<< Immortal realm—King Daniil's Mansion >>
"How rich are you?" Kira asked King Daniil, a mischievous smirk playing at the corner of her lips.
Her question caught King Daniil off guard, he shook his head with a small, confused frown. "I don't measure my wealth" he answered.
Kira couldn't hide her smile anymore. She looked very satisfied with his response, and she bites her lower lip in contemplation.
"Would you agree to whatever my condition is gonna be?" she asked.
"Yes"
"Anything at all?"
"Er… Yes" Kira's words are putting him on the edge, and he kept wondering if she intends to ask for something he won't be able to afford.
"Wow" Kira nodded slowly, with her hand under her chin as if she's deep in thought. "I think… I'll stay only if you provide me with access to your wealth…"
"You already have access" he cut in.
Kira's mouth dropped open immediately, she wondered if he understood her question or even heard her at all.
"Are you sure you heard me correctly?"
"Yes, my queen" he answered. "You already have access to my wealth the moment it was confirmed that you're the phoenix queen and my fated wife" he said.
Kira's ears perked up, her eyes widened in disbelief as she found it difficult to convince herself to believe his words. "Is that how things work here?" she asked.
"Yes. Once we know you're our fated wife, then there are no arguments, everything we have naturally becomes our wife's too" he explained.
"Really?" Kira exclaimed.
"Yes" he answered. "And besides, it's my responsibility to do things for you even if you don't ask me to"
"Do things for me on what terms?"
"Spoil you with every fancy things women like" he said.
*What? This kind of men still exist? Isn't he the kind we can only read about in books?* she wondered. Then a sly thought crossed her mind, bringing another mischievous smile to her face.
"What if, I mean, what if…" she trailed off, unsure of what his reaction would be.
"Go on" he encouraged her.
She bites her lips for a moment, cleared her throat and said. "What if I ask you to give me a room full of gold, would you give it to me?"
"Yes" he answered without hesitation.
"Yes?"
King Daniil looked around his living room, his gaze landing on the luxurious gold sculptures and heavy crystal chandelier hanging proudly in the middle of the high celling.
"I have gold and diamond in abundance, and all of them are yours now. You can do whatever you want with them"
Kira was left speechless, her mouth was open, yet no words proceed from it, all she could do was stare blankly at him. It was cool, the natural breeze from the trees surrounding the mansion penetrated in, but Kira was sweating.
"Unbelievable" she finally gasped. "I think I'll like it here" she said before she could stop herself.
Just then, a knock sounded from the door. "Aleksandr?" King Daniil asked, even though he already knew it was Aleksandr.
"Your Majesty, elder Arata is here to see you" he reported from outside.
"Let her…"
King Daniil didn't finish his words when he saw Arata rushing in with a broad, sweet smile on her face—her eyes fixed on Kira.
"Is everything alright, Arata? Why do you want to see me?"
King Daniil's question made Arata frown, she gave him the 'who are you?' look. "Why should I come all the way here to see you? Do you consider yourself that important to me?" she shook her head disapprovingly, then turned back to Kira with an even sweeter smile. "I came to see my beautiful daughter" she reached for Kira's hands, and held them tenderly.
"Your daughter?" he asked, sounding surprise. Arata snapped her head towards his direction.
"Do you have a problem with that?" she gritted out, her lips set on thin lines as she shot him a glare.
"No, I don't"
"Good" she turned her attention back to Kira and pushed King Daniil out of her way. "Now if you'd excuse us, I want to get to know my daughter, and also introduce myself to her properly" averting her gaze to King Daniil briefly, she narrowed her eyes, as if she'd intimidate him by doing that. "Because I know you wouldn't bother to introduce me"
Kira, on the other hand, was watching this drama with an amused smile, she loved how Arata doesn't seem to be scared of King Daniil. From what she has observed so far, she can conclude their relationship is like that of every normal mother and son.
If she didn't know about King Daniil's sad story, she'd have thought they are really mother and son. *They are so adorable* she thought.
"You're so beautiful, child" Arata said, touching Kira's cheeks fondly.
"Thank you, ma" Kira replied with a smile. "But my beauty isn't anywhere near yours"
Arata's smile grew bigger, she touched her cheeks shyly and giggled. "Oh, stop it, I'm already an old woman" she said, getting shy from Kira's compliment.
King Daniil watched them awkwardly, he realized he's no longer welcome and should leave or else he'd be suffocated. He cleared his throat to get their attention, but they didn't bother about him.
"Er…I think I should leave you to familiarize with each other, I have some documents to review" he said.
"You're still here?" Frustration laced Arata's voice, his presence was obviously disturbing their interaction.
King Daniil's eyes settled on Kira. "Arata will keep you company until I'm back. Don't worry, I won't be long" he told her.
"Oh, please, take your time. There's no rush because I need all the time to spend with my daughter" Arata chipped in.
Kira chuckled. "Okay" she replied simply, then waved him bye.
Without waiting for another taunting comment from Arata, King Daniil headed towards the door and exited the room.
"So, Kira, I don't know where to start, but I want to know you better" she inhaled deeply and smiled. "I'm Arata, I'm the oldest member of the phoenix clan, and also, the closest person to Daniil in the entire immortal realm. You can say I'm his foster mother because I've been with him since the death of his parents"
Kira nodded. "Yeah, I can see you're both close, and he seemed relaxed with you, like he trusts you"
Arata laughed.
"Wait, you said you're his foster mother?" Arata nodded in agreement. "I thought foster is a human word, how did you know it?"
"Have you forgotten so soon, child?" Kira tilted her head with a confused frown. "I just came back from my promotional trial in the mortal realm. Of course, I know what foster mean"
"Oh" realization dawned on Kira, and she let out an embarrassed laugh. "I forgot"
"It's fine" Arata reached forward, and touch the tear lines on Kira's face. "I can see you've cried a lot, correct?"
"Yes, but I…"
"You only cried a little, child, and it is okay to cry" she smiled at Kira. "You are braver than I thought, not everyone would be in the mood to sit down and talk to me after receiving the biggest shock of their lives. I know for sure that I'd be running for my life if I was in your shoes right now"
Kira has nothing to say, she could only nod in agreement as her eyes began welling up again.
"I'm here for you. I know it's not easy, but I will be here with you and answer every and any questions you have" she squeezed Kira's hands reassuringly, her warm smile never leaving her face. "Go on, ask your questions. I'm gonna be your human wikipedia"
Kira burst into fits of laughter when she heard Arata using phrases from the mortal realm. "Alright, human wikipedia, now that your king claims that I'm his fated wife, won't he abandon me for an immortal who can bear him immortal kids too?" she asked.
"No"
"Why?" confusion washed over Kira's face. "I'm mortal, and I have at most a hundred years to live, which means, if I were to bear children for your king, they would be mortals too and they can't inherit the throne. Won't he impregnate an immortal woman in this case?"
"He won't"
"Why won't he?"
"Listen, Kira" Arata began. "Every immortal being is fated to one person in their lifetime, and immortals are loyal beings when it comes to their relationship. Once they've found their fated one, they can't have romantic feelings for any other being because their hearts are occupied by their fated ones"
Arata's explanation sank in Kira's head, a subconscious smile crept on her face and she couldn't describe why she's having butterflies in her stomach.
"So, you don't have to worry about Daniil abandoning you because he'd never do that"
"Phew" Kira breathed out. "That's a relief then"
"And he'd be foolishly in love with you once you've become comfortable with him, that's how the previous kings were with their queens"
"Previous kings?" Kira's brows furrowed. "I thought Daniil's father was the first king"
Arata laughed. "No, he wasn't even the second king"
"Huh?"
"There were four kings before Daniil's father"
"But his mother was the first phoenix queen. That's what he told me" Kira's confusion was skyrocketing with each answer Arata gave.
"The other kings before Daniil's father were fated to random female immortals, but something happened many years ago before Daniil's father became king."
*Yuppie, story time* Kira jumped mentally.
"There was a strange plague in the immortal realm, and immortals were dying everyday due to the plague and Daniil's grandfather was on the verge of dying" Arata began. "But Daniil's father cried to the supreme god, he knelt and stayed without food for two months until the supreme god revealed to him that he should marry the phoenix queen and let her breath in river orlena, which we regard as our holy river till date, and they should feed every immortal the water fetched from the river. Daniil's father did as the supreme god had ordered, and every immortal that was affected by the plague was healed" she concluded her story.
"Wow" Kira was amazed, she thought immortals were invincible to everything. "Then, how did you guys conclude that every reigning phoenix queen must be the reigning king's fated wife?"
"We didn't conclude it on our own. Daniil's father went back to thank the supreme god, and that was when the supreme god implemented it, every reigning phoenix queen must be the fated wife to every reigning immortal king".
"Wow. Just wow"
Kira's speechless, she has learned so much about the immortal realm in just a minute, and he doesn't even know what to do with all the information.
"Let's forget about the past, child. You must be hungry from all the stress, how about I show you my culinary skills"
"You can cook?"
"Of course. I cooked my own meals when I was in the mortal realm" Arata stood up. "Are you ready?" she asked, stretching out her hand for Kira to take.
"Ready!" Kira answered, and accepted Arata's hand.
<< Immortal realm—Phoenix clan >>
Fireworks explodes in the air as the phoenix clan celebrates the return of their queen, drummers beat their drums loudly and happily, while dancers danced tirelessly to the beat.
Every phoenix, both young and old, had gathered in front of the phoenix queen's palace, singing and dancing and showering praises on the phoenix queen—thanking her for finally coming back to them.
Their joys were immeasurable, and their loud voices would have been heard throughout the whole immortal realm if not for the soundproof shield covering the phoenix clan.
While everyone was dancing and rejoicing, Mariya didn't leave her home, she had her doors and windows locked to prevent any sound from penetrating her ears. But there is a girl who seemed younger than her, who stood by the locked window, staring longingly at it.
"Get away from there if you would rather not be unfortunate, Olga" Mariya snapped at her, annoyance dripping off her words.
Olga frowned, but moved away from the window anyway, and sat on a sofa next to Mariya's.
"Sister, I'm truly worried about you. Do you know you've incurred his Majesty's wrath? Why did you purposely choose to ignore his Majesty's message?"
Mariya glared at her disappointedly. "Shut up if you don't have anything reasonable to say" she scolded Olga. "The phoenix queen has been found, and all our plans will be destroyed. Do you think I should be happy about that? You think I should jubilate like those fools?" with each word she uttered, her face gets red.
"But you shouldn't disobey his Majesty's call, no matter how angry you are. You could have attended the meeting like every other immortal, and silently thought of your next move. You… "
"Shut up!" she shouted, making Olga shut her mouth immediately. "You're still too young to understand these things, you don't get to tell me what to do!"
Olga remained silent.
"You must listen to me this time, and make sure you follow my instructions, or I'll personally end your life if our plan fails again"
Olga nodded.
"Use words!" Mariya snapped.
"Yes, sister" Olga said.
"Good. Now get out of my sight, I need to think of a perfect plan on how to get rid of that useless phoenix queen"
Not wanting any more scoldings, Olga dashed towards a flight of stairs, leaving Mariya to her thoughts.