Chapter five- The Culprit Is...?

 The culprit is Sinbad. 

Those words rang inside Ashlyn's head. What'd he do? She wondered silently. As she wandered around Sindria's palace, she noticed all the generals -Sinbad included- heading to the pier where several ships were docked. Confused, Ashlyn quickly ran to catch up to them.

"Hey, Pisti, what's happening?" Ashlyn asked the shorter girl as she panted from running so far.

"A prince from the Kou Empire is coming here. It was part of King Sinbad's negotiations with them." The general explained as they walked.

"Oh...Right." Ashlyn nodded. I wonder what he'll be like?

They got to the pier at the same time as Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgiana, just as the boat was finished docking. Several Kou Empire soldiers and guards got off first, and Ashlyn moved to stand beside Masrur to avoid being in the way.

 There's a lot of people around here. Ashlyn found herself sub cautiously trying to pull down non-existent sleeves to cover her hands.

A young man with blue-black hair and white clothing began exiting the ship. Ashlyn's eyes widened slightly as she noticed his face. He had blue eyes, one lighter than the other, and a large scar on the left side of his face.

"I am the fourth prince of the Kou Empire, Ren Hakuryuu." He introduced himself, folding his hands and bowing slightly to Sinbad.

 Hakuryuu... The name was very familiar to Ashlyn. She realized her heart was beating fast.  

"His Majesty spoke of you to me. Welcome to Sindria." Sinbad greeted.

"Even without my stepfather's command, I have longed to meet with you." Hakuryuu continued to bow.

"I'm honored." Sinbad smiled, then gestured behind the prince, "By the way, have I met the person behind you?"Ja'far suddenly gasped as everyone turned their attention to the girl.

"Princess Kougyoku!" Ashlyn exclaimed quietly.

"Ah! She's the one who has the hots for King Sinbad!" Hinnahoho smiled.

"She followed him here!" Pisti awed, Yamraiha nodded in agreement.

"Thank you for the other day. It's a pleasure to see you again." Princess Kougyoku forced a smile at Sinbad.

"Hey...They're acting normal." Pisti observed almost sadly.

"Thank goodness..." Ja'far sighed. "It seems everything is okay...Sin didn't do anything..."

"Boring!" Sharrkan complained.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Sinbad said with a closed-eyed smile. "We never got the chance to meet while I was in the Kou Empire, did we?" He laughed lightly.

"Did he say, 'Never got the chance to meet'?" Kougyoku twitched in anger. Everyone gasped in surprise as Kougyoku drew a sword and nearly sliced Sinbad in half.

Ashlyn covered her mouth with her hands, I remember this! Oh my...This only gets worse from here...

"Curse you, Sinbad! I was going to deal with the pain if you apologized, but I can't forgive you at all!" Kougyoku pulled a gold pin from her hair, and it glowed.

 Her metal vessel! Ashlyn was in awe as the pin turned into a blue, fish-like, sword.

"Fight me, Sinbad! You deserve death for the brutal act of defiling the body of a young maiden!"

"I knew it!" Ja'far exclaimed angrily. "What did you do to her?!"

"I didn't do anything!"

 I think I remember who did this... Ashlyn scanned the area. Aha! It was him! Ka Koubun!  Her eyes landed on a man with black hair and yellow eyes. Weird markings decorated his face, and he wore clothing almost similar to Ja'far's, but in a yellow color. Should I end this before it gets worse...?

Princess Kougyoku began crying as Ja'far continued to panic. Maybe I should...But everyone will question how I know this...What do I say? How?

"Excuse me! It would be cruel to force the princess to describe what happened to herself. Please allow me to continue." Ka Koubun stepped forward.

 Now...Say it now! "E-Excuse me, please..." Ashlyn's voice was too quiet, no one heard her. She looked around at the generals, wondering if she should tell one of them instead of talking to everyone. No. I can do this. "Excuse me, King Sinbad?" She took a small step forward.

Everyone turned their attention to Ashlyn. "Yes, Ashlyn?"

"U-Uhm...Before this gets worse..." Ashlyn hated everyone looking at her. What is this? I'm usually fine... "I'd like to suggest you skip to having Yamraiha use her magic to show the truth." It wasn't what she planned to say, but she figured it would make everyone not suspect her as much.

"Why would you suggest that?" Ka Koubun seemed to glare at her.

Ashlyn looked at Ka Koubun, "I feel like it is a better way to sort this out, rather than going off of what people say. Magic can't lie."

"Are you saying you don't believe me, when you don't even know what happened?!" Kougyoku sobbed.

Ashlyn almost felt like backing out of her idea. "No! No! I just...have a feeling..." She tried, raising her hands in her defence. She looked to Sinbad for support.

Sinbad held her gaze for a few moments before nodding, "Yamriaha, please use your magic to explain what happened."

"Are you sure? I can only show the truth, you know?" Yamraiha reminded.

"That's fine."

"In that case, come here, Your Majesty, Princess, you too." Yamraiha raised her arms. "I'll show you what happened, using your rukh. Sharrar Raqesa!"

 Good, good. Save some unneeded false-stories and Ja'far freaking out more... Ashlyn sighed and took her place -slightly behind- the generals, as she remembered exactly what happened. Surprisingly, it wasn't giving her as much of a headache as usual.

She watched as everything played out, Kougyoku missing her chance to talk to Sinbad while he was in Sindria, a 'mysterious' person kidnapping the princess and placing her in Sinbad's bed. And lastly, nothing happening. At all.

"B-but...I thought Sinbad had..." Kougyoku sniffled a little.

"Princess! Don't let them deceive you!" Ka Koubun exclaimed. "This foreign magic can't prove anything! Obviously she's making things up! She's one of Sinbad's retainers!"

"Please stop, Ka Koubun." Kougyoku ordered quietly. "I was sure something else happened, but what we saw must be true. I didn't know what happened and became scared...I thought he did something to me in my sleep, but he didn't." She bowed to Sinbad, "I'm sorry."

"But that means someone else did this," Sharrkan pointed out. Everyone looked around at each other, all wondering who the culprit was.

 Three...Two...One... Ashlyn counted down to herself. She didn't really like Ka Koubun, and didn't feel bad at what happened next.

"We're sorry." Two soldiers got on their knees, "It's all Ka Koubun's fault."

Several of Sindria's soldiers ran at Ka Koubun, weapons drawn, "Catch him!"

"I can't get arrested already!" Ka Koubun pulled out a sword, planning to resist arrest. Suddenly, the blade was knocked from his hands.

"Enough of this." Hakuryuu stood beside Ka Koubun. "King Sinbad," He got down on one knee and folded his hands, bowing his head to Sinbad. "This was caused by misconduct from the people of my country. He said the magic was foreign, but in my country there is similar magic. So, your magic shows the truth. Isn't that right, Ka Koubun?" He looked sideways at Kougyoku's assistant.

"Yes..." Ka Koubun admitted.

"On behalf of the Kou Empire, I apologize for my companions disrespectful behavior." Hakuryuu apologized. "However, as I have other reasons for studying here, I ask for your permission to remain."

"Yeah, permission granted." Sinbad smiled.

"Thank you very much."

Ashlyn continued to watch Hakuryuu as Ka Koubun shamed himself and Kougyoku told him he was valuable. Ashlyn was interested in why she knew him. Why she felt bad for him and why she desperately wanted to help him. He looks fine...He's a healthy, good, prince. Why do I feel like this? She also wondered why things ended so weirdly, as if she hadn't 'edited' what she had remembered happening. I changed things, yet a lot stayed the same...weird.

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