"I knew it…" There was a small smile curling Kanaru's lips. No wonder Rodnir was so interested in the communications tower; he had seen it before.
That would also mean it was the one hidden behind the ice walls. Natucha said only the king could take people to see what was behind those. It was no brainer to think that Melaka and the others had gone to see the treasures hidden in that place.
Kanaru stared at the communications tower… soon erasing the top part with the base of his hand. "Sorry, I have no idea. It was standing over Burdett for a while now, but it was destroyed a few months ago. In the end, we didn't really know what it was for real."
"Hmm, I guess I have to look for another one of those." Melaka smiled at the bird prince, who only continued his drawing of the broken top part on the ground. "The one here in Middlemist barely functioned, but we have no idea what it does. It supposedly helped Rodnir map out the northern part of the world… well, north from Middlemist."
"It turns on?" Kanaru shot his eyes to the black-haired maiden, and Melaka nodded. She then gestured for Kanaru to come to the map again. With a finger pointing at a trail up north, Melaka added, "The signals were coming from five points from Middlemist. It's easy to find Polyia through the trade routes, but these two countries gave way to Middlemist's discovery of the lesser countries along the way."
She hummed and patted on her chin. She then looked up at the whiteboard and smiled. "I think Rodnir went far up north this year to find the last tower detected by the one here in Middlemist. However, it seemed that all of them were also destroyed, only leaving small things to denote their positions from other towers, I think. I have no idea how they work."
Rosamund joined them and hugged Kanaru from behind, her chin on his shoulder. She didn't even pay attention to how Kanaru trembled at her action. "Hmm, most books from the digital age were hoarded by the unicorns, so it's hard to learn from them. Moreover, they were written in multiple ciphers.
"Kanaru, do you know? Our beast mutations affected speech when it first showed. They said we're now born with an additional sense of language, so we can understand everyone no matter where we come from. The people of the digital age didn't have that, so they had hundreds of languages on record." Rosamund sighed as she pulled a flower out from her sleeve. "It's like how plants communicate now…"
"Most of those books are kept in the king's private library, too. It's no use searching this place." Melaka chuckled lightly and stared at Kanaru's horrified face. Then, her eyes moved to meet Rosamund's gaze. "Rosamund, Kanaru is a bird and not a fence for you to grow on. Keep away from him."
"No one had ever told me off before…" Rosamund pulled back and walked to her previous seat. "Melaka, His Majesty had to meet with the Bourbonian delegates today. We have an hour to prepare. Shouldn't we go and see him now?"
Melaka nodded and asked Rosamund to take pictures of the map on the whiteboard. She then erased it, while Kanaru received the small photo of the palace map. While the maidens discussed the matter with Bourbonia suddenly sending delegates, Kanaru only stared at the photo.
…
The night was mentally tiring. Kanaru was only holding onto a few things while Sierra and Rosamund helped Fenris in putting on most garments. The king even looked annoyed and angry, but he kept his mouth shut. His glares were even on the floor, but he would look away from the view of the concubines' full bosoms. To think about it, everyone in the inner court boasted a chest size of at least two melons.
Since the confidential talks were underway, Kanaru was sent to the laundry to fetch the king's apparel. The inner court dealt with everything that had something to do with the king, so they laundered his clothes as well. As for the intimates, it was never discussed. Kanaru only figured Rodnir should be the one in charge of such things.
Right now, he was entering another place where most women were. To be honest, he felt uncomfortable when Rosamund kept on snuggling him like she was some kind of vine. Then again, he figured her blood's mutation was from a plant instead of a beast. She was probably just behaving like a plant like how he did whenever the wind was on his face.
"Hello, I was asked by Sierra to pick up—" Kanaru knocked and opened the door, only for him to suddenly close it. After all, a box of detergent flew toward the door. It was even followed by a rally of screams. It sounded like two parties were fighting inside the laundry.
"I probably should wait." Kanaru didn't want to throw hands with anyone. It was better to evade trouble since he was already sent to solitary today. How problematic. He lost too much energy dealing with those maidens and getting angry at Rodnir. He hadn't even eaten anything for a while.
Then again, with the voices rising, he wanted to make sure no one would get hurt. Parking the trolley for the clothes at the side of the door, Kanaru opened the panel with a crack instead. Just like what he figured, two factions of women were in a stand-off. One group was led by that Ushka woman… while the other group was held back by Natucha.
The girls of the inner court huffed at the glares of the outer court members. Ushka then laughed as she grabbed a soiled white dress. It was even dyed blue at the edges, with patches of it at some parts. "What are you going to do about this now? Do you know to whom this dress belongs?"
"You started it!" The woman held back by Natucha argued. "You flicked my hand when I was dyeing the water! It's not my fault!"
"How bold of you to assume that the king will listen to you instead." Another of the inner court laughed as well. She even had an arm under her bust and one hand tapped her chin. "Why would he deny the possibility of you making a mistake when you're just a newbie? Humph, of course, you want to destroy Sierra's dress! We are his witnesses!"
"Look, you're not even supposed to be here." Natucha sighed as she tried to calm the bitter girls of the outer court. However, she still gritted her teeth at Ushka and the two other girls. "Ushka, you're already reprimanded by the king because of what you did to Eann. Why don't you just vent your anger on something inanimate? Pick something that won't complain."
Ushka glanced at Natucha and huffed, throwing the ruined dress to the floor. "I am picking something that won't complain. You're just rags to keep the place clean. How dare you assume you are worthy to be here with His Majesty?"