Grumble

"What will you do if I tell you that your previous wife happens to not be dead?" King Nixon asked him out of the blue.

Richard stiffened in fear on hearing his question. 'Did I hear him wrong? Is Adhley not dead? Is that even possible?' He thought incredulously to himself. "Wh-what a-ar-are yo-you..?" He stammered badly when he tried to question the sincerity of what King Nixon was asking from him.

King Nixon noticed how badly he was stammering and trying to get himself together. He also noticed the fear that was visible in his facial expressions.

He then decided to put him out of his misery. "I am not saying that she is alive though. Just a random thought. " He said coolly.

Richard relaxed a little bit on hearing this but still, the tension in his body, as a result of the question earlier, was not completely gone.

"But you were wrong though. " King Nixon said again. "About what? Adhley? Is she truly alive?" Richard asked hastily. He was very scared. Because, first of all, based on the type of person that King Nixon was, it was a surprise that he was speaking to him(Richard). There was certainly a reason for King Nixon to speak to him for that long.

And now he was scared that the reason for King Nixon talking to him was that he (King Nixon) had found out what he and Rita truly did six years ago and that Adhley was alive.

"Of course...not." King Nixon said, pausing a little bit before completing his words to scare him a little bit again. He knew from Richard's reactions to his question that something fishy was going on.

"I am talking about my sister. Why do you keep talking about Adhley though? You seem scared." Richard calmed himself down after hearing his last statement.

He did not want his reactions to give him away.

"I am sorry. I got carried away. I guess I miss her too much which is why I am reacting in this manner." Richard said, much calmer now.

King Nixon nodded his head at him. "We shall leave very soon. But that will be after I have a word with my sister." King Nixon said and made to leave but was stopped by Richard's question.

"May I know who that sister of yours is? I would sincerely like to know." Richard said to King Nixon curiously.

"How about a challenge? Will you be able to know and figure out who my sister is out of the whole people in this palace before the evening? If you are not able to find out then no problem. I will just tell you who it is. " King Nixon said with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

Richard did not get the hidden meaning of the challenge that was presented to him. He took up the challenge with excitement. At least he was a new King, who did not even come from a royal family but look at him... The King Nixon was paying attention to him.

"Sure. " He answered. Happy.

King Nixon gave a wry smile and walked away.

Richard looked on till King Nixon was out of his sight. He wished that that was him. Having the respect of everyone.

'That would have felt so good.' He thought.

...

Cyan turned down the offer of the maids to bathe her. It was something she never liked. When she was done bathing herself, she dressed herself.

Not in her general regalia this time but in a simple black gown with her hair tied up and held by a band.

After this, she left her room and walked into Dherek's room.

The uppermost part of his body was naked and he was still trying to remove the clothing on the lower part of his body when Cyan barged in on him.

He gave out a girly scream and his hand flew to cover his makes upper body. Cyan looked at him without any expression on her face. "What are you doing?" She asked him as she was still standing by the door.

"I am trying to get changed. It is not a very cool thing to barge into one's room without knocking and getting permission from the owner of the room first before entering."

He said as he removed the hands that he used in covering his body upon seeing Cyan's expressionless face.

"At least you now know how I feel." Cyan replied and brought out a stool to sit down on. As she sat down on the stool, so also did Dherek, who sat on the bed no longer caring that he was not fully dressed.

Cyan's lack of reaction to it made him not to care.

"Would you not wear something or cover yourself with something?" Cyan asked him after seeing him sitting down.

"I thought that it did not bother you. Or are you bothered? Are you maybe moved by all of my muscles?" He asked in an attempt to tease her.

"Which muscles? Where are they? Oh, are you referring to these frigid bones as muscles?" She asked him while pointing to his stomach.

Apparently, his attempt to tease her did not go well because he ended up being hurt by her words. "Cyan!" He whined.

"What did you just call me?" She asked him with her poker face but with a voice that commanded immediate obedience.

"General Cyan." Dherek quickly corrected himself.

"Well, what should I have expected? After all, you must have seen King Nixon's muscles, how would you not compare mine to bones." Dherek grumbled.

"What did you say?" Cyan asked him after hearing his grumble. "Nothing," Dherek said immediately lest she gets angry.

"Well, the reason I said you should put on your cloth is to avoid any other person misunderstanding the situation. What if someone barges in the same way King Nixon did and the person thinks it as something else." She explained patiently.

"Of course, King Nixon. Just say you do not want your man to get angry at you." He grumbled again.

"What did you say?" Cyan asked again after hearing him grumble another time.

"Nothing." He responded again. However, after a few moments of silence, he suddenly talked.

"You know what, I said that you should just tell me that you do not want your man to be angry with you. You can just tell me that you and King Nixon are lovers. Then my life would not have been at risk today." Dherek complained.

Cyan drew her brows together as she glared at him. Dherek knew right there and then that she was angry at him.