They all stopped walking in front of a big room whose doors were closed as the waiting lady paused her steps. She opened the big wooden doors that both of the door sides were crafted with figures of a dragon and a big snake painted in golden color. There were three small stairs before the doors. Every woman who attended her stopped and pulled up the rest of Chandra's gown.
"Please come into the room, Princess Chandra! Prince Kumara is waiting…," The waiting lady opened the door for her.
Chandra lifted her eyebrows, 'Ohhh, he's Prince Kumara!' Chandra thought about it and she smiled at the waiting lady as she closed the doors for her. She inhaled deeply as she tried to recall information about Prince Kumara. The old manuscript that her ancestors ever wrote was telling that there was a king who was a half-blood of Gods and a human. He raped a celestial creature one day when he saw she was taking a bath in a lake somewhere between a place on the earth. Since that, the celestial creature fell in love with the man who had raped her. She went back to her ethereal world and delivered her son there. The other celestial beings considered her unholy sin and made her isolate herself, doing some contemplations to purify herself from her sinful bond with earthly things. The son, himself, had inherited a vulnerable side since he was born of his mother being raped, he had a desire to revenge his surroundings and existence that he realized that he was half mortal. People called him Kumara Prince, the prince of wars but people also considered him as the Protector of children, unborn ones, and babies from any evil powers and diseases. People believed that Kumara would come to the earth and change himself into a frightening and hazardous big snake. As a part of his mortality that his mother was being raped to bear him, Kumara could appear as a handsome prince to seduce women and virgins to make love with him. If a woman failed in his temptation, the prince would reject her to carry his seed. 'What a powerful prince!' Chandra often contemplated him and tried to build her perspective from both angles as a woman and a prince. The prince as the manuscript told that one day, he would come to the earth in completing a mission. What kind of mission? Nobody could answer that since the manuscript stopped talking about him on that line and left everything specifically unknown. The universe would stay in a mysterious state to make people think about the secret and the most powerful state outside them and their world. That was the universe's knowledge that Chandra learned from that old manuscript in the Bhagavanta Kingdom. Again, Chandra inhaled deeply. She was going to meet the prince of wars.
'That gown is too long! It resists me to move,' Chandra complained in her silence. As her mind was too absorbed in Kumara, the length of her gown made her incredibly question the value of fashion.
"Oww," she almost lost her balance while she stepped into the room after the last stair. She almost fell because she stepped on the gown that was slippery as silky as it was made while she walked. Luckily, she knew how to make some moves to prevent her from falling to the ground. She stood in her place with a gesture taking a bow to Kumara when she saw he was rising from his seat and about to give her a hand from falling. "Thank you for this gown, Prince Kumara!" she smirked at him and pulled up the gown to her knees.
Kumara sighed in a relieved way to find out she could keep her balance. He grinned at her when he found her pulling up the gown to her knees. Now, she put off her heeled shoes and let herself barefoot.
"I told you I am not a princess anymore. This gown resists my movement," Chandra took her shoes and put them beside the seat where she took a seat in front of Kumara as she walked to her seat in her barefoot.
Kumara was rubbing his nose as he saw Chandra's feet with his side glance and he lifted one of his eyebrows as his reaction. He returned to his seat and cleared his throat without saying any words.
Chandra exhaled roughly as she saw the expression on Kumara's face. 'Damn, Louis was right, am I a troublemaker? A rebellious princess? Anyways, I just can't stand this gown. I never dressed such a kind of thing for seven years!' she covered her nervousness by drinking a glass of water until it was empty.
"Sorry," she covered her mouth and she just realized she broke the rules of noble attitude again. 'Not such a woman did!' she wiped her lips and inhaled deeply. 'His piercing eyes are intriguing!' She turned her eyes around the room, and she saw Kumara was covering his mouth from laughing. 'His enigmatic aura that I start questioning!' Chandra smiled clumsily.
"So, we should talk like two gentlemen or ordinary people?" Kumara opened the conversation. "Never mind so," Kumara sighed as he saw Chandra had tasted the soup. Kumara paused eating the soup and tried to hide his smile as Chandra found it difficult to use a chopstick in finishing her mushroom, tofu, and rice noodle soup.
"Do you need help?" Kumara offered her as he looked at her. Chandra paused to eat the tofu and mushroom soup.
"That's okay! Don't bother, unless you allow me to use my hand?" Chandra looked at Kumara. The man with dark brown wavy hair smiled at her question. "Do whatever you think it's necessary, Princess Chandra," he answered in a humble tone.
Chandra smiled at him, "You're going to be my friend!"
Kumara smiled at her joke. "You have a sense of humor, Princess Chandra!"
Chandra smirked, "Thank you, Kumara!" She paused putting the food into her mouth using her hand, "And please don't call me a princess!"
Kumara smiled widely as Chandra winked at him. He sniffed and drank a drink that Chandra never tasted it.
"So, what is your point in inviting me to your palace, Kumara?" Chandra paused her steps as they were walking around the garden after finishing their dinner. She looked into Kumara's eyes.
Kumara sighed, and he stopped his walking steps. "You need some healing, treatments, and learn some new things!" he answered in a deep tone.
Chandra looked a bit suspicious, "Someone sent you?"
Kumara nodded his head, taking a glance at her with an enigmatic smile. "Yes, you sent me! To help you and protect you!"
Chandra wrinkled her forehead, "What do you mean? I know you, Kumara. You are the war prince, the son of King Ophiuchus. I ever heard your story and reputation!"
It was a turn for Kumara to laugh. "You're a big fan of me, Chandra. I love to hear about it!"
Chandra smiled at him and took her sword from his hand, "Thank you for your compliment. I appreciate it!" she unsheathed the sword to check it.
Kumara cleared his throat, "I have a man to clean it up!" he pointed at the sword that she was holding in her hand. 'There was a stain of blood!" he looked at her slightly.
Chandra lifted her eyebrows, "Thank you, again!" She breathed deeply. "I am curious how did I send you?" she paused, looked through those hazel eyes, "We're living in a different world and dimension!" She studied the man who was standing next to her through her eyes. With a charming smile, hypnotizing hazel eyes, and a tall well-built posture, Chandra sighed, 'He really represented the war prince!' she rubbed her chin, 'Unless I see his tough version, damn he's really so gentle with those eyes and a smile!'
Kumara left her question to pause for some seconds, he took a seat on a bench and sighed before he turned his eyes to her. "Your last battle did call me to you!"
Now, his confession made Chandra stir inside, "What did you know about my last battle?" she was triggered by his statement.
Kumara sighed, "Three men against one woman, do you think it's fair?" he lifted his one of eyebrows. "I don't think so!" he looked at Chandra, "I know that you never killed anyone or anything!"
Chandra smirked, "No, I won't. I learned how to escape, perhaps I could hurt one of them!"
Kumara turned his eyes somewhere, "But you never killed anything or anyone!" he hissed in saying that. "That a battle, you cannot finish your battle if you never finished your enemies! Escape from them will make them run after you and feel thirsty for your blood!"
Chandra inhaled deeply, "I don't want to make any bloodshed!"
Kumara looked at her in more sympathized sight, "Look at what they've done for you! Your thigh and calf! How about if they could kill you?" he sighed.
The night breeze blew some bamboo leaves and Chandra could sense some Sakura flowers. The moon beamed and it was hanging as she could reach it.
'I really want to end the battle. Sometimes I feel it's so tiring with escaping one battle to another battles!' Chandra deeply breathed in.