This is the love story of a civil engineer and well, a would-be civil engineer. But, just for
dramatic effects, and also because I’ve mentioned it is a fairy tale, let us take the heroine of
this story to be a princess in a faraway magical kingdom of Perseus. The story takes place in
the summer of Princess Madeleine’s eighteenth birthday, when she meets the guy of her
dreams…
Princess Madeleine, the future ruler of Perseus, sat idly on her seat in the court-room,
listening to her father, King Samuel, solve all the issues presented to him by his subjects. She
was wondering to herself why her father made her attend these meetings and listen to all
the conflicts and their solutions, when she had already memorised all that is to be learnt
from The Art of Running a Kingdom by S K Daggul. Yes, as you all would have guessed, the
princess is a huge nerd. There is not a book she hasn’t read from the palace’s library and has
even employed her own personal authors to publish new books for her every month!
She was listening to the court matters half-heartedly, when suddenly, her ears perked up
at hearing her name. She looked up to her father and heard him say to the courtiers,
“Princess Madeleine is going to design a structure for the kingdom, which would resolve the
water crisis caused by the gnomes living by the riverside, for her final assessment for The
Queen’s Test”. She was shocked beyond words!! She knew that she would have to take an
assessment before her subjects to prove that she is a worthy queen for the kingdom, and
had been preparing for it for several months, expecting it to be a written test!! She had no
idea her father would impose such a task on her.
But the princess did not let this deter her. She immediately set to task by re-reading some
of the best architectural books. One book, in particular, caught her attention. She noticed
that all the designs done by the wizard, Ansel have flourished under his magic and have
never been detected to have a single error up to date! She immediately set her mind to call
upon him, and ask him to tutor her for the final assessment. But what the teenage princess
wasn’t prepared to face was that though the wizard was hundreds of years old, he’s an
immortal and would forever remain youthful.
That eventful day arrived, when Princess Madeleine set her eyes for the first time on the
wizard. She was momentarily dumb-struck! The very princess, whose stare would make
grown-ups cower, was not able to raise her eyes to meet her tutor’s! On one hand, she was
extremely rejoiced, as she would get to spend 4 whole months with Ansel to prepare for the
final test, but, on the other hand, she slightly dreaded it too, as she knew without doubt
that she would be thoroughly distracted by him and that she might not be able to focus on
the crisis faced by her kingdom. She knew that would surely be one hell of a roller-coaster
ride!
As the days became weeks, and weeks became months, she was on the verge of
completing her task. Her father was immensely pleased with her progress. But, it also meant
that her time with her handsome wizard was going to come to an end and she did not like it.
Poor little princess had fallen in love!!! All the late-night discussion hours, little tours with him to the construction site, debates on the best approach to the crisis did not just help her
ace the assessment, but also brought her very close to Ansel, and she quickly developed
very strong feelings for him.
The day of the assessment arrived. Princess Madeleine presented her design to the king,
and after hours of checking and questioning, they concluded that it is indeed the solution to
the gnomes-crisis. It was also the day Ansel had to return to his country. The princess was
conflicted between confessing her love, but she didn’t want to lose her friendship with him
too. Finally, gathering her courage, she approached him. She then saw the same pain and
longings in his eyes, which she was sure was evident on hers too! Taking a plunge, she said
the magical three words, “ I’ve another doubt!”. On hearing those words, Ansel’s joy knew
no bounds! He told her that in order to explain that concept clearly, he needed to stay for a
few more months and explain it properly. Princess Madeleine smiled secretly as her plan
worked and she then knew how to keep him with her always.
THE END
© Akshaya