Diabolical Plots #131A, January 2026
This poignant fantasy story explores themes of duty, unrequited love, and gender expectations through the relationship between a royal guard and the princess she protects.
The narrator is a sword wielded by a young woman born into a retainer family sworn to protect the royal line. Despite not being naturally suited for combat, the protagonist took up the blade out of duty after her father died protecting the king. She and Princess Mea were born on the same day, creating a lifelong bond between them.
Princess Mea lives trapped inside an unshatterable glass box that has encased her since birth. The box grows proportionally with her, always maintaining the same relative dimensions. A narrow slit at the top allows food and drink to be passed in, while everything else mysteriously vanishes. According to a court prophecy, only a swordsman’s blade—wielded by her true love—can pierce through this opening and shatter the prison.
Throughout their youth, Mea focuses entirely on potential male suitors, dreaming of the prince who will free her. Meanwhile, the protagonist serves as her devoted protector, killing assassins to keep her safe while never burdening Mea with these dark truths. The guard watches as suitor after suitor arrives—men with white horses, gleaming blades, and dragons—only to eventually leave when they realize the kingdom’s declining power makes the match undesirable.
Each departure breaks Mea’s heart, and she finds comfort leaning against her guard through the glass barrier. The protagonist knows Mea better than any suitor ever could, understanding exactly what to say to ease her pain. In a moment of hope, the guard asks if she might be able to free Mea herself. But Mea laughs it off, pointing out that the guard is “not a swordsman”—neither a man nor traditionally masculine enough to fulfill the prophecy.
Undeterred, the protagonist attempts to break the curse one night, climbing atop the box and thrusting her blade through the opening above Mea’s sleeping form. Nothing happens. The box remains intact, and the guard is left devastated by her failure.
Years later, Mea marries a minor lord who succeeds where the protagonist failed—his rusty, unpolished knife shatters the glass prison instantly. The guard watches as Mea touches human skin for the first time, and it belongs to him, not her lifelong protector.
The story concludes with the protagonist as captain of the guard, the kingdom’s most skilled sword wielder. Yet this mastery is meaningless—the prophecy never cared about skill or devotion. The guard has never replaced her original sword because she understands the painful truth: it was never about the blade at all. The magic required not just love or skill, but specifically a man, excluding her regardless of her worthiness or the depth of her feelings.
Liu’s narrative powerfully critiques how prophecies and societal structures can arbitrarily exclude people based on gender, while exploring the heartbreak of loving someone who cannot see you as you truly are.
