The queen watches the island getting smaller and smaller as they tread the bridge carefully, this time even more alert as they listen for any sounds to indicate whether the sea monster might still be nearby. Even though they are walking side by side, she lags slightly as she feels lightheaded, the fatigue finally taking over her and she shakes her head a few times when she sees that the colours around her seem to fade again.

When they arrive at the gap in the bridge, Wooyoung looks over the edge, trying to see any changes in the water current to see if the monster is still waiting to catch them again. He crouches next to the edge, squinting at the sea down below as he assesses the situation. He presses his lips together, staying quiet for a few minutes before he nods, deciding that they can take the leap of faith for one last time.

As he turns around, his eyebrows furrow as he sees Akira against the railing, palms over her eyes as she rubs them before shaking her head.

"Are you... okay?" he utters as he goes over to her.

"I'm fine," she replies, giving a weak smile as she stands up. "I think I'm just tired because we haven't had anything to eat." She chuckles, "We spent so much energy just to go back like this now."

"We'll find another way," he says, determined. Even though he wants to ask more because he knows that she's not telling him the entire truth, he puts it off because he doesn't want to push her. Now they have to risk their lives again jumping over the gap... and he wants to only think about that now. "You can go first, so in case the monster is awake again, I know I can trust you to shoot it down for me," he tries to joke, but she only smiles for a fleeting moment before turning to the gap.

She is already calculating the distance between the edge of the broken bridge and the other, ready to make the jump. This time around, she's slightly slowed down because her body feels like it has been stretched to its limit. She decides to jump anyway since they barely have any time to spare, making a mental note not to grab to hold herself with her bandaged left hand.

She backs up, ignoring the fact that her eyes are puffy and that her focus is slightly skewed due to the fact that she's starting to see only black and white again. It's only for a few milliseconds; like a flicker when a light bulb switches on or the tingling feeling when something brushes against your skin. She doesn't want to think about it but it seems to become more frequent now; the day it started was the day they were attacked as they paid a visit to the residential area.

She can't bear to think what it means when she's losing her ability to see her colours.

Is it because I might lose him?

A sign?

Stop thinking about something ridiculous, Akira.

You're not losing him.

You're saving him, and all will be fine.

She launches herself off the platform as soon as she darts past Wooyoung, but she gets distracted mid-air as her world completely turns black and white again that her body slams against the platform on the other side. She groans and closes her eyes in pain, her ears catching the sound of Wooyoung's voice asking whether she's alright. Luckily, she has managed to land on the other side without having to hold on to anything, even though her miscalculation causes her body to skid across the platform.

Slowly, she opens her eyes in fear of losing the colours around her again, but silently heaves a sigh of relief as everything is as it is. Maybe it was simply her being paranoid mid-jump, or like before, it was only a flicker of a scene where the colours were gone once again. She puts up a hand, beckoning for him to jump next as she watches the sky darkening.

"Please don't rain again," she mumbles under her breath as she looks at Wooyoung soaring over the gap, already shouting in victory as he lands perfectly on the platform just right beside her.

This time there's no monster looking out to eat them, so they quickly gather themselves up before skipping from one available platform to another, their speed picking up fast and them ignoring the fact that the bridge might collapse with another pressure. They manage to get off the bridge, again with Akira slightly held back as she slowly walks towards her horse which is waiting for her obediently.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Wooyoung asks as he unties his horse. "We still have a long journey to go back."

"I'm fine," she repeats for what feels like the thousandth time. She grunts as she holds onto Golden - her horse - a hand on its body while her other hand is on her head.

She's starting to see double as her stomach is not cooperating, while she swims in and out of a monotonous world and a colourful one. She takes a deep breath even all she feels like what she wants to do is collapse to the ground, but she gathers her thoughts, reminding herself that she needs to be strong for San and Seonghwa. She needs to bring them back so Nyla and Lucida can stand strong again, and not to be brought against each other like how they used to be.

Golden whines before nudging Akira softly with its snout, as if caressing her hair to help her gain back her energy. The horse then neighs towards Wooyoung, trying to tell him that there's something wrong with her.

Wooyoung frowns before going over to Akira, instinctively putting a hand over her forehead and almost pulls back really quickly as he feels her burning up.

"You're getting a fever," Wooyoung shakes his head before putting Akira's arm across his shoulders to support her. He thinks about the possibility of turning back but cancels the idea, deciding that it's better to move forward and stop at the nearest kingdom they can. He decides that Estar would be a plausible option, before he starts to think about how he'll bring Akira together with him.

He looks at his horse before supporting Akira towards it, with her continuously gulping as her throat feels dry. Although he keeps hearing her saying that she's fine, he works quietly as she lets her rest against his horse while he goes on to tie both of them together. He helps Akira to get onto his horse, and after making sure that Golden is securely tied together so that they can move forward together, he heaves himself up onto his horse.

"Just hold on," Wooyoung utters. "We'll take a break in Estar; we can find a temporary place to stay before we get on with the journey."

Akira only nods, finding herself in no position to refute as she already feels her body heating up.

Looking back, Wooyoung starts maneuvering his horse with Akira holding onto him, moving slowly as he wants to make sure that the queen is held securely while Golden can catch up. He notices how Akira has laboured breaths, sounding like she's fighting extreme pain while constantly reassuring both of them that she's completely fine.

"Is this what you always do?" Wooyoung says, hard. "Saying you're fine when obviously you're not. Hah," he utters, hoping that time will move and they'll see Estar faster. "Seonghwa is going to kill me once he finds out you got a fever after you went together with me."

She only whimpers as she relays, "I've never been this weak. I don't know why lately my body feels like it's not cooperating with me. It's probably all the stress in trying to deal with something I'm not used to. Maybe they're right, I should've just stuck with military affairs and not administrative ones." She takes a deep breath, "I'm not good at using my brain as much as my body."

"You've done a great job so far," he counters. "It's not your fault."

"I wish that's what the people think of me," she replies.

"Hold on tight, it'll take less than an hour to arrive at Estar."

"Hmm," she hums. "Thank you."

He sighs as he turns to the front, feeling like everything is not going the way they want them to. Both kings of the kingdoms are currently overtaken by the curse with no sight of a cure, while the queen of Lucida is currently trying with all her might to find the cure while neglecting her own body.

When all is quiet throughout their journey, Akira suddenly speaks up, "Is he always like that?"

Woooung's eyebrows slightly furrow as he asks, "Who?"

"Seonghwa."

He chuckles. "Like what?"

"A crybaby."

Wooyoung stops to think as he nods. "I guess you could say that. He'd... he'd cry louder for the person he loves instead of himself though. Whenever I got hurt because I was a mischievous child, he would cry first until everyone thought he's the one who got hurt."

She laughs, already imagining how Seonghwa was when he's young; he must not have changed at all.

"It's easy to pick up his emotions," he utters, "not just because you can see them through his eyes. He's like an open book; you can tell when he doesn't like someone, and you can tell when he cares so much for that person. That loser can't lie; sometimes he's just too honest for his own good."

"I can tell how much he hated me when I first came to Nyla; funny how I got married to him."

"Sometimes..." he replies, "you can't hate a person too much because you'll end up liking them."

"Figures," she chuckles. "I thought that he was annoying at first, but then he was just a scarred child who grew up cooped up in the palace." She sighs. "God, do I miss his annoying and clingy ass right now. I can't believe I complained about him being too attached to me, and now I just miss him so much."

"He'll wake up." He looks into the distance, "And whatever that young woman said; Seonghwa's strong enough to fight off the curse."

"I really hope so."

She lets out a deep breath as they finally see the lavish arch of the Estar kingdom, a sign that they have finally arrived at the richest kingdom. With the two looking painfully obvious that they're outsiders, they're stopped by the guards at the entrance.

Wooyoung provides his identification, before helping to show Akira's too. The guards look utterly surprised at how the ruler of Lucida is paying a visit to them without notice, that they immediately order for the two to be escorted to the palace and to inform the Estar royals that they have visitors coming all the way to the kingdom.

"We can just-" Akira says to Wooyoung only, "-crash somewhere. We can't be going to the Estar palace without notice." Truth is, she doesn't think she's capable of maintaining protocol as she arrives at the Estar palace; her mind is a mess to even think about having to arrange her words carefully.

"But they're..." Wooyoung trails off. "They're insistent on bringing us there."

As if on cue, the opened gates to the Estar palace are presented to them, with one robed person descending the stairs, their face hidden under the darkness of their hood. The guards accompanying the two immediately bow towards the robed person, before they retreat and scurry out of the palace compound, their job done.

Wooyoung clears his throat, seeing how the guards have bowed towards the robed person, they must be one of the important people of the palace. He gets off his horse first, but is careful to make sure Akira is stable first. He immediately bows, copying the guards' actions despite not knowing whom he is bowing to.

"Please, no formalities. You don't have to bow; I'm just like any of you," the person utters. From under the hood, he can see her smile and he finds it funny how his heart slightly flutters even though he hasn't seen the person's full face. "I'm here to give my greetings as a representative of my family. I'm afraid my parents are out of the kingdom, so it's only my sisters and I."

"Are you perhaps..." he trails off. "One of the princesses?"

Of course, those from the Nyla palace have heard of the Estar royals; how the current king and queen have 4 princesses and no prince. However, they have never met each other since only the king and queen of Estar would usually pay a visit to them without bringing their princesses together with them.

"I'm the youngest," she replies, "Suria." She does a slight tilt of her head before glancing over towards Akira. "Is there perhaps a reason why both of you are paying a visit to us?"

"It was unintended," Wooyoung says shortly, figuring that it'd be no use to explain where they went before. "We went on a bit of a... journey and Estar was the closest kingdom to take a break at. We weren't expecting this hospitality right from the entrance. And uh," he adds, not wanting to drag the conversation further, "the queen is currently ill, and I'd appreciate it if you can have your doctor attending to her. We had a long journey, and she didn't have anything to eat."

Suria's eyes flick towards Akira who looks pale, before she nods and beckons for some of the maids to come help her. "Bring the queen of Lucida to the doctor, and have him treat her. Hurry."

"Very well, Your Highness," they echo as they go over to the queen, who is only giving in to their help as she is let off the horse.

Wooyoung watches as Akira is taken away by the maids, slightly worried that she's out of his sight, but Suria is quick to assure him.

"No worries, we have no intentions of doing anything bad to the queen," she assures him before she sweeps her hand across, inviting him to enter the palace. "I'll have some meal fixed for you while you wait for Her Majesty." She looks at him up and down, smiling at how he doesn't seem to realize his own condition. "Both of you look like you've been through a lot."

"Ah," Wooyoung utters before scratching his head, slightly embarrassed. He brushes a hand through his hair, grimacing as he feels the remnants of the dried slime in his hair. "I can assure you though, I'm much more handsome than what I'm showing you right now."

There's a momentary awkward pause that Wooyoung mentally slaps himself for spitting that out, knowing that it's not what he's supposed to be saying to the princess of another kingdom that he just met.

His heart feels relieved as he hears her laugh, slow at first but it becomes louder. She says, "I guess it's true then, about your reputation. I don't know if I should feel honoured now that I've experienced that firsthand."

He chuckles. "Sorry, it just comes out naturally."

She turns around, her robe billowing behind her. She directs some of the workers to take the horses to their stables, before looking over her shoulder to see Wooyoung following her meekly.

"I don't think you'd want to include me in the list of those girls you're trying to woo," she says matter-of-factly. "My sisters are much prettier choices for you, I say wait until you see them."

"I don't discriminate," he replies as he scurries forward, already pulling the door open for her, despite the guards are there to do their jobs. "Every woman is beautiful in their own way."

She stops, slightly flustered by the treatment Wooyoung is giving to her; from complimenting her even before seeing her face to opening the door for her even though it's unwarranted. This guy must be crazy.

She sidesteps him, bowing her head to show her gratitude before entering the palace, with him trailing behind, trying to fix his appearance as he's suddenly conscious of how he's presenting himself in some other kingdom's palace.

He wrinkles his nose before he realizes how bad he smells; this must have been the reason why the black panther was hesitant to eat them. He blinks a few times trying to adjust to the light in the palace; since it's a well-known fact that Estar is the richest kingdom, he's not surprised to see how lavish the inside looks. He tries to hide the fact that he's impressed by the layout of the interior alone, his mouth slightly hanging open as he sees that even the servants' uniforms look more expensive than his own clothes.

The familiar faces of the king and queen are hung up at the top of the stairs, with the faces of the princesses besides them. He pauses as he sees the names below the pictures, seeing that Suria's picture is the odd one out. While the portrait is drawn, her face is partly obscured by what looks like the same robe she's wearing now, and under the shadows of the hood he can see how she has an eyepatch over her left eye. Where the other three sisters are displaying their teeth and beaming, Suria looks shy, her exposed eye darting somewhere else.

"They're pretty aren't they?" she comments, referring to her sisters. "I told you."

"Hmm," he hums as the corners of his lips curl. "All four of you are pretty."

She looks taken aback by his sudden compliment, already slightly red in the cheeks as she looks at him from under her hood; he looks calm, not even realizing that his words have managed to make her stomach flip.

She did not expect Jung Wooyoung's reputation as a smooth talker to have this much effect on her.

"I'll show you to a room where you can freshen yourself up. I'll have fresh clothes prepared for you," she adds after a thought, "and you can come down after you're done to eat at the dining hall. I'll have something fixed for you quickly."

"Thank you," he gives off his million-dollar smile, still completely oblivious how Suria has been avoiding his eyes all the while she's talking. "So do I...?" He goes back and forth, unsure on whether he's supposed to go since she looks to be in a daze.

"Ah, right. Follow me," she utters as she leads the way, pulling the hood further to cover her blush.

She keeps scolding herself all the while she's bringing him to an empty room, trying to knock some sense into her to remind herself that he would say the same thing to all girls he meets, so there's nothing special about it.

So why on earth am I blushing like crazy?

"Do you always wear the robe in the palace, or were you planning to head out?" Wooyoung asks nonchalantly, startling Suria who is busy scolding herself for being unlike how she usually is.

"I usually wear it whenever people are around," she utters, a slight hurt tone underneath as it's a sensitive topic to her. "I try not to scare people too much with my appearance."

"Ah," he refutes, "I'm sorry if that question made you uncomfortable. I was just wondering if we were stopping you from going out, and I didn't want to hold you back."

"Both of you were not holding me back." They arrive in front of a room where she helps to open the door for him. "You may use this room; I'll bring over some fresh clothes for you to change into, and more that you need."

"Your Highness," he says, and somehow there's a slight tingling feeling when he says it. As if there's anything different.

"Suria," she replies shortly. "Just call me Suria."

"Ah, Suria," he smiles, which makes her look away. "I was just wondering..."

She lifts up her eyebrows.

"...why are you the one attending to me when you could have asked your maids to deal with me? I don't want to be taking too much of your time."

She blinks, realizing that it's something she has done automatically; usually when a guest comes she won't be the one who attends them. It's usually her sisters who are better at socializing, someone who would be more attentive to the guests' needs. She would only stay quiet, staying away from them because she knows that they feel uncomfortable with her appearance.

"I- uh-" she stops short. She can't be admitting that she feels comfortable around him even when they're essentially strangers can she? She blurts out, "Since I've already welcomed you at the front door, it'd be easier for me to just show you to your room. It's just something simple."

He shrugs. "If you say so," he puts up both of his palms before grinning, "but really, please feel free to throw me away for your maids to deal with if you need to do something else. I'm just a commoner not worth your time."

"It doesn't matter to me," she mutters but before he can muster up a reply, she quickly adds, "I'll bring some clothes to your room. You can wait here."

"Sure," he smiles as he points a thumb over his shoulder towards the direction of the room. "I'll be waiting inside."

She doesn't say anything more as she scurries away from the room, looking over her shoulder to see that he has entered the room. Biting her lips, she goes on to find some clothes for him, all the while his image not leaving her mind. She sifts mindlessly through the necessities that she can bring over to him before she stops.

He's right. Why on earth am I giving so much attention to him? We literally just met today, and he's already so... charming.

"Suria." She almost jumps out of her skin when she hears someone calling her name. It's her eldest sister, Bulan.

"Bulan," she replies. "Why are you here?"

"I heard that there were some guests..." There's disdain and obvious discomfort on her face. "That... black blood from Lucida," her mouth twists, "that woman who got married to Park Seonghwa, wasn't it?"

"Uhm," Suria agrees, forgetting the fact why her sister looks uncomfortable with the mention of Akira Hwang in the palace.

"Should've turned her away," Bulan utters as she crosses her arms, leaning against the wall, mouth pushed outwards.

Suria pauses, slowly recovering her memory on why Bulan is so hostile towards the name of the queen before the former lightly scoffs. She knows exactly why; her oldest sister has never been interested in marriage even though their parents have tried to set her up with any of the Fyrae's princes, but there has been one man that has managed to catch her eyes.

Unfortunately, that man is already married to the person currently nursed in their palace.

"She's sick," Suria offers. "I can't simply turn away someone who's sick; be more sympathetic. Plus it's not only her, Jung Wooyoung, one of the young masters is here too. It looks like they've just gone back from a long journey."

Bulan snorts. "Jung Wooyoung? That smooth talker who sleeps with girls then abandons them after? You should be careful with him; you never know if he's eyeing for you to be the next one."

Suria feels offended by her sister's words, but cancels her intention when she feels like she won't have the words to defend him anyway since it's all true.

"Stop being so hostile, they're our guests," Suria retorts, already looking to return to Wooyoung's room, refusing to entertain her sister's dissatisfaction.

"When did you become so nice towards guests? You never took a second glance towards them."

She snaps, "They're different."

Bulan looks taken aback before she chuckles. "That Jung Wooyoung had indeed done something to you, didn't he?"