***

(Casimir Kismet)

"How's your first night here, Karoon?" I asked Karoon as we walked down one of the corridors of the castle.

She smiled at me. "It's great, the food is great, the bed is great..." She narrowed her eyes. "Although the people here have been looking at me weird."

She's wearing her blazer the usual way which was opened all the way to her belly button exposing her black bra and white stomach.

Tanya would definitely scold me once she discovers that I let Karoon do whatever she wants to! 

I chuckled. "Yeah, we will somehow get used to it... I just hope so." We turned to the intersection toward the garden of the castle where the knights pointed us to go. "Anyway, have you seen, Mehrad? He is the only one I have not been seeing since yesterday."

"You know him, he is probably in the forest sleeping. Like usual."

Yeah, right. Of course. It's Mehrad we are talking about.

"I am surprised that you haven't been trying to disturb him while sleeping."

She chuckled while scratching her head. "I actually tried a few years ago. Back then, I only wanted to mess with him because he was very snobby and had been ignoring me. So, I searched for him all over the forest and when I finally found him, I sneaked to get closer to him, shook him very gently and poked his handsome nose while sleeping under a tree, but the next thing I knew, he already had me pinned to the ground while staring at me like a vicious predator staring at his helpless prey and smiling handsomely." She looked down with her red face. "I ran away and since that day I have never done that again to him. Maybe because I can't actually handle his aggressive side, unlike his other women who can. He is very overwhelming."

Sounds like a very romantic setup.

"And since that day you fell for him?"

She gently slapped my arms while chuckling louder than before. "Ehh! Don't say that! It's embarrassing!"

This girl has a weird taste when it comes to romance. I can't blame her though because everyone has.

"Don't worry, I am just teasing you." I smiled. "Unless it's true."

Karoon pouted her lips and looked down. "Mister Casimir... bad."

We stopped as we reached the very center of the garden. A massive area full of different kinds of flowers with their leaves shining as the light coming from the sun above shone throughout the area. In the middle of the garden was a white patio that had metallic white chairs and a table inside. There was a ceramic white tea kettle and three teacups over the table.

As I shifted my gaze forward, I found the person who invited me here. She was the only one around, there was not even a single knight guarding the place, making this place so silent that I could clearly hear the gentle flow of the water coming from the miniature river where she was standing next.

Perhaps, she heard our voices because she gracefully shifted her gaze on us while expressing a gentle smile on her extremely beautiful face. She walked toward us allowing me to see her clearly. She was wearing a white dress that had a skirt all the way to her feet that was long enough to not reach the grassy ground. As the sunlight touched her very white skin, it lit up and pronounced her seemingly unfading beauty... like a white Amaranth with very fascinating grace.

She stood a meter away from me as her beautiful pair of jade green eyes darted at me. The gentle wind blew her lovely, long blonde hair revealing more of her pointy ears, she closed her eyes for a second and then opened them to stare back at me. She was not doing much but her every little movement was screaming elegance.

Her graceful movements remind me of a certain someone currently in Agrona.

"I am glad that you accepted my invitation, Warlord Casimir."

The queen of the kingdom of Erela. Ayani Durmada.

"I will appreciate it if you just call me by my name."

She turned her face toward the patio near us and stared at me with her side-eye. "That will be very inappropriate, no?" She walked toward the patio. "I have prepared tea, how about joining me?" She said in a very gentle manner.

Uh...

I slightly narrowed my eyes. "I am already here, so I don't mind."

I heard her modest giggle as she covered her mouth. "You are more polite than I thought you would be."

It should be illegal for a mom to be this charming!

Karoon shook my arm while hyperventilating. "She's so beautiful! She's like a goddess!"

Easy there, Lady. We are seeing the same thing, you don't have to destroy my clothes due to your overwhelming excitement! But I will say that I fully agree.

Leal will beat the shit out of me once he finds out what I am thinking!

I followed Queen Ayani inside the white stone patio while Karoon was following me with her ear-to-ear smile. I stood next to the table and stared directly at her while modestly sipping her cup of tea.

"What is this all about?"

It has to be about something very crucial, the queen won't just invite me, a demon in a heart-to-heart talk alone if it's not something big. 

What I received was her gentle smile. "Take a seat, Warlord Casimir and I will tell you." She pointed her gentle green eyes to Karoon. "And you too, Young Lady. Join us."

"Ehh! You are so kind!" Karoon sat at the corner of the patio and I sat next to her right in front of Queen Ayani who was just watching us with her gentle smile still intact on her face.

She gently pushed the white ceramic plate on the table toward us, it contained small circular brown bread. "Try this, I baked it myself." As she stared back at me, her gentle smile slightly lessened. "It saddens me to see that you still have a look of doubt toward me even after disclosing everything for you to see that I am trustworthy." She poured a full cup of tea into my cup.

"This bread is delicious! You must be a good baker!"

"Ah, my, my. You are flattering me."

"It really is!"

I sipped the tea from my cup and closed my eyes for a brief moment due to how delicious their tea is here! 

Who made this? Some kind of god?

"And about your question earlier, I am just interested in something that's why I invited you here."

I nodded. "I see. Then, what is it?"

She put her cup of tea down. "Before that, firstly, I would like to say that I am deeply grateful for your words of assurance to aid our kingdom. However, even though we have an alliance, it still surprised me to see your lack of reluctance to help us. Do really the people of your tribe have no fear in your hearts?"

I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Is it just the two of you or do all of your tribe's people have the same traits?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Do you doubt me?"

"No... Strangely enough, not even a little." Her gentle smile turned into a puzzling one. "Nevertheless, I would say that it fascinates me to see another pair of those eyes up close again after a very long time. The eyes of a vengeful protector." She gently said while enthusiastically staring directly into my eyes. "Now, Warlord Casimir. May I ask, who are you trying to protect this time? And what nation would you end up trampling just to protect that person?"

I picked up one of the pieces of bread and took a bite. I nodded while staring at Queen Ayani. "Karoon is right, this bread tastes great."

To my surprise, Queen Ayani did not even show any sign of disappointment in how I avoided her question and just smiled at me as if she just received the answer she wanted to hear. "I am glad to hear that you like it."

Was that a rhetorical question?