After waking up from her nightmare, Dunha washed her face with water from a large bowl that was on the table.
"Remembering that nightmare is making me sick..." Dunha thought as she shivered.
Unable to go back to sleep, Dunha decided to look out the window and saw several guards walking around the garden. Ever since yesterday's attack, the castle's security was tripled.
However, it was the sunrise that caught Dunha's attention the most.
"It's so beautiful..." Dunha murmured.
The sky was orange as the sun slowly rose. It amazed Dunha so much that her eyes began to sparkle.
"That's right... I went back in time..." she mumbled. "I have nothing to fear for now."
Remembering her nightmare from last night caused her to shiver, however, she was able to calm down after she reminded herself that she's currently 5-years-old and that all of those tragedies have yet to happen.
"If possible, I'd prefer that it doesn't happen again at all..." she thought.
She then looked out of the window once more and began to smile.
"I should probably go to the library today," said Dunha.
She remembered that there was a fire in the castle's library at some point in the middle of the 5th month of this year.
"Fortunately, the fire was quickly put out before it had the chance to spread to the entire library," Dunha remembered. "However, some of the books ended up being destroyed by the fire."
She didn't think much about it at the time, however, when she learned that Mason was involved in the fire incident, she knew that the library had something that he did not want others to know about.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about the books as they were destroyed a long time ago. In the end, she never found out what those books were about as she was busy dealing with the Azidahakian Invasion of 1775 in the early springs. She ended up forgetting about it due to the amount of stress she received during the war and also because it was too late to do anything about the destroyed secrets.
However, now that she went back in time, it'll be possible to investigate what Mason was trying to destroy.
"If he was willing to go that far to destroy those books, then it must be something very valuable," she thought.
But before she went to the library to investigate, she had one thing to do first.
"I should take a bath first before I head to the library. I can't stand this sticky feeling on my skin," Dunha thought.
She then proceeded to head towards the door to talk to the guards.
"Hm? Does the princess need something?" a guard asked.
"Yes, I want to take a bath," said Dunha.
"Understood. I shall call in a maid to prepare a bath," said the guard.
"Thank you," Dunha smiled.
This surprised the guard.
"I-I am honored," said the guard.
Dunha nodded and closed the door.
"Her highness just thanked me..." the flabbergasted guard murmured.
"Misha, we talked about this," said the other guard as he glared at Misha.
"Calm down. You know what I meant," said Misha. "You stay here while I go tell the maid to prepare the princess' bath."
"Alright. Hurry up," said the guard.
Misha nodded and quickly walked away.
🔸🔸🔸 (Meanwhile)
In a large town, far away from the capital, the voice of an angry man could be heard from a luxurious mansion.
"Those bloody imbeciles!" a man shouted.
The man proceeded to throw his golden goblet onto the floor which caused it to shatter into pieces.
"Calm down. Destroying everything in the room is not going to help anyone," said another man who was calmly sitting on a sofa while drinking a cup of tea.
"How can I be calm?! They failed to kill that foreign wench who's responsible for disrupting my business!" the angry man shouted as he crumpled up a piece of paper.
The calm man then lowered his cup and glared at the angry man.
"Careful now. Those are some dangerous words that you're spitting out right now. If someone heard this and reported us, our heads would roll." the calm man warned.
"I guess you're right... Apologies, Count Newen," the angry man apologized sarcastically.
The Count ignored his brother's sarcasm.
"I'm assuming that the remaining assassins went into hiding after yesterday's disastrous show?" Count Newen asked.
"They did. Now that Great General Blue is in the royal castle, they're not going to take any risks." said the Count's brother.
Count Newen began to laugh.
"Ha! I told you that those third-rate rubes would be nothing but a waste of money," Newen laughed. "This is why you don't hire anyone from the Reddy Kingdom! They're always unreliable," he added.
"Nonsense. They were the best assassins that Reddians offered," said the man.
"It seems like you've been deceived. I'm surprised that you still managed to keep your Viscount title despite your stupidity, little brother." the Count taunted.
The Viscount then made an irritated expression.
"Rather than insult me, how about thinking of a plan that'll help your brother out?" the Viscount complained.
Newen sighed.
"You shouldn't have started that idiotic slave trade with the Azidahakians in the first place. Look at this situation now, it's complete madness," said Newen.
"Don't act innocent. You've been involved in this too," the Viscount argued.
"I guess I can't argue with that," Newen shrugged. "I'll help you out this one time."
Count Newen then stood up and took out a piece of paper from his side pocket. The piece of paper began to glow.
"What is that?" the Viscount asked.
"Quiet. I'll tell you later," said Newen.
He walked towards a table and took out a quill from a drawer. He then began to write something down.
"Ah, finished," said Newen.
The piece of paper then began to turn red before turning into ashes.
"Now, we just have to be patient," said Newen.
"What was that?" the Viscount asked again.
"It's a messenger paper. It's the only way to communicate with the assassins in the Tierra Kingdom. They are much more competent than the Reddian rubes you hired," said Newen. "I just hired their best man known as "The Silencer" to deal with our current problem. It's going to cost us 1,000,000 coins, however..."
The price caused the Viscount's jaws to nearly drop to the floor.
"O-one million?! That's 10,000 gold coins!" the Viscount panicked.
Newen began to grin.
"We won't have to worry about that," said Newen.
"What do you mean by that?" the Viscount asked.
"Just give the man some time and you'll find out soon enough. All we need to do for now is relax," said Newen.
Newen then began to pour more tea into his cup before sitting back down.
"Now that we got all of this mess settled, I would like another one for tonight," said Newen.
His brother looked at Newen with disgust.
"This is the sixth purchase! What happened to the previous one?!" the Viscount asked.
"It broke after I got too excited. It's not my fault that they're so fragile," said Newen as he laughed.
His brother began to slowly shake his head in disapproval.
"Sometimes, you make me concern for your mental health. But business is business," said the Viscount. "I'll bring one in an hour."
"Make sure it's not too old this time," said Newen.
The Viscount rolled his eyes before leaving the room in disgust.
As Newen sat on the sofa alone, he looked up the ceiling with a creepy grin.
"The current princess's name is Dunha Star, huh? They said she's turning 5 this year?" he thought.
He looked out of the open window and made a sinister smile as he let out a small chuckle.
🔸🔸🔸
[Dunha's P.O.V]
Meanwhile, Dunha was in a bathtub being washed by her maids. She then suddenly shivered despite being in the warm water.
"My lady, is the water too cold?" a concerned maid asked.
"No, I'm okay. Carry on," said Dunha. "What was that disturbing feeling?" she wondered.
It was probably best for her to not know.
(To be Continued)
2020/05/17