3. Royal Palace

Early in the morning on the next day, the three people in the small house had already woken up. Felix packed up the few things that he had over the stay at the house. After saying goodbyes to Mrs Lee and Lee Cheon he dawned on his emerald cloak, ready to leave.

Lee Cheon hugged him tightly. "Please take care."

"Don't worry." Felix smiled and bid farewell to the mother and son duo one last time "I'll come visit when I can."

With that he left for the village center where the recruitment occurs.

The village center that's usually peaceful now is packed with soldiers and young capable people along with many carriages. The carriages aren't luxurious or anything. They looked pretty simple, the only special thing about them is the golden royal crest of Levanter Kingdom on it.

Felix approaches the crowd.

"Name?" A soldier asked when it was his turn

"Lee Felix."

He did a double take on Felix "Not Lee Cheon?"

"That's my cousin. I'll be going instead of him."

"Very well then"

After Felix's explanation, the soldier doesn't seem to care to question anything further and he was left alone afterwards.

It took a while for everyone to be registered and for the soldiers to organize everything. After they're done, one of them stepped up and announced loudly, making everyone stop their conversations.

"Alright, everyone! Attention!"

"We will travel to the capital now. You see the carriages behind you? There's already some people from other regions there and together we'll go straight to the royal palace from here. The journey will take an entire day with some stops along the way for rest and food."

People looked over to the carriages curiously after the announcement. Whispers and questions seem to surface for all of them since the once silent air is now filled with muffling conversing sounds.

"Everyone follows the soldier that calls out for your name and goes into your respected carriages as instructed. Hurry up!" The soldiers announce once more and the crowd get moving along

From what he could tell, the carriages are divided between boys and girls. Everyone is randomly assigned a carriage to go in regardless of where they came from. He guesses that that's one way to get acquainted with some new people as well.

Everyone got grouped into different carriages, around three to four each. When Felix got to his assigned carriage, there was only one guy there. He figured since this is the last stop before going to the royal palace, it means he has good luck to only have to share the space with one person instead of more.

"Hey!" The boy greeted him happily

"Hey," Felix greeted back in a daze.

The youth in front of him is smiling sweetly at him. His eyes formed a crescent shape from the smile. His cheeks puffed out ever so nicely making him look soft and youthful. His first thought was, he looks like a cute little squirrel.

His second thought... He looks kinda like Jung Jin.

The boy seemed to not notice anything and just continued the conversation "Are you native here? You don't look like the others in your village."

"Uh... I just moved here to live with my cousin and aunt. I used to live near the city."

"The capital? No wonder you look like what I expect a city boy to look like."

Felix giggles in disbelief "A city boy?"

"Yeah! I don't know. You just look more handsome and... popped out among the others, I guess." the boy rambles out his explanations.

"Thank you. I'd say you definitely will pass easily as a city boy as well." Felix smiled lightheartedly

The more the youth talked the more Felix felt at ease. He almost heaves a sigh of relief that he got to stay with this boy instead of someone else. In his opinion, even the way this youth behaves is also similar to Jung Jin. Not that he's not unique or anything. It's just that seeing him reminded Felix of his past best friend.

"Wow really? That's a big compliment! Thank you... Uh... What's your name?"

"Lee Felix. What's yours?"

"Felix! That's a cool name. I'm Han Jisung."

Felix giggles at the comment. Somehow, Jisung really has this warm presence that makes him feel at ease really quickly. This trip to the royal palace is ought to be a long stay and Felix is happy that he has already found someone he definitely wants to be friends with.

"Nice to meet you, Jisung. I think we looked the same age. How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen."

"I'm nineteen too. September 15."

"No way, mine's September 14." Jisung widens his eyes in surprise "We're pretty much long lost twins!"

The two of them talked and laughed throughout the journey. Within just that one day, they seemed to have become best friends already.

❄️

The sun is already setting in the horizon, painting the sky with purplish hue. The snow that hadn't been falling much during the day had started falling once more.

Felix looks through the window of the carriage and sees the forest starting to thin out. Not long after, they reached the city gate meaning they will get to the palace really soon.

"Woah... So many people..." Jisung stared out the window totally amazed

"The lights are brighter here, isn't it?" Felix comments "People dress nicer as well"

"I bet the royal palace would look even more magical than this." Jisung mused happily

After they passed through the city, people started to thin out little by little until they reached another gate where only guards could be seen stationed at their post.

Sticking his head outside the carriage, Felix looked forward. Ahead of them is the royal palace. The beautiful white castle standing tall with its towers looking like they could reach the sky. Lights adorn the majestic building brightly making it look like something you'd expect from a fairytale. Amidst the snow, it looked like a winter wonderland.

Felix gestured to Jisung to look out with him.

"Oh , it looks amazing!"

All the carriages came to a stop at the entrance.

All the other villagers got off the ride and stared around them in amazement and admiration. Everyone started to chat among their peers. All of them peeked left and right trying to see as much of the palace as possible.

From what they can see from the entrance, the palace is decorated cozily. It looked warm and welcoming. The soft toned colors fit nicely with the warm hue of the lights. Warmth radiates all around the hall, cozying them on their arrival through the cold weather.

"Alright, everyone! Welcome to the royal palace! Everyone follow me, we'll go to an assembly hall."

To everyone present, the hall itself could probably fit hundreds of their houses in there. They were left to their own devices as the soldiers left and imperial guards stationed at every exit to keep people from wandering off.

Felix had gone and looked for a seat that wasn't occupied. Once he found it, he turned to find Jisung missing from his side. When he scanned the premises carefully, he found the boy standing alone looking scared, surrounded by some girls looking like they're ganging up on him.

Felix dropped their bags on the bench and walked to Jisung.

"Would you look at that! Such a frail little boy, what're you gonna be able to work with that little hand of yours?" A girl in pale yellow dress mocked

"Yeah right! You look so sissy, I think the wind could blow you away if you're not careful." Her companion in blue pursed her lip mockingly

Felix barged into their conversation and dragged Jisung with him, not forgetting to