"Heh, well then... I'll take him with me." Red-hairs said as he looked at bald man with a sadistic smile.
"I'll tortureโ*cough*...take care of him by myself. Oi, carry him to cellโ*cough* my guest room," He ordered his soldiers.
๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ถ๐บ...
I sighed, as thought whether he was talking that way intentionally or it was real stumbling in words.
"Hey, I want you to promise me one thing." I told him.
"Why should I?" Irritated, Red-hairs replied.
"Any information you get, just keep it to yourself. It'd be for your own sake."
"Huh? What was that. Tch, whatever..."
Red-hairs was about to leave just then I called him.
"One more thing,"
"What? Aren't you a bit too talkative today."
I completely ignored his nonsense and continued.
"Are you free this weekend?"
"Haah!? I don't go on dates with guys, just so you know." He didn't even tried to hide disgust on his face.
"OK. Sorry For Troubling You..." I replied.
๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ... ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ถ๐บ ๐ช๐ด, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ต. ๐๐ฏ ๐๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต.
Though I was a bit surprised that word such as 'date' even existed in the current era of this world. Only God of this world knows why...
I turned as if about to leave but this time, Red-hairs called me.
"O-Oi, wait a second, can ya?"
"...What is it?"
"That's what I want to ask, what is it that you are after?" He asked me. He was seriously into this now.
"What do you mean by that?" I threw question back to him.
"You... You're scheming something. You wouldn't call me out like this unless you have something in mind. At least, that's the sort of person I believe you are."
"That's a rather rude way to put your views about person out loud specially when the person in question is right in front of you,"
"It is how it is. Now, answer me."
"Meet me behind church 4 days from now, at midnight. Sharp. You'll understand eventually." With that, I turned my head.
"Oi, explain-"
I already saw that coming, so I one last time looked him in eyes.
This time, he stopped.
Even Red-hairs was smart enough to understand that whatever it was, the place and time wasn't in our favor.
He didn't said anything or tried to stopped me instead he left with his soldiers who were... Umm, dragging blad man? Whatever.
๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต.
Starring at Red-hairs and his soldiers' back I turned my heels to church.
"Such a disgrace that I didn't get a chance to even introduce myself to young ladโ Thu!" I spit blood, as I muttered those words.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ...
---------------------------
"Aah! Allan," Lucia called me out with a wave.
The moment I returned to carriages Royalty were also finished with their business as they were walking to carriages.
Though King wasn't there them. I peeked behind them, but King was nowhere to be found.
Queen, Laren, Reena, Duke and Duchess climbed their respective carriages.
"You go ahead and have seat, Reena."
"You not coming in?"
"I'll wait for dear father."
"OhKay~"
Then Reena return to her seat.
I was standing beside carriage and Lucia stood there too.
Lucia peeked inside gate now and then as if looking for her father but it was all just an act.
๐๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ด.
She was checking me out from corner of her eyes and pretend that nothing happened.
"Say, Allan..."
She finally spoke up. Now it was time to listen what she's to say.
"What is it Princess?" I asked.
I refer to Lucia formally whenever it's a public occasion.
"...Is everything okay?"
"Pardon? Forgave me for my inadequacy to understand the meaning behind those words."
๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ...?
"N-No... I just thought you feel like a different person today..."
๐๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ.
I remained silent so Lucia was forced to push conversation forward after all, silence is something that not most people are comfortable with.
This way, I'll have better understanding of perspectives.
"Usually, you're calm and composed. But today, you seem to be more umm... Gentle?"
"Do I?"
"Yes! Not to mention the fact that you look a bit older now. Ahโ Not that I'm trying to be rude, please forgave me!" As if thought it was rude on her side, Lucia lowered her head.
"No, you don't have to,"
๐๐ฆ๐ฉ... ๐๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฉ... ๐๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ? ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ! ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต.
I almost leaked soreness on my face. I must have passed a micro expression, though it doesn't seem to be a distressed at all since Lucia's gaze wandering all over so she surely have missed it...right?
๐๐ฐ๐ฅ! ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆโ"๐๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐บ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ!"
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
๐'๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ!
โLucia thought.
So that's how it is...
"Truth to be told, I just start meditating other day. Maybe it's one of the many upshot of meditation." I told her.
That's the best I could actually come up with.
"I see... Hmm, yes, surely meditation is full of benifits. Yeah, that could be a reason too." Lucia nodded to herself in agreement as she muttered those words.
As we were discussing about my appearance, I noticed something ahead of me.
Lucia followed my gaze as we both saw King making his way towards exit with a buch of people surrounding him. They were all wearing cassock and have necklaces on, symbolising the Gods they worship.
"I hope I don't need to explain any further. I want it to be done as soon as possible." King said to a priest.
"Consider it done, my liege. We'll report you soon with a great news." Priest replied and, with a slight bow, left with his fellows.
"What needs to be done?" Lucia inquired King as he walked towards us.
"Oh it's nothing you should bother about, Lucia. Some internal affairs that needs to be settled you see."
That question, of course was on a whip. I don't think Lucia was much interested in all the talks anyway.
But there was something I noticed. It was my instincts that made me so cautious but curiosity too. After all, is there anything I must be cautious about.
But still, I noticed that all the priest were carrying knives on their waist.
I didn't consider it as a matter to push forward,
"Knives? Why are they carrying such?" But eventually, those words escaped my mouth.
"Ahh those... You see, the crime rates has increased these days so they all are carrying few just in case. Priest spend most of their day full filling the religious duties so when they leave for their home it's already late night. Carrying one is essential for one's own sake."
๐๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ต?
"But still, who would commit such crime to a priest?"
Lucia asked the same thing I was thinking over.
"That I don't know," and that was King's reply.
๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฉ... ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง. ๐๐ณ... ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ.
I let everything go as we returned to Raj Mahal.
There was still commodities that were yet to be confirmed.
. . . . .