Chapter 130: Chapter 130

"That...Was strange!" Nara finally declared after a long silence, a frown adorning her beautiful face as she tried to match Dahlia’s quick steps but failed miserably, her knightess was walking fast and almost absentmindedly, which only meant that she was in deep thoughts.

“Slow down, Dahlia! My toes are about to break.” Hearing the annoyed huff, Sara looked back at her sister, hiding her annoyance behind her expressionless face, there was no time to waste on slow courteous walks, something was happening and she needed to report it to the king as fast as possible.

Nevertheless, Sara slowed her pace to match her sister’s, while thinking about the stroll they just had, it has been a week since her imprisonment, a week since she last slept, properly at least, and a week since she started to notice all the strange things happening at once.

First was the matter of her sleep, she was beyond exhausted, dark circles appeared around her eyes from the lack of sleep, but she was too tired to even close her eyes, there were several times when she found herself dozing off only to feel the strange presence around her absorbing her energy, but with her body not getting the rest it needed, she found herself struggling with her powers, as if the shell that contained the energy, which was her body and mind, was weakened and therefore her core became unstable.

The second matter was of her sister’s weird behavior, Sara didn’t know what exactly was wrong with Nara, but the princess was strangely clingy, insisting to follow her everywhere which was turning from unnecessary to uncomfortable, the princess was insisting on spending her every waking moment with her knightess, and when Sara told her that she needed to make a few visits to check on the people, Nara insisted on coming along.

Mentally palming her face at her sister’s stubbornness, Sara couldn’t help but oblige, but that only made things more complicated for her, usually, Sara would stroll the streets on foot, alone, interact with almost everyone on the way, enter the buildings, the stores, the houses, go to the dirtiest and even the most dangerous streets, which were her source of information, but with the princess by her side each time, her movements became very restrained, for one, because of the many guards that accompanied the princess for her protection, and two, for the expansive trolly that the princess insisted on using, which was the stupidest thing to do.

The people were already displeased with the royals, with someone feeding their hate and rage and calling for riot, and instead of showing solidarity with the people, the princess’ gestures showed superiority and a deep conviction of supremacy, the guards around her gave an impression, a strong und unmissable one, of mistrust, throwing away all her efforts to build the mutual trust between the commoners and the nobles, especially the royals.

And as if that was not enough, Nara, while playing the role of the good princess who visited schools, hospitals, markets, asking the people if they needed anything and treating them like beggars without even realizing, thinking she was doing something good and noble that would connect her to the people, make her one of ‘them’, she insisted that her personal knightess followed her along, not only preventing Sara from making her own strolls and seeing what the people truly needed, but also stop her from gathering useful inputs about the ones feeding into the people’s anger.

An anger that became very palpable after a single week, Sara thought as she and Nara walked further inside the castle, her mind going through the events of the day, it was strange indeed, something was definitely off, a tensed atmosphere, a hidden animosity underneath the uptight smiles and faked hospitality, a distance and even a line drawn between the people and them, Sara was far too familiar with the people to miss the subtle changes but Nara wasn't and even she noticed the... Strangeness as she called it.

Heading towards the main office to report their urgent observations back to the king, Nara and Dahlia walked on at the loving couple kissing passionately, Henry was sitting on his big chair behind the giant desk while Rima sat on his lap, one of her hands rested on the side of his face, cupping it with passion while the other’s fingers were weaved in his hair, grabbing on them to bring him closer to her, his hands held on her lower back like a lifeline as he kissed her with raging intensity, the kiss almost looking predatory but at the same time, very passionate and loving, the two were too engrossed in their world and barely noticed the two intruders.

Hearing the embarrassed squeak, Rima and Henry pulled back from each other slightly to look at Nara who was already looking away at the side, her cheeks tainted red, Dahlia on the other hand, and as expected of her, kept her face expressionless and her eyes unwavering.

"We are so sorry Brother..." Nara said with a shy smile while secretly poking Dahlia's back, hoping that her friend would drop the stony face and act like a human for once, "We should have waited outside, we will give you two a moment."

Hearing her sister’s words, Sara turned to look at her, silently asking ‘why?’, they were already there with an urgent matter at hand, one that she already wasted enough time to discover because of one sibling’s stubbornness and didn’t plan to lose more because of another’s sultriness, more tardiness meant more severity to the troubles they would be facing later on, and for what? the moment was already broken between the love rabbits and an few extra minutes of heated saliva exchange could surely wait.

"It is alright, Nara." Rima said with a big smile, the brightest Sara ever saw on her face, her already beautiful face was radiant, like a sun shining with sheer happiness, extreme happiness, Sara thought as she looked at her, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were sparkling, a beaming smile was plastered on her face, and something else, Sara thought as she looked at her, there was something else about the ice queen, but Sara couldn’t place her finger on it just yet.

Rima tried to get up from Henry’s lap so they can all discuss what brought the two girls in but Henry didn’t allow her, if anything, he tightened his grip around her waist, preventing her from stepping away, she was right where she should be, near him, where his eyes could find her, and where he could find her scent and feel her touch, their eyes met once more, both filled with heat and love, both smiling from ear to ear as they were once again lost in their own world with their own time setting before they were interrupted by a very rude cough.

Nara almost slapped the back of her friend's head, but Dahlia's face remained the same as if Nara's finger wasn't digging a hole in her back, she was having it with the two’s display for affection, forgetting that they were both royals and had other duties than to act love sick puppies.

"What is it that brought you here, My beautiful ladies?" Henry said with a sigh as Rima finally managed to free herself from his hold to stand up, her hand however remained in his as she circled the chair to stand behind him, her other hand placed on his shoulder, the smile never leaving any of their faces, he wasn't done with her yet and he planned to have more when his sister and her annoying friend were taken care of.

"We just came back from the city, Your Grace, and wanted to report our observations with you." Dahlia spoke directly, not bothering with an apology for her ‘rude’ interruption, Henry was already used to the girl's behavior and didn't take it to heart, she was weird, rude, full of secrets but she had a pure heart and good intentions, not to mention something every ruler needed by his side which was an honest voice that would tell him straight in the face that he was failing his people, Dahlia, although rude and strange, reminded him of his goals, of himself and the kind of king he wanted to be.

"We? " Henry asked while looking at Nara who gave him a nervous smile, Odd, he thought to himself, it wasn't the first time Nara accompanied Dahlia in one of her strolls, even when he asked her to not to, it was not safe nor wise but the black-haired girl’s stubbornness was rubbing on her, making her equally stubborn as she insisted on going, Henry knew that, wasn’t happy with it but still knew about it, so why was she acting nervous?

"Me and the princess, we noticed a weird stiffness, if I may say, in the people's behavior, something strange is going on, it is subtle and barely noticeable for now but I doubt it would remain that way." Dahlia didn't make any stops at she briefly reported to the king whose brows were knitted in a deep frown.

"And why is that?"

"I don't know yet, but as you mentioned before, the latest riot had some hidden individuals feeding it, I don't think they had given up, I think they are preparing for something bigger."

"That is...Why now?" Henry said with an unreadable expression causing both Dahlia and Nara's curiosity to fire up.

"Why now? " Nara asked, what was happening for the riot to be the bad news it was to her brother.

"We..." Rima's smile was replaced with a worried expression... " Me and Henry are expecting a baby..." Rima said while placing her hands over her belly.