The distance between Edward and Princess Evelyn continued to grow with every passing day.
Edward was deep in his first year of service, far from the royal palace and the woman he loved.
His days were filled with difficult assignments, exhausting journeys, military training, and dangerous responsibilities that left little time for rest.
Yet there was one thing Edward refused to allow the distance to take from him.
His love for Evelyn.
Every evening, when the work of the day was finally over, Edward would find a quiet place and think about her.
He wondered whether she was safe.
He wondered whether she had eaten.
He wondered whether she still stood at the palace window and looked toward the eastern lands where he was serving.
Most of all, he wondered whether she knew how often he thought about her.
Then one evening, Edward made a decision.
If he could not speak to Evelyn, he would write to her.
If he could not see her face, he would send his heart through his words.
He took a sheet of paper and dipped his pen into ink.
For several minutes, he simply stared at the empty page.
Then he began to write.
“My dearest Evelyn,
Today was another difficult day.
I spent most of the morning traveling through the mountains with the soldiers.
The road was rough, and the wind was cold, but I kept thinking about you.
I remembered the promise I made before I left.
I will return to you.
Nothing that happens during these seven years will make me forget you.
I love you, Evelyn.
Please never doubt that.
Your Edward.”
When he finished, Edward folded the letter carefully.
But there was a problem.
How could he send it to a princess without attracting attention?
He could not simply give it to an ordinary messenger.
The king’s officers watched his movements closely, and Edward knew that his correspondence could easily be inspected.
So he needed someone he could trust.
He remembered a young palace servant named Thomas, who occasionally traveled between the military camps and the royal palace carrying official documents.
Edward approached him quietly.
“Thomas.”
The young man turned.
“Yes, Edward?”
“I need you to do something for me.”
Thomas looked at him cautiously.
“What is it?”
Edward handed him the folded letter.
“Take this to the palace.”
Thomas looked at the letter.
“To whom?”
“Princess Evelyn.”
Thomas’s eyes widened.
“Edward, if someone discovers this—”
“I know.”
“And if the king finds out?”
Edward remained silent for a moment.
“I am not trying to disobey the king.
I only want to remind the woman I love that I have not forgotten her.”
Thomas looked at him.
Then he smiled.
“I will deliver it.”
Edward placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Thank you.”
“She will be happy to hear from you.”
Edward smiled.
“I hope so.”
Several days later, the letter reached the palace.
Thomas did not deliver it directly to Evelyn.
Instead, he secretly handed it to one of the female palace maidens who served Princess Evelyn.
Her name was Maria.
Maria had noticed Evelyn’s sadness since Edward’s departure.
She knew how deeply the princess loved him.
When Thomas explained what he was carrying, Maria immediately understood.
“I will give it to her,” she whispered.
That evening, Maria entered Evelyn’s chamber.
The princess was sitting beside the window, reading a book.
“Your Highness.”
Evelyn looked up.
“Yes, Maria?”
Maria closed the door behind her.
Then she walked toward Evelyn and quietly placed a folded piece of paper in her hand.
Evelyn stared at it.
“What is this?”
Maria smiled.
“Something that may make you smile.”
Evelyn recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her heart began to race.
“Edward.”
She held the letter against her chest for a moment.
Then she opened it.
As she read the first sentence, tears filled her eyes. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
He was thinking about her.
He had remembered her.
He had written to her.
For the first time in many days, Evelyn smiled.
When she finished reading, she pressed the letter to her heart.
“Maria.”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“How did this get here?”
“Edward sent it through Thomas.”
Evelyn looked down at the letter.
“Then we must answer him.”
Maria nodded.
“Of course.”
That night, Evelyn sat at her writing desk.
She took a fresh sheet of paper.
“My beloved Edward,
Your letter reached me today, and I cannot explain how happy it made me.
Every day without you feels longer than the one before it.
I worry about you constantly.
Whenever I hear that soldiers have returned from the eastern territories, my heart beats faster because I hope you might be among them.
But I am proud of you.
You are enduring all of this because of the promise we made.
Please remember that I am waiting for you.
Do not let the difficult days make you forget that someone in the palace loves you deeply.
I will be here.
I will wait.
And I will continue believing that one day, you will return.
Your Evelyn.”
She folded the letter.
Then she looked at Maria.
“Make sure this reaches him.”
“I will, Your Highness.”
“And Maria?”
“Yes?”
“Tell no one.”
Maria smiled.
“My lips are sealed.”
From that day onward, the letters became their secret connection.
Edward would write whenever he could.
Sometimes he wrote at night after returning from a difficult patrol.
Sometimes he wrote before dawn.
Sometimes he had only a few minutes to spare, but even then, he would find a way to send Evelyn a message.
He told her about the mountains.
He told her about the soldiers he had met.
He told her about the cold nights and difficult roads.
He told her when he was tired.
He told her when he was afraid.
But most importantly, he told her that he loved her.
Evelyn did the same.
She told him about the palace.
She told him about the gardens.
She told him about Lady Clara.
She told him about the days when she missed him so badly that she could hardly concentrate on anything else.
The letters became more than communication.
They became pieces of their hearts.
One evening, Edward received a letter that made him smile for the first time after a particularly difficult week.
He opened it carefully.
“My Edward,
Lady Clara says I should stop looking toward the eastern road every evening because I will make myself sick with worry.
But how can I stop looking?
That is where you are.
Sometimes I imagine that if I stare long enough, I will see you coming home.
I know it is foolish.
But love makes people do foolish things.
Please tell me about your days.
I want to know everything.
Even the difficult things.
Do not hide your pain from me because you are afraid I will worry.
I would rather know the truth than sit here imagining something worse.
I love you.
Evelyn.”
Edward read the letter twice.
Then he smiled.
He took out his pen.
That same night, he wrote back.
“My Evelyn,
You asked me to tell you everything.
So I will.
Today, I was exhausted.
My body hurt, and for a moment, I wondered whether I had the strength to continue.
Then I remembered you.
I remembered the day I left the palace.
I remembered you telling me, ‘Come back to me.’ This story is hosted at g.com.
Those words have become my strength.
I promise you this: as long as I can hold a sword, walk with my own feet, and continue serving the king, I will fight my way through every difficulty.
And I will update you about my experiences whenever I can.
I do not want distance to become a wall between us.
I want every day of these seven years to remind us that our love is stronger than distance.
Nothing will separate us.
Your Edward.”
The letters continued.
Week after week.
Month after month.
The palace maidens became their silent messengers.
Thomas carried Edward’s letters toward the palace.
Maria carried Evelyn’s letters toward Edward.
They moved quietly through the kingdom, careful not to attract the attention of anyone who might misunderstand their secret correspondence.
Sometimes a letter arrived late.
Those were the days Evelyn became restless.
“What if something happened to him?” she would ask Lady Clara.
“Wait,” Clara would tell her.
“He always writes.”
And eventually, another letter would arrive.
Other times, Edward would wait several days for Evelyn’s response.
The waiting was difficult.
But whenever her letter finally arrived, the hardship seemed worth it.
As the months passed, Edward’s letters began changing.
The young man who had first left the palace had written mostly about love.
Now his letters contained lessons from his service.
He wrote about leadership.
He wrote about courage.
He wrote about loyalty.
He wrote about the responsibilities of serving the king.
He was becoming wiser.
Stronger.
More disciplined.
Evelyn noticed the change.
“You are becoming the man you always wanted to be,” she wrote.
Edward smiled when he read those words.
But he wrote back:
“I am becoming the man I need to be for our future.”
One night, Evelyn sat beside her bedroom window with one of Edward’s letters in her hands.
The moon was shining.
She looked toward the distant horizon.
“I miss you,” she whispered.
She knew Edward could not hear her.
But somehow, she believed that he might feel the same longing beneath the same moon.
Far away, Edward was also looking at the night sky.
He held Evelyn’s latest letter in his hand.
He whispered the same words.
“I miss you.”
Neither knew that the other had spoken at that exact moment.
But their hearts remained connected.
The secret letters had created a bridge between them.
A bridge strong enough to cross mountains.
Strong enough to cross distance.
Strong enough to survive the first year of separation.
Edward still had difficult work ahead.
His first great trial was approaching.
He knew that the dangers surrounding him would only become greater.
But now he had something waiting for him after every difficult day.
A letter.
A message.
A reminder.
A promise.
And whenever exhaustion threatened to defeat him, Edward would open one of Evelyn’s letters and read her words again.
“I will wait for you.”
Those words were enough.
He would continue.
He would serve the king.
He would endure every hardship.
He would face every trial.
Because somewhere beyond the mountains, beyond the military camps and dangerous roads, there was a princess waiting for him.
And Edward had promised her that nothing would separate them.
Not distance.
Not time.
Not hardship.
Not even fear.
Their secret letters had become the quiet heartbeat of their love.
And while the kingdom knew Edward only as a devoted servant of the king, Evelyn knew the truth.
Behind the soldier’s strength was a man whose heart belonged completely to her.
And every letter he sent was another promise that, no matter how difficult the seven years became, he would find his way back home.
Back to her.
Back to their love.