Mamoru

A few weeks had passed since Mamoru was assigned to be the personal bodyguard of the Princess of Genevia and despite his initial thoughts, he seemed to be growing on her. In fact, in a short period, they had become fast friends. Even though they were not on a first-name basis, they were still comfortable in each other’s company.

Of course, today Mamoru had to be extra vigilant as it was Delilah’s coronation rehearsal, with her coronation only a few months away, these rehearsals were necessary to make sure everything was perfect and the whole event took place without a hitch.

Mamoru was on his way across the palace to see Delilah’s Mother, Penelope, she had called him to her study to discuss something urgent and Mamoru’s gut was screaming at him to prepare for the worst, he stood in front of the door and knocked on the hardwood.

He counted to 3 in his head and was going to tap again before he heard a ‘Come in’ Unlike Delilah whose voice was a lot softer, her Mother’s voice was slightly harsher, and held more authority which is exactly what would be expected from a Queen.

“Your Majesty,” Mamoru bowed.

“Mr Himeji, I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you here,” she turned around to face him.

“Yes, is something the matter?” he asked, his heartbeat increased with each passing moment of silence.

“Firstly, I want to thank you for always being with my daughter, Lord knows how difficult it has been without her Father but at least I knew my son, Dominik was always there with her, and now that he’s gone somewhere I was constantly worried for my little girl,” she started.

“It’s no trouble, Your Majesty,” he shook his head, diverting his gaze to the red carpet.

“I appreciate that. Now, the reason why I’ve called you is because… I have heard that the King of Tarynsville might be appearing at the coronation rehearsal,” she told him.

Mamoru’s hand gripped the hilt of the sword on his side, he was surprised as to why Kenji hadn’t informed him since he had specifically ordered him to keep him updated on anything to do with the King.

“I assure you nothing will happen to the Princess. But just in case I might need to take her away with me to keep her safe just until everything is sorted out here. I will inform my team who would be able to provide us with the necessary resources for her to leave without anyone knowing,” Mamoru explained.

Penelope nodded, he could tell she didn’t want to part with her daughter and the thought itself made tears spring in her eyes, but he also knew she would go to extreme lengths to protect her.

“Do what you must, just make sure my daughter leaves unharmed,” she told him, sternly.

Mamoru nodded and took steps back until his hand brushed against the doorknob, as it’s impolite to turn your back on the King/ Queen. Once he had opened the door, he gave Penelope a quick bow before leaving.

“Oh, one more thing,” she stopped him just as he was about to shut the door.

“Yes?”

“I want to show you something, just in case things…”

“Go South?” Mamoru finished her sentence.

Penelope gave him a blank stare, “Sure let’s go with that,” she waved her hand.

“It means just in case things go wrong,” the young man explained.

“Oh. Then yes, just in case things go South, I want to show you something, follow me,” she walked towards him, and Mamoru made way for her to go past before she led the way.

He followed in silence, his mind racing on how the news had slipped past him and Kenji, normally he was on top of things like that, and for him to mess up in this situation was really out of character, Mamoru made a mental note to have a word with all those working under him.

“Mr Himeji,” Penelope snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Apologies, my Queen,” he bowed his head.

“Ah it’s quite alright, I suppose I gave you quite the surprise when I mentioned the King of Tarynsville,” she waved her hand, dismissively.

He nodded not knowing what to say before she opened the door to the throne room, four thrones sat at the front of the room, the one in the middle was the biggest, the one placed on the right was slightly smaller, and there were two smaller ones on either side at the end.

She walked ahead and went behind one of the thrones and stood in front of a tapestry, she moved it to the side unveiling a door, “Just in case things go wrong, I want you to take Delilah through this door, and it’ll lead you to an area behind the palace, from there you can escape easily.”

Mamoru stood straight and gave her a curt nod, Penelope nodded and turned around after dismissing him, but not before he gave her another small bow, he left the room shutting the door with a small click.

Furious yet determined he made his way to the room assigned to his comrades, he burst in knowing it was empty as they were standing guard outside Delilah’s room. He retrieved his bag from the back of the wardrobe and took his laptop out, once it turned on, he realised he had a bunch of emails and other messages from Kenji.

“Damn it!”

Mentally kicking himself over his idiocy he saw that Kenji had explained the same thing that the Queen had to him a few minutes ago regarding the neighbouring King. But a smile made its way on his face when he saw that Kenji would be there shortly in his helicopter, he sent him an email back telling him where he should meet them.

Despite being relieved he knew his negligence was going to cost him, he had to report everything to his higher-ups and if they found out about this he could be in huge trouble, despite it being the first and last time something like this would occur, they would most likely bench him for a few weeks.

Closing his laptop, he placed it back in his bag and took it with him leaving it in the back garden, but not before grabbing his equipment and fixing a wired microphone in his sleeve and a Bluetooth earpiece in his ear.

Making his way back inside he walked towards the throne room, he saw the three comrades who are normally with Delilah standing outside talking.

“Who’s with the Princess?” he asked, coming up behind them.

He gave them such a fright they quickly unsheathed their swords holding them out, only relaxing when they realised it was their commander.

“Her ladies-in-waiting told us to come here, and one of the Queen’s guards told us to stay here, the Palace guards will be taking over.”

“Okay, and did you guys get a message from Kenji?” he asked.

“Yes, the helicopter is outside and we’re wired,” soon they all showed their sleeves where a small microphone was fixed as well as pointed to their ears to show they had their Bluetooth.

“Why didn’t any of you inform me?!”

“We just found out this morning, even Kenji was worried because he couldn’t get through to you, and besides the Queen called you so it’s not like we could tell her to wait a minute,” one whispered, frustrated.

“Fair enough. Anyways the Queen called to tell me the same thing the King will be making an appearance,” Mamoru told them, quietly.

“So, what do we do?”

“Nothing,” Mamoru shook his head.

“Nothing?!” the three of them spoke up.

“Nothing,” Mamoru repeated, calmly.

“Why not?”

“I’m not risking anyone acting rashly, if the King does make an appearance, we’re gonna let the Palace guards take care of them, our main priority is the Princess and we’re gonna make sure she’s safe. I expect you guys to only jump in if they go after the Princess or to cover me, got it? Until then you all stay put!” he ordered.

They all nodded and went inside the room, they got ushered to the side and were told to stay there. All the hustle and bustle was overwhelming Mamoru but he was worried about Delilah, not to mention the fact that his stomach was feeling funny, either something bad was going to happen, or he shouldn’t have had that muffin for breakfast.

Just then music started playing and the doors opened, Mamoru turned his head to see the one and only Princess of Genevia, she had Mr Cedric on one side and her Mum on the other. She was wearing a deep purple gown; her hair was falling down her back in light curls and her shoes tapped against the floorboards as she took slow steps towards the throne.

He realised his jaw had hit the floor and quickly closed his mouth before anyone noticed, of course, he thought the Princess was beautiful, anyone would be a fool to deny that, but he also knew he had to keep his feelings in check, Delilah was his client and first and foremost his friend, and you can’t be having those feelings for friends, now, can you?

An older man wearing a golden-coloured robe stood next to her, he was holding a crown that looked far too heavy and judging by the look on Delilah’s face she wasn’t too keen to have it placed on her head.

Mamoru watched her scan the room before they landed on him, Delilah gave him another smile which the young man could tell was fake, he gave her a discreet thumbs up to which she gave a small nod and took a deep breath.

He saw Delilah’s mouth turn up as she stood still, shoulders back, spine straight, despite how she was feeling on the inside, he knew she had to make herself look confident. Mamoru saw her discreetly fiddling with her fingers despite her hands being on either side of her- her nervous tick.

Even knowing fully well the palace was protected something in Mamoru’s gut was nagging him to run to Delilah’s side, and his gut has never been wrong. But before Mamoru could breathe, a bunch of soldiers came running in wearing a dark green uniform.

Running to Delilah before anyone else could reach her, he signalled his guys to stop in their tracks, they were experienced but outnumbered, he knew his guys could take on Frederick’s but they had to wait until the right moment.

He gave them a look which said “Remember the plan” The few soldiers who had taken a step forward quickly stepped back, and those who had slightly unsheathed their swords slowly placed them back in their sheaths- luckily no one had noticed.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” A man walked in, he looked the same age as Mamoru and was just as tall and surprisingly good-looking with his blonde hair and striking green eyes.

“Frederick,” Penelope gritted, standing in front of Mamoru, “How did you get in here? Guards!”

“Save your breath, my Queen. They’re a little occupied, did you think I’d travel all this way without the army to take over yours?”

Again, Mamoru signalled his men to stay put, he didn’t want to risk anything, unfortunately, due to them being outnumbered they had no choice but to wait until backup had arrived.