The Paladin (The King Eternal Monarch AU)

Glimpses of This and That

"You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"I'm not going too fast?"

"No."

"Okay, the next one is going to be - "

"Aaarrrgghhhhhhh"

"- difficult because you've never done this before."

"I haven't even started."

"I'm in enough pain already."

"You will feel an upward thrust. Starting now."

"Excuse me? Aaargggggghhhhh!"

"I'm sorry, I'm going as gently as I can."

"Too much. It's too much. Slower, please. Slower. Unnnnhhhh."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. James was more dramatic than she ever realised.

This was the closest she would ever get to flying a fighter jet again. East had arranged it and even though she was slightly disappointed, she knew it was just too much for Corea to have their Queen flying beyond the speed of sound.

The past six days had been something out of a chaebol's playbook. She had unscheduled free time with some pop-up schedules which were each of the Paladins ideas of fun.

The men went with her on most daily outings which was quite tiring after awhile because they loved to bicker among each other and looked to her often to pass judgement.

David, as South, was a sarcastic man. He loved to point things out. Especially things that were wrong in his view.

Owen, as West, could not control the famous bad temper of Western Coreans. He usually bit the bait easily.

Keith, as East, was always worried about keeping to a time schedule, even though they were all technically on a break. His worry drove everyone nuts.

James, as North, was always suggesting interesting activities to carry out the next day. Elizabeth knew James did it to make the most out of her one week break.

The problem with James' plans were the fact that it was always highly ambitious and usually required a month's planning in advance. The other Paladins, especially Keith hated last-minute planning. Therefore, bickering was inevitable.

They bickered while horse-riding in West's private estate. They bickered while sailing in East's Pohang mariner. They bickered while practicing archery in North's own estate.

They bickered while she dived with David in Jeju. Even though she knew that bickering was the love-language between her four Paladins, their constant bickering drove her up the wall.

Therefore, right now, when it was just James and her in the flight stimulator, things were blessedly quiet. Or so she had thought. To her dismay, James was clearly afraid of flying. She had not foreseen this in his tough warrior exterior.

"If you'll just stop screaming, you'll see that the world is beautiful from all the way up here."

"Don't make me open my eyes," he mumbled.

Elizabeth made three rolls in succession. The horizon flipped a few times and finally steadied into another climb.

"Aaarrrggghhhhhhhhhh, DON'T DO THAT" he shouted.

"You do realise, don't you, that we're in a flight simulator."

It was a pretty accurate flight simulator. She could actually feel the G-force ripping through her chair.