ALLIANCE

XV: Genesis

The lady chuckled. "Make sure this isn't a waste of my concentration this time, genius." She said.

Nathan gave yet another smile, revealing the permanent depression on his cheeks. "Well, what do you want to know first, Miss Carina?" The man asked.

"Hmm." The lady hummed, thinking. "Where are you from?" She asked.

"I'm from the Sig community of the commoners, Miss Carina. I wasn't from any of the Royal families from the neighboring villages." He tells the woman, watching how she reacted knowing about the information.

"Then, how did you become the King's right hand?" She asked, facing the man completely.

"Well. I've known the young King ever since I was young. My dad was the Realm's best prosecutor in history and he was also the right hand of the deceased King." He started. The lady started concentrating on his every word.

"I met him when I was five. The king was six and the young Prince was four at that time. My father took me to the Palace because my mother was going outside of the Kingdom's wall. My mother was a physician. It was the time of the war against the Republicans so my mother was gone for too long since she needed to aid the hurt soldiers. That's the reason why I stayed in the Kingdom for quite a long." He continued, his smile not removed from his face.

"The king and the young Prince weren't on good terms when they were young. They would both argue with each other. Prince Jaxon was a cheerful kid but he was the naughtiest and he has this attitude of not following rules. He would always have his convictions, so the King would always scold him and that's always the start of their arguments." The man chuckled a bit. "He was practicing playing the piano the first time I saw him." He said, his memories lingering a bit in the past to remember every bit of detail.

"I was a really curious kid before. I knew he was a very important person but that didn't stop me to ask him a lot of questions." He added. "Questions like; why is he going to be the King, why is the color of his hair different from the young prince, or the simplest thing such as, what is a piano and why does he play it?" The man said. Carina just looked at him, her eyes slightly lit up since she was getting more amused with the man.

"He was crying at that time and I didn't care. I just want the answers to my questions." He laughed. "But the King just wiped away his tears and asked for my name before answering my questions one by one, and that would always be him. He would always be calm. Ever since he was young, up until now, he'd been so serene." This time, Nathan's expression slightly became serious. "Whenever the Queen would scold him for every mistake his brother would do, he doesn't get angry. Well, he would get frustrated at times because of the young Prince, so he scolds him a lot but he would always end up comforting him." The man sighed.

"He told me he was happy I was there with him during that day so, even when it was already time when I needed to go back home, he would ask me to stay and play with him or to just be beside him every time. He wasn't just my King, he was also my best friend, and he treats me as his too." He explained. "I had the privilege to study a lot of things because of him, so I'm always thankful, and when both our fathers died in the war, he became the King and he chose me as his right hand in an instant. That's how I ended up being here." He finishes, now back on his smiling expression.

Carina stared at him for a minute. "Didn't you have any dreams when you were young?" The lady asked.

"I guess we all do. I wanted to be just like my father. I wanted to be a prosecutor." He said, looking afar.

"Then why didn't you become a prosecutor instead?" The lady asked once again.

"Well, I've been with the King my whole life. I forgot the drive I had of becoming a prosecutor. I just focused on being by his side." The man chuckled.

"Your work for the King is as good as a prosecutor though. You are always investigating for him." The lady teased. "But of course, I think it's still fulfilling if you became what you wanted to be first." She added.

This time, the man was the one who looked at her. Nathan expected the woman to be emotionless and unbothered but every time he talks to her, he realizes every conversation they had would be just a stack of layers that still needed to be uncovered one by one, and he would gladly like to know what's underneath each of them.

"Carina." Someone called out from behind them. They both looked at the person in an instant. It was Huxley and, he was eyeing Nathan. "Ready to go?" He asked Carina in particular but he was still looking at Nathan. The right hand of the King was also looking at him with the same intensity, but he was mixed with confusion because he didn't know the reason why he the man was doing that.

Huxley had a grin on his face, and his eyes has a strong aura but Nathan couldn't figure out what emotion was his expressions trying to portray.

Carina nodded, remembering her agenda. She looked back at Nathan. "I'll go now, Nathan. Thank you for accompanying me." She said, before walking away. The man bowed towards her, cutting the staring game he was doing with the other Mafia leader.

Huxley on the other hand, let the lady pass before giving one final look at Nathan. The right hand gave him a small bow and he did the same too, with the same indescribable expression, then he turned around to follow Carina, placing his right arm over the lady's shoulders.

He leaned down over the woman's ears. "So, do you prefer nice guys now?" The man whispered, teasing.

Carina rolled her eyes at him, poking his forehead away from her face. "Mister Huxley, what's going on in your absurd mind should stay there." She retorted.

The man chuckled. "Come on Carina, I saw the way you focused on his every word while you were having a conversation earlier. That's how you concentrate and that's rare because you don't usually give a f**k about what other people think, except for me and the mafia family." He said as they both go down a long set of stairs, his arms still around the woman." Could it be that you adore him, hmm?" He added, pretending to be shocked.

Carina glared at him. "Huxley, get ahold of yourself. You're the only man I adored all my life, so you're the only person I'll give that look to. It's not like you don't know." She said, making Huxley stop in his tracks, his arm removed from the woman's shoulders in the process. The lady just continued to walk.

Huxley was quite surprised by the sudden statement the woman told him. She was right, but for the lady to say that directly to his face made him a bit shy and astonished at the same time. He brushed off the emotions he had before chuckling, this time placing his both hands in his pockets and then following behind the woman.

Before they went out of the entrance of the castle, two servers gave them both a beige mantle. They will go to the neighboring village to shop for some clothes. The king advised them to wear the cloak for the commoners not pay too much attention to them.

"Where's Lilith and Julian?" Carina asked, glancing around the big area where the entrance of the castle was located, Huxley also doing the same.

"They are inside the car prepared for you, Miss Carina." The butler said, motioning outside the dorm where two Rolls Royce Phantom VI were parked.

After wearing the long cloth, they made their way out of the door and into the car. The moon was in its full form tonight. It was six in the evening so the sky was in the color of black since the sun has set. The Realm doesn't get enough sunlight so it kind of looked purple with the reflection of the natural satellite.

The travel time going to the outskirts of the Sig community where the markets were located was about twenty minutes. That's the only time Carina realized how big the domain was, and it's even divided into three.

When they went out of their cars, the noisy atmosphere and the crowded surrounding welcomed them. They wore their hoods over their heads, before closing the doors behind them.

"Is it a good thing that we didn't ask anyone from the palace to accompany us? We might get lost." Lilith asked, who was now beside Carina.

There was a smile plastered on the mafia queen's face. The lady loves shopping too much. "I'm not sure, but let's go." She said, before walking towards a big shop of dresses. Lilith and the two men followed the woman.

When they entered the shop, they were surrounded by different colors of clothing and accessories. The owner bowed towards them upon hearing the bell above the glass door ring when they opened it. "Good evening." He greeted, moving towards them.

They acknowledged the shop owner right away. "You have a nice shop here, sir." Huxley complimented, looking around the area. The shop owner gave them a small smile before all of them started to roam around the shop.

Most of the clothing was dresses and suits in all kinds of colors. Carina went to the gown section. She scanned the various set of clothes, her hands touching the garments in the process. One particular gown caught her attention. It was her favorite color and it was sparkling.

"Huxley, look at this." The woman called out, pulling the gown out of the tall closet.

The man looked at her right away. He eyed the garment the woman was holding as he approaches. "That would look the best on you." The man complimented, them before getting another dress that has the same design as what the lady showed him but it was in the color red. "This would look hot on you though." He told the lady, smirking while he was holding the dress up for the woman to see. Carina smiled at the man, but not because of the compliments, it was because she was adoring the gowns she was seeing.

Julian was watching them from the other side of the room. He went to the gowns area to look for a black-colored one. When one design caught his attention, he quickly went to Carina and give it to her. "Nuna, this would look good on you too." The man offered, pouting a bit as he hold the dress in front of her face.

Carina touched the fabric and then nodded. "Oh yeah, that looks good too." She said, her smile not fading, and with that, Julian's pout was erased from his face. He proudly grinned at the lady.

"You should try it on," Huxley tells her, not fully giving attention to the young man beside him. The lady nodded and took the dresses from both men's hands. She went to the shop owner to ask for the fitting room right away.

"Hey, I'll go buy a drink. Do you guys want some?" Lilith spoke. Carina just muttered a simple yes before going inside a curtained room.

Huxley on the other hand eyed his sister. "Yes, but don't get anything alcoholic." He warned her. Lilith sighed before nodding.

"Julian, how about you?" She asked, glancing toward the young man.

"I'll go with you." He cheerfully said, walking towards her. "Let's get an alcoholic drink." He whispered, as soon as he was near her. Lilith gave her a knowing look before they started to move out of the store.

They found a café, not too far from where they were. The design of the store from the outside was what caught their attention.

When they entered the place, they were a bit impressed. It had a concave arch formed at the junction of a wall with a ceiling. They also observed how the place was dark and only various candles scattered around lights the dim room. It was also decorated with different amulets and dream catchers.

"You have a really dope café." Julian complimented the elderly lady behind the small bar.

"Thank you and Namaste." She greeted, bowing toward the two. "What can I get the two of you?" She continued, while the two young people sat on the stools in front of the woman.

"Uhm- do you have Irish coffee?" Lilith asked her looking over the big menu behind her.

"Yes we do, sweetheart." She said, smiling.

Lilith looked over at Julian for confirmation and he nodded right away. "Alright, we'll have two of that." She tells the woman, and the lady wrote it down on her paper immediately.

"I think Nuna and Huxley-Hyung will have an iced chai latte," Julian suggested after the two of them scanned the menu for a minute.

Lilith agreed. "We'll have two iced chai lattes too. All the drinks are to go. Thank you." She finalized their order. The woman gave them another small smile before turning around to prepare their drinks.

They were having a casual conversation, talking about the decorations in the café when one lady popped out of nowhere. She stood in between them before holding both of their hands. The strange woman was wearing a long navy blue dress, her eyes were silver and her hair was blonde. She looked like she was in her thirties and she was really beautiful.

"You two are not from here." She said, tightening the hold on their hands. They were both surprised by her sudden appearance, but they didn't know why they weren't eager to pull their hands away and they just let the woman touch them. The strange lady looked at Julian. "Young man, your mind and your heart are not resting for days. You should take a break." He tells him, looking at his eyes before darting her gaze towards Lilith.

She stared at her for a minute before her eyes widened a bit. "Sweetie, you hold a lot of power. It's dangerous. You have to choose wisely." She said, her eyes suddenly showing a tinge of fear.

"What do you mean?" Lilith asked, completely confused, but before the lady could answer, their order came.

"Dawn! Stop scaring the young people." The woman behind the bar was now back, handing them their orders. "I'm sorry, my daughter has a special way of greeting people." She tells them before looking at her. "Dawn, get over here and help me out." She calls for the lady. The strange woman in blue let go of their hands, giving the both of them one more odd look before looking away.

After paying for their drinks, the two of them silently got out of the cavern-like café. They didn't utter any words and just started sipping on their drinks. Before they could enter the clothing store, they gave each other a look. When Julian laughed as soon as they locked gaze, Lilith did too.

They thought that the lady was just playing around so they treated it as a joke but deep inside, they felt a bit scared because what the woman said was somehow true.

It was the evening in Coterie City when Nathalie And Travis arrived. They went straight to the man's apartment.

"Home sweet home." The woman commented, slumping down on the big living room sofa. " Oh, this is not even my apartment but still, it's good to be back in the city. I miss the warmth." She chuckled. Travis just watched her, smiling.

"Do you want something to eat?" The man asked, moving to the kitchen to check his pantry for something to cook. "We could eat first before we monitor the city." He continued, before realizing that there was no food left in his storage.

"Yes. I'm starving. Let's have something unhealthy. The food in the Kingdom was too nutritious." She agreed, sarcastically.

Travis laughed." But we have a problem, we don't have food to cook. Should we just order?" He asked, closing the pantry.

"I want fast food." The lady demanded, sitting up from the couch to look up at Travis.

"There's fast food across the block. I'll buy it. You can stay here." The man said, grabbing his coat to wear it again.

"Are you sure?" The lady asked, smiling. Travis just nodded before going towards the front door. Nathalie's smile widened. "Thank you, lover boy!" She exclaimed, before slumping back down on the sofa.

She was enjoying her little siesta for five minutes before reality hit her. She stood up quickly.

"s**t. We're given two days. I should stop slacking. Carina will be calling for an update a few hours from now." She murmured to herself as if she was scolding her lazy behavior.

She made her way toward Travis' office. She went to his desktop right away, to pop up the city's detailed map that only the man could get access to. "Will Tae kill me for touching his stuff?" She asked no one in particular, before sitting on the computer chair. "Yes, he will but let's deal with that later on." She answered, to no one in particular too.

When the computer was open already, she was afraid that there might be a password that she needed to type in but fortunately, there wasn't.

While she was looking for the city's map, she saw a folder on the window's screen. Its name got her attention because it was the initials of her name. She wasn't sure though if it stands for Nathalie Stone but her curiosity got to her so she opened the folder anyway.

When the icon popped open after clicking it twice, she was suddenly surprised by the contents of the folder.

It was full of her photos and video clips. Most of it was screenshots of the camera devices she would use as an accessory for every mission they previously had. She scrolled down further to check all the contents of the folder. There was a document on the very last part. She opened it right away.

It was a list of all her information. She suddenly felt a bit nervous when she saw that her origin was also written there. Her hidden identity that was kept hidden for years was now exposed in front of her face.

She was still reading the details of the document when she heard the apartment door open. She closed the folder and the document in an instant, before opening the city map. "Travis! I opened your computer. I'm sorry!" She shouted right away, giggling the last bit of her words to cover up the nervousness she was feeling.

It was just seconds when she heard footsteps coming towards the room. Travis ran beside her right away. The man calmed down a bit when he saw that she was just looking at the city map.

Nathalie looked up at him. She immediately observed the edgy aura of the man so she just gave him a calm smile. "Why are you looking at me like that? Are you really angry?" She asked, teasingly.

The man gave her a small smile, biting on his lips before shaking his head. "No. I'm not, I was just checking if you found what you needed." He chuckled. "Let's eat first." He offered, brushing one hand on his nape.

Nathalie grinned at him, before letting go of the computer's mouse. "Okay, I'm starving!" She exclaimed, standing up. She turned around to move out of the room afterward, one hand over her chest. The man who had the same feeling followed behind her.

While they were eating their dinner, she would steal glances at him, thousands of questions running through her mind.

Her identity was protected by the intelligence agencies for years, but this genius man accessed it so easily, and this genius man had crazy feelings for her too. It makes her feel uneasy for the first time since they met.