The sun slowly rose from the east and anyone who woke up from its brightness knew that today is a new day.
The 5th Queen, commonly known as Queen Seo-Yeon, woke up from her slumber.
"Ha..." she yawned.
Her husband, the 5th King, was already awake and was staring out the window to witness the sunrise. He was currently shirtless which revealed his battle scars.
"Seo-Yeon, my love, have you woken up?" Henry asked.
"I thought I did, but after seeing you, I think I'm still dreaming," Seo-Yeon smiled.
Henry smiled back.
"I can assure you that you're not but if you're still uncertain, I could prove it to you," said Henry.
"Convince me," Seo-Yeon laughed.
Henry walked away from the window and approached Seo-Yeon and stood in front of her and asked her if this was enough to convince her.
"Hmmm, no," she answered.
"Then how about this?" Henry asked.
Henry proceeded to kiss Seo-Yeon on the forehead.
"Now, I am convinced," she answered, with a smile.
Seo-Yeon was currently covering herself with a blanket but she slowly began to lower it to reveal her naked shoulders to Henry.
She then looked at him with a flirtatious smile and gently grabbed his hand to bring him closer to her.
"Maybe another kiss could convince me even further," said Seo-Yeon as she bit her lower lip.
"Very well," Henry replied.
Just as Henry leaned closer to give Seo-Yeon another kiss, a knock interrupted their lovely moment.
"Tch."
Henry and Seo-Yeon clicked their tongues.
"Don't come in. I'll come out in a moment," said Henry.
"U-Understood, your highness!" the voice behind the door shouted.
Henry began to wear his shirt while Seo-Yeon got off the bed while using the blankets to cover her body.
"You don't have to get up yet," said Henry.
"It's fine. I have to wake up Dunha and give her a morning hug if she doesn't wake up," said Seo-Yeon as she walked towards a drawer.
She dropped her blanket as she opened the drawer to take out the clothes that she was going to wear.
Nearly an hour has passed since the person knocked on the door, however, the man continued to patiently wait. The door in front of the man then began to slowly open.
"Your highness," said the man as he bowed and kneeled in front of the king.
"Rise," said Henry.
The man slowly stood up but continued to lower his head to not make eye contact with Henry.
"Is there something to report to me?" Henry asked.
"Y-Yes, your highness," said the man, nervously. "A letter from Great General Lucas Von Elias has arrived through a messenger pigeon."
"Ah, I see," said Henry.
After Henry took the letter, the man bowed at Henry once more and walked away.
"That's interesting," said Henry as he opened the letter.
"Indeed, it's quite rare to see him personally write a letter," said Seo-Yeon who was now wearing a white and purplish dress.
Henry began to read the letter.
"What is it about?" Seo-Yeon asked.
After reading the letter for another minute, Henry answered her question.
"It's a report about his and Maya's advancement towards the Solitario province," said Henry.
Seo-Yeon began to look concerned.
"Was there a problem? Are they in trouble?" she asked.
Henry shook his head.
"No, they're fine. The letter is about how he and Maya managed to take full control of a stronghold that had strategic value in the province with minimal losses," said Henry as he continued to read the second page of the letter. "He's also predicting that it'll only take a few more months before the entire province gets completely captured. That means, once the Solitario province falls, we'll have full control of the entire West side of the kingdom."
Seo-Yeon smiled after hearing the good news.
"That means you'll only have to worry about the mysterious deaths in the capital," said Seo-Yeon. "I'm sure everyone will be happy to hear the good news."
Henry nodded.
"You're right, but we shouldn't celebrate just yet," said Henry.
"Of course," Seo-Yeon replied. "However, I am confident that they won't be defeated by those incompetent lords."
"That's true," Henry laughed.
After reading the letter, he tossed it on a nearby table.
While Henry was reading the letter to Seo-Yeon, she was currently rubbing herself with her left hand as it began to glow.
"You're using magic to clean yourself again?" Henry asked.
"I am," said Seo-Yeon. "I was thinking of just taking a regular bath, but I changed my mind."
"I understand," said Henry. "Once you're done, let me know so we can go see Dunha together."
Seo-Yeon got off the bed just as Henry finished talking. Just before she got up, she strapped a small dagger around her ankle and covered it with her skirt.
"I'm done, let's go," said Seo-Yeon.
Henry and Seo-Yeon left the room together and headed to Dunha's room. Little did they know, she wasn't in there.
🔸🔸🔸
[The room of knowledge]
Meanwhile, Dunha was still in the library and was currently reading the book, "The Forbidden Love of Two Souls".
Her face was pinkish-red as she flipped over each page.
"I can see why this author chose to hide her or his identity," Dunha thought. "It's fun to read this alone but too embarrassing to read it with someone else," she added.
After reading over a dozen pages, she looked at the clock and realized that it was almost 8.
"I should probably finish this later," she thought.
After closing the book and putting it back on the shelf, she picked up the two other books and was about to leave until she remembered one thing.
"Oh right, I should wake Lily up," she thought.
As Dunha walked to the other side of the giant bookshelves, she suddenly felt chills going down her spine.
Without any second thoughts, she instinctively threw one of the books at a wall.
"What was that?" she wondered. "It felt like someone was watching me..."
Still feeling cold, she scanned her surroundings with her eyes but no matter how many times she looked around, there was nobody in the library except for Lily and herself.
"Am I just being paranoid?" She wondered. "I should take Lily and leave this place right now."
She quickly walked towards where Lily was and began to shake her to wake her up.
"Lily~ It's time to wake up," said Dunha.
"Mmm..." Lily mumbled.
No matter how many times she shook Lily, she did not wake up. After shaking her one more time, Dunha suddenly smiled as she had an idea.
Dunha leaned forward and gently blew air into Lily's ears which startled her.
"Eek!" Lily squeaked.
Lily instantly woke up as she covered her ears.
"W-w-wha... Dunha?" Lily asked as she blushed.
"Tee-hee. Sowwy... I just wanted chu wake you up," said Dunha as her lips twitched.
Was Lily always this adorable? Her blushing cheeks and teary eyes make me want to pet her... But I can't... She's not a pet.
After internally struggling for a few seconds, Dunha managed to resist herself from petting Lily who was still staring at Dunha with surprised eyes.
"I won't do that again," said Dunha.
"I-It's okay... I don't mind... You can do it again..." Lily mumbled.
"Hm?" Dunha asked.
Did I just hear that correctly?
"N-nothing..." Lily replied.
Okay... I'll just ignore it then...
"I just woke you up chu tell you let's go have breakfast together," said Dunha. "But first..."
"But first?" Lily asked.
"Let's go wash your face," said Dunha as she smiled. "That'll help you wake up completely."
Even though Lily woke up, she was still half asleep. If Dunha left her alone right now, she would most likely fall back asleep until noon.
"?!"
Suddenly, Lily stood from her sleeping spot and quickly began to walk towards the door.
"Y-You're right! Let's go!" said Lily as she quickly walked away.
"You really hate everything related to washing up, huh? I wonder why..." Dunha wondered.
Before she went after Lily to capture her, she walked towards the wall where she threw the book at, first. Fortunately, the wall was not damaged, nor was the book.
When Dunha picked up the book about Blake Lars, she paused for a second as a particular part of the book caught her interest. She then quietly read the page.
"What? What am I missing?! All of the antidotes for every known poison is not working! Gregory appears to be resisting the poison but he's definitely getting weaker, I can see it through his eyes! The others who were also injured are in even worse condition. Calm down... I should write down their symptoms as much as I can to learn more about this..."
Judging by the date, he wrote this 3 days after talking about the poisoned arrows hitting several people. Let's see what the symptoms are...
🔸🔸🔸
[Symptoms]
Day 1
·Constant headaches
·Constantly sweating
Day 2
·Muscle pain
·Feeling weak
·Constant coughing
Day 3
·Unable to move completely
·Turning pale
🔸🔸🔸
The symptoms surprised Dunha.
"T-This sounds similar to my mother's illness but at the same time, something is missing..." She thought.
Before she could read the book any further, she heard some voices from outside of the library.
Is someone coming? Oh no, the books!
Dunha hastily hid the two books under one of the nearby bookshelves and just as she finished hiding them, the doors opened.
"Dunha!" shouted Seo-Yeon.
"Mama?" said Dunha.
It turns out to be her mother.
"Good mor-- Ack!"
Before Dunha managed to finish her sentence, her mother ran towards her and basically hugged and lifted her at the same time.
"I'm so glad you're okay..." said Seo-Yeon as she hugged Dunha. "I thought something happened when you weren't in your room!"
Dunha also noticed that her father was here and talking to my guards.
"Why didn't any of you inform me that Dunha was going to the library or that she woke up earlier than usual?" Henry asked.
"Forgive me, your majesty," said a guard as he looked down in shame. "The princess wanted to go to the library to read a book so we assumed that there was nothing to report to his majesty."
"We secured the entire library before letting the princess enter, of course," said another guard. "There were no signs of danger," he added.
Henry began to sigh as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Ha... Perhaps, I should've been more specific when I assigned you to protect Dunha," Henry sighed. "Next time, when Dunha wakes up and goes somewhere, let me know. I made a mistake this time so I won't escalate this any further, however, if any of you do not notify me about Dunha's whereabouts and activities like today again, I will have you all punished. Do you understand?" he said as he gave them a frightening glare.
"O-of course! We have committed a grave mistake! We shall never disappoint you ever again!" one of the guards apologized.
"We shall prove that the red cloaks his majesty provided us as a promotion are not just for show!" the other guard shouted.
They were about to get on their knees until Henry grabbed one of the guards' shoulders.
"You do not have to get on your knees. Rather, stand tall and show the world the strength and pride of being a Starian royal guard who protects the crown." Henry shouted.
"Your... Your majesty..." one of the guards mumbled.
"To have thought of us this highly..." another guard cried.
Every guard who heard Henry's words began to cry or look at Henry with absolute respect and admiration.
"..."
Meanwhile, Dunha was watching the entire scene with a confused face.
"Why is everyone overreacting?" She wondered.
Was my father always this dramatic? I was only in the library for an hour!
(To be continued)
2020/06/01
Update: 2020/06/10
Due to personal complications, the next chapter will be delayed. Sorry for the inconvenience.