Earth's Princess

By Diana T

All this time Rika thought she was an unwanted child. She keeps moving around to avoid people suspicious about her immortal age and also from her stalkers. But later on, her life turned 180 degrees after learning the truth that had been hidden for so long. Especially when she meets the person that she hates the most and turns out to be her fiancé.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Nov 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886938210

Diana T

Diana T has an educational and medical assistant background from both foreign countries and New York. She has been writing fiction and non-fiction since her college days in foreign countries. Earth’s Princess marks her debut novel in the United States. She hopes that her book can enliven the world of literacy, especially novels. Email: [e-mail]

Book preview

Preview

Once upon a time, there were seven princesses who came down to Earth to take a bath in one of the beautiful lakes in the deep forest on Java Island. Every time the seven princesses come down to the Earth, they were always accompanied by a rainbow. The rainbow was like the ladder where the princesses descended from the sky to the lake. Seven princesses wore colorful dresses, each wearing a different colored dress like red, orange, light blue, yellow, green, indigo, and violet.

One day, while they were taking a bath, without them knowing someone was secretly watching them with great curiosity and was amazed to see so many beautiful women bathing in the middle of a dense forest. The princesses bathed in thin, wet cloth like a kemben to cover their bodies after taking off their colorful dresses.

Jaka Kesuma never expected to find beautiful women bathing in the forest. They were not ordinary humans. This place and the lake used to be his hunting ground and were very special to him. He had covered this lake with his magic power, so it couldn’t be seen by ordinary human eyes. This was his hiding and resting place while hunting. He always visited this place when he wanted to be alone from his kingdom’s stuff.

Prince Jaka Kesuma came closer to the lake and sneaked behind one of the big rocks without being seen by using his invisibility magic. No one can see him, except someone who had a special power beyond his magic.

He stopped when he saw blue clothes and a blue scarf with sparkling gold surrounding it. He picked it up and left the lake, hiding behind a big tree not far from where the Princess was. When he saw that the princesses were almost finished with their shower, he waited with a pounding heart.

After the princesses had enough fun taking a bath and playing around, it was time to go home and go back to the sky. They had all already finished fitting the clothes and were ready to fly when they heard loud crying and they realized that one of their sisters, the Blue one, was not with them. The Blue one emerged from behind a big rock with tears, still in the water without her clothes and her magic scarf.

My clothes and my scarf disappeared, she said while crying. All her sisters tried to help her and search for her clothes, but they couldn’t find them. Everyone else felt sorry for the Blue one and didn’t know what to do or how to help her. Their bracelet rang again, reminding them that it was time to return home, or the door to the sky would close. With all regret, they left their sister alone and hoped that they could figure out what had happened and ask their parents to help her when they returned home.

The princess who was left behind cried with a broken heart and hopelessness. She couldn’t go back to her kingdom, nor could she stay here on Earth. She didn’t know anybody or how to survive here. While the princess was still confused about what she should do next, Prince Jaka Kesuma came out and went down to the lake where the princess was still crying and sobbing. He was holding her clothes and scarf in his hands.

Hi, did you lose this? asked Prince Jaka Kesuma with a little bit of a lie while showing the blue clothes and scarf to The Blue One. The Blue one got surprised and scared, she automatically walked backward to the deep lake and hid her body which was only covered by a thin fabric.

Where did this guy come from? questioned The Blue One in her mind. All Princesses of the Sky had magical powers and could sense danger but this guy, The Blue One couldn’t sense anything. His power was beyond her reach.

How did you find it?

Well, I took it because it was so beautiful and magical. I thought it was ownerless.

How could you say that? Don’t you try to find the owner first before you just take it? said The Blue One with a voice almost hysterical, but she still tried to calm herself down. The princesses of the sky never speak rudely and harshly or they get punished. But The Blue One will become a stranded princess because of him. She won’t be able to return to the sky until the earth’s full moon.

I will give it back, your clothes and your scarf if you marry me, bargained the Prince while his eyes kept staring at The Blue One’s face that looked so beautiful with gray eyes, long blonde hair until the waist, and white pale skin that was almost transparent as if surrounded with bright light. The Blue One got so surprised by the man’s bold attitude but she realized what caused this. This is not the first time she got proposed without her consent, because of her beauty.

The Blue One stared back at that man, observing him from head to toe which made Prince Jaka Kesuma nervous and almost lose his confidence because no one ever dared to do that to him, especially women in his kingdom. They would most likely just say yes without raising their heads and staring at him like this woman did.

This man had a handsome face, with big brown eyes and thick black eyebrows. His body was full of muscle, with brown skin that showed off his unique and sparkling gold and black sleeveless vest and short pants until his knees. Behind his back, bows and swords were hanging on each of his shoulders.

For the first time in The Blue One’s life, there was a man who could make her heart flutter and beat fast because of his straightforwardness. Even though this man could make her heart shake, The Blue One didn’t want to make a hasty decision because she felt trapped. But she had no other choice at the moment, and the lake water was getting colder. Prince Jaka Kesuma seemed to understand the dilemma that The Blue One was facing.

Let me introduce myself first. I am Prince Jaka Kesuma, the future king of my kingdom. So, you don’t need to worry about anything. If you do not agree right now to be my wife, I will give you time to think about what is the best time for us but without rejection, my words are my commands and you can’t refuse them, warned the prince with soft yet authoritative words that can’t be denied.

With a frown, The Blue One stared intently at the prince but the prince stared back with a killer smile and his twinkling eyes. The Blue One gave up or fell hard for the prince whom she barely knew.

Prince Jaka Kesuma came back from his hunting game with his beautiful wife-to-be. His people were so happy to welcome them back. A couple of months later, they were married and happy. They fell in love with each other. The Blue One became a queen when Prince Jaka Kesuma took over the throne and became a king after his father passed away. King Jaka Kesuma gave The Blue One a new name ‘Queen Nilamwati’.

One year later, Queen Nilamwati got pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful Princess Rika who looked just like the mix of beauty from her mother and the good look of her father. But what set her apart was her ability to change her appearance. On normal days, Princess Rika had black wavy hair like her dad, with light brown skin and bright yellow eyes however, she could change and take her mother’s appearance – white, pale, transparent skin like light and gray eyes when she would get moody or in a dangerous situation.

When Princess Rika was five years old, she found a mysterious key in her bed and asked her mother, Queen Nilamwati to play a game with her to find which room to fix with that key. They have been searching and trying every room that they knew but not a single room is fixed with the key, except one room that has been forbidden by the king. The old Arctic South tower.

That tower is rarely touched or opened, except for King Jaka Kesuma and one of his trusted advisers who sometimes go there to put important stuff or things based on the King’s order. In the beginning, Queen Nilamwati refused Princess Rika’s request, but her daughter kept whining about wanting to go there. She couldn’t bear to see her daughter’s disappointed face.

In the end, they went to the forbidden South Tower after playing hide-and-seek with the guard, using Queen Nilamwati’s magic that made both of them invisible. They arrived in front of the tower’s door without anyone noticing it. Princess Rika was so excited, she put the key in the keyhole of the door in a rush, nervously. A click sound came out when Princess Rika turned it around. The daughter and mother exchanged smiles.

When they opened the door, dust flew over. After clearing out the flying dust from their faces and eyes, they could see a lot of stuff including maps, books, weird tools, swords, keris, unique shadow puppets, and ancient traditional clothes with bright colors like red, gold and green, etc. All that stuff had been arranged neatly, even though there was a lot of dust in the room and it was rarely used and cleaned.

They had been busy observing and touching whatever caught their interest until they found a small box, covered with a unique carving pattern. But it had been locked for so long. Princess Rika put her key again and it opened. They were both so happy and expected to find something amazing. When the box opened, sparkling gold glimmering flew over and went everywhere and surrounded Queen Nilamwati.

Suddenly, all the clothes that Queen Nilamwati was wearing crumbled like dust. Blue sparkling clothes and a scarf from the box flew towards Queen Nilamwati fitting her perfectly. The Blue One started floating in the air. Princess Rika started to feel sad when she suddenly saw her mother’s body floating.

She didn’t understand her feelings, but her instinct told her that her mother would leave her. She became almost agitated and cried, begging her mother to go down but her mother just stared at her. Princess Rika could see her mother’s cheeks, full of sparkling water that looked like tears. They stared at each other while both of them were crying and sobbing. Queen Nilamwati felt sad, broken-hearted, and also happy.

She gained her freedom by accident through her daughter after so many years. Her husband had lied to her, saying that he lost her clothes after their wedding night, when Queen Nilamwati had asked for her clothes to be returned. But now, after she found them, Queen Nilamwati’s heart was torn out painfully.

She missed her family and her kingdom badly, but Princess Rika was still too small to leave behind. The bright sun coming through the small window of the tower suddenly became dim. Queen Nilamwati, or The Blue One, averted her eyes from the window and saw the lunar eclipse that was passing by; it would quickly disappear.

Queen Nilamwati was too anxious to lose her only chance, and she forgot about Princess Rika. She turned back and transformed into a blue, sparkling smoke that could pass through the small window, and flew over to the sky without looking back.

Chapter One

Present Day, Connecticut 2021

Rika kept running with all her might, surrounded by darkness and the thick forest into which she had been thrown without knowing why. She just wanted to run from something that was piercing her heart and her body. That light! White and green chasing Rika all around wherever she went.

The white almost catches her, but she manages to avoid it by running in a circle between the trees. Rika suddenly stops in front of a big tree and looks around, the things that were chasing her just disappear. Rika feels relieved, but her relief quickly turns into a nightmare. On a big tree, two big deep green eyes surround Rika with their green light until she can’t breathe. She shouts and shouts loudly, asking for help.

Rika wakes up with a cold sweat. Her dark wavy hair is all around her face. Rika shakes her hair carelessly and ties it up with hair bands from her table lamp beside her. Rika glances at her alarm clock and punches it; then the alarm sounds. Her alarm is not working today, maybe because it took too much of Rika’s punches when it was trying to wake her up.

Luckily, today Rika wakes up on time without her alarm, thanks to a bad dream, mumbling Rika. Rika gets out of her bed and goes straight to the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, she comes out with wet hair that is still messy. She needs to cut her long wavy hair. Summertime is approaching, and it is becoming bothersome to tie it up every day.

Before she takes care of her hair and changes her clothes, Rika picks two loaves of bread and puts them in a toaster on low heat. Quickly, Rika changes into a casual, tight green t-shirt that sits just above her belly button, and shabby blue jeans with rips at the knees. Ever since the Covid pandemic began, Rika has been working as an online psychologist doctor from 1 PM through 5 PM.

So, in the morning and throughout the day, she has plenty of time to do her gardening hobby, read her favorite magic romance fantasy adventure novel, take a nap when she feels tired, or become an amateur photographer with her artistic perspective. When she is in a good mood, she cooks her favorite dishes or create a new menu.

Rika was trying to live as a normal person like other normal human beings on this Earth, even though she knew deep down in her heart, she is not a normal human being. According to her magical age, 280 years old, she is an ancient woman who looks just like a 28-year-old human world.

The smell of burnt bread touches Rika’s nose while she was still busy in straightening out her wavy hair with hair straightener. Rika runs like a light from her bedroom to the kitchen just in time when her bread comes out from the toaster with golden brown and a little burn in the middle, the way Rika always likes it. She puts it on the plate and comes back to her bedroom to finish her hair.

Almost half an hour later, she comes out with her long shiny straight hair. Rika passes by her big mirror to look at her exotic good looking one and feels satisfied with her appearance before heading up to her kitchen and letting her bread get cold. Rika opens her refrigerator and takes a small glass bottle filled with green jam. Rika’s favorite cider jam or as she called it in her mother tongue ‘selai sarikaya’.

Rika has been living all alone and every sixty years she keeps moving around the world running away from her true identity as an immortal being and also from one guy who knew her existence from the beginning but never opened up about his existence to Rika, wearing a cold and rude mask that makes Rika so mad that she runs away from him and suspicious of human beings if they know she is an immortal.

With her genius brain and high-tech skill, Rika can make her a new identity, and use some of her magic power that makes people do as she wants it. She never does bad things except when she needs them to cover up for her existence. Rika has chosen to live in the countryside of Connecticut city.

She wants to live in a house with a lot of space for her gardening and quite far from other neighborhoods, so she can mind her own business without the neighborhood’s piercing eyes and ears for gossiping around.

She hates gossip and noisy people. One of her neighbors is an old lady who rarely comes out. Her name is Mrs. Dorothy. She was quite friendly when they met accidentally. She loves to talk about her family. She has two kids who will visit her with their families every month on weekends besides home care employees who visit her every day.

A quarter hectare from her right-side backyard, Rika has another neighbor, but that property is still empty, said her former real estate agent when she asked about her neighbor’s house.

Today is Sunday, a relaxing day. After making a quick report about the list of her patients in her office, Rika did gardening for almost two hours. Her light brown skin glistened and sweated making her look like a golden sparkling goddess. She didn’t care if her hair touched the soil while working in her garden, even though she worked hard to straighten her hair to make it ‘beautiful’.

Rika stands up after long hours and bends her knee to plant 10 types of flower seeds that she got last week from home depot. She stretches out and does a little bit of exercise to make her leg and body relax again.

Meow—, a soft whimpering kitten sound came from behind her leg. She is so focused on her exercise with her empty head without realizing something just comes across her garden.

A cute snow-white kitten with a small black circle on top of its head and his big light green eyes looked so amazing and weird too. This kitten was not a regular one. But it was so adorable and cute. Rika picks up the kitten from the ground, wanting to kiss it.

You can’t do that, he will follow you everywhere, a familiar voice came across her. A man stood there, one meter from her white iron fence. She almost dropped the kitten before turning around her head to see the face of the person she had been running from for years.

How long has she not seen him? Two or three years? She thought she could finally be free from him. Because usually when she disappears, it takes him only one year to search for her, even though he can locate her in one minute.

You!

Yes, it’s me again. If you want to say, you don’t want to see me, well, neither do I. But I needed to find you for my own security, that guy says without changing his flat expressionless face or his cold mask face.

His handsome face doesn’t affect Rika, even his big, deep green eyes staring straight into Rika’s eyes and her heart. Not interested! Rika thought, trying to convince herself. She stomped her feet, feeling the rising emotions in her head. The cat on Rika cuddled happily laying on Rika’s chest.

This is not your cat! shouts Rika confidently.

Yes, it is. You can check its necklace. Its name is Noto and the owner is me, says the cold man. Rika pulls the cat from her chest and checks on its neck. It was true, the cat’s name was Noto, and the owner’s name was on it. Rika’s face turned red and she let the cat go from her hands.

Don’t worry, I won’t sue you for falling in love with my cat because you are not the first one, that man says with a cold voice while picking up his kitten that was already walking back to him, recognizing its real owner.

Who do you think— Rika’s words were abruptly cut off because that man had already disappeared as a light wind swept Rika’s face.

Nate! Rika’s loud shout didn’t change anything. When she ran to her fence to where Nate stood before, she saw a big white and blue moving truck loading something from across the road near her empty neighborhood property.

For the next couple of days, a lot of people went back and forth walking around between her backyard and her new neighbor’s home. Today, Rika saw a lot of small trees with bags of soil being