Queen Of Monsters

Ru Naya buried her face in her hands when she realized just whose melodious voice it was that had replied to her.

"Oh why do you have to show up just when I am not saying good things about you," She g.r.o.a.n.e.d in her palms.

"In my defence, I didn't do it intentionally. I would have never imagined that someone would be crouching by a pile of letters in my personal library." Prince Jun Liyun chuckled.

Ru Naya huffed loudly, though she was secretly glad that the prince was in a considerably better mood compared to yesterday as he had not minded her calling him fussy. She removed her hands from her face and stood up to face the enigmatic man.

She was still taken aback by his impossible beauty, and in the soft light of the library he looked like he was a celestial being. He had changed from his military uniform into a pair of fitted dark blue pants, and an unbuttoned coat showing the tight white shirt he wore underneath. His inky black hair had been combed back, and his tempting green-gold eyes looked especially alluring as the books casted a shadow on his face.

Ru Naya bit her lip to keep herself from l.i.c.k.i.n.g her lips at the absolutely delicious sight that was in front of her.

"Prince Jun Liyun," Ru Naya said hoarsely as she greeted him with a bow.

"Miss Ru." He acknowledged her coolly.

Ru Naya's heartbeat quickened at the fact that he still remembered her name, yet she was disappointed as he didn't use her full name. It made her feel oddly distant from him, and she didn't like that at all.

"Hm," Prince Jun Liyun looked behind her, his captivating eyes narrowed when they spotted the letters, "So my men didn't follow my orders it seems."

"Huh?" Ru Naya craned her neck to look behind herself to see what he was looking at. She saw the letters and remembered the amorous ones she had read earlier and her cheeks reddened again. Then she realized that she had read some personal correspondents of the crown prince. Though the letters were stashed in a corner haphazardly and looked discarded, it was still an invasion of privacy of the prince and the ladies who had written those letter.

"I am really sorry!" She apologized profusely, "I didn't know the contents of the letters stockpiled here, and so I got curious and read some."

She turned back to look at him cautiously and saw Prince Jun Liyun shake his head at her, "Nevermind it. They weren't important. That is why I had ordered them to be thrown out."

"It's not just ladies who sent me these letters," Prince Jun Liyun said pleasantly, "You'd be surprised."

"Oh." Ru Naya diverted her eyes away and then turned to face the prince again. He tilted his head as he stared at her.

"You seem to like that uniform a lot. If you want I can order a custom made one for you." He commented lightly.

Ru Naya remembered the shabby clothes she was wearing and she g.r.o.a.n.e.d, "I didn't want to wear it, but if I hadn't then I wouldn't have been able to sneak past the royal guards."

"What?" Prince Jun Liyun looked surprised, "Why would you have to sneak inside?"

Ru Naya had gathered that he hadn't known what Chang Miriya had done behind his back, so she informed him all about what had taken place outside. As she spoke, she saw prince Jun Liyun's eyes turn more colder and dangerous.

"I assume you came here to see why the guard was creating such a racket here in your library. It was because he was searching for me. Thankfully, you found me first." She added after she finished telling him about her encounters today.

"I had commanded the guards last night itself to let you in, but it seems like Chang Miriya had ordered them to not let any women in." Prince Jun Liyun growled.

"You..you had expected that I would come?" Ru Naya was astonished at his statement.

"A girl who would dare to ask to be friends with the crown prince wouldn't back down just like that. I knew you'd come here to know my answer." He answered her gently.

"You're right, I never back down so easily. Your royal highness, even though I know that I had offended you back at the forest, I just want to say that I apologize for my behaviour. It truly wasn't my intention to anger you. Therefore, I hope that you would forgive me and reconsider being my friend." Ru Naya casted her eyes down as she expressed her remorse.

"Ru Naya, look at me," The prince demanded after she had finished, and Ru Naya jolted up when she heard him call her name. Oh how nice it sounded to hear her name from those exquisite lips again. She met his eyes and to her bewilderment she saw that his eyes were apologetic.

"You were not at fault," He continued contritely, "I was the one who had acted foolishly, and I should be the one to apologize to you instead."

"Eh?" Ru Naya was extremely confused at the crown prince's apology. If the way he had behaved was not out of anger at her then what else could have been the reason?

So she thought about what could have been the catalyst for the man to have become suddenly cold and distant to her yesterday, when she suddenly remembered doctor Li's words earlier in the imperial campground about how the courts had been too hectic for the prince which caused his moods to be volatile. Once she remembered that, then it wasn't hard to figure out what had caused the prince to snap.

"Your Royal Highness, please don't apologize! I understand why you had acted that way," She pacified him.

"You do?" He looked at her curiously.

"Yes, you probably must have been so stressed by all the proposals and court stuff, and must have snapped because of it!"

She didn't need to think long as she had quickly realized her mistake.

"I mean you didn't snap!" She appeased him quickly, "I meant I understand why you would behaved the way you did I mean how could you snap you are so calm and collected all the time and there is no way for you to be simply crack because of a small thing like hunting I don't know why I assumed you would snap because of that thing really."

She really needed to shut up, but the prince just made her ramble out of nervousness. The combination of the dangerous, cold and powerful aura emanating from him made her blabber uncontrollably.

"Then I am glad that you understand," He said far too indifferently.

Ru Naya relaxed a little bit. Though she hadn't got the cause of his anger right, at least he didn't seem to be furious at her assumptions.

Though she wondered what the real reason for his anger was, but she didn't dare to ask him as she feared that he would get annoyed by her.

"So prince, if you're not enraged at me then does it mean that you are willing to be..friends with me?" She asked hesitantly. Her pulse accelerated as she asked him the question that had haunted her this whole time.

He glanced at her with surprisingly soft eyes and graced her with a crooked smile.

Then, he held up three fingers causing Ru Naya to stare at his hand in confusion.

She looked at him in bewilderment, but nevertheless nodded. He opened his mouth and began listing.

"First, you must absolutely keep it a secret. No one else can know."

"But-" Ru Naya began but was quickly interrupted by him.

"No buts, you probably want to tell it to people close to you but knowing the crown prince will put you in danger. People will try to use you against me, and will definitely try to hurt you to elicit a response from me. Enemies of the royal court are always looking to see if I have any weaknesses so that they can harm me."

As much as Ru Naya didn't want to hide her friendship and wanted to tell about it to Zan Mei and Yan Lin, she had to grudgingly accept the fact that prince Jun Liyun was absolutely right. As the crown prince, his life was perpetually in a peril and he couldn't let anyone take advantage of him. It was not that she didn't trust her friends, but them knowing about this would absolutely put them in danger regardless whether they told anyone or not.

She was unhappy at the fact that she would have to keep it a secret but despite that, she felt very touched, because in spite of all the problems he could potentially face, Prince Jun Liyun was still considering to be friends with her. If he could do this much for her then she could surely hide about their friendship to keep everyone safe. So she nodded at him, to show that she accepted his first condition. Once he saw that she had agreed, his smile grew wider and he continued listing his demands.

"Second, you must stop calling me your royal highness or use any other titles while addressing me. You must also stop bowing to me. If we are going to be friends then you must treat me as your equal."

This condition had Ru Naya hesitate. She couldn't treat the prince like she would treat someone else no matter how much she wanted to. A man as powerful as him was not a person she could trifle with. But she acquiesced to show her agreement regardless.

But Prince Jun Liyun was not fooled.

She opened and closed her mouth multiple times but saying his name without tacking the word 'prince' in front of it was far too uncomfortable for her.

"Prince, I can't do that." She lamented, and he sighed in dismay.

"If you are not willing to call me by my name then how can I be sure that you're going to treat me like your friend instead of a royalty?"

Shoot, he got her there. She would have never ever used titles to refer to her own friends then how could she do it with the prince? She had been the one to insist on this friendship and now she was being reluctant to treat him like a friend? it was hypocritical of her as well as it was unfair to him, and so she exhaled heavily before she finally nodded.

"Okay, let me try again." She said as she counted till down till three.

Three..two..one, here it goes.

"Jun Liyun." She slowly enunciated his name. The name rolled off her tongue very naturally. Soft, sweet and silky were how the words felt on her lips, and she itched to say his name again.

His eyes darkened dangerously when she said his name out loud, causing delicious shivers to run down Ru Naya's spine. She bit her lip as the atmosphere suddenly turned precariously enticing. There was just something about the way he looked at her that made her imagination run wild, and she could clearly imagine herself calling out his name till her throat was hoarse while they did things that Ru Naya had no business of thinking about.

But then he blinked and just like that, everything went back to being normal. Ru Naya became dazed at the sudden change in the air, and a soft blush made her way to her cheeks as she remembered what she had just imagined. What was wrong with her?

"What! Why?" She cried out in surprise. She remembered the shelf she had seen earlier about the books on soil types, and it absolutely didn't interest her! Moreover, why should she have to learn about these things in the first place? Wasn't that the duty of the royalty, the ministers, and people who worked in these fields?

"If people spot you here with me frequently then wouldn't they become suspicious?" He looked at her intently, "Think of this as an alibi. You will pretend to be a scholar that I have personally invited over to discuss things pertaining to Bon Sicini, which is why you are here in the courts often. However, If someone still gets suspicious then your knowledge would be the proof of you actually being an authentic person from academia."

Ru Naya made a face at his explanation, causing him to sigh.

"I do understand that I am asking you a lot, and I am ready to pay you salary for your hard work so that you can earn some gold as well."

"No, no!" Ru Naya shook her head vehemently, "I don't want any gold from you!"

She couldn't afford to explain where she would have earned the gold to anyone if she were to keep her friendship secret. She couldn't hide it in her house either because she didn't trust anyone in her household to not snoop around and steal the earnings for themselves. Besides, if Ru Yaya got a wind of her having some gold stashed away, then she would absolutely call Ru Naya a thief, and it would get her in even more in trouble in her neighbourhood.

Besides, if she did get money from him, then it wouldn't be friendship. Despite the odd request, she understood why he had asked her to learn about things related to Bon Sicini, as it was just to give her a solid reason for being in court without being seen as a lovestruck lady in love with the prince, and she couldn't ask for any remuneration for that. However, she could still ask for something in exchange...

"Is there anything else you want then?" He prompted her.

"Yes, if you want to give me something in return, then I want to learn how to fight like you!"

The trip to the forest had shaken her to the core and she remembered how easily Jun Liyun had sauntered through the forest while she had hunted with him. If she had a morsel of his deadly skills then she could have protected herself better when she had got chased by the lyren bird and the witch. Besides, when Yan Lin would go to the forest to hunt in the future then she would also tag along beside him like she had promised him earlier today. Thus, learning how to fight from Jun Liyun would help her to better protect them both if something unfortunate befell them.

Jun Liyun looked at her thoughtfully, "Fighting like me would be very..impossible for you."

Ru Naya didn't give up despite his comment, "I know that you are very talented but I am not aiming compete with you. I would be fine by just learning a little bit from you."

He chuckled at her earnest response. "No, there is another reason why it's impossible for you to fight like me, but if you are willing to practice with me, then you can come here at five every morning, and I will gladly teach you the basics."

"So early?" Ru Naya repeated incredulously.

He nodded and Ru Naya lamented quietly. However, she was determined to become better at protecting the people she cared about so she finally caved in.

"Fine," She grumbled, "I will come."

"Good. I'll give you a token of the crown prince, then no one would dare to deny you entrance when they see it."

"Are you sure?" She wondered, "Chang Miriya had them pretty convinced to not let anyone enter."

"You can be rest assured that she wouldn't ever do that again," He had a wicked look in his eyes as he said that.

"How?" Ru Naya looked at him in surprise.

"She is coming this way right now, and I'll show you exactly why it is a bad idea to mess with me of all people." He said darkly, before he turned around without another word and started to walk out of the row they had been conversing in. Ru Naya followed him quickly, as she was excited to see the retribution that was about to fall the poor Chang Miriya