(From Blue''s Perspective)


    "We wee you, His Royal Majesty, the King of the kingdom, and Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of the kingdom," the head priest bowed and the other priests followed.


    "Rise, Head Priest," Dem said. "It seems the temple has been renovated greatly. I wonder where the money ising from."


    "It''s all thanks to the moon goddess who graces upon us and Your Majesty, the King and Her Majesty, the Queen," the head priest said.


    "Heh, of course," Dem sneered.


    "Your Majesty, the Queen, I feel very fortunate to be able to meet you again. We are very honored to have Your Majesty here," the head priest said, smiling at me. "I am the head priest of the temple."


    He was an old man with a long beard. But where did I see him before? Even he said that we met again. I was sure that I had met him before, but I could not remember where.


    "He was present at our wedding. He was the one who talked that much," Dem said bluntly.


    ''I understand you want to help me remember, but do you have to talk so bluntly? Everyone heard you...''


    Now I remembered. He was the one who read something from a book. I was so nervous on our wedding that I could not focus on anything at all. In the end, I remembered only a few things of that day.


    "Yes, I remember," I said. "I am sorry I had forgotten before. I must have been very tired and nervous that day."


    "That is alright, Your Majesty. Since it is Your Majesty''s first time visiting the temple, let me show you around."


    "Yes, that would be amazing," I smiled.


    Dem had not let go of my hand the whole time. I had lost count of the people who kept staring at our entwined hands. Perhaps they had not seen a happy couple in a long time, or they just did not expect their king and queen to be so close to each other.


    Either way, their stares were a bit unsettling.


    "This is the main hall. Here, we usually pray on big events, and sometimes, peoplee here to pray for the deceased," the head priest exined. "Everything flows ording to the will of the goddess. We are just serving her."


    ''His sentences are strange. They don''t have a flow.''


    The priest showed us all the rooms. There was a separate quarter by the temple where the priests resided. We went there as well. It was where I saw that girl.


    "This girl... Who is she?" I asked when she was presented in front of me.


    Just like the report said, the girl had gray eyes and gray hair. Her eyes truly looked blind. It was like a gray part covered her pupil and iris. She had very dark skin. She was perhaps seven or eight, but very frail.


    "They are His Majesty, the King Her Majesty, the Queen. Greet them," the head priest said, resting his hands on her shoulder.


    "I... greet His R-Royal Majesty, the King... and Her Royal M-Majesty, the Queen...," she mumbled, looking down at her feet.


    ''This child...''


    "I apologize on behalf of her because of her insolent behavior. This child is a bit sick..."


    ''What insolent behavior? She did well.''


    "Who is this?" Dem asked before I could.


    "This is the saint, Your Majesty," the head priest replied.


    The girl had been trembling all the time. She was wearing a priest''s robe, but I still saw some of her bruises. They were not ordinary bruises. I knew what those were perfectly because I had them even just six months ago.


    I bent down in front of her and smiled at her. "What is your name?" I asked.


    "Her name is..."


    "Did I ask you, head priest?" I red at him.


    "No... My apologies, Your Majesty."


    "Now tell me, what is your name?" I asked again, looking at the girl. "You don''t have to be afraid. Tell me."


    "I... I am... Amber...," she replied slowly, looking at me. It was the first time she looked at me. I was awestruck. She was gorgeous and cute.


    "Amber," I repeated. "Nice meeting you, Amber. How old are you?"


    "Nine..."


    ''Nine? She doesn''t look nine at all. Oh my, has she been eating well?''


    "Oh, you are nine? I have a niece who is five. Her name is Ava. The thing you both have inmon is that both of you are cute," I said.


    "C-Cute?"


    "Yes, cute," I smiled.


    "You, go back to your room now. You are taking a lot of Her Majesty''s precious time," the head priest said.


    "Ah, I''m s-sorry... I will go back..."


    I stood up straight. "Goodbye, Amber. We will meet again someday."


    She gave a small nod before someone took her away. I nced at Dem who seemed to know right away what I was thinking. He nodded at me.


    We left after talking some time with the other priests. The head priest offered us to have lunch with him, but Dem declined immediately. He just wanted to go back as soon as possible.


    "It has been long. I did not think we would stay this long at a hellish ce like this," Dem grumbled.


    "Hellish? It''s literally the temple. And I did not tell you toe with me."


    "I can''t possibly let youe here all by yourself."


    "There are fifty knights and Perita with me," I rolled my eyes. "How much more protection do I need?"


    "But I am not one of them. You are the safest when I am with you."


    "Yeah, yeah..."


    "Let''s have lunch somewhere. I know a ce."


    "You made a reservation already, isn''t that right?"


    "I did, but that''s not the point."


    "You reserved the whole ce and would coax me into this somehow," I said. "I know you."


    "Well, it has been long since we went on a date. Let''s go."


    "I didn''t say I mind," I chuckled. "Let''s go then."


    We did not have any date like this before. When we went on dates before, not many people knew that we were the King and the Queen. But this time, a lot of people gathered to see us.


    After lunch, we went to a sunflower field. It was beautiful. The flowers bloomed happily and it was like they were smiling at us. The afternoon made the field look even more beautiful.


    "Do you like it here?" Dem asked.


    "It''s really beautiful..."


    "That''s good. I am d you like it."


    I wished we could take some pictures here. It was so unfortunate that there was no smartphone or camera in this world. Well, even if I could not take a picture, I still could picture how we looked in this vast field of yellow.


    I ran around the field, feeling the chilly air against my skin. Dem walked behind me with a smile on his face. He looked even more handsome than usual, especially with the afternoon light falling on his pale face while he was covered inpletely ck attire.


    ''Really, my husband is so handsome...''


    "I guess we should discuss our n now. I did not mention it before, since it was our date time," I said.


    "I already know what you want. If you want that, I can manage it," he said.


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    "Your method won''t be good. I want to be part of it as well," I said.


    "I am thinking of tonight. I won''t have much timeter."


    "Oh? You have to go out at night too?" I asked sulkily.


    "No, but I will be busy. And you too. We will have to make love after all."


    "..."


    "As I said, we will do it tonight. And I also found traces of that tablet."


    "What? Where?" I asked, shocked.


    "Inside a flower tub. Just part of it was visible. But I know that unique smell of it. It''s that one. There truly seems to be an illegal business going on."


    "I see... Then I will assign someone to investigate and find the root of it."


    "That''s good. I would rather not involve myself much with the things rted to the temple. I might end up turning pure. You don''t do that as well. You will get infected by those damned priests."


    "You are weird."


    We returned to the pce after having dinner. I had fun, but the face of that child kept invading my thoughts. I felt bad for her. It was clear what was happening to her at the temple at the hands of those bastards who called themselves priests. But it was no time to be sad. If I wanted to save her, I needed to do something.


    And that was exactly what Dem and I were going to do tonight.