It had been two days since Armad escaped from Duka. Today, he and his traveling companions arrived in Jekis, the capital city of Sisiya. They all looked energetic with no sign of fatigue.

Ilias was the first to notice a difference in the city gate as they approached. First, it was fully opened with no checkpoints and strangers crawled inside and out. And the guards would only ask a few casual questions to make sure you weren't carrying anything dangerous before they let you in. Second, no tax was collected. The gate was also covered with new ceremonial cloth. 'Are they holding some royal ceremony?' Ilias asked himself.

However, Spoon's attention was on the newspaper in his hands. The newspaper had all four of them on the front page looking like wanted criminals. Spoon glued the newspaper to his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was right before he said, "How did they get our pictures?"

Inara looked at Spoon and burst out laughing. "Senior, you have a thousand demonic lions. What are you afraid of?"

Armad also laughed, saying, "Get used to it. It's just a bounty. And besides, what do you expect after attacking their division building and killing hundreds? They wouldn't just ignore you, you know."

Spoon frowned. He looked like he was about to cry. "You don't understand, Armad. You already have a bounty on you. Increasing it from 1.5 to 30 million means little to you. But for me... I have four million on my head. What do you want me to do from now on?"

Armad pointed at Inara and teasingly replied, "Even this boy here has two million on his head, and Ilias has seven million. What are you complaining about, and why aren't they complaining?"

They continued to tease Spoon until they entered the town gate. It was then that they realized why Ilias was silent all along.

Upon entering, they found the road was paved with specially designed clothes. Armored riders stood at both sides of the road. The horses were short and the armors were red with white stripes. It looked nothing like the armors worn by the soldiers in the country. Did they have some visitors, or maybe some powerful allies in the war to come?

"Armad," Ilias whispered, pulling him to the side. "They are elite squads of the Denizen army. They always follow the King around."

Armad suddenly understood the situation. They'd been away for seven days, and Prince Bizaya was supposed to visit in seven days to ask for the princess's hand in marriage. However, what would bring the King here? Even if his son was coming to ask for marriage, why would he, as the father, bother to come? Shouldn't he send some representatives?

'Or maybe the traditions differ from that of the third world.'

Armad hurried to the palace, followed by Inara, Ilias, and Spoon. They met another squad a short distance from the palace, standing on either side of a red carpet. Thousands of large blocks of the world's most expensive gold sat on the carpet, arranged in rows from the beginning of the carpet to the end and into the palace. It was a show of massive, endless wealth.

Armad walked toward the palace entrance while his companions slowed down a bit to avoid attracting too much attention. But despite trying to avoid everyone, a guard still spotted him.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Hey, boy, what are you doing here?" He shouted at him rudely.

"I live here," Armad said calmly. He didn't react to the guard's apparent anger.

The guard smiled knowingly as he said, "Care to identify yourself then?"

Armad came forward and handed over his identification card, the same card he received from commander Djinn. The guard curled up his mustache as he looked at the card and Armad, back and forth. After a while, he frowned and returned it. "You might have this... identity, but only the royal blood will be allowed into the palace today. It's the King's order. You can wait here if you want." He was having some difficulty believing that Armad could have an identity like that. He even suspected forgery, even though he knew it wasn't possible. All identification cards had pol attached to them. Unless you could change your pol then you could not forge them.

Armad pushed past him while he was still lost in thought. The guard turned around angrily, but he found out that another boy had stepped in front of him. The other guards, having noticed what happened, shouted angrily and some even unsheathed their blades but were soon stopped by Spoon and Ilias. The little exchange attracted the attention of many people around.

A senior officer came forward to see what happened. "You, what's going on here?"

"Sir, this person is trying to force his way into the palace despite telling him politely that only the royal blood is allowed to enter..." The guard turned around but Armad was no longer there. "Huh? He was just here."

"I also saw him."

"Me too."

The senior officer frowned. Did these idiots anger someone they shouldn't have? Besides, this wasn't their palace or their place to do something like that. It was just a show of friendship that made King Bihanzin to give them the authority to manage the place just for today. If they were to cause trouble... He wouldn't dare allow them.

"I see nothing here," the senior officer said. He turned to Ilias with a polite smile. "Sir, do you have business with the palace today?"

Ilias nodded. He understood what the senior officer was trying to do, so he handed over his identification card immediately.

The officer only took a cursory glance at it and nodded. "This is a senior citizenship card with two stars. Let them enter."

"Yes, sir!"

The man even escorted them to the entrance before he returned to his post.

Ilias just shook his head with a sigh. Despite only taking a cursory look at his identification card, the man was smart enough to copy the pol attached to the card. He must have already sent it to commander Djinn or someone higher before he allowed them to enter. How shrewd!

"Now what do we do?" Spoon asked. "I'm starting to feel a little hungry."

The others just pretended they didn't hear that last part. How could he still have appetite after eating so much?

***

Armad arrived at the palace and looked for Nostalgia. He picked her pol in a garden not far from her quarters with several other people, who he couldn't identify. He went there directly.

The garden wasn't crowded despite the heavy pol pressure coming from it. There was Nostalgia, two other women, and five young men sitting across the women.

Prince Deniz sat in the middle with two men on either side. Nostalgia was also sitting at the center, surrounded by the other women. The men were dressed in the same white gown. But the prince wore a silk dress which didn't seem to be all that expensive. He'd a simple hat adorned with gold, gemstones, and the all so rare mustache of djinns. He looked bigger than he did in the jinzidal tournament and it wasn't just about his pol. Armad had checked.

Still, the prince paled in comparison to the woman in front of him. Nostalgia shone like the sun in the mid of the sky. Her beautiful figure was, as usual, unmatched. She wore a casual dress with a pink blouse and a black veil over her hair. She looked so pure and innocent. Armad found himself staring at her. But the more he looked, the angrier he became. The most primal of desire on the verge of overtaking his reasoning.

He couldn't hear what the couple were saying but he could see their lips moving. Bizaya talked gently while Nostalgia listened and stared at him. Shortly after, Bizaya nodded at his escorts and they left. The young women by the princess side also left.

Armed took another step back and hid in the trees. Why would the princess and the prince need some privacy? He'd an insatiable desire to see how the meeting would unfold.