[SAKURA]
Determined to give Kiyomi the space she wanted, Queen Sakura Watanabe had chosen to go back home, to her people who truly hated her.
She knew they would probably want to try and assassinate her for the thousandth time, but as usual, they would never succeed. It wasn't even surprising anymore.
Her high guards always made sure to protect her and keep her safe. And even if there was a day when her high guards turned against her like her parents had done, Sakura was prepared to step onto the battlefield and fight for herself.
It was something normal, so why the fuck was she bothered about the woman in Odanera? She looked around for anything that smelled like Kiyomi, because she couldn't handle the thought of losing her. T
he scent of lavender and cinnamon was in the palace, mixed like it was the only scent that mattered in the entire kingdom.
It was insane how the queen herself wasn't even bothered by it, but everyone in the palace had already gotten to the point that they despised cinnamon and lavender.
"Sakura. You need to stop and get out of that shell," Otaru said to his best friend who was locked up in her usual room. This was the one room that no one in the palace was allowed into, not even her most trusted.
Well, Otaru was not allowed here either, but he was never one to listen to his friend who had managed to prove more than once that she was losing her mind. Only he was ever able to get her out of the shell she found herself in most of the time.
Though today, as Otaru stood there at the door, locking it behind him ever so carefully not to interrupt Sakura, he was finally certain that his queen needed the good doctor. The room was filled with the prettiest of paintings.
They were drawn with love, and filled with love. Granted, some were dark and bloodied, but most of them had every single feature of Sakura's favorite muse, not that she would ever admit it out loud.
She would probably jump off a cliff rather than face the really always staring at her.
"Well, I am. I'm forgetting her. Eventually, I will completely forget her and lose her memoirs then find myself a new plaything," Sakura said as she kept drawing fervently like this was her lifeline.
Perhaps it was because all the paintings in this particular room were of Kiyomi Kimura, the feisty doctor. They were images of her in her scrubs, looking so hot and beautiful like the good doctor she truly was.
Some of them were of her when she was in the office, sleeping rather, because she had been scared of the Bogdan Lycans. It was like Sakura Watanabe's bane was right there with them in the form of the doctor she had loved long before she even knew they were mates.
Sakura had been an observer for years and years, even when Kiyomi was still a Lycan in the kingdom, and even after Kiyomi went rogue, Sakura had drawn her. She had seen her as the most perfect of all creations and she wouldn't dare to budge.
Perhaps it was a risky attempt and maybe she was overly obsessed, but then the Lycan queen hadn't gone out to sign any contracts with anyone for the past two months.
Since the night she had seen Kiyomi up close and fallen in love with the doctor, the mad queen hadn't looked at anyone else, and some people wondered whether the queen was okay.
The kingdom had gotten peaceful and quiet, though it was probably because the only thing the people in the Lycan kingdom feared more than a crazy Sakura, was a silent Sakura.
One who never showed her face or even let them know what she was thinning. The queen hadn't even come out to feast with them however lying the feats were and they were literally scared.
Perhaps that was also why the Lycans had decided to eat their parties to the farthest end of the kingdom, hoping that the queen wouldn't come for their heads when she got tired of listening to them.
It was crazy really, but then what else could any of them do?
"I don't think that's how it works, Sakura," Otaru voiced out, careful not to touch any of the paintings.
He may have been one of the people Sakura Watanabe would give up her life for, but he was also well aware that the woman was never one to let anyone intrude in her life. The fact that Otaru was here with her was even more than Otaru could ever voice out.
And perhaps it was insanity, right? Then again, it didn't really matter because as long as no one made her angry, she would keep painting Kiyomi's face and body. It was like Kiyomi was the only thing on her mind and truly, she was.
Sakura was obsessed with every single feature of Kiyomi's body. It was like she had mastered Kiyomi's body over the time she had been making the good doctor orgasm for those two days she had her in custody. It was twisted logic, but Sakura didn't care.
She didn't want to think of anything other than Kiyomi.
"Do you need anything? Is the kingdom so hard to run? I thought you said I could trust you," Sakura said with a scoff even though she knew so well that wasn't why Otaru was here right now.
She was taking on gambling and fucking up a lot of things, but then what else could anyone even do? Life wasn't exactly as rosy as they could have imagined, right?
Besides, the world was not always going to be the kindest place for them and they had to deal with it.
"She's spiraling without you. She needs you, just like you need her, Sakura. She's getting reckless and thrusting herself into danger all the time. At this rate, you might truly lose her forever to the afterlife," Otaru said as he looked at his queen.
He had been studying Kiyomi for the longest time and knew there wouldn't be a doctor to save if this went on.
There wouldn't be a queen's erasthai to keep watch over and there wouldn't be a queen who would draw pretty art of the erasthai she couldn't even face. It was a tempting time and Otaru knew it too, but someone had to say it.
Someone had to step up and remind the queen that regardless of what happened, they had to make things work. There was a thin line between good and evil and Kiyomi was losing herself faster than the queen ever would.
"What did you just say?" Sakura asked loosely, listing her eyes from the painting and towards Otaru. Her eyes had grown dark. Even as she gently put her paintbrush on the table, because she couldn't afford to stain her art of the prettiest woman alive.
"Here, have a look at this," Otaru said with a defeated sigh as he hardened his queen footage from earlier in the day when Kiyomi had mentioned that she was the queen's erasthai.
"This is doctored. My petal is not that stupid," Sakura defended even though the truth was staring right at her.
The doctor she knew wasn't one to act recklessly, but then from the reports she had received in the past two months, this wasn't supposed to be surprising.