Scarlet's Awakening

"I absolutely can not stop you if you want to leave for Donatel tomorrow morning. I don't have the right to forbid you but at least for the sake of the empire, I beg you to bring Talon and Aqua with you, my queen for your safety."

Two bodyguards? Scarlet winced.

"Talon is fine to come with me but I'll leave Aqua here to stay with you. She can help you run the kingdom while I'm gone."

Eigeel raised a hand to stop her. "I respectfully decline, my queen. I can handle the matters of the empire by myself with Katerina's help. So, please bring her with you. I'll be at ease knowing that you'll come back to us alive and well with Aqua and Talon by your side."

"But-" Scarlet stared into Eigeel's eyes and saw that he was really serious. She gave upm "Okay fine..." she sighed. "Your condition is reasonable anyway so I'll agree to it..."

Eigeel laughed. "Since when have I been unreasonable towards you, my queen. I would've stopped you from leaving... but that is before I wasn't aware that you're now capable of protecting yourself."

"... Silver told you about the sparring session, didn't she." She asked.

Eigeel smiled before he took his seat. "Yes, she did..."

"I see… well, that's good. Now I don't have to explain anymore to convince you to let me leave." She said and Eigeel chuckled. "Please inform Talon and Silver on my behalf... I'm leaving early tomorrow morning so tell them to be on time."

Eigeel stood up and bowed his head, "As you wish..."

***

When Scarlet returned to her bedroom Navy was already done doing the preparations. And by preparations she prepared the necessary equipments used for traveling long distance trips.

"Good job…" Seeing everything is in order, she rubbed her little blue head. "You can rest now."

"Aye, aye, Mistress! I'll wake you up tomorrow."

Scarlet smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt, "You're my alarm clock now?"

Navy laughed. "I will do anything you require of me."

"Interesting..." Scarlet grinned before snapping her fingers. "Very well. I'll be expecting the wake call then. Go to sleep."

When Navy left, Scarlet didn't sleep immediately. She wasn't sleepy yet so she busied herself with practicing her creation magic.

During her practice, she tried recreating all the tools she remember using in her past life. Just simple stuff like a nail cutter... Then she transformed it into a spatula, a comb, a can opener, and many more.

She once tried making a cellphone. The technology actually worked but she didn't have any signal, of course! Satellites and telephone towers do not exist in this world so cellphones are useless.

"What are you doing?"

Jasper's minty breath on her neck made Scarlet shiver instantly on her feet. She turned to face him and flinched when she realized that Jasper's face was so close to hers.

"Oh! H-Hi!" She stuttered. "I wasn't expecting you to visit so soon…"

He stared at her. "Do you want me to leave then?"

Scarlet immediately shook her head, "No! No. Don't leave. I'm actually glad you came over."

His eyes glinted with amus.e.m.e.nt. "Hmm... Tell me. Why are you glad to see me?"

Scarlet gulped. "Uh. Well… the thing is. I-Uhm. I'm leaving for Donatel tomorrow morning."

The amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes vanished, "I see... Are you going alone?"

"No, I'm not going alone." Scarlet took a step back. She couldn't remember breathing when he's near. She to get away from him. "I'm going to be escorted by two dependable bodyguards so I'll be fine."

Scarlet took a seat on the sofa and Jasper followed her and sat beside her.

"Just two?" He asked and Scarlet noticed that he looked worried.

"Uh. Yeah. I don't need more bodyguards so two is fine." She said, staring straight into his eyes. "I'm more than capable of taking care of myself, Ishid." He didn't looked convinced by her words though.

"I was only going to bring one but my prime minister talked me into bringing two."

Jasper scoffed, "If I was him I would have sent you more than that. Outside the city walls is dangerous. You should at least bring more bodyguards."

Scarlet frowned, studying the disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e on his face, "Why do you sound so concerned about my safety? I didn't know you cared..."

That took Jasper off guard. He was speechless for a moment then said, "What if I'm coming with you as your 3rd bodyguard?"

Scarlet's eyes widened instantly, "What? Why would you do that?"

"Cause your safety is important to me…" he said making her speechless as well.

Her eyes bore into his face, "Is that all?" She asked.

Jasper blinked, looking adorably cute when his cheeks turned pink when she drive him in the corner. "... I- I also want stay beside you."

Her eyebrows arched instantly. Well, that came out of no where. "Really?"

"As your bodyguard that is." Jasper added making Scarlet laugh.

"Right…" she didn't know he was the type to get embarrassed so easily. She just the man yesterday but talking to him made her feel like she knew him forever. "Are you really sure that you want to come with me as my bodyguard?"

Jasper nodded, "Since two is too much for you, I think it wouldn't hurt if you brought another one."

Scarlet chuckles, "I still don't understand why you want to come with me though."

Jasper sighed, "Just… just trust me when I say that your safety is my only priority." He said, telling her to stop pressing the issue. "I hope you come to the understanding that I wouldn't do anything that might hurt you." His hand tucked a stray strand behind her ear as his intense ocean eyes maintained eye contact with hers, "I would die first before I let anything happen to you."

Scarlet caught his hand that was lingering on her cheek, feeling the warmth of his skin as she leaned her face on his palms. "Now you're making me more confused."

Jasper didn't reply and there was silence between for a while. Scarlet closed her eyes, feeling his touch on her cheeks before opening them again, looking at his face. "Are you sick?" She asked out of the blue making Jasper arch a brow.

"No. I'm not sick."

The corner of her lips rose up, "You sure about that?"

"Positive…"

She laughed, intertwining her fingers with his. "Still, I'm not convinced with your reasons. But I think I'll just have to suck it all up and let you come with me."

"Good." He smiled, taking her by surprise at how handsome he can get when he smiles.