"But then we met each other again in lovers hill, I found that nothing had changed when you yelled at me."
"T-that was-" Lyn felt her cheeks flush embarrassed at his words.
'He suddenly appeared like that before me after not showing himself for five years.' Naturally she felt upset and a mixture of different emotions. He even asked her that stupid question if she missed him or not.
"When I saw you like that in person, I thought how wrong those rumors were. You had certainly changed but not in a bad way. I wanted to know more about the present you."
This is- Lyn felt her heart beat increase. She tried to pull away to escape but Rhys grip on her hand had tightened.
"I was further surprised when I saw how brave you had become. You were like that in the past too but something held you back."
"You didn't seem surprised."
"I was surprised. It takes a lot of courage to get back on your feet after learning you were betrayed."
"It's not like I was close to that person."
"But he was still one of your people. It wasn't easy for you."
How come? Why does he know everything? This isn't fair Rhys.
"I saw you as a reliable and trustworthy woman."
Please don't say anymore, she feels like she will cry any moment now. This is still a public place, if somebody sees her cry it will destroy the image she has built up the past five years.
"I was delighted to know that you were still the same girl I knew and loved, no you had blossomed into a gorgeous woman with beauty and strength."
"I-It's only natural to grow stronger as the Queen."
"That's certainly true, but what I want from you Lyn is something else."
She felt her heart leap.
"I want to know more about the current you."
"There is no need." Lyn strongly tries to refuse but Rhys shakes his head. He looked at her with a determined gaze in his eyes.
"No, I will. I will learn more about you and get closer."
Why is he so hung up on this? She doesn't understand. But, Teo's words about being honest echoed in her head. She needs to understand doesn't she? Lyn hesitantly took a step forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and mumbled stupid.
Rhys chuckled softly and caressed her back. "Being honest suits you far better. Shall we, spend time together today?"
"For the investigation." Lyn muttered as she inhaled his scent. She truly has missed being together with him like this. Back then she could do this whenever she wanted without a single care in the world.
Even when Rhys started to court her properly, she was still very reluctant to behave like she did before. It's nice, just being with him like this.
"-and what about at night?"
"I will think about it."
Rhys laughed. "Alright, I understand. Do you want to stay like this for a bit?"
Lyn shakes her head and she reluctantly pulled away. "We should start investigating. First of all, the people you captured. You didn't hand them over to the imperial guards right?"
"I didn't, they attacked my men so we brought them to the spider headquarters. Is that alright?"
"It's better that way, if the guards brought them they'd be in the dungeon already waiting for an execution sentence." Lyn sighed. "I tried to abolish the death penalty, but I couldn't. The elders insisted that we should keep it, to act as a warning to those who may rebel. I understand where they are coming from. If I remove it, those who dislike me will think no matter what they do they won't die they will only be punished."
"I am relieved that you made that choice. I know you want to prevent as much death as you possibly can. But, we are living in these times where it is normal for people to walk around with weapons, where we can use magic to harm others." Rhys tone sounded bitter at the end.
'This person, is probably more similar to me than I thought.' In the past his methods were terrible, but in the end of the day they were fighting for the same cause weren't they?
If the day comes where more people thought more like her and Rhys, perhaps there will no longer be any need for social classes. There will be no need for Queens, Kings and members of the royal family. If a day like that comes, can she truly be honest with her heart?
.....
At the Spider Headquarters.
When they saw the messy entrance, Rhys seemed frantic but she managed to calm him down. They entered through a side entrance so they could surprise the enemy.
A man with dark hair was getting strangled. He tried to fight back with a knife but it didn't do much to his attacker. She pulled out a small sized weapon from her clothing and red pieces of smoke came from the weapon she aimed at her opponent.
This is a new western type weapon called a 'gun' Although it hasn't been released to the military yet. As the Queen naturally she would have one of the prototypes. She kept shooting and more red smoke appeared as she kicked and threw punches at the enemy.
She glanced over and saw that Rhys had already tied up the other enemy. 'He works fast as usual.'
"Kain, are you still alive?" Rhys called out to the man she just rescued.
Kain coughed weakly. "Just barely, but the hostages are gone."
Lyn walked over to the door on the side and peeked inside. There were several rooms with no doors, rubbles everywhere, traces of blood and clothing?
"Hey, hey, the hostages had people guarding them right?" Lyn called out.
"Yes of course." Rhys answered. "Why what's wrong-" He walked over and saw the scene stunned. "Magic?"
"It seems like it, they not only rescued the hostages but stole the guards too." Lyn looked at the clothing. "It's enough to get kidnaped but with no clothes? What bad tastes."
Rhys looked frustrated. "This isn't funny. I left highly trained people to guard the hostages."
"Hmm, maybe you need to work on your defences better." Lyn stepped into the room.
'Magic was definitely used. I can sense traces of mana, but there is something else. Something-'
Lyn crouched down and saw traces of silver coloured dust. Wait, silver? In that second a man with silver coloured hair wearing a black cloak appeared holding up a 'gun' towards the entrance. She immediately shut the door not before hearing Rhys frantically call her name.
*Unedited*