Rose

In a small village, a beautiful girl named Rose was born. Her parents were honest, hardworking people: her father toiled in the fields, while her mother earned a living by weaving and spinning. But even as a child, Rose felt that life was unfair. The villagers were always looked down upon, driven away from the roads by the king’s men, and when taxes were collected, there was never any mercy.

Rose could not accept this. As she grew into a young woman, she decided she would not live as everyone else did. There was only one path left for her: freedom. And so, she became an outlaw. Cast out from her village, she made the forest her home. From there, she ambushed the king’s carriages and men. Her greatest weapon was her beauty—whenever she was about to be caught, she simply looked at the guards, played the part of a lost, innocent maiden, and they always let her go. Thus, no one had ever managed to capture her.

For years, stories spread like wildfire about the mysterious girl who could even steal from right under the king’s nose.

But when the king grew old, he passed his crown to his son. The young prince was different: proud, strong-willed, and unwilling to suffer such shame. When his first carriage disappeared, he did not rage openly. Instead, he devised a plan. He sent an empty wagon into the woods as bait and secretly followed it.

That is how he found Rose’s hideout. But when he saw her, he was stunned. He could not harm her, could not take her prisoner. He simply stood there, then at last spoke:

“Why would such a beautiful girl choose the life of a criminal?”

At first, Rose laughed, thinking he mocked her. But then she told him the truth—how the people in her village starved, how they were driven from the marketplace, how the nobles always had more while the poor had nothing. The prince listened, and slowly, he understood. She was not evil. She only wanted justice.

From that day forward, the prince returned to her again and again. Sometimes he tried to persuade her to give up her life of thievery; other times, they simply talked. Rose teased him, mocked him even, and defiantly robbed his carriages on purpose—knowing he was watching. But though he should have fought her, the prince admired her courage all the more.

Affection grew between them, deeper with every meeting. Rose tried to resist—she knew she could not fall in love with a prince. Her world was the forest, freedom itself. His world was the palace and the law. But in the end, every night they spent together, hidden away beneath the trees, brought them closer.

This was one such night. Rose waited at her hideout when the prince arrived. They did not speak much—they didn’t have to. A single glance, a single smile was enough. Both of them knew that although they were supposed to be enemies, something far stronger bound them together.

And so began their secret love—Rose, the outlaw who knew no fear, and the prince who learned that the heart does not recognize rank.