The royal family was to prepare for the first son’s wedding. There was just a minor problem, the prince was nowhere to be found.

They designated a group of guards to always follow him around, but they came to inform the royal Advisory they lost track of him at the university.

Since the King wanted for his son to have a normal childhood, no one knew his true identity since he entered the school system and was perceived like everyone else. So when he was at school, they had to monitor him from the distance. This distance Baekho used to his advantage when he schemed his brief vacation of royal duties.

“I need some answers; how did this happen?” Advisory couldn’t believe their words.

“Do we have the slightest idea where he could be?” he continued, but everyone was silent. He could curse and yell at them, but he knew it wouldn’t help.

“First, this information doesn’t leave this room. Now this is what we will do, we know he was at the dormitory, go there and search around, speak to his roommate, his friends, speak to the professors, but do not be too obvious we cannot let anyone know he is missing. Now go!” He watched them nod as they cloaked themselves in black and left.

As soon as they left the room, Advisor sat down. His head was spinning. There is no way he can go to the King, inform him of this situation, and keep his head.

There was a soft knock on the door. Suddenly the Queen stood in front of him.

“I heard my son is not back yet?” She asked confused and continued:

“We said he will be back as soon as he finishes his studies, so he can spend a few days with his future wife before they get officially married!?” She didn’t like the fact he hadn’t come back yet.

Advisory cleared his throat and answered with an understanding smile.

“I realize that, but he asked kindly if he can stay longer since it’s his last time with his friends and obligation-free.” Advisory tried to soften the situation and prayed the Queen won’t ask too many questions. He can’t say out loud that they do not know his whereabouts.

Suddenly, a light breeze hit, and between the door frame stood a Messenger. It appeared he was running; he could barely catch his breath. When he noticed the Queen, he tried to compose himself and politely smiled.

“Excuse me, my majesty, they need the Advisory at the gate.”

“Is something the matter?” The Queen asked first.

 “Everything is fine, just some standard procedures for the Advisory to look at.” The Messenger tried his best to politely smile, but Advisory shuddered a little at his words. He got a bad feeling.

The Queen wasn’t sure how to feel. Somehow lately she felt everyone was behaving strangely. It’s probably because of the wedding, it is the most important event in the Kingdom. She was already late for her afternoon tea ceremony, so she excused herself and left.

“Sir, the Floral Queen just crossed our border.” Messenger felt he can take a deep breath again. For a second, Advisory couldn’t speak. It was like one bad news after another.

The magic world was flat and shaped elliptically and the three Kingdoms shared it almost equally. On the left ruled the Flower Kingdom in the middle Magic Kingdom on the right Kingdom of Beast, who shared part of their border with the Flower Kingdom on the bottom of the ellipse. 

“Are you sure, this makes no sense, there was no formal announcement of them visiting our court?” The Advisory stated confused.

“Are the men sure they saw the Queen?”

“Hundred percent, since the rise of illegal border crossing, we tightened controls. We have a fox following her and she is coming here.”

The messenger motion and circle with his right arm and the Advisory could see through the foxes’ eyes, he recognized the path immediately, and far ahead he could already see the castle. The vision stopped and Messenger got instructions on what to do.

Inhabitants of the magic ellipse all have their basic form, one of a human which then differs by their origin. Flower people are bright and full of color and crave light and rain to thrive. Their opposite are Beasts, who possess animal instincts, and where earth tones prevail, they are creatures of night and shadows. The Magic people are somewhere in between; they are the most human-like. Their appearance is nothing special, but their magic power is the highest.

To hide their meeting of The King of Magic and Floral Queen, they held their conversation in the castle’s undergrown channels, lighted by flaming torches. It was only them and the Advisory. The fewer people knew about it, the better. Flora took her black hood off, and her appearance illuminated, her long strawberry hair and magenta eyes glowed. But her eyes were sad and scared.

“What is the meaning of this secrecy? It is against the peace pact we established!?” The Magic was first to speak.

Flora looked again at the Advisory. She didn’t like him being here.

“Your kingdom has something that belongs to me and I want it back.” She whispered. Her words confused the king.

“You remember the war 20 years ago.”

King’s face grimaced. He knew exactly what she implied. He just became the king when the dispute between Florals and Beast started, which later lead to a short time war, but the consequences were devastating. If he could see through the deception the Beast presented him they could have avoided the war.

“The beasts took something from my kingdom and have been extorting us and our resources for the past 20 years.”

The King listened with interest, when they signed the treaty at the end of the war, no one said much about what exactly was the problem, they assumed the Beast wanted to take a portion of land from the Florals.

“I was young then and blinded by sadness, but as the years passed and I could think more clearly, many things did not add up.” She paused and took a breath.

“Walking around the market, I overheard traders talking how your kingdom strengthened borders and checkups, how the beasts are crawling around everywhere.” There was hope in her eyes, and she continued.

“That information led me to believe there must be only one option about what must have happened. When retrieving back home they must have lost our treasure on your land and your people picked it up, not knowing it belongs to us.” This thought powered her, and you could hear the optimism and willingness to fight in her voice.

“Why are you so convinced this is the only option? How do you know they don’t have it in their kingdom?” Her words didn’t convince the King, he felt bad for their loss, but there is no actual proof her assumptions are correct.

Flora didn’t want to answer because her response would also have reviled what the beasts took from them and she didn’t feel like she can trust them with that information.

The Advisory felt her dilemma and gave her the benefit of the doubt.

“What exactly is it you want from us?” He asked.

 “I want you to track and investigate the beasts on your territory and also allow our people to come here and do their own search undercover.” She looked the King directly in the eyes.

“This is madness!” The King couldn’t believe his ears.

“You are not serious, we cannot possibly do that, and on what basis? Your empty words!? You gave us no solid information!” In his eyes Queen’s wish was ridiculous. He took a deep breath and calmly asked again, what is she searching for? They can’t help if they don’t know.

“I can’t tell you that..” Events that happened 20 years ago left a big scar, she knows she is close, she can feel it. Is it worth risking again?

The king look at advisory, and the latter shook his head.

“We cannot allow that unless we want the beast at our door seeking answers, and as we know their short temper, it would just lead to another dispute.” Advisory just said out loud what everyone present knew.

“Flora, if you want this problem solved, you’ll have to trust me.” Magic walked closer, their noses almost touching, and whispered:

“What did they take from you?”