Chapter 9.   The Outsider  

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The way that man was walking was suspicious as well. 'Could he be their informer who maps out the area to plan the robbery,' Sumin was quietly following the masked man.

The man was dressed in a grey robe shirt with trousers and an overcoat of similar shades, a hat, and a white scarf tied around his face. The metal soles of his boots, the way he was walking stealing little glances at the houses nearby and people and occasionally pausing to peek into the alleys, his sword… everything was suspicious about him.

The man took a turn. Sumin followed quickly but there was no one.

Before Sumin could turn around a pointed object was pressed into his spine.

"This smell…" Sumin thought when the sweet smell of roses hit his nostrils. The man was right behind him and his hand extended to seize the sword from Sumin's hand.

Sumin let go of the sheath only to pull out the sword right after when he elbowed the man.

The man saved the blow and punched Sumin in the ribs from the side.

Both of them planted their feet strongly when their eyes met, it was the challenge for the duel.

The big eyes of the man stared up and down at Sumin, analyzing the opponent.

"An Outsider!," Sumin's suspicion was proved to be right.

The man launched himself at Sumin with full force, making swift powerful attacks from every possible angle.

Sumin was taken aback; this sword technique was new to him. He prevented the strong attacks from doing any damage while he quickly made notes of the man's swordsmanship.

"Gritty way of attacking," Sumin thought blocking a blow aimed at his chest. "Gets close before attacking…"

Sumin noticed the man's sword had a small hilt and the hilt guard was preventing him from using his wrist despite having a single-handed sword so, he made attacks utilizing his shoulders and even waist.

Sumin saw his opportunity and started to keep a distance from the man knowing that he would only attack after getting close. He also noticed that the man wasn't defending himself with the sword but dodging the blows by bending, sliding, or jumping.

After a few rounds of back and forth and Sumin saw the man's weakness; he tightened both his hands on the long hilt of his sword and made a straight and strong aim at the man's forearm i.e. his vulnerable and weak part.

But to his surprise, the man pulled out a dagger from his waist and prevented the blow aimed at his hand. He kicked Sumin in the stomach.

Sumin stumbled backward but balanced himself. It was the perfect opportunity for the man to escape.

It was the perfect opportunity to escape but the man stood there waiting for Sumin to regain his control and posture.

The man again took his fighting stance and gestured for Sumin to come at him.

"Bastard is challenging me…" Sumin stared down at the man, "You made a mistake." Sumin couldn't see his face due to the mask but he knew that the bastard was grinning.

Sumin was enraged when he attacked first, swiftly and without giving him the time to prepare.

But the man appeared to have analyzed Sumin's style of fighting. He fought like he was playing, he came forward for a moment then retreated to his defensive stance using his dagger, then he would again start attacking.

"He is playing with me." Sumin was quick to notice his pattern. It was like the man was pretending to fight, his blows weren't that strong anymore nor was he trying to kill Sumin like before.

It was as if the man was giving a performance. Sumin was puzzled, "Is he buying time?!"

Sumin thought it to be disrespectful and was adamant about teaching the man a lesson. So, he pretended that he had been fooled. He played along waiting for the opportunity.

Sumin saw the window and tricked the man into believing that the next attack was aimed at his neck but instead, it was for the head.

Sumin's plan was successful as the man's hat fell on the floor along with the scarf that had been covering his face.

Sumin's lips curled upon tasting the victory but his face froze when he saw that the 'man' wasn't a man but a woman dressed in Hanna's male clothes. Her hair was messed up.

The woman was about a foot smaller than him. She undid her hair and let it fall and grace her hips, she had long, dark cloud-like hair, big black eyes, a high nose, and pink petal-like lips upon her dark amber skin.

Sumin knew she wasn't from Hanna or any of the neighboring kingdoms. Her sword, swordsmanship, and her skin as well as her eyes- big, black, and beautiful that had been glowering at him.

She lunged at him with her sword, attacking his head, hands, neck, chest, back everything from his close vicinity.

Sumin was a bit guilty and unprepared but he protected her aggression-filled attacks with elegance and equal force.

It was like she was getting angrier by every second, her open hair followed her like a shadow from the afterworld, dancing and flowing with the movement of her body.

Sumin got distracted by the look on her face and lost his footing while stepping on a stone.

This time he fell on his hips and she placed her sword on his neck instead of waiting for him to get back on his feet like before.

She calmed her breathing and said, "I can kill you for this offense, young man."

"Who are you and what brings you here?" he questioned.

The woman tilted her head at his sword that had fallen asking him to throw it away. He obliged.

"Why should I answer you?" she pulled away her sword by an inch for him to stand up before placing it on his neck again.

"You can get arrested for disobeying the Inspector General." He said dusting his hands together. He wasn't afraid as if he knew she wouldn't slice his neck off.

'How arrogant!'She gave him a scornful look. "I can imprison you for pulling your sword on me."

Sumin was plainly looking at her, "why is she that confident?"

"you don't think I can do that?!"

"What are you doing in Hanna?" he answered the question with another question.

"This is disrespectful." She clicked her tongue. "I'll let you go…" she said while stepping closer to him and placing her dagger in his gut, right below his ribcage, and lowering his head to ram her head on the side of his head making him lose his balance.

"I am in a good mood today." She said and hit the back of his head with the hilt of her sword.

Sumin's vision blurred before he blacked out.

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Hanna, Palace:-

Courtroom -

The selection for the queen was the highlight of the palace. The process had been going on for about a month and just a few more events would give the palace its queen and the king his wife.

Maan was more depressed than excited because the four remaining candidates were from the distant Rei clan, Ho clan, and the Jheng clan and all were in the palms of the queen-mother.

Maan knew he would be done for once the queen is appointed from either of the clans, his dream to be a good king and make his late father proud would end as well as his life.

"You highness has a guest from the kingdom of Devdurg." A servant announced pulling Maan out of his thoughts.

He gestured to bring the guest.

"Devdurg! Sounds familiar." He thought.

The guest/ambassador from the Devdurg was the royal advisor of the queen of Devdurg who had arrived with a letter and bags and bags of offerings. Gold coins, grain, precious gems, and a dagger studded with stones on its metal scabbard.

The whole room was stunned to witness such generous offerings coming their way out of the blue.

"Introduce yourself." The king ordered. "what is the meaning of this?"

The ambassador introduced himself and said, "I am the royal advisor of the Devdurg palace and today I have come as our queen, her royal highness Indravati Rajan's representative."

The representative talked in a bold but humble manner while he occasionally bowed at the King and made direct eye contact with the ministers who were standing close to the king.

"I have come to express her highness's wish that her daughter, the queen of Maythene, the commander of Devdurg, her highness Princess Jwala Chitra Bhanu ties the knot with the king of this great nation, Hanna – his highness, the King Maan Ji Rei."

"Ah…" Maan now understood what was happening. A relief ran through his body. "Better late than never…" he sat there looking stoic and puzzled while he was smiling on the inside.

"Please, accept this humble offering and proposal. Please, bless this world with the beautiful amalgamation of two strong and powerful kingdoms and their holy unification."

Maan stole glances at the ministers, most of them were awed by the linguistic mastery of the representative, and the rest were dazzled by the offerings.

"Right on time." Maan thanked the gods and said, "It is the generosity of the queen to make such a grand proposal."

"The royal representative is welcomed to stay."

"Many many apologies, your highness but I will have to decline the offer as I am bound by duty." The representative explained that he was told to convey the message and quickly return with an answer. And if the king refuses he was told to return with all the offerings.

The ministers were murmuring among themselves while the royal advisor and queen-mother were in a sticky situation.

They had planned to get control of the king and the throne through the new queen but this situation had ruined all that.

Maan could tell that the leftist ministers wanted to keep the offering and they would do anything to ruin the plans of the rightists and Queen-mother.

He was enjoying the troubled look on the royal advisor's face and he knew that the queen-mother might be chewing her nails from anger.

The king was ordered to tell the representative to wait for the answer in guest chambers while having lunch.

The representative agreed and was escorted by the servants to the guest chambers.

The court had a new topic to discuss. The ministers started arguing and cross-arguing while the king quietly watched them.

A devilish smile appeared on Maan's lips, now that the fish had taken the bait all he had to do was, sit back and watch how his enemies were about to help shape his plan and their demise.

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