ɬɧɛ ɱąɖ ƙıŋɠ//℘ʝɱʄʄ

•26•

The walk back to the palace of Arak was quite pleasant, much to their relief since the previous night and earlier this morning wasn't too peaceful between the young king and the General. However, Xena found herself spotting a faint and soft grin as she walked down the busy streets of Arak, not even bothered by the dusty breeze and heated land. She reminded herself to keep a stern face on and be as intimidating as possible in hopes of scaring off any potential threats or danger towards the young king yet she had failed that part of her job because she couldn't control the tug on the corners of her lips.

Additional to her bubbly looking self, Xena was even bouncing in her steps with hands behind her while spinning her double sided sword like a toy instead of keeping her steps still and marched with arms by her side. And there's only one person to blame for. Park Jimin. The said man was no different from the General as well considering his casual walk with hands in pockets, a red blazer over his shoulder while dazzled himself with a smirk.

Not to mention their very close proximity as they strolled side by side with shoulders occasionally brushing against each other. It was certainly not an ordinary practice between a royalty and a military officer but the two can't seemed to keep their professional faces on even just for 10 minutes. Well, at least that's how long it usually takes to get to the palace but Jimin being Jimin did some sly move by maneuvering their route around and kept taking different turns just to lengthen their small stroll. Funny thing was that Xena wasn't familiar with this desert kingdom so she just followed along and didn't even question the long walk.

For the cherry on top, Jimin would stop by a few hawker stall to buy some local food as he ditched his breakfast because of the mishap they had. Xena wouldn't mind waiting for him but Jimin seemingly kept accidentally buying double of everything and kinda 'commanded' her to eat too.

The General was beyond thrilled as she tried Arak's traditional dishes. As a child soldier, she never had such savory food before because they always fed her nutritious food which didn't taste good at all. The amount of sweet potatoes she had when she was a teenager was traumatizing but they had to feed her that to keep her body's growth in check. Which was why Xena found herself unknowingly sticking closer to Jimin as he let her explored the foreign kingdom.

Just then, a range of hoofbeat clicking approached the two and it was two horses with a rider on one of the horses. The rider stopped in front of them and Xena immediately ceased her sword spinning as she gripped tightly onto it. She wanted to step in front of Jimin but he stopped her when he saw the crest of Arak, a lion head, on the soldier's breastplate. The soldier bowed at the young king before speaking, "King Jimin of Inferno, dinner is ready in the palace and the royalties had sent me to fetch you". The soldier bowed again before handing one of the horse to him.

"Understood. We'll-", "Tell the royalties that General Adam and I won't be joining for the night as we will be occupied", Xena whipped her head towards Jimin who just interrupted her and lied to the soldier. In her memory, she didn't remember having any plans or events scheduled for the young king tonight so what was he up to? The soldier bowed before riding away, leaving a horse with Jimin in case they need it.

"Sir, I don't remember you having any schedules at night", Xena spoke while Jimin mounted onto the dun horse before he glanced at the confused General with a smirk. "I don't but we do. Now let's go", that was all he said before pulling her up, giving her no choice but to mount with him which wasn't a first time thing but she still felt stiff behind him especially when Jimin took her arms and circled them around his waist. "Hold on tight", Jimin said with a smirk before nudging the horse into a canter down the streets as he headed towards downtown where the land was emptier and calmer.

Xena did what Jimin told her to do, hold on tight. He was galloping the horse towards what it seemed to be the outskirts of Arak, maybe even outside of the kingdom itself but fear wasn't present at all as she had him with her but let's be honest here, who the hell would be scared if you have both the Strength and the Psychotelesis vessels on one horse. Those who come for them should be the scared ones instead because one of them are bound to rip the enemy's head off.