ɬɧɛ ɱąɖ ƙıŋɠ//℘ʝɱʄʄ

•20•

The night gradually engulfed the land of Inferno as the day passed by with loaded work and tasks especially for the royalties. Finally, work spared them a peaceful night as they poured into the dining hall and seated around the long marble table with chandelier dangling above it as they chatted away. Tonight's dinner seemed to be more packed than the usually 7 diners as the hall was filled around 20 people. Maybe they all had similar schedules that granted them the same dinner time.

Anyhow, Xena found herself to be alerted considering the new faces she met in the dining hall. She don't need introductions from them but she demanded for them to not be a meter near the royals especially the one with a crown on his head. She stood behind his seat as he chatted with his cousin with her eyes scanning around the room and sharp observation and a little paranoid as well. Any sudden and unusually movements would cause her to grip onto the hilt of her sword from behind but loosened when they started chuckling as if they were just joking around.

Truthfully, she never thought these ranked officials or royals would behave so loosely and carefree in front of the king but guess everyone would throw their masks away the moment they enter the dining hall and all of them had a mutual understanding of occasional misbehavior. Nevertheless, she still kept her hawk eyes on each one of them as they waited for their meals.

Soon, the kitchen's door opened and maids began to pour in with trays and plates on their palms before serving them to the royals. Xena eyed the young king's savory lobster with golden mashed potatoes and fresh veggies, instead of envious, the General was eyeing it as if it was a suspect of a crime. She remained her guarding posturing but her narrowed eyes was staring at the dish with much doubt. Her gaze flickered towards the maid who served the young king and found the girl lowering her head yet she was glancing at Jimin.

A faint tingle of eerie pinched her guts, telling her to do something but Xena stayed planted to her ground as she pierced her eyes at the steamy lobster. Jimin gestured the room to dig in and they gladly do so while the king himself took his time to scoop out the content. He poked it piece of meat with his fork and was about to eat it when someone snatched it away, causing him to snap his head to the side where he was met with Xena's scowling face.

"You. Get over here", she growled out fiercely that the entire table stopped their dinner to look at the General. Xena glared at the maid who served the king and watched her every move. Judging by the unwashed black color of her uniform, Xena knew she was new here and that put a plus on her suspicion. The maid fiddled with her fingers as she walked wobbly towards the General.

"Eat this", Xena pointed the fork with the meat on it towards the maid who visibly started shaking and gulping. She slowly took a step back before abruptly turning around and bolted towards the doors but unfortunately two tall men, one with orange hair and another with dark blue hair, blocked the entrance as they creepily smiled down at her. The maid quickly took another route and headed towards the big windows but was harshly grabbed by the back of her collar and yanked back before getting her upper body slammed onto the marble table just beside the young king.

"PLEASE SPARE ME! I BEG YOU PLEASE", the maid trembled under Xena's strong hold on her head while another had already swung out her double sided sword and ready to behead her. "State your name and speak of your purpose, ma'am", Xena seethed through her gritted teeth. Though she was boiling within, she remained her in professional General state and carried out the essential steps for situations like this, as she was trained to.

At this point, Xena already had the entire dining room watching her handle the situation while Jimin requested for a new dish. What? A king gotta eat right? The maid tried shaking her head and bit her quivering lips possibly to prevent herself from spilling the demanded information and clearly the General wasn't taking NO as an answer. She roughly pulled the maid back up with death grip on her hair before positioning her sword in front of her throat, causing the maid to scream in fear.