Queen Of Monsters

"How do you know that Chang Miriya is going to show up soon?" Ru Naya inquired as they headed towards the grand entrance of the library together. On the way, she spotted a huge book nestled in one of the many shelves, and it's spine read: 'Stones of the world: a detailed guide to the different types of stones that have been observed and recorded throughout the written history' engraved in large gold letterings on its glossy dark green cover. The idea of an encyclopedia about stones would have usually sounded terribly dull to her, but instead it made her feel intrigued right now. She made a mental note to check out the book the next time she was here.

"Chang Miriya isn't foolish enough to disturb me while I work. But now that I have come out of my court, I am fair game to her. Since she has convinced the soldiers to do her bidding then she surely must have asked the palatial guards stationed here to alert her once I am out of the room," Jun Liyun replied tacitly as they entered the gigantic hall together. Right away, Ru Naya's eyes focused on the beautiful courtyard, for it was such a jarring sight compared to the cold and unfriendly hall surrounding it. Bright sunlight from the glass roof streamed through, causing the benches and the plants to be illuminated by its golden glow.

Ru Naya marvelled the stark contrast between the sceneries when Jun Liyun interrupted the short silence that had befallen upon them by snapping his finger twice. Before the second snap's sound could stop resounding around the hall, an imperial soldier marched out from behind one of the grand pillars and appeared in front of them. Once he was adequately close to Jun Liyun, he stopped and bowed deeply while he patiently awaited his orders.

"Who notified Lady Chang about my whereabouts?" Jun Liyun inquired softly, yet his voice was laced with dark fury.

The soldier trembled in fear as he answered Jun Liyun timidly, "My lord, an imperial soldier named Cheung Qiu came in earlier and entered the library for some reason. However, while he was walking out he noticed that you had exited the court, so he stormed out of the crown prince's palace quickly after informing me that he is going to tell Lady Chang about your whereabouts."

Though Jun Liyun's face remained impassive throughout the soldier's testimony, the deep set anger in his eyes betrayed his emotions. Jun Liyun was absolutely infuritated because of his soldiers' behaviour. Ru Naya was also fuming on his behalf because Cheung Qiu had known that there was an imposter lurking around, yet still he chose to abandon his search for her to go and inform Chang Miriya about Jun Liyun. How could an imperial guard be so careless with his duties after knowing the dangers the crown prince had to face daily?

The soldier bowing to the crown prince could feel the wrath of his lord on him so he quickly added in his defence, "My lord, Lady Chang had informed us that telling her about your whereabouts was our absolute priority. She had promised us that the ones who served her the best would become army commanders once she became the princess. However, she also warned us that the ones who wouldn't follow her orders thoroughly would be discharged with dishonor right away."

"Are all the soldiers convinced that she will become the future wife of the crown prince?" Ru Naya asked curiously. She was amazed at how strong of a control Chang Miriya had on the imperial soldiers.

The soldier hesitated to answer Ru Naya's question, as he was not willing to reply to a random girl of no status. However, she was standing beside the crown prince, and he would be a fool to disregard someone who stood so close to his royal highness.

"Yes, my lady," He answered truthfully, "She also has the backing of the minister of war along with being a concubine's niece, which is why we feel so confident in our choice."

At his answer, Jun Liyun closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation causing Ru Naya to feel sorry for him. No wonder he was so stressed all the time! if it were her in his position then she would have gone completely mad. She looked at him sympathetically and wondered if there was something she could do to alleviate his burdens.

Jun Liyun kept his eyes shut for a few seconds, and once he reopened them they were like shards of hard ice. Soon, sharp coldness begun to radiate off of him. This reminded Ru Naya of their first meeting, as he had the similar look of coldness and frigidity as well. However, now that look was mingled with dark fury that was a thousand times worse than what it had been yesterday, and it caused Ru Naya to shiver despite it being peak summers.

"It seems like I have been far too lenient with my soldiers for they seem to have time to fantasize about my 'prospective' queen." His tone got dangerously lethal and the soldier shuddered visibly at his voice.

"M-my lord, please forgive m-me," The soldier stuttered in fright.

"Yes my lord," The man barely sputtered out the words before he quickly got up and ran out of the hall.

Once the panicked footsteps had faded away, Jun Liyun surveyed the entire hall before he growled out loudly, "Any soldiers present here will go and relay the message to the crowd waiting for me outside. You will inform them that the crown prince is in a bad mood so he isn't willing to entertain any guests, but he encourages them to wait around for a gift of apology from me for keeping them waiting. Once they are informed, then you all will gather in front of the aforementioned place as well."

Though the hall had been deadly quite while Jun Liyun and the imperial soldier had talked, but after his command, the room suddenly became clamorous with the sounds of shuffling footsteps all around the place. Though Ru Naya looked around to find the source of the loud noises, she spotted no one. The hall looked deceptively empty despite the noises, and Ru Naya realized that she was a fool to have assumed that she and Jun Liyun had been alone the entire time.

It also struck her that it had been the same case earlier as well when she had first entered the palace. If she hadn't decided to wear the imperial guard uniform which subsequently got her mistaken for being a soldier, or had Jun Liyun not found her before Cheung Qiu could have alerted the other guards about an imposter being present in the premise, then she was positive that she would have died inside the palace today. The thought of how close she had been to her demise was chilling, and she realized just how dangerous the palaces of Bon Sicini truly were. The imperial palaces were similar to the forest in the sense that both had deadly dangers that lurked around the corner all the time.

A shiver ran down her spine yet again, this time out of pure fear. No wonder Jun Liyun had insisted on her to pretend to be scholar. Chang Miriya was just one of the many ladies in line and after she fell, there would inevitably be another one to gain the soldiers' and other ministers' support. Had Ru Naya just trapaised around claiming to be his friend then she would have been killed in the future by a jealous admirer.

Is that why he had demanded her to study the books and learn their contents? Because some lady would surely get suspicious of her identity and try to test her to see if she really was a scholar? if that was the case then Ru Naya would read every damn book in the library voraciously and become a true scholar so that no one could ever doubt her.

Once it was finally quiet again, Jun Liyun spoke to her in a low voice which snapped her out of her reverie, "We're going to head outside now, Chang Miriya and the guards would be arriving soon."

She nodded and followed him quietly out of the grand door and stood in front of the crown prince's luxurious palace. Once in the bright light, she could see him clench his fists in order to control his fierce temper, and she could feel the tendrils of darkness intermingling with the anger as it surrounded the imposing man.

Ru Naya thought for the umpteenth time that Chang Miriya and the soldiers were an utter fool for infuriating a dangerous man like him, "Why would she even go so far in the first place?" She wondered out aloud.

Had Jun Liyun not been so angry then she would have assumed that he had been joking.

"That is an absolutely absurd reason for staking a claim on you!" She exclaimed in utter surprise. She couldn't understand how one could be so delusional as to believe that she could marry him just because of such a trivial reason. Thankfully, Jun Liyun wasn't marrying a deranged person like that or else Ru Naya would have gone mad from worrying about him.

The shadows had started to elongate as the sun started to dip lower. A cold breeze had begun to blow, and it ruffled Ru Naya's hair and Jun Liyun's coat as they both waited angrily for Chang Miriya to show up.

Time ticked by and slowly the guards began to trickle in. As they appeared they bowed reverently to their crown prince before inching back to a respectable distance. Because of the gathering of the soldiers in front of Jun Liyun, many eunuchs and maids came over to observe curiously to see what was going on. Eventually they ended up noticing Ru Naya and she smiled back the people staring at her only for them to look away coldly.

Whatever, Ru Naya wasn't here for them. The one she was here for was going to show up any minute now.

And just as she thought that, she saw a movement in the distance.