“So you’re a poet after all,” she laughed, whipping her horse’s rear. Albert’s mount bolted forward, and Wilhelmina spurred her horse, laughing as she chased him.
They reached the riverside in half the usual time, both drenched in sweat and breathless, yet feeling incredibly refreshed.
Wilhelmina said, “My mother Rebecca was once known as Princess Friya, because her marriage to my father for love was sensational. They called her the love goddess.”
“Love Goddess-Friya,” Albert said, touching the ship’s rail.
The elegant lord extended his hand to the queen. “Come.”
Wilhelmina took his hand and jumped onto the boat. Albert pushed off with the oar, and the boat drifted to the center of the river. Wilhelmina picked up an oar, trying to row alongside him.
After spinning several times in the middle of the river, the boat finally entered the main current amid Wilhelmina’s laughter.
“Actually, we’re not rowing; we’re drifting, right?”
Dropping the oar and eating almond cookies, William Minna expressed her opinion.
“Drifting isn’t bad either,” Albert simply let go of the oar. “People like us spend most of our lives struggling upstream. We need moments like this to relax.”
“As long as we don’t need to row back upstream later,” William Minna said playfully.
The two sat in the boat, enjoying the early autumn river scenery and chatting about their shared love for fantasy novels. Time became quiet and warm, like a cookie with chocolate sauce.
Unknowingly, the boat drifted to a river bend where the water surface was wide, a small tributary creating a shallow bank with dense reeds on both sides. It was flowering season, and the yellow-gray reed flowers swayed gently in the wind.
The small boat ran aground on the shallow bank, but neither was eager to move, instead appreciating the reeds under the blue sky. Two water birds flew up from the reeds, skimming across the water surface in search of food.
William Minna brushed away her wind-blown hair and took a deep breath of the fresh air.
“You’re right, Albert. This ‘physical discomfort’ is beneficial to my mental health. And,” she smiled, “we can come here often.”
“Then I must teach you how to row.”
“And swimming.”
“You can’t swim?” Albert exclaimed. “Damn, there are no life jackets on the boat!”
