The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Beautiful" by Crush (Instrumental only) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in the loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this scene XD ~ 0////0

Have you ever seen the breath-taking view of a star-filled sky at night? 

The Milky Way Galaxy, seen from a dark meadow, far from the lights of the city? 

Imagine that same beauty, elegance, and mystery, transferred into a flowing dress, with an illusion V-neck top, and an exposed back. It was paired with choice accessories - a white gold necklace adorned with white diamonds and a sapphire pendant; a white gold ear cuff designed like a comet star; and luxurious white gold arm bracelet with matching designs like the ear cuffs and necklace.

This was the dress that Rania picked - a galaxy evening gown. 

The base color of the gown was navy blue - a color which incidentally, Elliot picked for his suit. It was also topped with a very soft and thin, but silky, flowing fabric, with gold and white gold glimmers scattered throughout the dress, making them appear as tiny stars. She held her hair high in a knotted updo and ornamented it with white gold hairpins designed like the moon and stars.

Elliot forgot to breathe when he saw Rania come out of the dressing room. Luna and Ducis also gaped in awe of Rania's bewitching beauty. It was as if seeing the goddess of the universe right before their very eyes. Elliot was unable to stop himself - he quickly walked towards her and welcomed her with a tight embrace. Then, he softly whispered to her ears.

"You're gorgeous, my Queen," Elliot smiled warmly at her.

"What is this lovey-dovey atmosphere?" Luna squinted her eyes and reprimanded Elliot, "Why are you hugging Rania? Your hugs are getting more and more often. I don't think that's fine".

Elliot naughtily hugged Rania tighter and turned back to Luna so he could look at her eye to eye. His lips curved into a smirk as he replied to her, "Actually, it's fine. She is my girlfriend, after all".

Luna held both of her cheeks and screamed, "Whaaat?! Y-y-you … and my R-rania?! Waaa! No!" She lifted her dress and ran towards Rania. "Rania, is that true? You and him?" she bawled her eyes. "You love him more than me now?"

"Hey! Don't cry, Luna. It's a waste of your beautiful face," Rania patted her head.

"But you love him more than me," Luna continued to wail.

"I love you the same. And don't compare, you're both important to me".

Luna scowled at Elliot, "You better not make her cry or I'll … I'll … I'll do everything to make you suffer!"

Hearing her words, Rania gently flicked Luna's forehead.

"That's rude, you know. And don't be angry at Elliot … It's …," Rania blushed before she continued, "It's a mutual agreement so ... I mean, I, too -," she bit her lips in embarrassment and covered her face.

Luna smiled warmly, seeing Rania happy - truly happy. It wasn't only Elliot that noticed she had been feeling down for the last couple of weeks. She felt it, too.

"If that's the case," Luna caressed Rania's cheeks, "I'm very happy for you".

Rania smiled back at her. "Thank you!"

"Don't worry. I'm not planning on making her cry," Elliot added. "What I do plan is making her my queen if I ever become king".

"Woah! Of course! Rania is definitely fitted to be a queen!"

"She really is," Elliot seconded.

"Stop it, you two".

The three chatted for a few more minutes as Ducis watched over them from the couch. His eyes stared at Elliot, then to Rania, and sighed afterward. He whispered to himself.

"This is going to be a long night".

And so, the four of them went to the coliseum to witness the bittersweet theatrical play about "The Fairy and the Dragon" that they had been hearing about for days. Upon entering, the coliseum took a drastic change in decorations. The open sky this morning was now covered by the coliseum's retractable roof. The seats changed into a red and gold, comfortable yet luxurious couches. On each seat was a thin booklet that contained the play script and other important information about the play should the audience want to check it out. There were lots of luminous lights and large speakers scattered everywhere. And the arena changed into an open theatre stage with spotlights circling it, and an orchestra situated at the far end.

Rania, Elliot, Luna and Ducis, took a seat at the front rows, facing the stage. They arrived early, so they had to wait a couple of minutes before the rest of the audience came in and filled the whole place. With how expensive the ticket was, they didn't expect it to be a full house, so they got surprised when they saw otherwise.

A few moments more and finally, the orchestra began to play a song, signaling the start of the show. It was a song called "Fairy Forest" by Adrian Von Ziegler, according to the play script provided to them. The song had a hint of playfulness and mystery in it, and the melody was perfect for anyone to imagine a fairy forest. As the song played out, the plain stage changed into a green and luscious forest, with tall trees, and shrubs, and flowers all around. It was very peaceful to look at.

"Humm~ Humm~ Humm~".

Suddenly, a woman with pinkish-white hair and golden eyes came in, humming and hopping around. She was very beautiful and wore a white goddess robe with pink gradient ends. On her small waist was a belt made of different beautiful flowers and vines. And on her back, was a captivating white and pink butterfly wings, folded down. According to the script, her name was "Flora," the newly appointed Guardian of Nature.

"La la la~ What a beautiful day it is," Flora continued humming until her feet stumbled upon something, and she fell hard on the ground. "Ouch! That hurts! What in the world was that?!" she pouted and wailed as she got back up. Her cute face was too adorable.

From her feet where she stumbled, she noticed another set of feet, covered in dark boots. She raised her eyebrows and looked sideways to see who it belonged to. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly crawled backward, away from "him".

It was a man with long and silky black hair, where a crown of golden dragon horns stood tall on his head. He wore a delicately designed black hanfu with silver embroideries. His lips were red, and his face was handsomely sleeping. According to the script, he was Ducis, the Guardian of Time and Space. But the sudden commotion woke him up, revealing his gem-like golden eyes. He gave off a stern look towards the fairy who disturbed his sleep.

"He's that guy," Flora whispered to herself. Her inner thoughts echoed to all the audience with the help of the magical speakers scattered around. "That notorious dragon everyone's talking about! Golden horns as a crown … and that devilish look! Well, I must admit he's very handsome but … he's scary".

"Who dares disturb my sleep?" Ducis asked in an aloof manner, and his tone, foreboding.

Flora felt a chill in her spine as she looked in those cold golden eyes. But her annoyance was greater.

"D-dares?" Flora scoffed. "I didn't 'dare' disturb your sleep. It was an accident! Besides, who sleeps near a pathway?" she pouted and complained. Her face fumed in anger.

Ducis raised one of his eyebrows. "This is not a pathway. And I am sleeping under a tree, a suitable place to rest. You're the one clumsily hopping around without looking at where you're going".

"Urgh, how did you know I wasn't looking? You were sleeping!"

"You wouldn't stumble on me if you were looking".

"Tsk! Don't play smart with me! Where's your proof?"

"I just said the proof".

"No, that's not proof!

"Ugh," Ducis sighed. "This conversation is going nowhere. Scram now, if you don't want to deal with my anger".

But Flora was stubborn to the point it was immeasurable. She just didn't know when to back down. She stood up, walked towards Ducis, and kneeled in front of him, so their eyes were on the same level. Then, she slumped her hands hard on the tree, locking Ducis between, much to his surprise, and leaned nearer to his face.

With the scowl not leaving her beautiful face, Flora replied to him, "Just to let you know, I am not afraid of you, so I won't scram. Besides, I'm the Guardian of Nature, so this forest is my domain, not yours. I think it is 'you' who should scram!"

Ducis' eyes widened in surprise. He could not believe someone was talking back to him - and a woman, too! She even had the audacity to ask 'him' to leave!

Ducis scoffed at her, "Unbelievable," was the only word he was able to utter.

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Hi Beloved Readers!

Check out this amazing new novel and add in your library!

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Author: StarrSwan

Genre: Contemporary Romance

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