Chapter112

Hajin kept his hands shoved deep into his pockets as they walked down the wide, incredibly quiet hallways of the palace. The doors of the throne room were still a long walk away, but the distance wasn't making him feel any better. 
'So he is really here,' he thought, his eyes tracking the intricate patterns on the floor without really seeing them. 
His mind started working fast, piecing together the small details he had picked up over the last day. When he ran into Kenny on the road outside the forest, his annoyingly arrogant cousin had bragged about having a Gate to clear.
Now, Elina the maid had just confirmed that the head of the Flint family was currently sitting in the throne room for a royal summons regarding a new Gate assignment. 
'Kenny isn't the type of person who just finds a Gate on his own,' he thought, his eyes narrowing slightly. 'Which means the King explicitly gave it to them.'
He wanted to be absolutely sure before he walked into that room. 
"Your Highness," he said, keeping his voice quiet enough that the sound didn't echo off the high walls. 
Didi didn't slow her pace, but she tilted her head slightly to show she was listening. Juna stayed close behind them, her ears twitching nervously at every small sound the palace made. 
"Elina mentioned a Gate assignment," he continued, looking directly at the side of Didi's face. "Do you know exactly why my father was summoned here today?"
She was quiet for a second, her boots clicking softly against the floor. 
"A few days ago, a new Gate manifested only a few miles from the capital walls," she replied, her tone turning completely business-like. 
"It caused a heavy debate in the royal meeting. Some wanted to send my father's elite forces to crush it immediately, while others believed sending our core knights into an unknown anomaly was too risky if it turned out to be highly unstable."
Hajin nodded slowly, understanding the politics immediately. 'So they didn't want to risk their own men.'
"I obviously offered to go," she said, before completely dropping her regal, ice-cold persona without any warning.
she grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him closer, whining loudly. "But the Council completely ignored me! They said I lacked the experience! My own father stood there and told me I wasn't ready to enter an unknown Gate, like I am just some fragile doll!"
Hajin stumbled a step as she actively yanked him away from Juna, his eyes widening in total confusion. 
'Did she seriously just start whining to me?' he thought, staring at the sudden, massive shift in her personality.