any further questions. Instead, he simply studied the young prince in silence.

Despite being a High Priest—one who could foresee the crossroads of life and death through visions—he had never once glimpsed Ashad’s fate.

The boy’s future remained shrouded in mist.

“What a shame, Your Highness.”

“Why?”

“You were born with the potential to become a great High Priest of Lu. But, of course, that will never happen.”

“Of course not. I won’t be a High Priest.”

Yet, at the same time, Ashad did not believe he would become Emperor, either.

And neither did Aslan.

“Ashad!”

At that moment, Elona’s voice rang through the temple as the Emperor and Empress finally arrived.