Knight 'n Gale

Chapter 27

Rosemary literally ran off with an embarrassed look on her face but from time to time, she would stop and look back at Cedar, who, in turn, would smile at her warmly while waving goodbye.

'Ah... yeah. I thought the ladies here are more conservative than the ones in my world, but to think that she'd actually throw herself to the prince just like that... oh well, I think that's what a handsome face can do no matter the culture.' Cedar thought as he respectfully bowed his head to the young lady as she gave a final look before taking a turn.

Being the only one on the empty hallway, he couldn't help but to stare at Alexander's door that was tightly shut that not even a rat could dare to trespass.

After what had happened in the bath, Cedar doesn't really want to see the prince just yet. However, when his sensitive ears heard a coquettish voice of a female, he couldn't help but be curious. And before he knew it, he's already peeking outside.

That was when he saw Rosemary clinging on Alexander's arm. He just scoffed at the sight, thinking that the Prince would probably take her since it was his role to do such debaucherous act, not to mention that Alexander was quite aroused from their earlier scuffle in the bath.

However, for some reason, Cedar felt a bit iffy about the whole situation. He didn't think that it was jealousy though, since he had only been with Alexander for almost five days. And as he pondered about it, he suddenly smelled a familiar scent, and he recognized it immediately. So without thinking further, his body automatically went and covered the lady so that the 'foul' smell wouldn't reach the prince.

'I wonder if it's because this body is used to protecting the prince?' Cedar thought, 'Or do I not like what I saw? But why?'

'Am I disappointed that he's going to do it with— gasp!' While thinking about it, he caught his imagination suddenly turning into a weird direction.

"Ah! Stop! Forget it... Let's just sleep!"

***

Meanwhile, somewhere in the heavenly realm, a small crow landed on a wide courtyard with a white paver stone floor, contrasting his shiny, black feathers.

As the crow's feet touched the floor, he magically transformed into a young man with an unruly orange hair in an entirely black kimono and haori with a crow pattern on its back.*

The boy then glanced up at the main office's gate with his big doe eyes and gulped in nervousness. After all, the news that he must deliver isn't really good.

However, as he was the unlucky one who was picked by the lottery, he doesn't have any choice but to do his job.

"Well, it's not like our department was the one to be blamed for this..." Tightly clutching the scroll in his hand, he took a deep breath, "There's a bathroom inside, right?... Ah! Whatever!"

The boy steeled himself and he decisively knocked on the door that looks like a humongous wall in front of him.

****

The next day...

The Crown Prince and his envoy went to Timbreford's fortress located near the town's border to visit the Falcon troop's survivors from the necromancer incident. Not just to investigate the necromancer incident, but to check on the status of the fort itself.

Out of the 14 people who were supposed to deliver Isabella's corpse, only 3 had survived. All of them were gravely injured, each one of them missing a limb or two.

"You've done well, surviving." With a solemn expression, Alexander lightly patted the shoulder of the squad sergeant who lost half of his right arm.