Chapter 55 - Image Being Captured by a Fish (3)

The next few days were full of me being called upon by Llyr whenever he wasn't fulfilling his kingly duties, or as he called it, "being forced to work," even though it was quite literally his job.

But currently, I was in the palace's garden with Llyr, enjoying teatime as I was reluctantly letting him feed me.

'Enjoying delicious tea and snacks, while being fed to by a handsome man, and being in a beautiful place truly is the best!'

We were sitting in the gazebo that was placed in the middle of the garden, so there was sadly no overview of the ocean, still probably for security reasons. The gazebo was made of white wood, quarts, and some other kind of white metal.

There was only an entryway into the gazebo. A stone path led to it from a maze made up of flowers, specifically ones that grew in thick bushes or hedges. From the garden, you could see the largest waterfalls of the 11 islands, along with the mist and little rainbows it produced.

"Here, Lev. You should try this too!" Llyr suggested as he fed me a spoonful of lemon sorbet. It looked quite delicious, so I graciously took the bite into my mouth, savoring every last crumb and licking my lips once I was done.

"Mm, that's pretty good!" I exclaimed, covering my mouth a bit as I said that, "Could I have more? Oh, and I can feed it to myself this time!"

I decided yesterday that I would stop playing the role of oblivious and obedient maiden, so I started to be more defiant towards Llyr's "requests" and orders. I didn't show up for dinner last night and breakfast this morning, but thought I'd let myself indulge and let him feed me, to make it seem less suspicious.

Llyr wasn't aware that I had deemed it the end of my "willingness" to stay here, so I had been using excuses like; "I'm feeling unwell!" or "That's just not my taste" to get out of things since yesterday morning.

Even now, he probably thought that I was asking to feed myself just so that I could scarf it all down…and he wasn't wrong, but I was also trying to be more defiant, pushing my limits to see how much I could push his buttons until he had another fit.

"No, you said I could feed you, and I've been enjoying doing so, and I will continue to," He refuted, stuffing another bite into my mouth, smiling as he brought the spoon back and getting another spoonful ready.

As I let him continue to feed me the sorbet, a sudden headache began to form. I ignored it at first, thinking of it as a mere migraine from annoyance, but it continued to persist and get worse, as well as making my head feel colder.

"Lev, are you alright?" Llyr asked worriedly, seeing me stop taking the spoonful of sorbet and putting my hand to my forehead. He quickly put the sorbet and spoon down and reached his hand over to comfort me, but I swatted it away.

"It's fine, just a brain freeze, that's all," I explained wearily, the pain quickly worsening, making me think it wasn't just a brain freeze after all.

My suspicions were soon proven right, as memories soon flooded my mind, and right on time as they usually are. They were memories from the protagonist's point of view, instead of from Lev's. Though I suppose that's only fitting since it was from the novel, not the original Lev.

The act that I remembered was of the time the protagonist and his party stayed in the Alkmene Kingdom, right after the Peril Kingdom's revolutionary army had been defeated and Andronica had been publicly executed.

The party came to seek shelter after what had happened in Vienna City. They originally took a boat to head to Ruaridh City, the capital of the Asmund Kingdom and home to the elves. However, they were soon caught up in a storm, which landed them on one of the 11 islands and forced them to take shelter in the Terra Palace.

I wasn't able to remember what had happened when the demons began attacking Alkmene, but I do remember that the party wasn't able to do anything regarding the destruction of the Kingdom. Also meaning that I didn't remember what fate Llyr had faced.

"Your majesty!" Lancelot exclaimed, entering the gazebo's vicinity in a rush, he was followed by a guard, "My apologies for interrupting, but some very special guests have just arrived from a treacherous journey and are seeking shelter, they have asked for your approval to stay here or in the castle town."

I snapped back upon hearing the two of them enter, now realizing what was going on, and the reason for those memories showing up in my mind at that moment.

'So that day is today, huh?'

"Can't you lot see that I am spending some quality time with an even more important person? Who are these people that would make you think to come and interrupt our teatime?" Llyr demanded, angry at Lancelot and his companion for interrupting our 'quality' time together.

I decided to still act out of it, not wanting Llyr to force me to go with him and meet the protagonist, which would possibly end in me losing a limb or two…for a brief moment at least, considering my divine power.

"Well, it's the hero's party…" Lancelot paused, seeing the king flinch for a moment before continuing, "According to their navigator, while they were on their way to Ruaridh City, they came across a storm which threw them off their path, damaged their ship, and forced them to port on one of the 11 islands."

"Is that so? Haa, I don't want to leave Lev here alone while he's feeling ill…" Llyr trailed off, turning his head to look at me, a worried expression painting his face.

"I'm fine. As a king, you should focus on keeping up your image and go greet them. Don't worry about me, in the face of heroes, a mere Viscount like me is nothing," I added, speaking with a solemn tone.

"Mm, okay fine! This better be quick, if I have to be away from my dearest for more than an hour and a half, there will be hell to pay," he grumbled, storming off to what I presumed to be the throne room, Lancelot following quickly after him and leaving me with the guard.

"..." The two of us were left alone, my headache returning a little, causing me to lean on the table and bury my face into my palm.

"Your Lordship, are you alright?" The guard asked, staying standing where she was. She didn't make an effort to check and see my condition, she just stood there, straight-faced and unmoving.

It was at that moment I knew something was wrong, the way that I suddenly had those memories come to mind as I started feeling unwell…Memories only ever reemerge into my mind when I'm in danger, either that or I would black out like what happened in the Peril Kingdom's palace.

"...You lot put something in my food, didn't you?" I questioned, turning my head towards the guard and finally getting a proper look before my vision would possibly get blurry depending on what she put in it.

She had pale sandy pink hair that went down to the center of her back and was kept in a fishtail braid, paired with her sharp amber eyes, observing every one of my actions. Her light skin had a pinkish undertone to it, complemented well with her hydra blue and black armor, and her bluish trident on her back.

"My apologies, Lord Lev. However, the rest of the servants and I feel as if it is best for you to lay low for the next few days…at least until His Majesty has finally gotten his act together," The dame said, finally stepping closer to me.

"...Tell me, what is your name?" I asked, feeling my head burn up and just barely stopping my head from slumping down.

"It is Muriel Aysu, my husband is Koren Aysu. I would like to humbly thank you for helping improve his Majesties attitude and behavior, through your guidance he has significantly improved. However, the rest of the servants and I feel as if his current motivations aren't the best," Muriel trailed off, looking to her side a bit.

"Hm, I hate to say that I would agree…" I paused, clenching my head due to my extreme headache, "...fine, I'll let this little mishap slide, but if you do something like this to me again, you will face some severe consequences."

"Of course, your Lordship, and I do hope that it won't come down to this again," Muriel replied, bowing with a straight face.

Once she was done I finally let my head slip from the palm of my hand and onto the table, slowly losing consciousness, feeling my fever worsen.

'Damn, the drugs this world develops sure are strong.' I thought before losing consciousness.

***

"Well now! I most certainly wasn't expecting the Hero and his party to come knocking at my door, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Llyr chimed, entering the meeting room with the fakest smile possible.

"Oh, please. The pleasure is all ours, Your Majesty! My name is Evangeline, and I am our party navigator. I'm sure that, as you heard, our ship was severely damaged in a storm on the way to the Asmind Kingdom. We were hoping to stay here for a while, thanks to your generosity, of course!" Evangeline announced, smiling and opening her arms wide.

Evangeline had long, almost silver, light blue hair pulled into two pigtails laying on her chest, which brought out her purple, her and yellow eye, bright against her bronze skin. She was wearing a Black and blue captain's hat, a white tank top button-up, and a dark blue tie in the looped jabot style. Those were paired with black pants and a dark blue skirt in the lobster style, leaving her front legs expressed with the front part of the skirt loosely covering just her upper thighs. 

She had gun holsters at her hips, and her chest, the guns holstered in them. She wore buckled combat boots with just barely a heel to them, not flat like the standard ones. And what stuck out the most was her tattoo of a moon and rabbit, usually only something that followers of the moon god, Claec would have.

"Yes, truly disappointing! But considering you all are such esteemed individuals, I wouldn't mind letting you stay in the Palace for a while…However, if you truly wish to stay here without any problems, I think it's best you let me see your leader," Llyr commanded, putting the tricks that Lev had taught him to good use.

'Ugh, I hope I'm doing this right! I seriously don't get how Lev is so intimidating all the time!' Llyr thought, not knowing of Saito's strenuous military training.

"...Our leader is currently comforting one of our younger party members, who was rather shaken up after the incident, so I please ask that you have some leniency," Evangeline explained, bowing and showing her sympathy and care for her party members.

"Then i suppose there is nothing i can do about that, you may stay here as long as you need to, but have the hero come see me as soon as he is able to…Well then, i'm off, i have other things to attend to," Llyr added as he turned and left the room, headed to Lev's room.

***

"v…ev…Lev…Levy!" I was jolted awake by someone pocking and rocking me hard. I almost punched the individual before realizing who it was.

"Llyr!? What are you doing here? I thought you were talking with the hero's party," I exclaimed, tucking myself back properly into the covers, my fever still there.

"I came to check up on you, i heard you have a fever, how are you feeling? If you want, I could get you an ice pack," He offered, genuinely caring about how I was feeling.

"That would be nice, thank you," I replied. He motioned to Araleun who was standing by the door, she then bowed and left to go grab some ice. Llyr then kneeled on the side of the bed and laid his arms and head on it, messing with my hair, "Haaa, I hope you didn't catch that fever, then we could've played some more!"

"Yes, i suppose we could've…Hehe, perhaps I could have had the 'Oh, great honor!' of meeting the hero and his party," I jested, looking to the side with a sour face.

'YEAH RIGHT! I'D RATHER STAY HERE FOR ALL ETERNITY THAN MEET THAT STUPID HERO! Plus, it's Llyr's servants fault I have a fever…! I thought having that healing ability made me immune to poison, but noooo!' I thought with vigor, my inner personality grinding it's teeth.

"...Maybe, if i also got a fever i wouldn't have to see the hero and could be here in bed with you," He commented, which made me turn to him with a disgusted expression.

Just then he shot up, then went to the door and locked it. It freaked me out and i quickly sat up, puting myself into a defensive position and covering my mouth with the blanket.

"Wh-What are you doing?" I said nervously as he approached me.

"I'm sorry about this Lev, but you are free to punch me after," He expressed as he leaned down and kissed me.