Empress Natsume ✓

XIV

The maids assist us to our rooms. The governor had prepared a room for us at the very least, my room is large enough with light curtains, medium bed, two fluffy pillows, and four candles were at the both side of the room, a round table and two chairs also. But not as large as my room in the palace, not that I was complaining of course.

The room is quit cozy, with the light curtains and four candles, it lightens up the room and with this space, it's not as lonely as it seems in the palace.

It was already in the middle of the night and I couldn't fall sleep. I don't know, maybe because of my anxieties? Being in someone's else place makes me feel that I'm more in danger. I held my dagger that I was hiding under the pillow and sat up. It's one of those things that I couldn't forget since my mother told me that there was no such thing as safe place for me even at my sleep, so I have always kept a weapon with me.

With light steps, I walk to the door and slowly slide it open.

"You're not going to sleep?"

I asked the General who's sitting beside my door, leaning on the wall. He looks at me for a moment before he let his eyes wander around the surroundings.

"Your safety is my priority. It is my duty"

"How ironic. You left me back there in the underground prison and now you're saying that my safety is your priority? How very responsible of you"

"That's different. The moment you speak, you already have their trust and respect, they're just building another wall because of their past experiences, maybe they were betrayed many times so it's hard to trust someone else again but you did it, you got their trust. I hate to admit this to myself but you're not as bad as I thought"

I lift my right eyebrow at him.

"And how do you know that?"

"I just know... I also have a trust issue"

I leaned on the door while looking at him.

"How did you know my husband anyway?"

"We're cousins" he flatly said, I gasped.

"You're... cousins...?" I incredulously asked

"We are" he said, his eyes spark with hidden horrors

"But how are you still serving him loyally after all that?"

He shrugged

"No one will understand. Many people think that I was afraid of him that's why I'm wagging my tail to him, doing whatever he commands me to do--but that's not it"

He paused.

"I always looked up to Raiden since I was little, he was the apple of the eye in our clan, the golden child and every members of our family approved of him as our head. They had high expectations of him and he always met those expectations, he was good at everything, he's perfect. He's good at war tactics, has a great swordsmanship, a wise ruler, and he always put his family above anyone else, his family is always his priority but there was something... something wrong with him that no one noticed. And you know what happened after that"

He clenched his fist

"Lord Ryuu is a reasonable person, I'm sure that he has a reason for doing such an atrocious brutality"

"No. He has no reasons for ambushing our family, it's undefined"

"Then how--"

"Spirits of the soul"

He phrased.

"Spirits of the soul?"

I asked, hoping that he'll elaborate.

"It's not my place to tell you. Someday, Raiden will open up to you and tell you everything, you're his wife after all"

I stared at him with inquisitiveness.

"Just sleep, you won't have your answer today anyway so it's useless if you keep on hanging around here with your curiosity. I'll keep you safe, trust me"

After I get into my room and sleep for a few hours, I woke up because of the heavy rain and the loud thunder. I couldn't sleep again, I keep turning in my bed.

It's cold outside. Will the Lord General be okay? only the roof is sheltering him from the rain. The windows are rattling because of the blowing wind.

I sat up again, dragging the fur blanket with me as I walk to the door and opened it.

"Here"

I offered the blanket to him and he just stared at it.

"Don't worry, I have another blanket inside. You'll freeze to death if you don't have any blanket"

He get the blanket from my hands, wrapping it around himself

"Thanks"

Atleast he knows how to be thankful other than being rude and arrogant

I smiled.

"You're welcome"

Before I could get into my room, he speaks.

"There's a bad omen"

"What do you mean?"

"I have a bad feeling about this. It's just an instinct but-- I don't think that you will be able to go to Sayta tomorrow unharmed"

He paused. The sky roared, lightning falls as it follows with thunder.

"Sayta... is no ordinary place, I grew up in Sayta and the problem there is not just politics. It's more than that. The people there... they don't act as you expected them to act, they do the opposite, most of them always wear a black clothing with a signed necklace, they practice something that is forbidden and they cannot be stopped, that place has always been a part of Ryuu clan but Raiden always avoids that place, even the governor there is afraid of that place, he lives at the latter part of it. Heed my words"

"Then, what will I do to that place?"

"I will visit there by myself, bringing the soldiers with me is not a good thing to do. It will alert them and do---"

General Izumi didn't finished his sentence

"I will send you back home to the palace, you can take care of the other political matters but don't ever lay your hands on Sayta"

©Editer