Currently, the entire meeting room was dead silent as everyone waited for the queen to talk. The table was very empty as there were currently only 2 seats that were taken while the rest were vacant.
The queen's expression looked grim as she stared at the man sitting on one of the chairs.
"Charles Furtivo," said Dunha's mother while glaring at the man.
The man's eyes avoided making eye contact with the queen as he was unable to speak.
"When your queen speaks, you do not look away," said Dunha's mother as her voice grew louder.
"Y-Yes, your Highness!" Charles stuttered.
"Are you aware that my daughter and myself were almost killed in the garden?" Dunha's mother asked. "How could multiple assassins sneak into the castle without being spotted by any of the 200 guards in here?"
"..." Charles could not respond to her question.
Dunha's mother raised her hand and signaled the guards to leave the room.
"Wait outside. I need to speak with him privately," she said.
"But, your highness!" one of the guards hesitated.
They were the elite guards and their task was to protect the royal family from any danger. They were not present during the attack due to the queen sneaking away from them with Dunha. After the attack, the guards were extremely cautious of everything and were concerned to leave the queen defenseless.
"Do not worry. I've known this man for years. He's real and not a doppelganger," said the queen. "It'll only take a few minutes."
Unwilling to argue with the queen, the guards simply nodded and walked out of the room. Once they left, only the queen and the commander of the royal elite guards remained.
"They're gone now," said the queen.
The moment she said those words, Charles instantly sighed in relief as he loosened his tensed expression.
"Ha... Even after all these years, I still feel fear whenever I see you angry, Queen Seo-Yeon..." said Charles. "I assume that was not an act?"
"Indeed... I would be lying if I said I was not angry," said Queen Seo-Yeon. "My hands are still shaking at the thought of the arrow even mildly wounding Dunha..."
When Seo-Yeon looked down, she noticed that her hands were still shaking.
"My men are currently investigating this incident. However, I fear that we won't get anything useful information out of the assassins. The captured ones instantly killed themselves by consuming some sort of poison that was hidden in their mouths," said Charles.
"Tch. Somebody within the castle must've secretly smuggled them in and disguise them as one of the many servants here," said Seo-Yeon as she clicked her tongue. "This is just a guess, so I could be wrong."
"I shall look into this as soon as possible, my queen," said Charles.
Queen Seo-Yeon gritted her teeth in anger at the thought of a possible traitor being in the castle. However, before her anger grew out of control, Charles asked a question that would calm her down.
"Is the princess alright?" Charles asked.
"Yes. Thankfully, none of those poisoned arrows managed to even graze my precious child," said Seo-Yeon. "However, I am concerned that sh--"
Before Seo-Yeon could speak any further, she heard shouting behind the doors. Out of instinct, Charles got up from his chair and was about to pull out a chain whip from his side to defend the queen while Seo-Yeon herself, pulled out a hidden dagger that was strapped around her ankle.
"Please halt milady! They're currently in a private meeting!" a guard shouted.
"Milord, please wait for her highness to finish her meeting first! Ahh!" another guard shouted.
After hearing the guards shout, Seo-Yeon hid her dagger under the table and sat back down. Just as she sat, the doors were kicked open.
The doors were kicked so harshly that one of the doors fell off from its frame. Two people then entered the room and were revealed to be a woman with cat-like ears and a tall man in full plate armor.
"Seo-Yeon! Are you alright?! I heard that you and your daughter were attacked!" the woman shouted.
"We came rushing here as soon as we heard about the attack," said the man.
The woman in front of the queen was wearing a simple greenish shirt and dark brown pants. Her most noticeable feature was the prosthetic left leg.
The man wearing full plate armor also had a long golden cloak behind him while having a scabbard strapped around his waist.
When the doors were kicked down, Charles widely opened his eyes out of pure shock and disbelief at the audacity he had just witnessed while the queen barely reacted as if she was used to this.
"While I truly appreciate your concerns for me and my daughter, I don't appreciate you breaking down my doors," said Seo-Yeon with an expressionless face.
"It was Blue who broke down the door." said the cat-lady.
Blue was the man in plate armor. He quietly pulled out a pouch full of coins and took out 3 gold coins.
"Sorry about that..." said Blue as he placed the coins on the table.
"Why are you here? I already knew that Clover was in the capital, but I did not expect you to be in the capital as well," said Seo-Yeon. "I thought you were still in your hometown."
"I was planning on visiting you and Henry but I didn't tell anyone on purpose to surprise you all," said Blue. " That's when I heard about the attack through that annoying telepathic message sent by that magic-user girl of yours, so I immediately came rushing here."
"I was at the market district with my daughter when I got the message and met Blue on the way to the castle," said the cat-lady. "I was preparing to leave the capital for a trip with my daughter again."
"Then I assume you are all aware of what happened in the garden?" Seo-Yeon asked.
"Aye," said both of them.
When the queen remembered the event that happened earlier, she gritted her teeth as she shook with anger once more and looked down.
"I can't even imagine what would've happened if that arrow had hit my little Dunha... If I find that bastard responsible for this, I'm going to rip hi--" (Seo-Yeon)
As the queen muttered to herself about how a meaningful moment with her daughter was ruined, Charles quickly stopped the queen was finishing her sentence.
"Your highness!" Charles shouted.
The queen raised her head when she heard Charles shout and saw Dunha standing in front of the broken door with Lily. Dunha looked surprised while Lily hid behind her after getting scared by Seo-Yeon's muttering.
"Was I about to hear something dangerous from my mother..? No, no... I'm must've just heard it wrong... Yeah, let's go with that..." Dunha thought.
Dunha's mother quickly calmed down and warmly smiled at her daughter.
"Dunha~! Didn't I tell you to stay in your room?" Dunha's mother asked.
"I'm sowwy... I heard a loud noise and came to see if mama was alwight!" said Dunha in a childish voice.
"Pfft...."
Blue nearly lost his composure when he heard Dunha talk and turned his head around as his stern face was twitching as if he was trying to hold a laugh.
Lily noticed her mother standing next to the Blue and ran towards her.
"Mama~!" Lily shouted as she raised her arms towards her mother.
Lily's mother also lost her composure and smiled as she hugged Lily.
Dunha's mother stood up from her seat and rushed towards Dunha and gave her a big warm hug as well.
"How thoughtful of you!! Worrying about your mama! I'll make sure that Omar makes the best strawberry cake for dessert, just for you!" said the queen as she hugged and patted Dunha.
Dunha just silently accepted the hug and giggled because of her mother's long hair that was tickling her face.
The gloomy atmosphere quickly turned bright after Dunha and Lily arrived. Charles most likely realized that their discussion would have to be postponed for a while and coughed to get everyone's attention.
"It's only been an hour since the incident, I'll give her Highness more information once my men and I finished our investigation. I believe her Highness and the princess should head to the dining hall and have some breakfast... The princess must be very hungry by now..." said Charles.
"That's a good idea. Clover, you and your daughter haven't had any breakfast yet as well, right?" Seo-Yeon asked.
"Yes. We were going to eat but we couldn't because we ran here after getting that message," said Clover
"Could you take Dunha and Lily to the dining room first? I'll join you once I'm done with everything here," said Seo-Yeon.
"Understood. I'm assuming Blue is not coming with me?" Clover asked.
"Yes, I already ate. I'll stay here so that I can help Charles with the investigation," said Blue.
"Alright, fair enough. Let's go, children!" said Clover as she held both her daughter's and Dunha's hand.
"I'll be waiting!" said Dunha as she walked away with Clover and Lily.
After seeing the three of them leave, Charles looked at Blue with a serious expression.
"Say... Where are the guards?" Charles asked after realizing that there was nobody outside of the door.
"I might have..." said Blue before pausing for a second. "...Accidentally teleported them out of the castle when they tried to block my way... They're probably throwing up somewhere from motion sickness..."
"Blue..." said the queen as she gave him a stern look.
"I apologize..." said Blue.
The queen and Charles sighed.
(To be continued...)
2020/03/14