Chapter 10
On that fateful day, the girl was framed and getting excommunicated from the empire with two of her most trusted servants... That day is a really cold snowy day, the girl and her servants were left alone on that cold snowy field. They thought they were going to froze to death but suddenly they heard a gentle male voice saying: "Watch out!" in a foreign language they can't understand and before they are able to react, an arrow flies towards them at a light speed. The girl closed her eyes, thinking that her life might be taken by that flying arrow but the arrow didn't get her. She slowly opens her eyes and a man's hand caught the arrow, due to the impact of the arrow, his hand bleeds. The person that caught the arrow is a fine-looking gentleman with black hair and black eyes. Later, another man comes and kneeled in front of the black-haired man, seems to be apologizing.
Then, the man look at the girl for a while and noticed her unique looking clothes. "Are you alright?" This time he asked in the girl's home tongue. She is a bit surprised by what happens, the girl just nodded her head a bit. "You are from the neighboring country?" He asked again, this time the girl didn't answer him. The man looked at her again then he somewhat figured out her ident.i.ty, he sighed. "It's very dangerous for a lady like you to stay here, especially with this weather, come with me." He blows a hand whistle and a white horse comes out from the nearby forest. Then the man reaches his right hand which is slightly injured from the arrow to the girl inviting her to ride the horse with him, the girl hesitates a bit then she slowly put her hand onto his hand...
"Ah, your hand is cold." said the man while took off his fur coat and wrap it on the girl. Then he leads her onto his horse and left that snowy field...
The girls followed the man back to his place and found out he is actually the rumored evil tyranny ruler of the neighboring country which was 'created' just recently, the rumors say that this country is build up overnight and the King is a very evil person that will anyone without any mercy.
That night the girls been brought to a room in the Palace, cold, starved and a bit frightened. To make things worse, the lady officer is having a fever due to the snow, the servants who are loyal to their lady tried to look for medicine and food that will warm her up. While they are in a big mess, the King's servant who accidentally shot the arrow in the snow walks in with some female servants, in their hands, there are hot soup, fur blanket and some herbs drink that use to cure fever. The King's servant who with the name of Satos.h.i.+ explain to them that all of these is the order from the king and if they need anything else, they can just ask him. Then they left.
Although they know that the King is the rumored evil lord, but in this dire situation, they have no choice but to accept his kindness.
Three days later, the lady had recovered from the fever and decided to pay a visit to the King so that she could thank him personally. Her servants try to persuade her not to as the rumors said that the King is a very dangerous person and is actually planning to conquer their empire, so he could be considered as an enemy for their empire. But the lady feels that he is actually not a bad person, and even if he is really planning to conquer their empire, it's not her concern anymore, as the empire had chosen to abandon her. When she actually met the King personally, she found that the rumor is totally far away from the truth...
A female servant leads the lady to the King's chamber, what happens next shocked her a bit. A porcelain cup is been throw out from the room followed by the weak but angry voice of the king... "I don't want to repeat myself, get this disgusting medicine out of my sight... *cough*...". Then a female servant quickly walks out from the room with a tray almost cry out. The lady looks at her quietly thinking if she should go in.
"Who's outside, show yourself, don't hide behind the door." Said the King who saw the lady outside the door. Then she walks in, kneels down and bows to him. "You are... Ah... It's you. Is there anything you want from me." said the King with a gentle voice when he saw the lady. The lady is a bit surprised with the sudden att.i.tude change, she lifts up her head and looks at the King, the King is a very good looking man with black hair and a pair of slightly large black eyes that looks like a pair of black gemstones, and his lips curved up a bit form a very gentle smile. Despite of all this, an overpowering nerve can still be detected from him and that gorgeous black overcoat with golden threads embroidered on it gives a n.o.ble feeling to him. The lady refuses to believe that this gentleman in front of her is the rumored evil tyranny lord.
However, he does look a bit pale and weak which makes the lady is he getting sick because of the snow that day? As he removed his own fur coat to keep her warm. Looking at the man in front of her, she doesn't to be able to find any words although she was clearly well prepared before she came.
At the same time, the King is observing the lady. As expected from the most beautiful female officer from the famous Qing Empire. That elegant and delicate does prove that t.i.tle is actually a bit underrated. He carefully looks at her, he can't believe this fine lady in front of him will try to poison the emperor and that ex-communication is like a bit too light for someone who is trying to kill the Emperor, but if that's not reason, then what's the motive of them sending her to this place? All these questions put him into a deep thought.
He glared at the lady for a while and realized that she is still kneeling in front of him, the moment he saw it, not sure if it's his body reflex or what, he quickly stood up and reached her tell her to get up regardless of how tired himself was. Yes, this lady, despite of all the questions and she is not the one you would choose to ignore especially in that snowy night.
The King seems to be a bit shock of his own action, he blanked out a while and slowly sit back on his throne. He quietly looks at the lady, no one knows what's floating in his mind at that moment. "So... What do you need from me." A sudden question from the King broke that awkward silence. "Your Majesty, I'm here to show my grat.i.tude towards you My Lord." "It's alright, I just happened to pa.s.sed by that place and helped you. How do you feel right now? Satos.h.i.+ told me you have been sick these few days, getting better?" "Thanks for your concern, My Lord. I have recovered from the fever." "Mmm... Good to know that... *cough*..." "My Lord, are you alright?" The King looks at her with a smile without saying anything then he starts flip through the letters and reports which leaves the lady in an awkward silence again. Then the lady decides to leave, she bows at the King before she starts steps away. But before she left, the King spoke. "Come again anytime you want, if you didn't see me here, I'll be in that second room from the left." said the King while pointing at a direction. "Oh, and omit the kneeling, you're not my servant." he added. The lady nodded and left.
That night, the lady is on her bed thinking of the man she met in the day, she took out a small porcelain bottle, inside of it is pink flower petals. This is the gift from her the Queen which is effective at soothing cough, and she looks at a small jar of honey on the table, she feels that she might be able to do something for him...
Next morning, the lady prepared a cup of flower tea and walks towards the King's chamber, the room is very quiet, the first thing she saw is an empty golden throne. Yes, the King is not in the room, so she walks towards that second room from the left. The guards in front of the room indicate that he is in there. She walks to the room, and show them a
"Your Majesty, I have prepared some flower tea for you..." "Just put it there." He interrupted her before she could finish her sentence. Then he starts to stare at her with a smile without saying anything for a few seconds then spoke. "What is your name, or rather how should I address you?" The lady is a bit surprised by the sudden question. "Uhm... My name is Shangguan Rei. Your Majesty, you can just call me Rei." "Hmm... Rei... Rei-san?... Not good... Rei-chan?... no... Rei-dono?... weird... hmmm...Rei. Mmm, I'll just call you Rei." Said the King a rather innocent look. Rei laughs out a bit in her heart after seeing such a 'cute' scene then she remembered about the tea. "Your Majesty, the tea..." "Ah... Uhm... What tea is that? Is it bitter?" "Ah... *can't help but laugh a bit*... No My Lord." said so she opens the lid and shows a beautiful pinkish liquid. "This is honey plum flower tea, it's sweet and good for relieving cough.". Then the King look at the cup and took the cup with his right hand and sipped it. Then Rei noticed this weird detail. Why would someone use their right hand to take something from their left side, which reminds her about yesterday, throwing the cup, flipping through the reports and pointing at the direction of the room which is supposed to be at the left side, he only uses his right hand, or rather she has never seen him using his left hand ever since she met him. Is it just his special habit or is there a reason for it?
"This tea..." from the King took her out from her deep thought. "What's wrong My Lord?" "Can be sweeter..." said the King with a slightly troubled but serious look. "Ah? Haha... I understand, I'll make it sweeter next time.". Yes, this man in front of her can't be that evil lord, she thought.
So, from that day onward, Rei will go visit the King almost every day, and from time to time, she starts to notice something disturbing about that rumored evil King, she suspected that his left hand is not able to function properly, and her suspense is proved true after she saw him dropped a cup when he trying to hold it with his left hand, that sorrow and helpless look in his eyes do confirm that more. To make things worse, he seems to having some lung problems but she not dare to ask anything about it, no matter how worried she is. She doesn't like having any right to know the truth until that day he suddenly having difficulty in breathing and finally collapsed in her arm...
The healer with the name of Benjamin told her that, the King was actually a really fearsome and powerful person but he gets into an awful accident that caused huge damage to his left lung and also totally 'killed' his left arm, no matter what they tried, his left arm is not able to function properly anymore and that injury of his lung make things worse, which the heavy atmosphere in his living place is not suitable for his weak lung. So in order to let him recover from that damage, they make a 'temporary kingdom' at here, however, ever since the accident, he had lost his will to live and refuse to accept most of the treatments... Upon knowing the truth, Rei looks at that man on the bed, who looks pale and lifeless, she decided that she need to help him, or at least help him gain back his spirits as she really can't imagine that this person is actually the fearsome evil tyranny lord in the rumors. However, that certain incident has proved to her that he is indeed that rumored fearsome person.
That day, she was surrounded with five to six female servants who mocked her because they don't like how she is getting attention from the King, they slapped her and hit her with a cane, one of them even try to burn her face with acid but a gentle yet fearful voice stopped them or rather it's too fearsome that they can't even move their body. It's the King, he walks towards them with a smile... In his hand is a sword. "So, who is the one that slapped her?" he asks with a very gentle smile...
Rei can't remember how she could maintain her sanity after seeing all these gruesome sights, but she will never forget how he 'punish' them mercilessly. Those who slapped her had their hand cut off directly by his sword, those who beat her with the cane is been hang on a pole and beaten to death by another male servant, and the one that tries to burn her in acid... been thrown in a big tub with acid and leaves to melt slowly. She can still remember that smiling face which is stained with blood after he cut off the hands of the servants and his words say with a rather deep voice. "Are you scared? Yes, you should have scared as I'm not the man you should fall in love with." Yes, she is scared but at the same time, she feels that she can't stop her deep feelings towards him. Although she is scared, but at the same time, she feels safe...
As for the King, he doesn't even know why he would ever allow a normal human girl to invades his life, but he likes to look at her quietly, every time she came, he will just look at her without doing anything, he feels that every of her movement can keep him calm and temporary forget about that sorrow and darkness in him.
She is different from all the other servants which he would want to hide his weakness from them but to her, he feels that he could show a bit of his weakness in front of her. That day when she found out about his left hand, her reaction is different, instead of surprise and shock, she is worried about him, he still remembers how she ma.s.saged his left arm and worry that he might get hurt by the cup and hot tea. That feeling, he doesn't hate it. He feels that he could be more open up to her.
That girl who is able to understand his feelings easily makes him feels that he could trust her and put his own life on her hand, he never trusted someone so much before, but to that girl, he had grown more attracted and dependent on her as days pa.s.ses, from his daily life to his emotional state. Although he doesn't understand what spell had that girl used on him.
That day, when he lay on his bed weakly, he reached out his slightly trembling hand to her, wanting her to stay at his side, he realized that she had slowly become a part of his life. He starts to get afraid of that loneliness in the dark, he wants her to be with him, she is the only one that can remove this loneliness on him. Although the moment she forced him to drink all those nasty medicines is scary and it's irritating to see how Satos.h.i.+ and Benjamin look at her with a slightly 'suspicious' look. They can't be interested in her right? I know she is indeed a fine lady, and I'm ready to turn this into a reverse harem story... Cough... But that's not our concern right now, we might have that the other time...
However, he then found out that he couldn't just own the girl like that, he doesn't want to ruin the life of this delicate girl. He remembers how she gets targeted by those female servants because of him, and that frightened expression of her when he mercilessly cut off the hands from those servants. He doesn't want to pollute her with his darkness, she deserves a better life, he thought. So he decided there is something he needs to do.
That night, was a stormy night, he decides to give her a visit and solve that anxiousness in his mind, he wonders when is the last time he feels so lost, but for her and for himself, he needs to do it... Or at least he thought so. However, the moment he reached her room and saw her s.h.i.+vering in fear due to the thunderstorm, his heart softened again, this delicate girl in front of him, he feels like he needs to protect her like how she had been taking care of him. He glares at her servants who mindlessly trying to comfort her lady which is obviously not much help. He walks to her and cover her ear with his hands and apply some sound blocking magic in the room. "Don't scare, I'm here, you wouldn't hear thunderstorm now, don't worry." said the King with a soft and gentle voice, the servants are a bit scared because of the magic while Rei is leaning in his arm with a slightly surprised and calm look. Looking at the girl in his arm, he smiled while ignoring the numbing sensation that slowly penetrates through his body. This is the first time he ever used his magic in this world where the magic pressing effect is very strong, he really doesn't understand why he would do that for a human girl despite it will have some side effects on his body.
"Did you always afraid of the thunder?" he asked and she nodded "So how do you overcome it in your place?" "I live in a specially designed soundproof room, so I wouldn't be able to the thunder." "Hmm...You are really loved by people at your place right?" "I was..." She sounds a bit sad when saying this. "If I'm able to make everything back to how it used to be, would you want...". Hearing this, Rei looks at him with sparkling eyes, although she didn't say anything but the look in her eyes tells him the answer. He wants to say something but at this moment, the numbness had covered his whole body. Due to that numbness and tiredness from the works the whole day, his vision getting blurred and eventually completed darkened...
The next morning, he wakes up and saw Rei sleeping next to him, then he heard some giggling outside the door. He thought for a while and face-palmed himself. "Uh... This is just a normal 'sharing of bed' right?" He tried to convince himself then he found that she already woke up, slightly blushed. Last night, that warm and calming hug is so soothing and comfortable that even she can't help and accidentally fall asleep. "Uh... Good morning." said the King with a slightly awkward voice then he quickly gets out of her room with a blus.h.i.+ng face...
Later, he calls out Rei's servants, he is interested in the 'poisoning incident' that causes Rei to get excommunicated from her hometown. He still refused to believe that she would try to do anything like that. "She was framed!" said the younger servant. "Yes, a lot of people knows that it's the Emperor's consort who did it, but no one dares to anything about her and the Emperor doesn't believe that his Consort would be trying to poison him." said the older servant. "How is she even get herself involved?" the King asks. "She was requested by the consort to bring some snack to the Emperor, and that snack is poisoned, the Emperor doesn't believe she will do that too, but the queen and the consort insist to pa.s.s punishment on her. If it's not because of the Duke, who is also the younger brother of the Emperor, Lady Rei would have been executed." said the older servant. "The Duke?" he asks. "He is the fiancé of Lady Rei..." said the younger servant which quickly getting stopped by the older one. "Fian...ce... I see. You two can get back to your own work. Tell Rei that she doesn't need to come today. I'll be out for a while..."
A few days later, Rei went to the King's chamber as usual... This time, he gives her a letter from her hometown, it says that they have found out the truth about the poisoning incident and knows that she was framed. She looks at him with a really surprised look, is this man has something to do with proving her innocent? "They will come and get you back in a week...*smile*... You can go back to your home and meet your fiance again." she quietly looks at him, she can't believe he actually did it, she thought it's just a joke to calm her down. "Don't worry about me, I have recovered a lot since the day we first met." he smiled.
Yes, she is indeed worried about him, although she really misses her home but this man, she feels like she can't just leave him like that. However most of the time, humans can't effort to be greedy, she needs to choose between him and her home town and she chose her hometown.
A week later... "My Lady, the Duke is here! He is going to bring us back to the Palace!" said the younger servant with an excited voice, Satos.h.i.+ is next to her. "He is now having a conversation with His Majesty, in the Visitor's Hall, you could go meet them there, Lady Rei." said Satos.h.i.+. Rei doesn't know how she should feels at this moment, she just quiet follows Satos.h.i.+ to the Visitor's Hall, hoping that she wouldn't regret with her choice.
In the hall, the King and that Duke from the neighboring Empire are sitting next to each other, in between them is a small table with wine and t.i.tbits. They are talking with each other about some dull and unimportant topics. Although the King is clearly not interested and even annoyed by this kind of conversation, but for courtesy purposes, he had to. While they are talking, he noticed those black fingernails of the Duke. "Such a weird sense of fas.h.i.+on." He thought.
A few minutes later, Rei comes in with a luxurious outfit brought by the Duke. The king stared at her blankly for a few seconds, he never seen that side of her before. She can be soft, gentle and delicate, she can also be so gorgeous and powerful. Just how many sides of her she hasn't shown him, he wonders, but this is not important anymore... Right?
That evening, he saw her been brought away by the other guy, he was not sure if this is the right decision or not but that's probably the best for both of them. However, during that moment of parting, his concern is not that unwilling feeling of parting but the hand with black fingernails that holds her small and delicate hand...
About two hours later, the King is in his working room reading some random doc.u.mentary as if nothing happens. That book on his table shows a picture of an ugly creature, with some words written by the side. "Kirin Demon, a creature that is formed by evolution of human who drank Kirin's blood. They like to feast on young lady's heart. Characteristics of these creatures are, grey scaled skin, white hair, red glimmering eyes, sharp fangs and long black nails which are extremely poisonous... Hmm... " He reads the sentence and thought for a while, then he took up his pen and scribble on it... "... And extremely ugly..." He looks at his 'brilliant work' with a satisfied look. Then a shady looking man with armor comes in and kneeled in front of him. "Your Majesty, here's a letter from General Wing." "Read it for me." "Yes, My Lord... Report from the frontier. Three days ago, we found a huge number of dead bodies of some suspicious looking creature with grey scaly skin by the river of Juan. I suspect that this has something to do with the smuggling activities done by some n.o.ble people in the Qin Empire, which we found some red liquid in the smuggled goods, I have sent a sample to you My Lord, I will be waiting for your command on the next movement, Yours Sincerely. Wing." "Shade, you should at least teach your brother how to write a proper report... Hand me the sample." Then Shade hands over a gla.s.s bottle to the King, he opened it and examined it for a while. "This is the Kirin's blood..." And the King notices something really not right. Black fingernails, n.o.ble people, Kirin's blood... This can't be just a coincidence right? "Rei!"...
At the same time, Rei is in a really dark place, in front of her is a deformed face of the Duke, grey scaly skin, red eyes, and sharp fangs. "Shao, what's wrong with you..." Rei asks in a trembling voice. The Duke did not answer her but slowly walking towards her, step by step... "No, Shao... What are you doing?" She saw him bite into that b.l.o.o.d.y heart of her own servant... Then he rises up his arm that shows his long, sharp and black claws...
This moment, she is ready to accept her own fate, maybe it wasn't all bad, she has a chance to see her late parents again. Just she never thought that her life would end in this way, the only regret she has is that she is not able to meet that man who gives her a new life anymore, she didn't even have a chance to thank him properly... Maybe that's what her life supposed to be, then she closed her eyes waiting for that pain when her heart getting dug out... However...
Instead of feels the pain, she feels a warm and gentle hug. She slowly opens her eyes, to her surprise, it's that clean and gentle face she was thinking of... It's the King. "Your Majesty..." Then she peaks at the Duke who is now a dead body that is been slashed into halves. "Rei... I'm sorry..." Said the King with a gentle smile, but Rei feels something weird about him, why do he sounds so weak? "If I know this would be the result... I'll never... let him take you... Sorry." said the King as his voice getting weaker, then she saw blood drip out from his extremely pale lips, she then saw those deep injuries on his back...
Kirin Demon, a creature that is formed by evolution for human who drank Kirin's blood. They like to feast on young lady's heart. Characteristics of these creatures are, grey-green scaled skin, white hair, red glimmering eyes, sharp fangs and long black nails which are extremely poisonous...
In her arms, he slowly closed his eyes, the girl's tear dropped onto his face...
The two who was not supposed to be able to meet is somewhat tied up by an unseen thing known as fate, will fate let them be together again?...