Love And Deepspace: Rafayel - Sea Of Golden Sand

Unsatisfied with her virtual prison, the Princess has made 99 attempts to escape the castle and see the world beyond the palace walls. One night, as she tries to escape again, she disguises herself in one of her maid's clothes and attempts to sneak into the waters of the lake outside the palace.

Like all her previous attempts, the Princess is caught almost immediately. When her guards shoot arrows to sink the stolen rowboat, she falls into the lake. Underwater, she gets tangled in seaweed. Confused and afraid of drowning, the Princess panics until a voice tells her to command the guards to go away.

Surprisingly, as she emerges, the guards who find her at the water's edge think she is her maid, Natasha, and not the Princess. The guards disperse, thinking the Princess must have tried to escape elsewhere. The city is on high alert due to a recent intruder who has begun killing the nobles.

The intruder is none other than Rafayel, the man who spoke to her in the water. Rafayel is dressed like an assassin with his face covered by a mask. The Princess realizes that if this intruder can get into the city, he must know the way out. She persuades him to help her escape.

Once they are in the market streets outside the palace, the Princess asks to know her savior's name. However, Rafayel refuses to give it, and instead starts calling him Lord Sea God. Rafayel feels annoyed by this and eventually gives her his name before she continues to call him a god.

As the Princess and Rafayel explore the market, she encounters dozens of sights, smells, and tastes that she has never experienced before. She also learns that many trending items are allegedly 'Your Majesty’s' favorites. This surprises her since she hasn't even heard of most of these things.

She laments that the only reason people care about her is because of her heart that God has blessed. She doesn’t care at all about her heart or the value it brings to Philos. She only sees her heart as a burden that overshadows her worth as an individual with her own thoughts, desires, and hopes.

When the guards find and chase them, Rafayel and the Princess hide in an alley, where they take a moment to tend to her arrow wounds again. When asked where she wants to go, the Princess tells Rafayel that she wants to see the ocean more than anything.

Rafayel seems surprised that she wants to go to the ocean at all. Before they can discuss it further, the Princess's maid, Miss Natasha, approaches. Before they part ways, the Princess asks if Rafayel will come visit her again, if only to repay her debt for bringing her to the market.

Rafayel looks increasingly surprised that the Princess seems to have no memory of him at all. He asks if the Princess still has the fish he gave her, but she looks confused, and Rafayel realizes she truly does not know who he is.

Back at the palace, the Princess prepares for her Coming of Age ceremony. As her maids pick out a dress for her, the Princess lies on the floor watching a small blue fish in a bowl. She remembers that years ago on her birthday, she was given a Lemurian. The same Lemurian had gifted her the blue fish.

She realizes that the Lemurian from her birthday was Rafayel. She had been gifted Rafayel as he was considered a powerful magical servant. Their blood could grant eternity or resurrect the dead, they sang with beautiful voices, and they obeyed every command, no matter how costly.

Instead of keeping Rafayel as a birthday gift, she fled to the lake and freed him. Once, Rafayel had asked her to come with him, but she refused in order to fulfill her responsibilities as a Princess. However, Rafayel had sworn to return and find her again someday. He sealed his promise by giving her the magical blue fish.

Suddenly, an arrow lands on her balcony, pulling her from her memories. The arrow is from Rafayel, and attached to the arrow shaft is a small Fishtail Beacon along with a note telling her to meet him in three days.

Because her Coming of Age ceremony is also in three days, the Princess has to leave a note in her room to inform Rafayel that she still intends to meet him and has not forgotten. She plans to seek him out at night. However, Rafayel is faster and appears in her bed.

Rafayel teaches her how to properly use the Fishtail Beacon he gave her before taking her out of the city once more. They head to a sand dune, leaving the Princess's maids to fetch her identity for the party.

Rafayel takes her to the desert where they sit on a sand dune and talk. He gives her a gerbil for her birthday. The Princess asks if he will someday show her the sea, as she considers Rafayel to be her Sea God for all the things he has given her. However, Rafayel then falls silent, looking caught in an unpleasant memory.

He admits that he has only seen the sea in his nightmares. In those dreams, he is trapped in a hut on an island located in the middle of the ocean. In his dreams, he knows that one day the waves will swallow him and reclaim his heart. He wants to see that island firsthand so he can piece together who he really is.

Rafayel seems uncomfortable with her request, and the Princess hurriedly retracts it. She then asks if he wants something in return for being so kind to her. Rafayel answers that as her servant, he cannot oppose her desires. Whatever she asks of him, he must do.

Not pleased with this answer, the Princess tells him that she doesn't really think their bond is between master and servant. Rafayel insists that they have been bound long before the sea dried up.

After that, Rafayel takes her back to the palace, and they spend a moment talking at Moonbath Lake. The Princess asks if he was given to another noble after he fled, and Rafayel replies that he could only be captured if he wanted to be. This surprises her again, as she thinks it means Rafayel has wanted something from her from the very beginning.

Her whole life has been about transactions, and she feels devastated by the thought that the one person she truly likes may have been taking advantage of her heart from the start. To calm her worries, Rafayel uses Lemuria's magic to walk and dance with her on the water's surface. It is his birthday gift to her.

When it's time to rest, the Princess returns to her room. Meanwhile, Elder Amund reappears by the water's edge and hands a ceremonial dagger to Rafayel. The dagger is intended to carve the Princess's heart.

A few days later, the Princess meets with Rafayel and Elder Amund on the outskirts of town. Amund seems upset to be in front of her and quite rude. He scolds her for calling Rafayel, as she has no right to speak the Sea God's name.

Later, as they are traveling, the Princess asks Rafayel if he is really the Sea God, as she has read that the Sea God has been dead for a long time.

Rafayel informs the Princess that the Sea God died because his heart was stolen by humans. Mischievously, the Princess places her hand over Rafayel’s heart to feel its heartbeat.

That night, Rafayel tells the Princess that the Lemurians have killed nobles to free themselves. They need to be free to resurrect the ocean and return to their homeland.

Then, Rafayel brings the Princess to their destination: Song Island. The Princess recognizes the ruins as buildings from her dreams about the sea. In her dreams, she lived alone in a hut on that island, working hard on a large stone.

Rafayel reminds her that only those who have a bond with the Sea God can read the inscriptions. Rafayel uses the Fishtail Beacon to cut their hands and uses their mixed blood to awaken the slab. He reveals that the slab is the Tome of the Sea God, a historical record book of Lemuria and the prophecies of the Sea God.

The Princess realizes that in the prophecy, the only way for the ocean to return is if the Sea God kills his lover and reclaims his heart. The mystery she has tried to solve her whole life comes to light. Her heart has never been hers, from the very beginning. It is special because it is his.

As she gets a glimpse of their past lives as lovers, the Princess decides to return the heart she willingly gave. She prefers Rafayel to have it and save his people because it was always meant for him. However, unsatisfied with the prophecy, Rafayel refuses her heart, stating:

A god must protect his followers. If the legend of the sea god is inevitable... Isn't it the sea god himself who should change the story?

Despite her efforts to refuse, Rafayel uses his magic to erase the Princess from the Tome of the Sea God entirely. As she is erased from the book, she loses all her memories of Rafayel and the past they shared. In the end, it is as if they had never met at all. Rafayel erases her from his story and bids farewell to his beloved bride.

Back at the palace, the Princess is a shadow of her former self. She feels the threads of memories almost within reach but cannot overcome the emptiness gnawing at her inside. She asks her maid who gave her the small blue fish, and her maid tells her that she received it from 'the most important person' to her.

However, no matter how hard she tries, the Princess cannot remember who that person is. Her behavior becomes inexplicable to her as she tries to walk on water and fill the void in her soul with memories that are no longer there.

Her depression deepens until Natasha tells her that the king plans to execute all Lemurians who have plotted against the nobles. At that moment, the Princess remembers Rafayel and uses the Fishtail Beacon to call him.

She catches him just before he is about to leave forever. Together, they ride away to Whalefall City. The heart of the Sea God has returned to him, just not in the way that anyone had hoped.