Away ⥃ Nishimura Riki

.Six.

THE ROOM WAS STILL as the natural light seeped into the dark room. The thick layers of cloud caused an enormous shadow to be casted over the kingdom as the sun peeked over the colossal mountains. A lady was seen on the bed, lying down peacefully as the fleecy duvet engulfed her into a deep slumber. Her body was shifted to the side, facing the windows as her brows twitched upon hearing a light tap.

The tapping continued, ripping her out of her dreamland as she shot her eyes opened. The irritating sound came from her window, confusing the latter. Who could be outside her window?

Forcing herself on her feet, she approached her window. Her feet shivered at the cold floor. She quickly pushed her curtains aside, finding the cause of the sound but to her surprise, no one was there. She only saw the breathtaking scenery of her window. Nothing else.

She scratched her hair, vexed by the odd noise. Maybe a bird decided to tap her window as it rested on the windowsill. How bothersome..

She trudged towards her bed, struggling to keep her eyes open and climbed on the bed, tucking herself into a comfortable position. As her eyes began to close, the noise appeared again. Seulhyun sprung to her feet—this time she immediately opened the windows, leaning outside as she looked left and right.

No one was there?!
"What on earth is happening?!" She exclaimed. The latter shook her head and reached to close the windows again until she heard a coo beside her.

She squealed in surprise, covering her mouth with her hand as she searched her room for an owl. It sounded like an owl. But there wasn't an owl in her room nor did she see an animal.

How odd. Sighing, she shut her windows closed. Maybe she was hallucinating. She was quite tired after all. Brushing it off, she decided to go back to sleep. But as she took a step away from her study table, the sound of wings flapping was heard.

Seulhyun stood frozen, staring at the place where she had heard the sound came from. "It can't be." She whispered as suspicion began building inside of her.

Her hand cautiously moved in the air, trying to detect for any objects- or living beings that weren't visible to the eye. Her breath hitched as her hand touched a feathery being. It had to be an owl. It sure felt like one.

She nervously checked the owl, wondering whether someone had left a message or note  attached to it. Fortunately, she could feel a ribbon tied to its leg as a rolled paper and a vial could be felt. She took a seat and freed the bird from the ribbon as it fled away to who knows where. It was certainly somewhere in her room.

Focusing on the objects she had found, she pressed her finger on her temple. "How am I supposed to see what this is?" She fumbled with the invisible object.

There wasn't an antidote. She didn't know whether the vial contained the antidote. Taking her chances, she decided to use her knowledge about potions and opened the vial, sniffing the scent of the liquid. It smelt horrid.

The fetid smell captured her nostrils as she snorted, closing it back hastily. It was very distinctive—a scent she had smelled before when Mrs. Kang was teaching her about the invisibility potion. Smiling, Seulhyun opened the bottle again and dropped a few droplets of the potion onto the paper as a little goes a long way.

Slowly the rolled paper began coming into her sight, revealing the dirty paper. There were a few mud spots on the paper.

Seulhyun whistled as she looked around the room, hoping she could get the bird's attention. When she received no response, she whistled again. If she was right, the owl must be Mrs. Kang's companion, Ju.

After trying several times, Ju finally reciprocated to her calling and flew to her desk. She did the same to the owl as she did with the rolled paper and Ju started appearing.

"Hello, Ju." She smiled fondly, slightly patting his head. As her eyes fell on the paper, she wondered what Mrs. Kang had given her. The girl unraveled the paper as her eyes skimmed through the message inside.

Dear, Seulhyun

I hope Ju successfully reached your hands and arrived safely. I apologize if you had any difficulties in seeing him, I had to put a invisibility potion over everything in case anyone sees him. How have you been, dear?

You should have reached the seven princes by now. Did they accept your presence well? I sure hope they do.

I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news to tell you regarding Princess Aene. Earlier today, I decided to roam the castle's ground since I was having a trouble time sleeping and I passed by the princess's chamber. While I was passing by, I had heard noises coming from her room. The curiosity got to me so I tried to listen to her. I had heard her talking about the new queen, Queen Haeyul.

She was clearly rambling about her hatred towards the queen but one of her comments had caught me off guard. She had uttered the following sentence, "Maybe I should have brewed a love potion for Wonie then he wouldn't have fallen for that wench. Just wait and see, once I lay my hands on that girl, she won't see the daylight anymore."

I fear her sentence contains a malicious intention, hinting the queen's death. This is everything I have for now, I will try my best to continue obtaining information for the Main Kingdom.

Seulhyun, I need your help wi-

Before she could finish reading the letter, her heart sank. Is Princess Aene planning to murder the Queen? Her breaths turned shorter as it became difficult to stabilize her breathing. She didn't know what to do with such an information. If news got out, the whole region may fret, and the civilians might suggest a war.

Citizens will be divided into two and the nobles will begin choosing their sides. Even if King Jungwon does a speech to avoid the war, the civilians will rebel and attack the Southern Kingdom. Her head spun as she could already imagine the chaos.

She stumbled off her chair and Ju cooed, sensing her panic rising as he fluttered his wings, cooing constantly as he aimed for the door.

She had to go meet the king. She had to see His Highness now. Leaving her room, she turned the hallway, followed by Ju, who quickened its speed.

In that moment, she had crashed into someone causing the both of them to fall on the floor. A deep groan was heard beside her, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

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