"It's dark. Where am I?" Koutsuki thought as she felt herself as light as a feather.
She was surrounded with cold darkness but she could feel something touching her something small but there were a lot of them. Suddenly, an orb of red light appeared in front of her.
"Have you decided? Fufufu~" A female voice from the orb called out.
"Who are you?" Koutsuki retorted. But the orb merely gave a laugh at her concerned expression.
"I am you. Only wiser and a lot more powerful." The voice described. "But who I am is not material. It is your decision that is what I need." The voice told.
"My decision? On what matter?" Koutsuki asked concerned.
"Whether you will accept your true nature which is I or will you continue to be weak as you are. Fufufu~" The orb came closer to Koutsuki and the girl held it delicately as it floated on her hands.
"I want to protect others as they have done for me. But..." Koutsuki felt her heartskip a huge beat and felt something warm in her chest.
Suddenly, she could hear warm laughter and a faint beating of the drums from the distant. Then she remembered, she was in Sindria. The country of dreams and happiness. Across her a circle of light had appeared the voices and the music grew louder and louder and she was drawn to it like a moth to a lamp.
"Where are you going?!" The voice yelled at her as she stood looking into the light.
"Somewhere warm..." She muttered mindlessly looking at the smiles of the people dancing and celebrating in Sindria.
"That's why you are weak." The voice said with a tone as chilling as death itself.
Koutsuki looked back at the orb but it was gone. Instead a figure of a woman with long hair tied into two braids, holding a staff had replaced its place in the shadows which she noticed was surrounded by rukh. Black rukh.
Before she could fully grasp what she had seen she felt the warm light suck her in and she was suddenly floating overlooking Sindria, and then the palace, and then herself. She looked at her limp body laying on the bed as she moved to touch it the two of herself suddenly fused.
She could feel the silk sheets of the bed as she rustled her stiff body groaning for more movement. She opened her eyes and looked at the dimly lighted room. She sat herself up and held her hand in front of her.
"I'm...back?" She mumbled. She heard faint but nonetheless loud booming of the drums from her room's balcony.
Intrigued, she pulled herself up from the bed taking care as a sudden dizziness hit her for a few seconds as she stood but proceeded to walk towards the balcony to see what was happening.
As she looked down at the gardens she could see two figures in the shadows. She squinted her eyes and realized it was the King of Sindria and Kougyoku. They were holding hands, closer than what was considered appropriate for two acquaintances. Her heart felt a sudden pain.
Then words and thoughts she had read about Sinbad surged into her mind.
Lady Killer...Man of Several Lovers...The Womanizer of the Seven Seas...
She felt her heart shatter in a million pieces as doubt started destroying what she had hoped for. How could she have been so foolish to believe that a man as powerful and handsome as Sinbad would give his attention only to her.
She refused to look at the two figures in the garden any longer as her eyes were already hazy from unwanted tears and her heart hurt as it had never been. She sat alone on her bed thinking that this must have been divine punishment for all her actions. She thought about Kougyoku and how she had betrayed her but she could not bring herself to hate the girl.
Instead, she turned all her feelings of hatred to the man who had provided her with false hope. The man who had made her thought that she could afford to fall in love. She loathed him for playing the both of them and god knows who else he had laid his eyes on. As she wept for minutes she could hear footsteps out in the hall. Afraid that her servants had comeback to check on her and see her devastated image, she ran to the door and locked it. She stood there as the other person turned the knobs and waited for them to knock but they did not. She heared the other side's voice but the thick door prevented her from understanding what they had said. She heared faint footsteps walking away and she slumped herself back on her bed drowning herself with self-pity as she cradled the pieces of her broken heart.
●●●
That morning she woke up hearing frantic voices outside her room. She shot up thinking how she had let herself fall asleep locking her servants out. She proceeded to the door unlocking it. Her servants stood surprised as she opened the door. Ja'far also held a shocked expression as he held the keys to the room in his hand.
"Your highness, you've come to." Ja'far said as relief washed over his face. My two servants jumped on me and started bawling in tears.
"Your highness!!!!" Said the other.
"Pwinsheeeeesh!!!" Wailed the other over her snotty face.
Ja'far stood with a confused expression at the sight of the three of us. He gave a warm smile and said, "Princess, Prince Hakuryuu and Princess Kougyoku had left for the Kou empire a few hours ago. The king would like you to know that you could stay here as long as you would desire."
"Umm, has there been any news regarding me?" Koutsuki asked the man. She felt both of her servants stiffened.
"That is...You have been casted as a traitor. The Kou soldiers wanted to take you away in your slumber but Prince Hakuryuu protested and said he would deal with the empress regarding letting you go." Ja'far explained a bit uncomfortably.
"I see. If disobedience to that witch is a crime punishable by death then they should have let the guards take me." Koutsuki mumbled.
"Never! We wouldn't have let them!" One of my servants yelled.
"Over our dead and fabulous bodies, your highness!!!" said the other one which earned a chuckle from Ja'far.
"Prince Hakuryuu said you wouldn't accept it silently so he left another message, 'You're on your own from here on out.' " Ja'far said.
Koutsuki felt a bit more relieved, she wouldn't have handled it if Hakuryuu were to continue putting himself in danger just for her sake.
She thought of where to go, she sure as hell did not want to spend the rest of her life stuck beside a man like Sinbad but she thought of her brother Kouen's letter. She needed a place to stay and Sinbad was offering one to her. She could use him the way he used her until her brother delivers on his words.
"Excuse me, Ja'far?" She called out to the young man who looked at her eagerly.
"I was thinking if I could have an audience with the king?" She hesitantly asked. The man gave her a smile and bowed.
"Of course, he did say you would've wanted to see him." Ja'far mused. Koutsuki felt herself irritated by his words.
How arrogant can this king be?
●●●
Koutsuki stood in silence with her two remaining servants behind her. In front her, Sinbad was buried in paperworks. Ja'far walked towards his king and alerted him of the princess' presence. Sinbad peeked out of the mountain of parchment scrolls smiling before ordering Ja'far to move the paperworks away from his desk.
"Sorry, about that. I am so glad you have woken up." Sinbad said. It took Koutsuki all her might to resist punching the king's face once or twice to relieve herself of her anger.
Sinbad looked at her the same as he had ever done, like she was the only woman he had laid his eyes on which irritated her even more.
"Your majesty." Koutsuki started to Sinbad's surprise. "I have been made aware that I have been casted as a traitor. Therefore it is also prudent to assume that I am no longer of royal status. Thus, the terms of your hospitality does not apply to me anymore." She finished.
"My terms of hospitality applies to everyone I want to apply them too, princess." Sinbad said in more serious tone. "You are a traitor to Kou and I am one of its enemies. I do not see why-"
"I did not betray my country!" Koutsuki spoke a bit loudly. "I merely stated the truth! That the witch has no right over the throne!" Koutsuki said lowering her voice.
Sinbad eyed her calmly. "The monarch controls the country. It applies with Gyokuen right now. But your status does not concern me. May I ask why you have come to see me?" Sinbad replied but there was distance in his voice. Koutsuki was taken aback for a second. She felt like the Sinbad in front of her was someone she did not know.
"I have come..." Koutsuki replied as she slowly kneeled in front of Sinbad to everyone in the room's surprise. "...to plead that you take my two servants as one of your citizens."
"Princess, please stand up." One of her servants pleaded. The other trying to lift her up by her arm.
"Silence!" She ordered them. "I am a traitor to Kou, as you have said, yet my two servants stayed to accompany me. Surely, both of their heads are destined to be cut off if they leave your country. Please let them stay here as your citizens." Koutsuki addressed Sinbad bowing her head so low that her forehead was touching the floor.
"Stand up." Sinbad's voice was stern and cold. Koutsuki slowly stood up her head held low from the shame she had inflicted on her pride for the sake of her servants.
"What makes you think your servants would want you to shame yourself for the sake of keeping their heads?!" Sinbad lectured her. Koutsuki finally mustered enough dignity to look Sinbad in his eyes but only saw disappointment in them. Sinbad sighed and shifted in his chair.
"I'll accept your request. But my generosity doesn't come free." He said hiding a devilish smile. "Your servants can stay, they shall be provided with everything they need, in the condition that you stay and serve in the palace as well." Sinbad declared. Ja'far looked surprised at Sinbad's statement.
"S-Sin! She's a princess!" Ja'far reminded his king. To which Sinbad only chuckled.
"That's why..." Sinbad said smirking all throughout. "She can work as Sindria's Queen."
Everyone in the room except the smirking king let out a gasp. Ja'far looked like he was on the verge of killing someone at the king's proposal. The two servants looked like they were both about to faint at the same time. But the person who was proposed to was fuming with rage.
"I most certainly, with utmost respect must decline!" Koutsuki spat angrily which gloomed her two servants and irritated Sinbad.
"What do you mean you decline?! Weren't you just pleading a while ago?" Sinbad shouted.
"I was and is still am..." Koutsuki panicked. If she became Sindria's queen, leaving Sinbad would be a much harder and bigger problem. She thought of what her brother Koumei would have offered in such a situation.
"You see, I am originally a princess of Kou and my country had waged war on countless of lands including Sindria." She explained while thinking of what more to say.
"And...ummm...well, if your allied countries would've found out I was your Queen they would think you'd allied yourself with Kou." Koutsuki explained hoping Sinbad would not see through her facade.
Sinbad chuckled. He never thought Koutsuki would've thought of such an excuse. He didn't actually mind her origin and frankly, his allies wouldn't either. He knew about her brothers and he mainly thought he could use her to his advantage when the time came and get his own satisfaction from it. "I see...that is quite a predicament." He pretended to pe perplexed. "Then what do you suggest, Koutsuki?"
Koutsuki felt her palms sweat horribly. She could not think of a single available position in Sinbad's court. Except. "How about...I become one of...your... concubines...?" Koutsuki immediately drowned in regret as the word came out of her own mouth.
Sinbad's laughter echoed loudly in the spacious room. This was something he didn't expect.
"Absolutely not!" Ja'far contradicted.
"Hahaha. Calm down Ja'far." Sinbad walked over towards a tomato colored Koutsuki. "We have a deal." He held out his hand.
"Sinbad!!" Ja'far continued to argue. He wasn't sure what good having the princess of Kou this close to Sinbad would do. Especially now that he had found out about her two older brothers.
"Come now Ja'far. It's not like she offered to be your concubine." Sinbad teased hugging Koutsuki from behind.
Koutsuki flushed an even darker shade of red and tried to get away. "Actually...is that a possible option...may I take it?" Koutsuki struggled as Sinbad tightened his hold.
"What?! No. The contract is done." He demanded.
"I didn't even shake your hand and please stop harassing me, your majesty." Koutsuki said as she struggled.
Sinbad put a hand on her chin and tipped her head upward, aligning her face to his. He laid his lips on hers and kept it there long enough for both of Koutsuki's servants to faint and Ja'far to blush and look away. "Contract sealed."
Koutsuki's thoughts were a mess as their lips parted. Her heart raced and her mind throbbed. It felt like she was going to faint again. But then, the memory she had seen that night came flashing back in her mind.
"You're officially my concubine." Sinbad said. He ordered Ja'far to make the necessary arrangements, to which the man blushingly agreed.
Koutsuki furiously wiped her lips on the sleeve of her dress. A few days ago, she might have been overjoyed by this scenario; but now she knew better. She was in a game against the King of all womanizers and the one who falls in love loses; there's no way she would be dumb enough to fall for Sinbad again. Never again.
—※—
Sorry about the last chapter being too short! It was pre-midterms that time and now exams have finished. Yay!
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