The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Sunny Mornings" by Peder B. Helland (Instrumental only) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~ 

Clavis was busy talking with his twin sister, Illumináire, when he suddenly felt Selena's aura. Without a second thought, he quickly teleported to her location, not even bidding farewell to his sister. 

Illumináire chuckled after just witnessing her brother's reaction. She, too, felt Selena's aura and knew that she could use magic already. On her not so busy days, she helped teach Selena a couple of skills. She was the sister she never had, so she was quite happy spending time with her.

"Selena!" Clavis called out to her, panting in worry. His eyes widened as he surveyed the surroundings looking for his fiancée. And there he found her behind the collapsed fountain, talking to Azalea.

Clavis ran towards Selena and pulled her to an embrace when he got near. His heart beat loudly in his chest - too loud that even Selena felt it thumping on hers.

"C-Clavis …," Selena was surprised at first, but feeling Clavis' heartbeat, her face flushed pink. A giggle escaped her lips as she patted Clavis' back and teased him, "I'm fine. My hubby is such a worrywart".

Clavis let her go and looked at her with a frown on his face. He flicked her forehead lightly and reprimanded her, "I believe I told you not to use magic unless necessary".

"Awwwiiie," Selena pouted. "But it IS necessary! That green haired bit*h almost killed us! Including the queen! How dare she! Good thing I was quick enough to defend ourselves". Her cute face fumed in anger.

"Green haired …," Clavis mumbled as he looked around. And there, at the edge of the garden, he saw Nefastus, trying to stand despite her severe injuries. She tried to cast healing magic in her hands but her spiritual energy was failing to flow in her body. Clavis glared at her and uttered her name, "Nefastus …"

"So that's her name, huh?" Selena's pout didn't leave her face. "Matches her evil personality, hmf!"

"This is troublesome," Clavis murmured. "You said she tried to harm the queen, too?"

"Yes, she did! She was with me all along!" Selena answered and pointed to Azalea, who were smiling and chuckling, watching the two of them being so sweet with each other.

"Greetings to the Wise Judge, Clavis," Azalea curtseyed and bowed her head.

"Greetings to Her Highness," Clavis bowed his head in return. He then turned back to Selena and asked her, "Can you tell me everything that happened?"

Having such a big commotion in the Grand Palace's garden, some of the Generals came to investigate. As Selena told Clavis the story, the Generals appeared one after another, teleporting from different directions. They hovered in the air to get a better view of everything. Wanting to know what happened, they gathered spiritual energies in their eyes, causing it to glow and surveyed the area for magical trace, aside from just seeing the ruined gardens.

The magical trace scattered everywhere but mostly focused on Clavis' and Selena's position, and on Nefastus', at the edge of the garden. Since Selena and Azalea were humans, they immediately thought it was Clavis who fought with Nefastus, while protecting his fiancé.

"It's not a threat to the king as I see," one of the generals stated after a moment of pondering.

"I agree," said the other. "It's most likely Clavis, protecting his fiancé".

"Nefastus only knows how to bring trouble as always," another commented.

"Too bad she angered a Judge," the other shrugged.

"It's weird she'd try fighting off a Judge, though, when she's just a Legendary rank Magi".

"It's most likely she tried to harm Clavis' fiancé and Clavis just teleported from somewhere when he felt the danger".

"Hmmm … But how can he sense such a thing? Is there a charm for that?" the skeptical one pointed out.

"Who knows? Sortis family got holy power we know nothing about. He probably has," the other shrugged again.

"Ha ha ha ha! Don't tell me you're thinking the human did it? Humans don't have magic".

The others laughed with him. Realizing this, the skeptical one agreed as well. For it was impossible for a human to have magic, let alone use it, so they dismissed the thought.

"Well, since the Judge is here, there's no need for us to bother with them".

And so, the Generals left the place and teleported back to their offices. Clavis sighed in relief. He thought it would be troublesome if it got leaked out that he shared his life energy with a human - it was forbidden magic after all. But he didn't regret his decision. 

In his mind Clavis thought, "I follow the Supreme's guidance and decrees more than the decrees and customs of Magi. The Supreme above all. Saving Selena was the right decision".

Selena noticed his sigh. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing," Clavis shook his head. "I'm just thinking … what to do with Nefastus".

"Hmf! She deserves some punishment," Selena murmured. "I'm not sure with your laws, but whoever she is, she offended the queen! She also blatantly told Azalea that she'll usurp the queen's position from her".

Clavis chuckled, "Yes, yes, she deserves some punishment," he caressed Selena's cheeks and let go of her. "I'll go talk to her. Stay here," he said and walked towards Nefastus.

"Your fiancée dotes on you very much, huh?" Azalea teased Selena.

"He he he … He does," Selena blushed and grinned so happily. In her embarrassment, she hid her face with her hands and giggled again. "Oh! By the way, when you're free, come visit us! You'll definitely like the Sortis household! They're very kind. If you need a place to relax, just go there and you will have some peace".

"Sure, I will!"

After a moment, Clavis finished talking to Nefastus. He went back to Selena and Azalea, offering to accompany the queen back to her chamber to get some rest. Selena noticed Nefastus' terrified face before she teleported out of the garden and felt satisfied with whatever Clavis told her to scare her that way. 

And so, Azalea went back to the bed chamber she shared with the king. When she returned, she saw King Calum sleeping on the bed. She sat on the bed beside him, and stared at his sleeping face.

"He seemed tired, too," Azalea sighed. She raised her right hand and brushed King Calum's cheek and whispered, "I hope you have a sweet dream". Then she stood up to leave him to rest.

But the king's hand grabbed hers and pulled her back to the bed.

"Leaving already?" King Calum asked, with barely opened eyes. "Join me".

"But it's still morning. I don't think it's right to just sleep all day," Azalea shook her head. "Why don't you -" she halted as the king pulled her beside him and embraced her.

King Calum closed his eyes and planned to go back to sleep. However, he felt magical traces in Azalea's body when he embraced her. His eyes shot open in an instant.

"What happened?" the king asked. His tone, furious.

Azalea jolted hearing his scary voice. "I - I'm fine".

"I know you're fine since you managed to come back here. What I want to know is what happened? Why am I detecting spiritual traces in you? Clavis and ... Nefastus?"

Azalea breathed heavily before answering him, "There's just … a bit of a commotion". Then, she remembered what Nefastus said - that they were childhood friends. She felt her heart sting. She thought, "It's useless to tell him, I guess. They're closer than we both are. He'd probably take her side. And somehow … I don't want to hear about it".

"Stop dilly dallying and tell me already. Speak!" King Calum's patience ran out.

"If … If I told you that," Azalea hesitated, "... a childhood friend of yours tried to harm me and my friend, what would you do?"

King Calum furrowed, "Clavis tried to hurt you?"

"No!" Azalea blurted out. She didn't want him to misunderstand and blame the wrong person. "Not Clavis".

"Then it's Nefastus".

Azalea nodded.

"She's not a friend though. She's a pest who kept on following me around since childhood - if that's what you meant by a childhood 'friend'," he replied, stressing on the 'friend' part.

Hearing this, Azalea's face brightened up. " … I see. So she's not … but she said she was so I thought -"

"Blah blah blah … just tell me what happened already. If anyone dared to harm you, I don't care who they are, I'll make sure to give them back ten folds of what they deserve!"

Azalea chuckled. Somehow, she felt so happy hearing that the king will take her side. And somehow, she felt the urge to tease him a bit.

"Alright, I'll tell you what happened in one condition," Azalea smirked at him.

Raising his eyebrows, the king asked, "What condition?"

Then Azalea leaned closer and whispered, "Kiss me".