Queen Of Monsters

After all the tents had been packed up in sacks and hoisted up by the soldiers, they organized themselves in a formation to leave the forest. Since Ru Naya was not a part of the army, she was forced to walk behind all of them. She knew what was the aim of these treacherous soldiers who were displeased by her presence. They wanted her gone since it was obvious that any predator watching them would go for the weakest link, which would be the one right at the end. However, she didn't even care that she was being plotted against for she was far too morose. She couldn't believe that prince Jun Liyun had left yesterday night. She remembered how he had told her that the troops would be leaving at the dawn break and she had falsely assumed that he would leave with them as well. Had she known that she won't be seeing him again, then she would have made more of an effort to talk to him.

Regardless of what had happened in the past, right now she had to keep her attention on the forest which was still dangerous despite so many people walking through. So she snapped back to the present and kept her straight sword ready incase something did decide to attack her. After a while the lead commander issued orders and the troops changed their directions. It was obvious they were following the symbols and Ru Naya noticed that ever so often the symbols that would appear engraved on the trees would have lesser and lesser lines on them till there were none left. After a few minutes of walking, the trees grew sparse before giving the way to the barren land. Ru Naya sighed in relief as she stepped out of the wretched forest. She looked up to see the border at the distance and her mood uplifted as she was glad to be back in the human court safe and sound.

The troops marched uniformly before slowing down as they approached the inspection station. The imperial army formed a single line for inspection check. Ru Naya waited till it was finally her turn and she saw that one of the border guards was the same one that had been on the duty when she had left to go for the hunt. His eyes lighted up with curiosity when he spotted her and Ru Naya guessed it was because she had returned with the army instead of her own group. However, he didn't dare to question her as he inspected her, and merely nodded at her after she passed the safety check.

Once she was officially in the imperial city, she bounded towards the hill that overlooked the border. Ru Naya's shoes touched the gravel on the streets and she sighed in satisfaction. Oh how she thought she would never feel anything other than the perpetually wet ground under her feet. She turned around to stare at the soldiers heading towards the royal palace and though they had been nothing but rude to her, she was thankful that at least everyone had made it back safely.

She was gazing thoughtfully when her eyes met doctor Li's kind ones. Once their eyes met, he waved a hearty goodbye to her. Ru Naya smiled back at the fatherly man, and she waved back at him enthusiastically. Once the imperial troops disappeared behind the buildings, Ru Naya headed back to her house.

She walked through the familiar streets, and stared at the shops and the cafes on her way that were full of people going about their own lives. She was so glad to be surrounded by humans again and so she could finally relax and not worry about any predator attacking her. Though she knew better than to let her guard completely down, after all the city had predators of different kind.

She halted when her house came in the view. The cold structure had two gargantuan statues built on the either side of the gate that looked like they were guarding the house. Ru Naya remembered how expensive they had been to buy, and they didn't even have that much gold to afford these useless statues. Yet, her father had taken loans from shady people to acquire them. His reasoning had been that since the houses of the aristocrats were ostentatious, the Ru household had to be to.

Funnily, he would always run out of money when Ru Naya wanted anything, yet gold would magically appear for Ru Jiahao while paying for these ridiculous decorations, or whenever Ru Yaya wanted something.

The guards that were patrolling the house scowled at her when they spotted her, and reluctantly opened the gates to let her enter. She ignored them as she stepped in the house, and noticed that the courtyard was empty. She wondered if today's lady etiquette lessons had been cancelled as she headed further in. On her way she saw the servants glance at her but they ignored her as she walked past them. Ru Naya was thankful for the lack of attention, though she knew that they would begin to gossip after she had left the area. She stopped and asked one of the servants walking by where her family was, and she informed Ru Naya snootily that all them had gone to a party hosted by the socialite Li Lei, who was popular amongst the elite wannabe circles cause she was the aunt of one of the imperial doctors and thus had actual connection to the royal palace.

She sighed as she saw the condition of her room. Even the infirmary tent had been better than the dilapidated walls and the shabby bed that awaited her. She walked to her bed and sat down on the mattress and the bedstead creaked under her weight.

She laid back on her bed and g.r.o.a.n.e.d as she realized that she was back to her old life.

She wanted to bury her face in the pillow and go to sleep since she was utterly exhausted from her trip. Her wounds were also hurting because of the constant walking without any rest. However, she knew she couldn't sleep since she had to meet with Yan Lin and Zan Mei as they would be worried about her and she had to let them know that she had made it back safely. Yet, despite knowing that, she hesitated to get up.

Though she was eager to meet her friends, she knew that they would inevitably ask her about what had happened back in the forest and Ru Naya didn't know if she was ready to divulge that information just yet. She didn't want to talk about the lyren bird and the witch because of the trauma and memories it brought back, and she definitely didn't want to speak about the prince. Her intuition warned her to keep mum about prince Jun Liyun so she decided to trust her sixth sense for now.

She finally got up and went to take a bath. The cold water invigorated her as it washed away all the dirt and grime from her body. Once she was done, she changed into a long dress with full sleeves that would hide her bandaged arms, and stashed the imperial guard uniform in a corner. Once she was freshened up, she headed back out again to meet her friends.

***

The blacksmith Yan Lin worked for was located in a huge building. The master blacksmith was a talented craftsman who was so brilliant that even the royalty ordered their items to be personally forged by him. She remembered when Yan Lin had first got his job here as an apprentice, he had been so excited because he could finally pay for the daily necessities of his family. Ru Naya smiled at the memory as she sat on a bench that overlooked the building. She could hear the other blacksmiths upsetting or welding inside as she waited patiently for Yan Lin to come out. One of the apprentices had graciously agreed to let Yan Lin know about her visit after he went back inside while lugging wrought iron by himself.

"Ru Naya!" A voice called her out and she looked at the entrance.

"Hey handsome," Ru Naya smiled as Yan Lin ran out. He was sweating and panting, yet his eyes lighted up when they spotted her. He smiled happily as she got up and went up to her to give her a hug.

"I'm fine now that you're back," He grinned as he pulled back, "When those imperial soldiers told me that they had taken you to get treated, my heart sank."

Ru Naya laughed, "Funny, I thought your heart was with me then how could it have sank?"

Yan Lin sighed and then shook his head, "You joke but..I was so scared."

"I'm sorry," Ru Naya said earnestly, hating how worried he might have been for her. She could only imagine how devastated she would have been had she known that Yan Lin was in the jungle and she didn't know about his whereabouts. That was her worst nightmare.

"Apology only accepted if you kiss me," He grinned and then leaned forward to kiss her. The kiss was hot and made Ru Naya's toes curl in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. She sighed as her lips were covered with Yan Lin's and she felt like dissolving in him. So what if Yan Lin wasn't as beautiful or talented like prince Jun Liyun? Yan Lin was hers and that was enough for her.

Ru Naya's cheeks burned when she thought about the cold prince and her thoughts derailed quickly when she started to remember his strong c.h.e.s.t and warm hands.

Stop, she warned herself, he is not someone to fantasize about, especially while kissing your own boyfriend! Thankfully, Lin didn't notice the change in her expression after he pulled back.

"So, what happened back in the forest?" Yan Lin inquired curiously. His eyes roved over her to make sure that she was alright.

There it was, the question she was so dreading.

She watched as Yan Lin's face turned darker and darker as she recounted the story. She thanked the prince inwardly yet again for letting her be the one who told Yan Lin rather than the soldiers relaying to him about what had actually happened. Once she was done recounting, she bit her lip as even the edited version of the story was unpleasant for her to talk about.

"Yan Lin?" She touched his arm in worry and he snapped out of his stupor. He hugged her so hard that she couldn't breathe properly.

"I am glad you were saved by the imperial troops," He whispered, "Shit, If I had known this is what that had transpired then I would have thanked them instead of, you know, swearing at them for not telling me what had happened to you."

"It's okay, if they had been offended then they wouldn't have escorted the group back out of the forest." Ru Naya comforted him before pulling back.

"Oh yeah, did you manage to hunt anything?" Ru Naya asked him curiously.

Yan Lin grinned widely at her question, "This man right here caught a jay fox!"

"You're joking!" Ru Naya gasped.

The jay fox wasn't as rare or dangerous as the lyren bird but still was a formidable opponent. They were known for their agility and she could imagine that it must have taken everyone from their group to catch the animal.

She smiled as he babbled about his trip and was glad that the issue with her had been set aside for now.

"Hm?"

"Please don't ever go to the forest alone, every time you go take me with you. I won't be able to rest easy till I know that you're with me."

He examined her pleading eyes. Though Ru Naya didn't want to be weak, she had to let him know that she was traumatized by her experiences and so was not willing to go through something like that again. He realized how serious she was so he nodded and said resolutely, "I promise."

She smiled at him gratefully and then changed the topic for it was too morose.

"Well I am glad that the hunt was fruitful, this should net you a lot of gold." She commented thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I might not need to go hunting till the winter season. Which means that I can finally relax a bit."

"That is so good," She nodded before sighing, "Since you're fine, I'm going to go and talk to Zan Mei now. I hope she is fine as well."

"Err.." Yan Lin scratched his head as he looked at her, "Zan Mei's father came to look for her right after we came back, and took her on one of his trips. I think that Zan Mei was shaken from the hunt despite being unconscious for the majority of the time."

"Oh," Ru Naya said dejectedly. So Zan Mei had been affected after all. This caused Ru Naya to feel bad that she couldn't comfort her bestfriend but she would wait to console Zan Mei.

Should I or should I not go to visit the prince? she wondered to herself.

She could ignore her heart and go on with her life as usual or she could go and talk to prince Jun Liyun. A part of her warned her to stay away from the dangerous man yet another part yearned to see him again.

She sighed as she stepped towards the royal palace, not realizing how that one small step had just changed her entire destiny.