On a small, forgotten isnd, where the sea breeze shimmered with an unspoken magic, there lived a young girl with a love for songs. Her voice carried on the wind, blending with the sounds of the ocean and the rustling trees. Her melodies could summon the sunrise, paint the evening sky, and stir the waves to dance. She lived alone, but she was not lonely. The isnd was her sanctuary, and music was her companion.

  Her childhood had been intertwined with a boy she had known since they were both young. They were close, bound by a shared understanding, their hearts tethered by a promise made in the quiet solitude of their vilge.

  One day, the boy told her he must leave. His journey would take him far away to nds beyond the horizon, but he promised he would return to her. They would speak of the feelings that had been unspoken between them—feelings that lingered in the spaces of their silence. And so, she waited. She waited as the days stretched into months and the months into years, her heart remaining faithful to his promise.

  She sang of him, of their quiet days together, of the love that bloomed between them like the flowers in spring. But time passed, and the horizon remained empty. The boy did not return, and she could feel the weight of his absence pressing against her chest. Yet she clung to the hope of his return, even as her songs began to grow sorrowful, tinged with an unspoken sadness.

  One day, the sea brought a strange ship to the isnd’s shores. It was unlike any ship the girl had ever seen—its sails dark and mysterious, its presence almost ethereal as it seemed to glide over the water. It came without warning, and from it stepped a man unlike any the girl had ever encountered. His robes were rich, his eyes dark with secrets, and his smile carried an unsettling promise.

  He approached her, and his voice was smooth like the still sea. “I have come for you,” he said, his words dripping with an allure she couldn’t resist. “I am a prince from a distant kingdom, and I offer you a life filled with wealth, power, and eternal love. Come with me. Be my queen, and together we will rule.”

  The girl’s heart trembled. The prince’s words seemed almost too good to be true, and yet, she could not shake the feeling that something was amiss. She looked into his eyes, but all she could see was the sea—the same sea that had held her childhood friend’s promise. The same sea that had been the silent witness to all of her songs.

  “I cannot,” she whispered. “I am waiting for someone. A promise has been made.”

  The prince did not falter. He smiled again, and this time, there was no kindness in it, only the certainty of one who knew he had already won. “You will be my queen. Together, we will leave this pce. The isnd will prosper, and you will know only joy.”

  But the girl could not move. Her feet were rooted to the ground, her heart torn between the prince’s words and the memory of the boy she had loved.

  The prince pressed further, his voice low and insistent. “You are mine now. Do not deny what is rightfully yours.”

  The girl’s heart ached, but she knew that her childhood friend had not returned. The promise had been broken, and the ship that was meant to bring him back had never come. And so, she reluctantly stepped toward the prince, her heart heavy with sadness. She took his hand, and the moment their fingers touched, a chorus of voices rose from the sea. It was as though the waves themselves wept for her, as though the sea, once a companion, had now become a prisoner to the prince’s will.

  The prince led her aboard his ship, and as the isnd grew smaller in the distance, the girl’s thoughts turned to the promise she had once held so tightly. She had betrayed it, but she could not go back now. The prince’s presence was suffocating, and she found herself alone amidst the gilded splendor of his ship. The jewels that adorned her were cold, their brilliance a sharp contrast to the emptiness she felt inside.

  On the day of her wedding to the prince, she stood before the priest, her heart heavy with dread. The ceremony was grand, filled with celebrations and well-wishes. But in her mind, she could only hear the echo of the promise her friend had made, the words of their shared past, now fading into the distance.

  The priest asked, “Do you pledge to love the prince, to be his queen for all eternity?”

  The girl’s hand trembled as she reached for the sapphire ring that adorned her finger. She looked at the shimmering stone, and it seemed to burn with the weight of her decision. She had never been given the chance to speak her true feelings, to tell the boy she had loved for so long how much she cared. Now, standing in front of the man who had cimed her, she realized how far she had fallen from that love.

  With a sudden crity, she removed the ring. “No,” she said softly, her voice trembling. “I cannot.”

  The prince’s eyes darkened with fury, but she stood firm. “There is someone I have always loved. Someone who has never left my heart.”

  The priest’s eyes widened in confusion, but the girl did not care. She turned away from the prince, and for the first time, she felt free. As she stepped away, she could hear the sound of the sea calling to her—its waves whispering the songs of the past, of promises made and broken, of loves lost and remembered.

  The girl turned to the sea, her feet now carrying her towards the water’s edge. She could feel the waves pull at her, as though the ocean itself was reaching out to take her home. The prince called after her, but his voice was drowned by the roar of the sea.

  With one st look at the prince, the girl stepped into the water. Her heart, heavy with regret but light with release, sank into the depths. The sapphire ring she had thrown away followed her, sinking to the ocean floor.

  In the darkness of the sea, the cursed melody of the prince’s kingdom began to fade, repced by the soft, familiar song of the girl’s heart. She had kept her promise to herself. She had chosen love—not the kind that was forced upon her, but the kind that had lived within her all along. The love she had given so freely to the boy who had once promised to return.

  As the girl sank deeper into the embrace of the ocean, her soul was carried away on the waves, her song now a part of the eternal rhythm of the sea. The sapphire ring, still glowing faintly, now rested at the bottom of the sea.

  And in the silence that followed, the faintest whisper of a song lingered in the air, as if carried by the wind itself. It was a song of love lost and love found, of promises kept and promises broken.

  The tears of the girl were now part of the ocean, where they would forever shine, lighting the way for those who dared listen to the songs of the past. The sea would carry her song forever, and somewhere, far away, the young man who had once been her friend would hear it, faint but clear, beneath the full moon.

  He would never understand its true meaning, he would always remember the girl he had once known, and the promise they had made.

  But in time, he would learn that some promises, though broken, live on in the hearts of those who remain true.