The King Who Won't Marry

RIDDLES

Aspen

We carefully passed some guards as we made our way to Scarlett's room in the east wing of the defense office. I put on my mask to avoid recognition.

My heart pounded every time I see a guard coming, but we managed to avoid them anyway.  Finally, we reached Scarlett's room. Isabelle, upon seeing her lying on her bed, rushed to her. My heart sank as I saw my friend unconscious. It felt very different in a bad way because I'm not used to seeing Scar like this.

I removed my mask, then Daniel and I walked towards them and sat on the chairs beside her bed.

"Scarlett? Scar? It's me." Isabelle whispered, trying to talk to her, but she got nothing. Scarlett didn't even move.

Isabelle sighed. I can sense the worry and sadness in her. Her face was grief-stricken as she looked upon her friend.

She caressed Scar's head lightly, "Don't worry, Scar. We're gonna solve all of this. We're gonna avenge your father. We're gonna give those bastards the punishment they deserve, the kind you'll give them if you see their faces, you know, with the swords, torture, torture, and stuff. We're gonna treat them so bad, you'll be proud of us."

We smirked at her words. If only Scarlett could hear her, she would be cheered up too. Isabelle had this kind of warmth that could immediately comfort a friend. It's like a power of some sort.

"I'm sorry, Scarlett. I'm sorry I wasn't able to do anything. I'm sorry about every-"

"It's not your fault, Isabelle." I assured her as I held her wrist. She was crying as she said her apologies.

"I know, but it feels like it is. You feel it too, right? Seeing her like this makes you think that you should've done something but you weren't able to, and you feel guilty. " She muttered.

"She's our friend. It's normal." I added.

"I guess." She sighed.

She went back to Scarlet and continued to talk to her as if she was listening, "We're here for you, Scar. Always. Anytime you need us and even if you don't need us, we'll be there."

As she finished that, we saw a tear fall from Scarlett's closed eyes. Isabelle shed a tear too as she wiped that away from our friend's face.

She's listening.

Daniel moved to the edge of Scarlett's bed as they continued to talk to her in her sleep. As for me, I have some things to attend to.

"Guys?"

They turned to me.

"I'll just be in the royal library if you need me." I said.

They nodded at me and went back to talking to Scar. I gave them one last look, then I went out.

_____________(4 hours later)___________

Pain.

Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for right now.

From the books I've been reading for hours, to my back that's been tortured from sitting for so long, I couldn't feel anything but damn pain.

As Isabelle said, we need to look for more information about this chaos. So, being logical, I consulted our library's books. But, the only thing I forgot is to estimate how big this library was. My eyes hurt from reading hundreds- scratch that- thousands of books, and yet I still couldn't find anything crucial.

I've literally turned the royal library upside down, and I don't think I have any blood left to spare for later. Maybe, I really wouldn't find anything here.