7 Let's play a game

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| Azalon ~ At the King's Chambers |

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"Your Majesty," the doctor bowed. "How are you feeling?" He looked down on his notepad, adjusting his round spectacles.

"Uhn." The King gave mainly a grunt as a response, pulling on his silk pillow, he turned to his side; looking the other way.

°He's in a fairly good mood today, he gave as much as a sound this time° The doctor observed the King.

Penning down some notes on his notepad, he looked up once more. "Do you recall anything from the past fortnight?"

"Fortnight? you don't mean..." The King turned in the position he had been earlier, facing the doctor.

°I have been here for that long?° He wondered.

"Please do tell me, so I know how I may be of help to you, do you have any recollection of what happened that day?." The doctor emphasised once more.

°Ofcourse I did, and an unforgiving one at that, but was it just all in my head?° The King shuddered at the thought.

"Is there anything you would want me to remember? Are you insinuating I have a bad memory?" The sudden glare shot at the doctor shut him up in his tracks.

"..."

°I was just doing my job Your Majesty, no need to get all worked about nothing° The doctor wished he could say this out loud, but all he could do was look on for a while.

"That's all for now Your Majesty." He bowed taking his leave. "Ensure to rest up well."

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"Psst!" An annoying sound graced the King's ear.

"Pssssssst" it became more annoying as he tried ignoring the sound.

Trying to shoo away the cause of disturbance, he swung his hand in the air but yet the sound continued, forcing him to open his eyes in frustration.

"Who dares disturb my nap?" The King's eyes widened in bewilderment upon sighting the perpetrator who sat on the edge of his cotton duvet, having a big grin plastered on her features.

"I guess I would be the culprit." Princess Aria slightly raised her index finger above her head, putting on the pretence of being bashful.

"Do you know what I do with people I deem as a culprits?" The King sat up slightly on his bed, resting on the pillow as a support.

"Let me guess," she put a finger on her bottom lip thinking.

The King watched in amusement at her flimsy attempt at getting the answer.

"Let's play a game," He sounded confident. "If you get this correctly, you can request anything within my power." He paused waiting for her obvious response.

"... and if I don't?" She cocked a brow.

°As expected° The King smiled at her obvious response.

"You stay by my side forever." The King's lips curved upwards, internally happy with his condition.

"What?!" Princess Aria was clearly flabbergasted at the indirect deal thrown at her. "Why would I do that?"

"The answer to that would be, you clearly have both something to win and lose." The King shrugged.

"Alright then, I have my answer." She balled her hands into a fist, determined to play the game to the best of her thinking ability.

°There is no way she would get the answer° The King folded his arms, waiting patiently for her response.

"Alright! Here goes." She said, oblivious to the King's flinch at her words. "Off with their heads!" she exclaimed.

"What did you just say?" The King couldn't believe what she just said.

°How did she know?° He wondered.

"Isn't that what you do? I think." She grinned from ear to ear.

"What makes you think that's the right answer?" He tried pulling the strings.

"Well, I seemed to have overhead your guards... oh wait! Sir Mill's guards, having a heart to heart discussion." A smirk playing on her lips.

"They what?" The King was clearly astounded at that ever happening.

"It has something to do with 'Let's carry out our one simple task and have our heads intact'." She wiggled her brows.

"And besides, your face does not have much of an expression on a normal day, but I noticed a glint of shock on that face of yours which just confirmed my suspicion." She scribbled the latter part of her words in front of him as she envisioned them on his face.

"What's wrong with my face?" He pulled Aria closer, taking her by surprise, merely inches away from her face.

°Does he remember what happened that day?° She went red at the thought.

His eyes scanned her features, her hair was pulled in a high ponytail, her forelocks which had been trimmed unlike the last time they had met, the striking hue of her hair, something he has grown to admire. She looked more of a Princess now than she did then, his eyes trailed down to her lips and memories of that day flashed through his mind.

°I need to know if it wasn't just part of a dream° His eyes still glued on her lips.

Princess Aria felt his breath on her as he got dangerously closer to her.

°Why is this happening again? What has gotten into him?° She panicked.

Pushing him away slightly, "You can't play that card on me, Your Majesty! You still owe me my prize, I did win." She managed to snap him put of his daze. "Your face is just fine by the way."

"I keep to my word." The King retreated to his pillow. "Tell me, what is it you desire?"

°You!° Surprised to say the least was not how she felt at the moment on what popped up in her mind upon his question.

"I-I would think about it." She shook her head smiling, clearly not able to believe she had just stammered.

"You can take your time." The King replied, clearly amused at her tactics.

"I'll be taking my leave now. Do rest up Your Majesty!" She struggled to do a curtsey but failed miserably.

Holding onto her wrist, halting her from leaving, the King was only human and curious, so he had to ask: "I have been wondering, how did you manage to bypass all the guards and get in here?"

Looking over her shoulder, she glanced at where his hand had held her in her tracks. "You really want to know how I did it?" She smiled.

The King was about responding when a knock could be heard from the door before it slowly opened.

*Click*

"Brother, I have some news for you." Sir Mill's flipped through some scripts, his face buried in it's content. Looking up he was met with the sight of his brother holding onto the Princess wrist. His eyes widened in surprise at the sight before him.

°No one has ever dared touch the King, let alone him touching someone° His gaze fixed on their hands, his mouth hung open for quite sometime.

The look of shock on both their faces gave a wrong impression on him.

"Maybe I should just leave, I'm sorry for interrupting whatever you two were doing." He backed away slowly.

"No! You aren't" Princess Aria yelled.

"Yes you are." The King affirmed.

The Princess shot a glare his way as the King's response was not helping their situation.

Yet again, the Princess and the King's response respectively sounded oddly fishy.

°Who should I listen to?° Sir Mill sweatdropped, contemplating the decision he would take.

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