Once upon a time, there lived a princess looking for her prince, one that would sweep her off her feet, one that would care for her and protect her. She wasn't the prettiest or the brightest. She didn't have a lot to give him, only her life and her love and a heart as pure as gold. 

The first prince she met was strong. He had the strength she could never have. Every other princesses threw themselves at him. But the strong and gorgeous prince stayed with the princess. He protected her and indeed swept her off her feet. The princess was bewildered. Could her prince be found so easily? But the princess was too young. She couldn't be with him, not yet. She loved him, but she never told him. She wrote him letters after letters, never sending them, crying. Did the prince love her as much as she loved him? He never told. And one day he forgot about her. He stopped caring about her, stopped protecting her.  

The princess cried. She cried days and night. How could she ever find a prince as perfect as him? She was certain she couldn't. She turned her back on love and let misery surround her now empty life. The life the prince had abandoned her to.  

She still saw him. But he never looked at her the way he had. And every time she saw him, every time his gaze didn't met hers he crushed her, wound her over and over again. Wound her heart of gold. 

Two year went by, and her parents decided to go visit another kingdom, to ease some of her sorrow even though they couldn't see how deeply she was hurt, how much her heart was bleeding. 

That's when she met her second prince. He was funny. He did crazy, dangerous-over-his-head, bold things to make her laugh and smile. He made her forget about the strong prince. She could even believe he was more beautiful then him. This second prince was the answer to her heart break. He made her happy. He brought her back. He healed her heart of gold. But the princess had to go back to her kingdom. She cried as her carriage left the dirt road. She stared intently at his palace and hope he was staring had his window, at her.  

When she got back he was always on her mind. She wrote to him and this time she sent the letters. And he wrote to her but his letters came slowly. His letters began to be the only thing she cared about. Every morning, it was the first thing on her mind, the first thing she did. But she didn't dare to tell him how she really felt. What if he didn't love her the way she did? What if she lost the one thing that she lived for?  

But then, the months passed by and he didn't answer. The princess grew more and more anxious. Could he have forgotten about her the way the other prince had? 

Her parents sent her back to his kingdom. The princess was ecstatic. But when she arrived she could feel things were different. He wasn't there so much anymore. He still made her laugh, but unlike the other prince, he didn't only care about her. There were other princesses. Princesses she didn't even know about.  

The princess came back to her kingdom. She didn't shed a tear. Maybe love just wasn't for her. A few months later, she heard that the prince had been banned from his kingdom. She took the announcement with a stone face.  

Months went by. The princess stopped thinking about her princes. She concentrated on everything else she did have -her family, her princesses' friends, her youth, and sometimes even her heart of gold. But it wasn't has pure as it had been. She knew it.  

Her friends did really cheer her up. They were her new joy. There was one friend, a guard. He wasn't nearly as pretty as her two princes, wasn't has strong has the first prince, wasn't as crazy as the second prince. She didn't even think of him as someone she could give her golden heart to. But he did make her laugh. And he was strong. Without even noticing it, the princess cared more and more about him. The other servants cared about the guard too. Everyone felt comfortable around him, even her princesses' friends.  

The princess barely thought about her princes anymore. She had too much fun. She had accepted that maybe there just wasn't a prince for her out there, but that didn't mean she couldn't care about and love other people. Not the way she would have with her princes but another way. She could give her heart of gold to her friends. And she did. She did because she didn't believe she could give it to anyone else. 

But then, one day she realized that the guard was on her mind more then he should have had. She didn't understand. How had she let this happen? Hadn't she already accepted she shouldn't love? And she couldn't care about the guard because he wasn't a prince. He wasn't what she had always been looking for. But she realized that maybe he was more... 

The princess didn't know what to do. Should she tell the guard she cared about him? She wasn't even sure she did. And she didn't know if he cared about her. Sometimes it seem like he did -the way he looked at her, the way he talked to her, the way he touched her... 

But what guaranteed her he didn't do the same thing with every one else? Hadn't the second prince been a good lesson enough? Because it did feel like he cared about others.  

And she knew the guard had to leave. He had to go to another kingdom. It crushed the princess to think about it.  

She also knew her heart of gold wasn't to give anymore. Her golden heart wasn't what he had been. And she knew the guard deserved more than a wrecked heart. He deserved someone that would love him passionately. 

One night, the princess and the guard walked together in the woods around her castle. He sang silly songs to make her laugh. She felt comfortable with him. More than she had with the princes. She didn't know why but it felt right. But as she always had she bit her lips and held her tongue.  

She had realized she had lost herself and her heart a while ago. She couldn't force her wreckage on someone else. 

The princess still knew she wanted the guard to love her. She wanted him to say the words all the princes had failed to say -the words she had failed to say -the words that she couldn't say anymore. Because those words would have meant more coming from him than from her princes. 

But as much as she cared about him, she had nothing to give him anymore. And it wasn't fair for him. It wasn't enough. 

The guard left a month later. The princess cried more for him than she had for both the princes.

The guard married a beautiful servant. He had six children and a happy full life as the princess had wanted for him.

The princess died lonely. Her story was never written for the next generation. She never told anyone "I love you", never kissed anyone, and never heard anyone told her the three most beautiful words in this world. She lived a life, but never really fully lived it. Her golden heart had been crushed too many times, and it was all her fault.