That night, the entire castle occupants were enjoying a large feast for the king's safe return and for the capture of one of the assassins who attempted to assassinate the queen and the princess.
A few hours ago, Clover and her daughter returned to the castle with a captive who was revealed to be one of the assassins that managed to escape capture. According to Clover, shortly after leaving, the assassin attempted to kidnap Lily to threaten Clover for information after witnessing her leave the castle. The kidnapping attempt backfired horribly and nearly got him killed until Clover decided to bring him back to the castle instead of outright killing him there.
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[Dunha's P.O.V]
"These people are the worst assassins I've ever seen in my whole life. What exactly was he going to accomplish by threatening Clover?" Dunha wondered.
As Dunha was thinking, she felt something approaching her from behind which caused her to instinctively duck. She then looked back and realized that she just dodged her mother's attempt to hug her from behind again.
"Hmph! I'm not falling for that again!" she thought.
"Aw~," said Seo-Yeon as she looked disappointed.
As Dunha smiled to herself for dodging her mother's hug, Seo-Yeon simply picked her up.
"Huh?!" (Dunha)
"Come on, Dunha. If you just stand around and daydream all day, all of the food will disappear," said Seo-Yeon as she walked towards a table while carrying Dunha. "Don't move too much, it'll be dangerous if you fall."
Seo-Yeon sat next to Henry who was laughing with Nero and another soldier while placing Dunha right next to her.
The musicians played their instruments while the servants took the empty trays back to the kitchen and returned with a full tray of food.
The whole dining room was packed with people as they ate, laughed, and sang, making the whole room lively. It was certainly much better than to just silently eat food without showing any sort of emotion.
Looking at this sight, Dunha smiled.
"When was the last time I enjoyed a dinner like this with everyone..." she wondered.
"HAHAHA!" someone laughed.
The loud laughter startled Dunha and caused her to snap out of her thoughts.
She looked to her right and saw the source of the laughter. One of the soldiers collapsed drunk which caused the others to laugh. It appeared that the man challenged Clover to a drinking contest and lost.
"This shouldn't be too surprising... When it comes to a drinking contest involving Clover, you might as well bet your entire fortune on her," Dunha thought. "I remember I once challenged her and ended up regretting it the next morning."
"Oh my, I thought he could hold his liquor but I guess I was wrong. Looks like I'll have to gladly take your money," said Clover as she picked up 5 silver coins off the table.
After pocketing the coins, Clover approached Charles who was quietly enjoying his meal.
"Care to challenge me?" she asked.
Charles slowly shook his head.
"I'm afraid I'll have to refuse," said Charles. "I don't want to see you sulk after I win and take all of your money," he added as he grinned.
Clover grinned.
"Fu fu fu... You're going to regret saying that," Clover smiled as she gave Charles a huge mug.
"Oh boy... They're at it again..." someone mumbled. "I'm betting 2 gold coins on Great General Clover."
Dunha decided to ignore them and enjoy the food instead.
"Wow. Just wow..." Dunha thought.
Her eyes sparkled in amazement as she saw the variety of food. The food that caught her attention the most was the meat section. There were all kinds of meat such as beef, pork, duck, chicken, and even venison.
"That's a lot of meat..." Dunha thought as she unknowingly drooled.
She tried to reach for a chicken leg with her fork until an arm reached out and picked it up for her.
"Here you go," Seo-Yeon smiled.
"Thank you," Dunha smiled back.
She began to eat the meat and nearly cried because of the delicious taste.
As Seo-Yeon happily watched Dunha eat, she began to mumble to herself.
"So that's why Omar used magic to make food earlier instead of cooking. He was preparing for this," said Seo-Yeon.
"That would make sense. If he tried to create all of this food through his powers alone, he would've probably collapsed," Henry laughed.
"Oh my," said Seo-Yeon.
Seo-Yeon looked surprised as she saw her daughter eat as if she starved for days.
"It looks like Dunha's enjoying the food," Seo-Yeon smiled. "Eat slowly, otherwise you might choke."
"Fo, esruoc," said Dunha as she chewed on her food.
Meanwhile, Charles collapsed after attempting to drink his third mug. This caused several of the spectators who were betting on Clover to cheer and laugh while the ones who were betting on Charles grabbed their heads in regret.
After watching Charles collapse, Clover emptied her mug and laughed.
"I told you that you were going to regret it," Clover laughed. "But thanks for the free money."
With no one else to challenge, she sat down to enjoy some of the food instead. Lily was sitting near Clover the entire time enjoying a meal.
While eating, Dunha looked around her surroundings and couldn't resist herself to smile once more. Although this was only the beginning of the many celebrations and feasts that she'll witness later on in the future, this feast would be remembered the most by her as the first happy dinner she had in her second life with her family except for her brother who wasn't born yet.
It'll only take a few more months before she'll see her baby brother once more, however, the tragedy that'll occur a week after his birth would also follow.
"No matter what... I'll find a way to save mother..." Dunha thought.
She then raised her head and looked at her mother who was laughing with Nero after her father told them a joke. Dunha continued to smile before proceeding to finish her third plate.
Just as Dunha finished eating, she noticed that her mother suddenly stopped laughing and was staring at the balcony.
"What is she looking at?" Dunha wondered.
She then saw Blue standing alone on the balcony and was silently staring at the night sky with his arms crossed as the wind slowly blew across his hair. He was still in his armor except for his helmet.
Henry also noticed Blue standing alone and then saw Seo-Yeon looking at him with concerned eyes. Henry nodded once and stood up from his seat.
"Well, if you all don't mind, I'm going to go get some fresh air," said Henry.
"Let me escort you safely, your Majesty," said Nero as he stood up from his chair. He then reached for his sheathed sword that was against the wall until Henry shook his head.
"No, stay here and enjoy the food. I'm just going to go stand on the balcony. Your king commands it," said Henry.
Nero paused for a moment.
"Yes... Yes, your majesty," Nero replied as he reluctantly sat back down.
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While everyone was enjoying the feast, Blue took a goblet of wine before walking to the balcony to silently stare at the quiet night sky. Blue then noticed somebody approaching the balcony and realized it was Henry.
"Why aren't you inside?" Henry asked.
"Drinking alone is better for me," Blue answered. "Plus, I don't want Clover to challenge me into a drinking match like she did to Charles. It didn't end well for me last time."
"Understandable. I think there are only 2 or 3 people in this entire world that could outdrink her," Henry laughed.
As he laughed, Blue continued to quietly look at the sky before answering Henry's question.
"I just needed some fresh air," Blue sighed.
After looking at Blue's eyes, Henry asked him another question.
"It's about Ellie, isn't it?" Henry asked. "Coming to think of it, it should be around this time when..." he paused.
The balcony went silent for a moment before Blue began to talk.
"Aye... It should be around this time. Who'd imagine he of all people would betray us like that?" said Blue. "Henry, I still remember it. When I rushed back to the village... When I saw the boxes... Ha... I still can't forget what I saw. Their eyes..."
Before Blue could start to blame himself of the tragedy that occurred years ago, Henry quickly asked another question.
"I heard from Seo-Yeon that another slaver ship was captured," Henry asked. "Ellie wasn't in there, I assume?"
"Aye," said Blue.
Henry took a deep breath.
"It's been almost 8 years now? There was also that girl from--"
Blue quickly cut off Henry before he could finish what he was going to say.
"I know what you're going to say. Don't," Blue warned.
He then took another sip of wine.
"Alright. Let's stop here for now then," said Henry. "Come on, let's head back in. It'll be bad for morale if one of the 7 Great Generals were to die from a cold."
Just when he turned around to head back inside, Blue suddenly grabbed his left shoulder.
"Henry," Blue said.
Normally, if someone were to place their hands on any of the royal family, it would get them into deep trouble, however, there were a few who were an exception and Blue was one of them.
"What?" Henry asked.
Blue looked at Henry with a serious expression before talking.
"Dunha needs to learn how to fight. It doesn't have to be right now or next year but she'll have to be trained at some point," said Blue.
Henry paused for a second before glaring at Blue while maintaining his smile.
"I didn't think that you would be this drunk to be talking some random nonsense," said Henry. "..."
When Henry realized that Blue was not jesting, he took a deep breath.
"Ha... She's my only daughter. I want her to live a happy and peaceful life for as long as she can before she has to take the burden of becoming the next ruler of this kingdom. She'll eventually have to learn many things in the future but if it's possible, I want her to avoid picking up the sword," said Henry.
"I can understand that but she's going to be forced to learn how to fight whether she likes it or not in the future," said Blue.
Henry's smile disappeared.
"What do you mean?" Henry asked.
"Although the war officially ended through the death of your father and older brother and the capture of the Capital, it's not completely over," Blue replied. "There are still those who don't see you as king."
"Maya, Boris, Lucas, and the others are almost done dealing with the few remaining rebellious lords. Once they're dealt with, the kingdom will be able to enjoy peace for a long time," said Henry.
Blue shook his head in disapproval.
"Now that's where you're wrong," said Blue. "I'm not sure what this feeling is right now but I know that there's going to be trouble in the future and it's coming much faster than you think it is."
"What?" Henry asked.
"After enjoying peace for a few years, it's all going to collapse again. I have a feeling that there's going to be another war soon. I don't know when and where but I know it'll happen and when it does..." Blue stopped for a second. "It's going to be a lot worse than the previous one."
Henry tried to shrug it off.
"You're clearly too drunk to think logically right now. I'll get you some cold water, it should help you sober up a little," said Henry.
As he tried to dismiss Blue's claims, it was Blue glared at him this time.
"Have I ever predicted something and got it wrong?" he asked.
"So far, no. But I think I just did right now," Henry answered.
"Henry," said Blue.
"That's enough for today. We should discuss something important like this at a later time," said Henry as his eyes pointed to his right.
Blue noticed some of the feasting soldiers staring at them. Most of them were just out of curiosity before proceeding to eat while 1 or 2 of them looked as if they were glaring at them.
"I made many enemies while trying to win this damn war," said Henry. "Next time, try to be more careful when you talk about something like this. This is your problem when you're drunk, you always let your guard down and that'll get you killed someday."
"I'll keep that in mind," Blue smirked.
"Good. Let's head back in," said Henry. "It looks like somebody is trying to challenge Clover again."
"Well, I hope she doesn't notice me," Blue laughed.
The two friends then headed back inside.
(To be continued.)
2020/05/02