“Father, I knew you would be here. I was searching for you the entire time.” A melodious voice could be heard with rapid footsteps.

A clear garden with one tree and tombstone right under it. Enjoying the bright sun, next to the tombstone was an old man seemingly mixed into the nature around him, undisturbed. The scene looked like something right out of a beautiful painting.

No one would dare disturb the peaceful moment except the beautiful young lady running towards him. With long brown hair and big captivating eyes, she looked like a goddess who could trample kingdoms even though she wore a very plain and simple dress. No one would believe she was in her late twenties if they saw her.

As she got closer to the tree and the man who sat under it she noticed him still in a daze, she silently went next to him and waved her hand, making another chair appear out of thin air before gently placing it down and sitting on it.

She looked at the tombstone before her in a daze and snapped out of it only after a while. Slowly wiping off the tears building up in her eyes and turned towards the old man sitting next to her who she called father.

The man looked very simple despite his long grey hair which was tied up or his otherworldly handsome facial features which could justify his daughter’s looks. He continued to look into the distance despite his daughter’s appearance.

As the wind continued to blow, both of them were completely silent.

“Tell me, little princess, why have you come here to see your old man. Are you missing me?” Slowly turning towards his daughter who was still looking at him. He had a small smile as he looked at her.

“Ah, father, my training for today is done, so I came here to see you. How are you, father?” Snapping out of her daze, she finally replied to his question with a smile.

“Hmm, as you can see princess, I am living peacefully in this place without any disturbance and am planning to do so for the remainder of my life.” Looking at the tombstone in front of them.

“You tell me how your magic training is going so far. With your innate talent, I am sure you will be the strongest in our family’s lineage.” Facing her.

Hearing her father’s question, she immediately stood up, stretching out her hand she closed her eyes before a small ball of bone-chilling ice formed.

“HA,” she finally released it in the air. As soon as she did the small ball of ice raced to the sky at a speed that normal people would not be able to follow. The old man lifted his eyes and saw the ball going up before finally releasing the power inside it. As the ball blasted, the temperature dropped a few degrees as small bits of ice fell.

Seeing her father observing her power, she felt very proud of herself as she had a proud look waiting for praise like a small girl. The old man sat down on his chair after the magic released got dispersed and said, “Not bad,”

Hearing his words, all her anticipation vanished as she fell down on her chair like a deflated balloon.

Seeing his daughter’s reaction he smiled and said, “Little princess, don’t be so down, you are already stronger than most of our generals in the army. If you continue you might be stronger than the great generals in a few years.”

Hearing his comment, she regained a portion of her confidence and asked with a pout on her face, “Then why?” She wanted to know why her father couldn’t give a better comment if she was that good as he says.

“Hahaha don’t pout little princess. What I said is true.” Patting her head.

He turned towards the tombstone and continued, “But when I test your strength of innate talent, I compare you with your mother. She was on a league of her own even when she was your age, even though her innate talent was lower. That is why the comment.”

Hearing his reason, she also turned towards the tombstone with a sad smile. On the tombstone was the name ‘Zen Quin’.

“Royal mother was an unyielding warrior father.”

“That is true. She was the most hardworking person I ever saw and all her hard work paid off when she obtained the royal throne and led our kingdom to its strongest era making it the strongest in the whole planet.” With a nostalgic look on his face and a small smile.

The tombstone in front of them carried the body of his wife and the Royal Queen of the mighty Zen kingdom, Zen Quin. He was the Royal King of the previous generation Zen Su.

“Father, why don’t you come back to the imperial palace. Brothers are eagerly waiting for you to come back. The first brother will also make a place similar to this in our palace. Father, please come back.” She pleaded.

They knew their father was at his end and wanted him to come back to the imperial palace so they could take care of him better. The Eldest son, now king, also pleaded similarly wanting him to come back. All of them didn’t want to lose him like their mother.

Zen Su, did not reply and continued to look at his wife’s tombstone, thinking about the past. He knew his children’s thoughts and knew how lucky he was to have them at times where old people are generally abandoned by their kids. But he didn’t want to go back to that place.

He shook his head and said, “No little princess. The only connection between me and that place was your mother. With her gone, leaving me all alone in this world I don’t see a need to stay there. After her death, the only duty I had left was placing a better ruler after your mother. Luckily your elder brother took after her more than I thought and could take over.”

After a brief moment of silence, he turned towards the garden and continued, “This place is rather very special for your mother and I. We used to come here to stay away from the duties of the palace and promised each other to stay here after one of you took over. But she instead left me all alone and died.”

Hearing him, the princess did not know what to say.

“Father, do you regret marrying mother?”

Facing her sudden question Zen Su remained silent. His marriage with Quin was rather very unique. He was a normal young and handsome youth who loved to act. His biggest dream as an orphan was to perform a drama in Infront of the royal family with his group.

After performing in many places they got fame and a chance to perform in front of the whole royal family. That was the first time he saw his future wife Zen Quin. She still had her practice armour on her and was sweating from all the practice she just did, making her looks not up to royal standard. She was the sole heir to the throne as the then queen caught a disease after their first daughter.

This made Quin work very hard to meet the expectations of the kingdom. Quin did not have the best looks but she had an aura, unlike other beauties he had seen. But at that time Zen Su never had things like this in his eyes. He was only looking forward to acting and wanted to do the same for the rest of his life.

After having a grand performance of their famous drama they even had the chance to eat lunch with the royal family. At that time Zen Su fulfilled his lifelong goal and wanted to lay back and continue acting around the Kingdom.

But it all changed when he got called to the palace alone the next day and was asked to marry Zen Quin. Facing the king, Zen su couldn’t say no and accepted the proposal. After that day he never got the chance to act once again in his entire life. Making him hate Zen Quin to the core.

But as time flowed and he saw the woman who wanted to marry him was like any other person facing her own problems and wanted her special person there for her to lean on.

But by the time he wanted to make everything right his wife passed away. He could still remember the last sentence his wife said before she passed away, “Husband I am sorry to be the reason you could not live your life how you would have liked to. But I don’t regret my decision to marry you and would be happy to be your wife once again in my next life.”

She died due to the accumulation of injuries and strain of wars over a long period of time. It has already been over 15 years since she passed away. But he still hears her words every day drowning him in grief.

“Father, I am sure mother doesn’t blame you for anything that happened. If she sees you far away like this. I’m sure she would feel sad.”

He shook his head and asked, ” Little princess let us not talk about it anymore. Tell me what you plan to do today afterwards.”

Seeing as to how he wasn’t willing to continue the topic, she quickly changed and answered with a smile, ” Father, I am going to attend a new drama which became very famous recently. Do you also want to come with me?” Acting like a baby at the end.

He shook his head and said, ” No little princess. You continue with your work then. I’ll continue to take rest.” Leaning back on the chair.

Nodding her head, she stood up and excused herself. As she was walking out of the house, she heard a familiar voice, ” Princess remember to live a life for yourself, not for others. Or else life will be full of regrets. Hope you have a happy life.” She nodded with a smile before continuing forward.

Meanwhile, Zen Su looked up towards the dark clouds and said, “Princess, hope you don’t live like your father. My time has come and I am moving forward to meet your mother.” Closing his eyes only to never open them again.

The previous generation King of the mighty Zen kingdom passed away.