Five

JAPANESE WORDS USED IN THIS CHAPTER AND THEIR MEANINGS

Shuah. - King.

Shāhbāno. - Queen.

Donburi hachi - Earth made bowl.

Kami - God

Shōjo. - A little girl

Hai. - Yes

Saiai no yūjin. - Dearest friend

13:04pm 1608年3月16日 (15th March 1608)

Shuah Azar gasped and he knelt down, looking at the unconscious beauty before him. For him she is more beautiful than the winter sun above pristine snow.

She is warmer than spring sunshine on soft new grass.

She is more mesmerizing than the fall leaves. Yet for him, what she truly is is an eternal summer, for merely looking at her is very much compared to the perfect blue skies with love in the air.

His inunderstandable attraction to her is not because she is beautiful, though she was very much beautiful, it is the pure soul he sees in her, making her look more like a wonderful jewel she was inside.

She was like the Sun, a beautiful jewel having people orbiting around him; some were so close her ever burning nature burned them, some were so far they were the coldest they could be because they wanted to be closer.

The lucky ones were in the perfect distance to feel her warmness and live with her peacefully. In one way or another all the people that may have met her will always feel attracted to her.

And he sees himself as a system. He was Pluto: a strange, little cold planet that no one wanted around the Sun, but who oddly was spinning around her in circles, in the opposite direction as everyone else.

And how would the Sun notice Pluto if everyone else just said to that little planet that it would never be big enough or close enough to form part of his system?

He knew he had never been a good man all his life, but he had a bad past. He never even knew if he will ever be happy and now this beautiful maiden shows up suddenly, clasping her heart in her hands. He doesn't even know why he has this soft spot for her, it was unexplainable.

His heart went out for her the moment he saw her, in her battered and beaten state. He felt hurt when he saw hurt in her eyes, a sign that she was going through pain inside.

He felt so angry when he had seen how badly she was hurt, and wanted to punish the person who had done this all to her making him punish the slave trader evenly.

What was happening to him?

His confusing answer was altered as a voice was heard behind him.

"What can be so important to send my king down to the ground,pleading for the poor soil who doesn't have a say in front of the King"

Shāhbāno Abreshmina, the last and favourite wife of Shuah Azar said as she walked to the King.

She was the last wife, thus the favourite wife of Shuah Azar. She was very beautiful to the point of being known as 'the most beautiful Queen of Shuah Azar'.

Dressed in a beautiful grey regalia, she was beautifully endowed with accessories befitting a queen. Her crown was like that of the King but a little smaller to fit her head which housed her long and beautiful hair.

She was pregnant with the legal "King's heir" and because of that, she was very much respected.

"What are you doing here Abreshmina? It is not good to be roaming about, especially with my child. Go back to your chamber and rest" The King said as he shifted closer to Caulifla, trying to loosen the rope which was tied on her hands.

"I have the very right to see My King and the father of our unborn heir. Your favourite Queen misses her King and that is why i had graced you with my presence"

Abreshmina walked closer to see a girl lying unconscious on the floor. And with that, she gasped.

"I don't have the time for that none sense Abreshmina. A King is always busy with his official work and so get back to your room" The King ordered.

"You send your favourite Queen away because of a slave? His Royal Highness will never have time for a slave over his beautiful Queen. What has gotten over my Shush Azar?" She asked as she looked at him in confusion.

"It isn't your business Queen. Guards!"

Three slim guards walk into the throne room in a hurry covered in a light armor as if they were knights. Their hair looked all messed up and their faces showing signs of tiredness judging from the sleepless nights they've gone through.

"Carry this maiden to the guest room and get a servant to nurse her back to health" He ordered as he stood up, paving way for one of the guards to do as he had ordered.

One of the guards came forward to pick her up, but did that carelessly as he seemed to almost drop her back to the ground.

"Be careful! Do not let me repeat that again" Shuah Azar, who had noticed how carelessly he handled her said.

The guard tried his possible best to keep her stable as he made her stand on her feet.

"What are you doing? Can't you see she does not have energy to stand? Carry her" He ordered.

"But your majesty...."

"I said carry her in your arms. Do not question my authority. Now do so" He said as the guard hurriedly did as the King commanded, carrying Caulifla in his arms and finally making his way out of the throne room.

I hold my breath behind pursed lips to steel myself against the gales of jealousy that had taken over him. Seeing the guard carry her made him feel envious, resentful, and even invidious.

"You do not carry the maiden well" He said as the guard stopped and turned around with Caulifla in his arms.

"Give her to me" He said as he carried Caulifla from the guards arms and pushed closer to his chest, Making his way towards the guest room.

"Get me a female servant to tend to the girl. Make sure you tell her to meet me on the guest floor" He had said as he walked, not looking back as constant stares followed him till he was out of sight.

05:00 am 1608年3月18日 (18th March 1608)

When the stars come out to play and the evening takes on that aroma of the night, when the crickets sing for the joy of living, Caulifla dreams of a happy life.

Tucked into a king sized bed that night, reverently rubbing her fingers along the silken mattress. She press her cheek to the cool, velvet pillows. The comforter was thick and irresistibly soft, like a billowing cloud, making her succumb to the call of sleep,

Wrapped in profound sleep.

Buried in sleep,...