Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Truthfully, in My Soul ❯ Love as Decided by Others ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1: Love as Decided by Others

 

Disclaimer: All Yu-Gi-Oh! characters belong to Kazuki Takahashi. Princess Neferue is a character I have invented for this story. (Like the name? I discovered it one time when looking through a list of Egyptian names).

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Author's Note:

I know that when it comes to Yu-Gi-Oh!, there is a debate as to whether or not the pharaoh's name is “Atem” or “Atemu”. For this fan fiction, I will use “Atemu” instead of “Atem” to refer the pharaoh. This is because the name “Atemu” is more phonetically correct in the Egyptian language.

Also, you will notice that Mana refers to Atemu as “ouji-sama”, which means “prince” in Japanese. In the anime shows, she has a habit of calling him by that title instead of “pharaoh”. Okay, enough said. On to the story.

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In the past, when kings and queens ruled the land, the marriage life for royals was like placing one's fate in the hands of others. Marriages were arranged between soon-to-be rulers, often for political reasons. Love was no consideration.

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Atemu raised his right hand to his forehead, much like what one does when a headache occurs. He remembered the arrangement his father made during the childhood years. An arranged marriage. Atemu hated the idea, but that seemed to be the fate of almost every royal in the world. It seemed that those of the upper class were never allowed to have a say in who they choose to love.

 

The pharaoh tried his best to see the bright side of this situation. Neferue, his fiancée, was, as he was told, a very beautiful girl, gorgeous face, nice figure, seemingly perfect in everyway, shape, and form. She was supposedly one of the most awe-striking girls in the world, like something only lovers dream of, and all the other rulers of the world envied him for he was to be wed to her.

 

He had only seen her once, when he was a child. On a setup “play date”, he met her for the first time.

(BEGINNING OF FLASHBACK)

“My son, I would like you to meet someone,” his father spoke.

 

Atemu, about six years old, looked at his father, then looked at the girl standing a couple of yards from him. The girl looked like any five year old girl. She had on a plain linen dress that reached down midway between her knees and ankles. A small crown hugged her head, which was thick with straight, silky ebony hair. “Um, hello,” the girl spoke. “My name is Neferue.”

 

How odd that the first part of her name, “nefer”, means “beautiful”. “Um, hello,” Atemu spoke back. “My name is Atemu.” A short silent pause ensued. “Uh, my father set us up on a playdate,” the young price blurted to break the silence. “Do you want to go and play senet?” (Senet is an ancient Egyptian game similar to backgammon and checkers, if you must know).

 

“I guess,” the girl replied back. And Atemu's father left them alone to play.

 

The prince and the princess began to play senet. Atemu was a brilliant game player and he kept winning game after game against the princess.

 

Neferue had always placed senet before back in her palace. Because she was a princess, everyone who played against her in her palace lost on purpose, so she always won. She was never used to losing. In fact, she absolutely hated it. So it was no surprise that she wanted to play something else when she lost for the fourteenth time in a row.

 

“Let's play something else,” Neferue suggested to Atemu. “I don't want to play against a cheater.” She looked kind of angry.

 

Atemu was hurt however. “I'm not a cheater!” he stubbornly yelled out. “You're just a horrible player!”

 

“You ARE a cheater!” Neferue yelled back. “No one ever wins that many times in a row against me!”

 

“Then you've played against horrible people then,” Atemu sharply replied back. “I'm NOT a cheater.”

 

The princess got up, gave an indignant “Hmph!”, then walked away.

 

(END OF FLASHBACK)

 

The princess wasn't a very nice girl to me when we first met, Atemu thought. She was kind of spoiled. The young pharaoh then stood up from his chair and began to walk down the hall. He remembered the fact that his father had set up this marriage ages ago because it may help two otherwise rival families unite in harmony.

 

Atemu's thoughts were interrupted by the soft footsteps of someone skipping. “Ouji-sama!” a voice yelled out. Atemu turned around. It was Mana, his childhood friend, coming to greet him.