CHAPTER 6: PRACTICE GROUND

I woke up quite late the next day. It was obvious because I was almost awake till dawn thinking about the midnight incident. My heart is still beating fast at the thought of it. As I was late, Rain came to feed Albert. When I woke up I saw her feeding Albert and he was eating like a good boy as if he was listening to his father's advice from last night. I chuckled at that sight. I stepped down from the bed and went to the washroom to take a shower and freshen up. After coming back to the room I saw Rain dressing Albert up like a cute little prince. I went towards them and took him in my arms.

"Oh my! Will you look at him in the mirror? Who is this handsome prince? Huh!" I said to him as our reflection in the mirror giggled together. He truly is a handsome prince though it's a bit early to say that but his appearance really resembles his father. The charm of the sun shines brightly through those ocean blue eyes and his smile really can melt the iceberg at a glance. My baby is very handsome.

Sigh....

"How many hearts are you going to break huh? With your killer smile? " I tickled him and he again laughed like he understood my joke. Though he may not intentionally hurt the girls but it's gonna be a tough competition for you future ladies. I smiled as I felt a bit proud of this silly thought.

After eating my breakfast, I said to Rain,

"I am going to take a stroll in the garden. Today, the sun is not too bright and the temperature seems soothing as well, so I'll take Albert with me."

Rain brought a stole and while wrapping me up she told me " Be careful, it's windy outside".

As Albert was already dressed up, she brought a scarf to wrap around his neck.

I smiled at her and went towards the garden.

My room was in the East part of the palace, the other side means the West belongs to the emperor. So the middle was a hallway, with beautiful wall painting throughout the whole place. Some of them had the artist name written down but, some of them only had a stamp. I watched carefully that, all the paintings with the stamps depicted a beautiful story unlike the paintings with the signatures which were some portraits of persons.

At the end of the hallway there were the stairs that went straight towards the main gate of the palace. I watched my steps carefully as I was carrying Albert in my arms. But as soon as I came down, I saw everyone hustling and bustling.

'Is there some event? ' I thought on my own. Then I saw the bodyguard, whom I saw yesterday, with the emperor on the main gate.

As I didn't know his name I went towards him to ask what was going on. As soon as he saw me he bowed down his head and asked,

"Do you need anything, Your Highness?"

Though here everyone is very respectful towards me, it is still a little awkward for me as I am not used to it. So, I said while keeping my composure,

"Raise your head, you are the guard of his majesty right? What is your name?"

He raised his head as he answered," Yes, your majesty. My name is Mark Feilon, I had been his majesty's shadow since he was five years old."

I hummed and asked him again,

"What's going on here? Why is everyone so busy?" Is there some event preparation?"

He nodded his head diligently and said, "Yes, your majesty, it's the National Army Day of our country coming in a week. So, everyone is busy in preparation including his majesty.

Hearing him talking about him, a question popped up in my mind, Mark is his guard and bodyguards always stay close to the master right!? Th-then..... I-is he nearby any chance?

As soon as I remember his face the last night's kiss came to my mind and my cheeks were beet red instantly. As I was in the middle of my daydream Albert started to get restless as he was intending to go to another person. I couldn't understand so I looked at him and saw he was raising his hand and pointing to my back. I was about to move to look who was there but before that the voice made it clear.

"What are you doing here?"

It was none other than his majesty. Now I turned back to face him. He was wearing a cloth and metal made armour. But it didn't seem like a warrior one, so I guess it's for the practice purpose. But I had no idea that a piece of cloth and metal can make something so revealing and his masculinity was shining like the blazing sun. It was mainly a shoulder blocker as the metal was covering the shoulders only and some stretched laces made of clothes were attached to the blockers in a criss-cross pattern making his manly body visible to everyone. The lower half was normal military pants with high boots.

"Are you alright?" He looked at me with a tensed expression. I came back to reality. I guess I was staring too intently at him.

"Ah- oh yeah, I -I am alright." I was completely embarrassed. Though given the situation that I never had a boyfriend in my life, still I guess a queen of a country staring like this to the emperor is quite a shame. He took Albert in his arms from me and asked, "You didn't answer why you are here?"

"Oh, I-I just came to have a small walk with him. The weather was good so I thought it would be better in the fresh air than staying at the rooms all day." I stated like I was interrogated.

"Hmm, the weather is nice today." He said to me.

"But what are you doing here now? Don't you have to attend the court?" I asked him as I was curious.

"No, it's the last week before the National Army Day, so this week my chief minister will manage the court and the heavy matters will be taken care of after my return again next week. This one week I practice with the whole Army throughout the day because on that day the Army merches on the central ground along with the emperor, and the other countries even the civilians come to see and celebrate that day. So, it's a very important day for all of us but moreover it was the day my grandfather won over this land and named it The Solar Empire. So, we celebrate the foundation day of our country in the name of the National ArmyDay."

I was listening to him mindfully and then asked, "Then can I go and watch you doing the merch?"

"Obviously, I told you, that day every single citizens are present so your presence is mandatory." He said while looking at me.

"No, I am not talking about that day... Right now..... I mean you are going to the practice right? So can I watch...." The last words I uttered sounded very low and as he didn't say anything, I looked at him.

I saw his pupils were slightly bigger than before with an unknown shyness in it, his face was flustered completely and ears were tinged red. As I looked at him, he felt embarrassed and said,

" If you want to then you can come with me."

I smiled and said thanks to him.

Then he ordered Mark to send Albert back to the room. But I stopped him and said,

"It's fine, he will be with me. I think he will also enjoy his father's practice."

He didn't say anything more to me as we all went towards the practice ground.

As we entered the ground, I heard a lot of jhing-zing noise of the sword. All the soldiers were practicing there in the same rhythm. But as soon as we entered the ground, all of them knelt to the ground with their heads bowed in front of us hailing together, "long live the emperor, long live the queen, long live the new sun of the empire."

Their respectful behaviour moved me, maybe because it was a everyday schedule for them but for me it was something new.

"Raise your heads." His majesty told them as we walked towards a small resting place.

It was mainly a small open chamber, made for his majesty to rest during the practice sessions. As everyone here were men, there wasn't specific resting areas apart from it. The whole ground's boundary had a shade for the soldiers to rest but except the water facility and common refreshment area there was nothing more.

But in this small chamber there were some chairs, a table and other refreshments arranged separately for him. It was so clean and neat that, I had my doubts that he ever stepped foot in here. Then I sat there with Albert in my lap.

"Mark, stay outside of this chamber, you don't need to accompany me today. Just help the queen with anything she needs." He ordered Mark that. But Mark was also going to take a part in that day's merch so he needed to practice too. Though he nodded his head I felt wronged. So I asked him,

"He needs to practice too, it's fine there are other attendents, I will have no problem so Mark can go and practice."

I wasn't wrong, there were already two female attendants present inside so he didn't say much and agreed with me.

"Then I am going in the ground, if you need something, tell them. They will be outside of the chamber. " He told me and then kissed on the head of Albert. Albert giggled as if he liked that so much. I smiled at Albert's innocence. Then another 'chu' sound was made before he left the chamber hurriedly. I froze into the place as I touched my head.

'What did he just do?' I thought as I watched him going farther away.

He kissed me on my head like he did to Albert.

This was making me blush as well as giving me shivers because he was getting bolder every now and then.

"Albert.... I think your mommy is going to fall head over heels for your father!!! What should I do???" I mumbled while wrapping Albert in my arms tightly.

I was watching him and his fearless movements handling the sword. I think the merch will have a lot of sword fighting in it. Because everyone was synchronising at it. His moves were very swift and fast. He was practicing with Mark. I think I can understand now, that how the previous Angelina fall for him. His body was quite a feast for anyone's eyes. The fair skin tone was mixed with the sun tan a bit but in spite of making a weird colour, it complemented his virility. His body had well built muscles, from the hands to the toes. His pectoral muscles seem restless due to heavy movements. His well built chest and abdomen complemented the red cloth of the silk attached as the lace with the shoulder blocker. As his biceps were twitching every time while he swing the sword, my heart skipped a beat. I felt the heat rushing to my whole body like electricity. I buried my face on Albert's head to calm my heart a little bit.

About ten minutes later a hand touched my head gently. My head was still buried so I springed up my head and saw him. He lightly stroked my hair while asking,

"What happened, are you not feeling well?"

As soon as I saw him I could feel my cheeks and ears burning. But still I managed to keep calm and said, "No, nothing, it's just a bit hot in here, I am feeling stuffy."

Hearing my answer he took Albert from my lap on his left hand and extended his right hand towards me saying, "let's go outside for a fresh air, you will feel more relieved."

I streched my left hand as well to hold his. At that moment I noticed veins popping up on his hands, but his grip was nowhere to be light. I felt safe in his hands.

As soon as we went outside, the cold gust of wind hit my face and the heat subsided almost instantly. The over excited pulses seem to slow down as well. He carried Albert all the way in one hand and kept my hand into his other hold. Albert was sleepy and by the time we get back to my chamber he fell asleep on his shoulder. Then he carried Albert and laid him on my bed. I didn't see Rain when we came so right now in this room there is only two awake persons present. The lost pace seems to come back. We both were standing in front of each other and my back was facing the bed. The silence in that room felt unbearable. My thoughts were all jumbled up as if I lost the ability to speak. The moments from the night came in front of me like a picture.

But at last he decided to break the silence saying, "Should we have dinner together today as well?"

"Umm... Y-yes I would like that...." I stuttered as I said that.

Then he slowly started walking towards me, as he was walking forward I was taking a step back each time. I didn't understand why he was stepping forward but he had a very twisted expression on his face with a smirk lingering oat the corner of his lips.

I swallowed the lump that was formed in my throat. As soon as I was about to touch the bed, he held me by my waist and whispered in my ears, "Then, should we meet again at midnight?"

I decided to serialize this series again do enjoy.

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