Kingdom

62. Laws of Magic (1)

Nori jumps to her feet, staring at the letters slowly disappearing. What the hell is happening? She tries to untie the ribbon but the fabric only tightens itself around her wrist.

New letters shine: I will be waiting.

Who? Who is waiting? What is this?

Calm down.

Warm feeling of reassurance spreads from the ribbon all over Nori's body - as if someone is holding her hand and their touch makes her feel protected.

You know who I am.

Come and find me.

"Who the hell are you!" Nori exclaims. Then it hits her. Jimin. Of course. He is no ordinary dancer. That man must be the famous wizard of Busan, Park Jimin. He gave her this magic ribbon for a reason.

He knows magic; he can help her. This is a good thing, there is no reason to panic. Taehyung must have sent Jimin here because he knew Nori would need the assistance of a wizard. Taehyung... What is he planning? Nothing dangerous, hopefully.

Nori pushes her hand over her heart, trying to breathe slowly and clear her mind.

Nori has to meet Jimin. But how to get to him? The King won't allow her to associate herself with foreign wizards.Namjoon doesn't know Daegu, he won't be able to track Jimin. Plus, it's better if her brother doesn't know about all this weird magic and...all the rest. But who else could help her?

Mira! Of course. Mira can help her.

Without losing another minute, Nori starts to dress-up. She washes herself in a hurry - the water left from last night is cold but the Princess doesn't care. There is no time to waste. A sense of urgency grabs at her throat. She can't stand this uncertainty any longer. She needs answers.

The Princess fixes her hair on her own, in a simple but neat braid, and puts on the first hanbok she finds. Judging by the sunlight it should be almost noon. She needs to hurry up. They have to send someone to find Jimin as soon as possible. The dinner with the magistrates is tonight. What if Nori does something weird because of all that magic? No, this cannot happen. No more mistakes. She has to locate Jimin today.

Nori slides the room door open and finds two young guards standing in the corridor.

"Can you take me to Lady's Mira's residence?" she asks.

They nod and lead her forward. The little group bumps into Minju in front of the Queen's residence. The court lady caries a little jewelry box in her hands and looks surprised to see the Princess out on her own.

"Are you going somewhere, Your Highness?" Minju asks."We need to fix your look before that."

"I did my look by myself. You will fix the rest when I am back." Nori answers and attempts to walk away.

"The King asked if you would like you to join him for lunch." Minju calls after her.

Nori stops and turns around. "Lunch? With the King?... "She hesitates. "I need to visit Lady Mira first; it won't take too long. Then I will go to lunch."

"But..."

"Please, don't follow after me, the guards will show me the way."

Nori hurries away before Minju can protest. Until a second ago the Princess's only thought was finding Jimin. Now she can't stop thinking about the King. Why is he asking for her? What is this lunch for? How can she meet with him, look at him and talk to him after everything that happened.

Are they on good terms now? Are they closer? What are they exactly? What would the King expect her to do or how should she behave? All lines are blurred - between strangers and lovers, between friends and enemies, between ...

A loud cry catches Nori's attention and she stops in place. A huge black raven flies over her head, a small message hanging on its leg. Yona's raven.

A wave of anger washes over the Princess. "Wait for me here, I will be back in a second."

Before the guards can protest, Nori runs back to her room, passing by the astonished Minju and marching into her room. All servants might think her mad, and mad she might be. Yet, Nori will not allow this witch to play around with the King as she wishes.

Nori takes a few of the sweets she brought from Ilsan and hurries back outside. Those are some of her favourite deserts - little cakes made of dry fruits, honey and various seats, squashed together in the form of a biscuit - soft on the inside but crunchy on the outside.

"Where did it go?" Nori asks the guards as soon as she reaches them.

"What, Your Highness, what are you looking for?"

"The raven."

"It flew towards the King's quarters."

"It will be back eventually." Nori crushes the biscuit in her hands and raises her palms up in the air. The two guards look at each other confused.

Nori takes a deep breath, trying to calm down her racing heart. She can sense it - the royal magic spreading all over the Palace; and the dark presence of something foreign, cold and menacing moving through it. She closes her eyes and focuses on the distance sensation of coldness. Come here, come here - she calls that presence in her mind, following nothing but her instincts. When Nori was a little girl, she used to call animals in this way, offering them sweets and calling for them in her mind. And they came. The birds, the rabbits, the foxes... and even the lonely she-wolf she called one night. Nori got so scared of it, scratching at the door of her house late at night, that she never called another animal again. Until today.

The loud cry returns, the flapping of wings sends a wave of air into Nori's face. She opens her eyes. The raven flies low over her hands and leans to peck crumbs off her hands. His beak is sharp as the point of a knife, yet it never hurts her - it's fast and precise, devouring the food in mere seconds.

"You like it that much, don't you?" Nori asks with a gentle tone as if speaking to a child. The bird flaps its wings in response and perches on her shoulder. Its sharp claws tear the soft fabric of her dress, scratching her skin. The two guards stare at Nori astonished.

"This food is miraculous." Nori smiles sheepishly at them. "I wanted to test if the local birds love it as much as the ones in Ilsan. It seems they do." She turns to look at the raven, its dark, cold eyes staring back at her. This bird is enchanted, Nori can sense it. She can sense the coldness that enwraps it, the thought that guides it. It's a weird sensation Nori has never experienced before. It's like peeking into someone else's mind and seeing nothing but darkness. The look in the bird's eyes is unseeing, hypnotised. Nori moves her hand slowly, careful not to startle it. She concentrates her thoughts into that darkness as a ray of light that pierces through it.

""You worked hard today. I am sure your mistress will be pleased." She caresses the raven's head as if petting a little dog."I will give you more food next time you come, would you like that? But remember to show me the messages you carry."

A gurgling croak echoes in her ear, a black wave pushes Nori's light away - she is asking for something forbidden. The raven cannot give her what she wants. It cries out and flies away, disappearing into the distance.

"What a funny bird." Nori chuckles nervously, sensing the eyes of the guards still staring at her."Shall we proceed. Lady Mira will be expecting us soon."

Nori marches forward, not sure where she is going. Her whole body shivers. She can no longer deny it - magic has returned to her. She is now able to sense it fully and bend it to her will. Yet, something is wrong, so very wrong. The magic she feels is not as before - it's stronger and harder to tame. Wild. 

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a/n: Hello, everyone 😊! How have you been? 

I am 90% ready with the next chapter ( I still have some editing to do). 

Since "Laws of Magic" it is a super long chapter I decided to post it gradually over the course of a few days. So we are going to have a week of daily updates ( from 3.04~10.04). 

I will try to upload every day at 9:00pm CET but please understand if it happens that I am late or if I skip a date 😅.

Thank you for your patience and thank you for reading this story. 💜