Ruthless

↠ Gyarah ↞

❝What a plot twist you were.❞

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The two figures walked in silence as they trudged their way to the kingdom which lay at a distance from the palace. The entire path leading up to the monarchy was covered with trees of various size and shapes, creating a forest which divided the two parts of the province – one of royalty and one for commoners. Sunlight peaked through the thick canopy of leaves and painted the two traveler's figure with an auric glow as they walked in silence.

"How much longer?" Kartik huffed.

"A little farther," The queen smirked at the man walking beside her and ignored the slight brush of their shoulders, "Why? Are you tired already?"

Kartik scoffed, running a hand through his hair again, "In your wildest dreams."

Akira shrugged, trying her best to hold her words back and stopping herself from starting a bittersweet fight, "Bold of you to assume I dream of you."

"Knowing you, you perhaps dream of war strategies or how to dislocate someone's shoulders."

"I do dream of war strategies, accurate, but I also dream of killing you." The queen responded nonchalantly, "And not to burst your giddy little bubble but I know how to dislocate shoulders, I don't need to dream about it."

Kartik smirked, a smug expression on his visage, "So you do dream of me. I mean obviously I end up dead in them but still-"

Akira closed her eyes and shook her head - almost frustrated over how easily he could twist her words to accommodate him - and decided not to further answer anything.

The walk was of five more minutes and soon enough, they both reached the actual kingdom. The dominion started with a market place which buzzed with life and silently sung the story of the livelihood of the queen's people. The two sides of the wide streets were occupied by various shopkeepers and their shops, all asking the buyers to come buy from them as they went on and on about the picturesque items.

It was easy for the two royalties to merge with the people as the paths were filled with various men, women and children, all of them engaged in their own tasks to focus on the two strangers.

The morning sun shone harshly on the chattering people as they resorted to their respective work while a few children ran through the crowds while their parents chased after them, occasionally scolding them and a few others talked and laughed over something or the other.

"And here begins our tour." The queen vaguely nodded to the humming streets, "This is the biggest market place in our kingdom."

"It's crowded" Kartik made a comment as his eyes swept over the entire place.

"Of course, it's a market place, Kartik." Akira rolled her eyes and felt a smile on her face, "What did you expect?"

"Right, my bad." He paused and his voice sounded somewhat surprised, "The people look happy."

Akira stared at him questioningly, "Of course they do, why won't they?"

"I don't know," He muttered, not really thinking his words through, "I was told people in your kingdom were miserable."

"Who told you that?" The queen tried to hide the haste in her voice.

This is it, she thought. This was the moment that Akira had been looking for, he might tell her who sent him here.

Kartik's eyes widened as he realized the slip of his tongue and tried to cover it up with a small shake of his head, "No one. It was just a rumor I heard back home, it was probably a joke. A lot of rumors go around you know. Let's not talk about it."