William broke the silence that had been going on now for quite a number of minutes. "Is there a King or Queen that was extremely great?"

Mahnu looked at William, and smiled, "Yes!"

William got excited, "Who!? Tell me!"

"He's right here." Mahnu laughed and looked at Richard.

"…I'm not a great King." He mumbled. As it was, he just realized how great his Knight was! How he had treated his mother and father poorly in the past!

Richard felt far from being a great King!

"It's not based on what you, as the King, personally thinks or feels. It's the people’s point of view." Mahnu stated frankly. As far as she was aware, in her existence, a good King was someone who thought of his land and people.

Yet, this statement stunned King Richard, "The people like me?"

"Of course! They all saw the change of Kralaide from your father's reign to yours. They are much happier now. I even liked you when I hadn't met you. I remember thinking that you made a good decision to help the west and east with provisions just for them, even though they could give you nothing in return. And that's why I ventured to save you from the assassins, because I wanted you to live."

 

King Richard contemplated her words, while he sat properly on the bed beside Mahnu, putting his legs out in front of him. "So that's why we were able to meet?"

Mahnu smiled at him. "I felt sorry for you in Nowell. Here I was, an immortal, trying to help people for over a thousand years and there you were wanting to solve everything in a human life span. I even wondered if I should've told you not to bother."

The King chuckled, "So, that's what you were thinking then?"

"Yes. But you stunned me when you kissed me. Afterwards, I thought that you had a lot of nerve to kiss a God!"

"Were you going to kill me?" He asked, his eyes sparkling, remembering his own thoughts back then too.

William and Jaclyn started to notice that Mahnu and King Richard were in their own little world. They had been practically forgotten about and started to feel uncomfortable…

"No...I...I've never killed anyone before. Grant you, I did hurt people, if they hurt others, but I never killed any human."

The King was surprised, "No one?"

Mahnu shook her head.

 

"…You killed Thelmos and Eliza a few times." The King finally said.

"No. I'm not talking about God's. Besides, they didn't die." Mahnu retaliated, showing a frown.

"…I wonder how many times you would have died if you weren't a God..." William's quiet, curious words made everybody look at him.

Silence filled the room and William shrank into his chair. "I'm sorry…I shouldn't have said that."

"Leave." The King said coldly.

Mahnu put a hand up, "It's fine."

"It's not. Your name and death, in the same breath..." Just the thought of it made the King close his eyes to take a breath and try to calm himself down.

"Richard!" He then looked at her, obviously annoyed, and Mahnu sighed, "It is not like William wishes me dead. He was curious."

"I don't want to talk about it." The King mumbled.

William got up and bowed, "I apologize, I will never say those words again." And he left…

Jaclyn also left, leaving Mahnu alone to comfort King Richard.

She didn't speak but pulled him down to her lap.

Hastily, he turned around and put his arms around her waist possessively. He kissed her tummy and closed his eyes, while Mahnu played with his hair.

Watching him fall asleep, Mahnu smiled, then looked out to see that dawn settle upon the land of what she could see outside the window.

…It has been a long day…

 

***

 

The King and Marcus had been busy as they had deployed knights everywhere.

One knight had left for Harval, to tell the Queen and her father that the King won't arrive, as for both Mahnu and the King's next destination had changed to Conrella.

Several knights had been dispatched to protect The Chest of the God's, until further notice. These several knights had the order that if any outsiders close by to The Chest of the God's were found, they had to be brought back to the capital to be questioned.

More knights were coming to Bena, for the protection of Mahnu and her travel back to Conrella.

Many more knights, that were already in Bena, were dispatched to search Bena, for Sedric, the wanted Governor.

Since so many knights were needed, they had to send for more from Havlish, which would lengthen the time that Mahnu was supposed to return back to Conrella.

Being the King, he already had quite a few knights that followed him for protection but Mahnu was already down by one because of Sedric's men, so, King Richard made sure that her safety became top priority.

After all this work, that was when the King had come back to Mahnu, to hear her story.

In the following days, not only were they waiting for more knights to arrive, but they were waiting upon finding the hideout of Sedric and finding Sedric himself…So, having not heard much, it was rather quiet in the King’s residence that was situated in Bena.

 

One person seemed to feel like he had a lot to do!

Not only was this person guarding, training and having to fit in a few hours’ sleep in a day, but…William started to write down as much as he could from what Mahnu had said previously and from her continued stories in his free time.

Him doing this, made one feel like he had too much to do in a day, but really…His favorite time of day was listening and writing all this down!

Mahnu would silently laugh at him repeatedly each time seeing him this way, but William would enthusiastically keep up this routine without showing any type of boredom or exhaustion!

On the other hand, Jaclyn became a good support and friend for Mahnu, as the days went by.

There were a few more unstoppable pregnancy symptoms that Mahnu started to get disgusted with, but Jaclyn did not find anything else wrong, besides that of Mahnu having to drink more water.

And, with William around, as he was excited, Jaclyn started to get excited too about hearing more of Kralaide’s past history!

They both listened to each story diligently and even ended up starting to sit next to each other in the last three days.

Mahnu knew that Jaclyn hadn’t thought too much into a relationship with William, but her thoughts on William being handsome and cute continued…William, on the other hand, didn’t put much effort into it either, as he was just too busy, but it was still obvious that he liked Jaclyn as he had gone to call her ‘Cute dimples’ often in his head.

Mahnu could only smile at them, as it seemed they both liked each other, but it just wasn’t the time to start something. Normally she did not interfere with any human affairs, as she did not seem to think it would be worth her showing herself in front of them…Yet…She felt the want to get these two together at some point…

…Perhaps when they are back in Conrella, she could find a way to show the both of them their own feelings…

 

 

It was a week after they had returned to Bena, that it was past due time that the King had to leave.

Now that a new temporary Governor for Bena was initiated and they had found no other leads about the doctor’s leader, there was no more reason for His Majesty to stay. Of course, if he were to leave, it didn’t mean that the search to find Sedric was going to stop, it was just that the King was not personally going to oversee its continuation.

King Richard didn't want to leave but Mahnu told him that Kralaide was waiting for him and that she would be in Conrella soon anyway. He wanted to leave every knight there to keep her safe, except for Marcus, and even though she tried to persuade him otherwise, he didn't listen.

Mahnu knew of his potential regret of if something would happen to her, but in her eyes…The King was more important this she was and didn’t want anything to happen to him on the way back to Conrella, feeling the same type of potential regret…

After the King left, Mahnu demanded that a couple of his knights go back and follow, without being seen, to safeguard the King until he safely arrives in Conrella, and they could only comply to her instructions.

 

…But things changed after the King left. Mahnu felt out of place and lonely. She had not foreseen that she would feel this way upon Richard’s departure and even somewhat disliked herself for relying so much upon him…

It also wasn’t just about relying on Richard, she came to notice, but it was also something about not having anything to do…

For over a thousand years she had one goal, and that was to sleep because she would make the sufferings disappear. Now…She had accomplished getting the tablet back and it was now smashed. The God’s were gone, and she no longer had the sufferings circulating in her head to know which way to go to help people.

It was a whirlwind of wondering what she was to be now, what she was to do, and her silence may have been over looked but over this time, she was really thinking about how to live the rest of her mortal life…

Jaclyn tried to comfort her but after a couple of times, she realized that Mahnu really depended on the King. If she had known about this earlier, she would have insisted that both of them stay together, travelling back to Conrella at the same time but…Not only is this in the past now and unavoidable, but how could she even ask that of the King of Kralaide in the first place!?

For Mahnu to become the person that Jaclyn had never seen, it was a bit scary…

Not only did Mahnu eat less and go back to forgetting to eat once again, but many times she would be seen to be looking far away, outside of the window, looking lost and insecure…

Stories did not get told anymore and due to Mahnu becoming a bit sullen, William did not ask for them like a child, worried it might cause Mahnu more problems.

In just two days, Mahnu had gone into a shell that worried everyone else to no end!

It was really…A problem that could only be solved by having the King back to being by her side…

 

***

 

King Richard had visited Betty and Donald on his arrival back to Conrella but didn't stay long. He withheld the news of Mahnu's pregnancy so that Mahnu could tell them herself instead.

The King also had turned quiet upon leaving Bena, but Marcus saw that he didn't turn back to what he was like when Mahnu had gone missing for two years, in which made Marcus feel relieved.

Marcus watched as His Majesty caught up with his work, only because he wanted to keep busy, so not to think of being away from Mahnu…But it was still far from the drunk and isolated person that Marcus was worried to see once again.

The news of Sedric reached the other Governors and the new temporary Governor for Bena was introduced to any other Governor that was in Conrella at the time. He had, of course, followed His Majesty to Conrella but left within two days to return back to Bena.

Some type of disease had been reported from Anddin and King Richard ordered a few specific doctors to go and help the people and hopefully, completely cure the disease.

Also, the King had a nice chat with his old friend, Governor Dominic, from Dragvie, making that day pass a bit more smoothly then the others since he has returned…

But…There was only so much that work could accomplish and during times of trying to sleep and being with his children…King Richard would be reminded of the beloved woman that he left behind in Bena…

…I miss you, Mahnu…