Crown King: Return of The Labyrinth | ✓

Chapter 6: We Meet Again

Finally, everyone was gathered on either side of the long table.

The king stood up and gestured for everyone to stand up including you. All of you bowed down slightly, then went back to your respective seats. The meeting room was still the same, its dark shadows lurking from the walls but were stopped by the bright light coming from the enormous chandelier hanging above.

It had been a few weeks since you last attended the meeting. Right. Lieutenants never get in trouble. They worked hard and they've done everything for the sake of the kingdom, pledging their loyalty to their own leader.

I'm just the complete opposite. You sighed before turning your attention to Noctis. He remained standing with his hands rested down on the table, his arms supporting his upper body. Being the king he was for five years, it was just for his servants to remain silent as he spoke.

They were too silent—that none even dared to tell the king of an intruder—assuming they really saw Edmund. What if there was another traitor hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right opportunity to attack? If Edmund was already imprisoned in the dungeon, then who poisoned Noctis? Who managed to drop that dangerous liquid into his own drink without anyone seeing?

"So based on what happened last night, and today," his voice monotonous voice made you vaguely uncomfortable, "I felt like there's another person working for a group the Oracle, Lunafreya, told me through the letter she sent. For sure, this group of individuals want nothing but the destruction of civilization and Eos itself. What I'm afraid of is, Lady Lunafreya needs our help. She's in danger and that group wants to take her."

"Are there news of her current state, Your Highness?" Nyx asked right after, his tone merely anxious.

Noctis shook his head. "I have no idea, but we have to save her, and I'm counting on you, my glaives." He said it while his eyes directly darted to yours for a while, then he looked up to the chandelier illuminating his face.

He didn't smile at me, your lips which were pressed into a thin line dropped slightly.

"Your Majesty," another fellow glaive raised her hand, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you fine? Is the poison gone?"

The raven turned his head to her, then gave her a close-lipped smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. The poison was removed from my body, thanks to the Royal Physician and Ignis."

And he didn't at least smile at me? You looked down away from him, pressing the gems on your bracelet. Stop it (Y/N). It's just a little smile.

Another glaive raised his hand. "Your Highness, if that traitor was now in the dungeon, who poisoned you?"

"It could be one of the cooks, or the servants," Nyx explained. "No one's allowed to enter the kitchen except for them. The king's drink is always served by one of them, or, maybe one of the cooks dropped the poison into the drink."

You sighed. Too many possibilities.

"First thing tomorrow, I want half of the team to go to Altissia and rescue the Oracle," Noctis said. "The others stay here."

"What are we gonna do here?" One of your fellow glaives asked.

He leaned forward. "What are we gonna do?"

"Protect Insomnia. Kill every daemon trying to get in," Nyx answered.

"Exactly. Nyx, you're going with them."

Nyx slightly nudged your arm that made you turn to him. "What?"

"(Y/N)."

"Yes, Your Highness." You turned to Noctis. Those blue eyes were staring intensely at you, as if they had laser beams inside.

"You're going to stay here."

"Stay here?" You pressed a gem on your bracelet. Should I really stay here? Luna called to me.

"Don't repeat what I said. We need to talk later." Noctis let his arms off the desk as his eyes gazed on everyone. "Meeting's dismissed. I hope you do your jobs well. Don't get yourself killed. This group is dangerous, so be careful. May the Astrals be with you all." Without another word, he stormed out of the hall, the doors closing by themselves.

What's up with him? You rolled your eyes in annoyance.

Everyone remained silent.

"So that's it?"

All of you turned to another glaive.

"He's gonna send half of us to Altissia just to save that Oracle? Then we're going back to Insomnia? Is he insane?"

"Have some respect to the king, Carolina," Nyx chided. "His Majesty gave us his blessing. You can stay here in Insomnia if you don't want to go."

"Right, didn't even care to honor the others who died during the battle against Niflheim, did they? Even my brother wasn't given an honor—"

"Enough." The male stood as he glared daggers at her. "Your brother died heroically. He fought for Lucis. But five years has passed already. You can't go back to the past anymore."

You can't go back to the past anymore. The words repeated inside your head. Does Cloud deserve to know about his past? To go back to where he belongs . . . but who resurrected him?

You snapped out of your thoughts, then quickly stormed out of the room ignoring Nyx's calling to you. You rushed up the spiral staircase, the now afternoon light hitting your face when you passed by those opened windows. It's a shame the elevators were still out of order.

Fastening your run, you turned to the left and saw the door leading to your room opened.

Oh crap. You sprinted towards the door and took to a halt. Entering your room, it was still the same, except for one thing.

He stood facing the window, the blond spikes of his hair illuminated by the afternoon sun. You silently closed the door, but with a soft thud, he spun with knitted eyebrows but they softened when he saw you.

"Hey, I'm sorry but I can't let you stay here. If Noctis finds out—"

"I want to meet him."

"Cloud, you can't. Not for now." You nervously crossed your fingers behind you as you bit your lip. "But I gotta find a place for you to hide. Not here. This is my room."

"Then I'll lie here on the couch."

"What?" Your cheeks flushed. "Noctis—he comes here most of the time. If he sees you he'll be suspicious and—" you paused, thinking if Noctis would be surprised or angry when he saw Cloud.

"So what if he sees me? I want to meet him." Cloud stepped forward. "We're not doing anything wrong. Or maybe the reason why you don't want me to be seen by anyone especially him is because you two are in a relationship."

Heat rose up your cheeks but at least your mouth didn't twitch. "Shut up."

The moment you've been fearing of happened so fast before you could react. You heard a sound behind you and when you turned around, the bookshelf was now at the side of the opening. He took the shortcut. Noctis stepped out of the shadows, his blue hues not looking into yours but you were sure they were locked with Cloud's. Your heart raced.

"What's going on here?"