The Marked Phoenix: Little Red Bird - Chapter 6

While getting dressed for the banquet, Emerine boredly stared out the window yet again. Everyone handled her with hair and none dared to tug her hair too harshly. It took an entire afternoon to dress and paint her into perfection, but the Princess was too distracted by her puzzling interactions with Kalesin. Why did he behave so strangely today? Did something happen? Did the King mention something to him? What did he mean when he said she didn’t understand him?

For once, Emerine was obedient and got dressed without a single word and complaint. She didn’t make any unnecessary movements as she used to do. The maidservants gratefully thought it was because she was one year older and therefore one year wiser. But the truth was that she was too distracted by her own thoughts. That is, until she saw Kalesin out the window. It was hard to spot him. The only thing strange about it was that he was fully suited, almost as if he was preparing for an intense battle, instead of a simple patrol around the palace.

“…War…” A voice drifted into her ear, causing Emerine to jolt in response.

“What did you just say?” Emerine swiveled around to the maid brushing her hair. The servant bowed low and responded, “Answering your royal highness’s question, I was referring to the wardrobe. The wardrobe is not big enough to fit all of the anticipated gifts you will receive tonight. Would you like to upgrade it to a bigger size?”

“Oh, yes.” Emerine absentmindedly responded. She thought the maids were conversing about war, not her wardrobe. She tried to settle and reassure her heart at the mention of the impending war talks — a battle between the West and the East. There has not been an official battle, but many have speculated sooner or later, it would happen. Oddly enough, these war talks erupted on the year of her birth and had not stopped ever since.

Emerine’s brain drifted from war to the Commanders leading the battle.

Kalesin.

Abruptly, she stood up, horrified at the possibility that he would leave for war. A thought popped into her head, ‘Perhaps he didn’t want me to worry and that was why he behaved so strangely today.’ She contemplated their conversation. Kalesin, her bodyguard, had always accompanied her to her room, even late at night when she decided to sneak into the kitchen for a snack. Why would he suddenly say it’s improper?

Abruptly, she stood up, surprising the maidservants combing her hair.

“Your highness, where are you going?!” A maidservant frantically called out when Emerine bolted out the room faster than her two legs could carry her. She nearly tripped on her long dress. Her unfinished hair cascaded behind her, swaying as she rushed down the grand stairways. She ran and ran, until her legs carried her to where she had last spotted Kalesin.

Without warning, she roughly collided with a wall. “I’m going to kill the architect who installed the wall here.” She muttered while wincing at the pain that spread from her forehead.

“Are you alright?”

Wait, that was not a wall. Walls couldn’t speak. Her head snapped up and she was surprised to see she had crashed into someone. He was dressed in clothes suitable for a peasant, but did not carry himself with the air of one. But what surprised her more was out breathtakingly handsome this man was. His guarded eyes were a rich shade of amber and hazel. His prominent nose was crooked, almost as if he had engaged in a rough fight. But the muscles that not even his rags could hide suggested he had won without a struggle. Everything about him was so… so… intriguing? Emerine could not find the proper word for him, but she was in too much of a rush to give it much thought.

Their eyes landed upon the fallen basket on the ground where pastries and goodies lingered.

“There goes the snack I snuck from the kitchen.” Warm laughter left his lips, taking her by surprise. He had a slight accent that should’ve sounded foreign, but it oddly suited him. If she hadn’t been in such a hurry, she would’ve realized that the accent did not sound like one that belonged to a man of the West.

“I was in a rush.” Emerine deadpanned.

“You’re not going to apologize?”

“Excuse me?” Her voice rose an interval, loud and offended. Emerine was taken aback by the behavior of the servant. No one spoke to her, the Crown Princess, with that much impudence, except Kalesin. But even then, he was always careful of how he teased her.

“The pastries. You dropped them. They could’ve fed a family for at least a day.” The man deadpanned. His voice was silky smooth and warm, but his tone was not. He spoke to her as if she had just committed a crime.

Emerine opened her mouth to argue but something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Kalesin. Speaking to a woman.

He raised a brow upon inspecting her appearance. She was not dressed like a maidservant nor did she behave like one. His eyes lingered on the white veil that covered half her face and revealed only her eyes. “Why are you wearing a veil? Are you sick?”

Emerine touched her mid-thigh, surprising the man.

“What are you doing? That’s improper for a lady.”

She ignored his weird choice of wording. Since when did a servant speak so posh and use words like “improper”? She patted the other leg and let out a small “aha” upon finding a golden Kastrel coin in her pocket. It glistened under the bright sunlight, shining as beautifully as her hair. He was momentarily caught off guard when their eyes connected for the briefest second.

Eyes the color of blooming morning glory and hair the color of silken gold, she was quite stunning. It was such a shame her aura of unapologetic haughtiness dimmed her beauty.

She rashly grabbed his wrist and placed the coin into his hand. “Here. This is enough to feed you for at least a week.”

His eyebrows wrung together as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened. Did she think— He glanced down at his outfit and a look of understanding passed his face. ‘Oh. No wonder.’ He thought to himself, but by the time he glanced up, the mysterious woman had disappeared.

“What a rude little thing she was,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head. “The most decent thing to do was apologize.” Examining the coin in his hand, he let out a small chuckle. One single gold coin could feed him for a week? What a joke. Nonetheless, he couldn’t help his amusement towards her. He stared at the Western Kingdom’s national flower, the lilac, imprinted on the coin. With one last glance towards the coin, he pocked it, and began to head in the direction of the enormous Kastral palace, where without a doubt, his people would’ve started panicking by now.