With everyone froze in their place, Hazelrink used this time to cool off for the moment and step back while Woss also did the same but his irritating grin was still on his face.

“My deepest apologies, your majesty. I didn’t mean to cause such commotion here at the entrance and argue with Woss for his inappropriate attitude but I just need to do something to him.”

“I understand your concerns but there’s no need for confrontation. Just give a gentle reminder to him then after everything is done, You both can talk privately about his behavior. What about you Woss?”

“The same goes to me, your majesty. I also beg for your pardon earlier for arguing with commander Hazelrink but I’m just stating the truth to her that there is a new ruler in the country. It’s just that the truth really hurts just like they say so it’s not my fault for it.”

“I said enough with the arguing Woss, Stop with the provokes and be quiet over here or else I’m gonna throw you into the detention facility for you to reflect your actions. Rather than focusing your attention to Hazelrink, I suggest you stick to your driving job assigned to you by the military and just enjoy the ride.”

“Y-yes your majesty. I will absolutely take care note of that and focus on what was assigned to me. I shall wait for you near the limousine until you give me the signal to go.”

“Then go now there and wait for me there."

Woss spent no time in idling a hurriedly approached the limousine for him to wait for the king there.

"...and as for you Hazelrink, Don't think you're off the hook. How many times did I say to you back then to control your emotions? This flaw of yours will absolutely get you in trouble if you continue being like that although I’m still wondering on how you managed to avoid conflicts for 10 years as the commander.”

“Well… Let’s just say it’s due to your continuous help and advice whenever you had a chance to talk to me. Anyway back to the topic, I will swear that this will never happen again, your majesty.”

“You better be Hazelrink or else I will get angry. Hearing apologies from you two means everything tied up right? Then I should be really going now and enjoy my last ride from here.”

With the argument finally concluded with the apologies, Woss’ irritating disrespectful attitude was put down without any fight by the old king’s crushing superiority as he issued the order to move forward.

“You’re right your majesty, then I also believe we should wrap this up and depart now since someone is so damn eager to attend a celebration party.”

"..."

The short peace abruptly came to an end when another shade was thrown to Woss by Hazelrink as she glanced into his direction with disgust. Woss surprisingly never said a word as he stayed quiet and was waiting beside the jet black limousine. Of course, this didn’t escape the king’s notice and reminded her about what he said earlier.

*sigh*

“Really Hazelrink?? You just swear to me earlier that you will behave, right? I will give you one last warning to stop provoking him and focus on your job too. You don’t want to see a raging oddball just because of this and put you too in the detention cell for some punishment...”

“Punishment… Right, I remember those sleepless nights in the detention cell with you. You are non stop with those barrages that I could barely keep up.”

Memories flashed through her mind as she remembered the days on the cold and lonely cell for disobeying a certain someone’s orders that put her on arrest for a whole year with a demotion from the royal guards. Although after spending only a month in there she was released with the help of the King.

“Stop saying things that will misunderstand people! Those are questions that I barraged you with and I’m trying to interrogate you the whole night on why you did it! I still remember that hopeless face of yours back then, you really looked like a lost puppy who lost her mother.”

“That's absolutely not true! I don’t look like a lost puppy back then and definitely, it's not hopelessness you saw back there your majesty. It's a face of someone who was tired of the world.”

“Well then if you say so Hazelrink, I’ll stop teasing you since it's not appropriate to talk about these kinds of topics over here. What we need to talk for now is me getting ready to depart.”

"I can agree on that one, You need to go to Woss now since he's been waiting there for quite some time."

"Yeah right, Woss start the car we are going now!"

“Y-yes! Your Majesty!”

“I will also prepare the royal guards to move out now. Everyone! Prepare our armored vans to assist the military in escorting the king. We will coordinate with the military to properly place ourselves in the convoy.”

With a refreshed look on her beautiful face after King Roa stop teasing her, she started to organize everybody after she heard the old king’s desire to depart but Roa raised his mechanical left arm and said,

“Halt. There is no need for you royal guards to accompany me until Borquier and you will all remain here until the new head of the country arrive and give you orders to move.”

“W-what do you mean your majesty?! What’s with the sudden order? We can’t just leave you without any presence of the royal guards even if you are with the military.”

“I know this is abrupt and you’re confused but this is my last and absolute order to the royal guards. If you disobey my command, the royal guards will be apprehended by the military and will be charged for insubordination.”

“Insubordination? At least provide us with a reason why you gave us that order your majesty, everyone here is concerned about this order of yours.”

“The reason huh…”

(It seems I need to talk with her about the reason to clear this up very fast, I guess telepathy will do the job for a private conversation since this will be a sensitive topic to discuss. I should move to the limousine slowly to act like I’m thinking while I’m simultaneously talking to her.)

With doubts and questions filled the royal guards’ side, they were forced to stand in their place. The same situation could be seen in the military as they were so sure that King Roa would bring them together as additional security. With that order, Hazelrink had no choice but to stop and standby for further instructions. She looked at King Roa in anticipation of his reason for ordering them to stay but she didn’t expect to hear a voice from her mind.

“Hello? can you hear me Hazelrink?”

“Huh?! Why am I hearing you inside my head, your majesty? Are you using like telepathy to talk to me? But there were no any signs of casting earlier, maybe its [Soul arts]?”

“You’re right that it's [Soul Arts] but for now, don’t mind the trivial stuff of how I manage to do it. Starting now, I’m gonna give you the reason on why I ordered you guys to stay here so listen well Hazelrink as I can’t divulge it to the public as it might cast doubts to others.”

“Is that really that sensitive to be discussing the reason in public? If so then I will listen, If possible make it precise your majesty as we don’t have time to talk for long. We have many people waiting for you to speak the reason verbally.”

“I will make it short so here I go, It’s because of your image Hazelrink. The royal guards should be preparing for the arrival of the new ruler not escorting the soon to be former ruler just because of emotions.”

Image and Action. When you are in power, every movement you do would be always be monitored by someone whether you like it or not and the most dangerous part of being observed was their perception of what you were doing.

“My image... So you are telling me that by escorting you instead of waiting for the new ruler was not the correct action to take?”

“Correct. You don’t give the same amount of importance to the new ruler compared to the amount you showed me. Your actions will imply that you favored me over the new ruler since you are not present when you are needed by the new ruler upon his arrival here which is very dangerous since the observers will interpret it as you’re loyal to me as an individual and not as the ruler of Stygia.

He was right. If she continued to follow and escort him to Borquier instead of welcoming the new ruler then this will be interpreted as an act of favoritism and could be used against her by people who hated her. You may be just doing what you think was right but for them, you’re just trying to favor one side from another and Hazelrink was one step into this very dangerous scenario. If they perceived that she was favoring the old ruler to the new ruler, then her image would be cracked by those thoughts.

‘I see… To think that simple action can complicate your status and interpret your actions very differently, Is this how you see things, your majesty, while you rule our country? To think that every action you take will have an overall effect on your image as the king.”

“Sadly yes. This is why I’m telling to be careful and be unbiased when doing something. Never show any actions that can be interpreted against you or the royal guards. Don’t become a liability to your country.”

With every word King Roa said to Hazelrink, the heavier her responsibilities become. The more people looking at you, the harder it moves without being criticized and the more power you have, the more critical your decision is for the future. This is how King Roa looked on things as someone who has so much power to wield.

As for Hazelrink, this was the first time for her to experience a change in leadership in 10 years, therefore, she didn’t know that her actions would largely affect her image if wasn’t stopped by him. Starting to doubt herself on what to do, she sought answers by ultimately asking a question to the king.

“Then how I can be unbiased on doing something? I only served you for a whole 10 years so it's impossible for us not to be biased towards the new ruler. We only know how to serve you.”

“Heh… Remember this Hazelrink since you always said this before, According to the Obsidian Royal Guard Code, You solely pledge yourself to serve and protect the Stygian Ruler even it cost your life.”

“I definitely know that part your majesty that’s I’m protecting you until now.”

“And that’s where you are misunderstanding something Hazelrink. There is no Jin and Roa in the Stygian Ruler part, Only a definition of a person who will serve and protect the country with his life.”

*gasp*

As if a great revelation unfolded in front of her, she finally found the answer to her question after she heard those words from King Roa. It might not completely cast away her doubts and uncertainty towards the future with the new ruler but she believed that the path just became clearer than before and she was ready to move forward now.

“I believe you found your answer since I have no longer any more time to talk with you. I really need to go now. This telepathic talk ends here and I have high hopes that you can become a great commander for the royal guards, Hazelrink.”

“Say no more King Roa, I will make sure that the answer I found is good enough to make this country better and stronger. You can confidently go now without any worries and I’ll make sure the royal guards will function properly for the new ruler.”

“Then I entrust them to you now with a peace of mind, I’ll gladly leave everything to you and make sure nothing bad will happen to this country and its ruler.”

To be loyal to the country itself and not to the person who wields the power. This was the message he wanted them to know and always remember. Normal people tend to follow their leaders because they admired their charisma and great personality. There is nothing wrong with that, but blindly supporting them will only bring disaster to the country.

“It’s time for me to go speak verbally. Get yourself ready as I’m about to give my so-called reason since there is no way I can tell everyone what we talk about here.”

“Got it, you can speak anytime you want, your majesty. You can count on me to handle the royal guard’s reaction to what will you say and make sure peace and order shall be maintained at the palace entrance.”

“Very well, then I will start speaking now verbally.”

Now that the two concluded their telepathic talk, it’s about time for them to go back to reality and speak to each other verbally before it became too suspicious for being silent. King Roa was already at the car’s door looking at it when he turns around and looked into Hazelrink giving her the cue that it’s time to say his made up “reason” to her.

“Hmmm… I thought deeply about the reason and came up with a good one and that’s because no one will guard the Gezire Sia Palace. I already have the military, therefore, there’s no need to add more escorts.”

He was careful in choosing words and how he said it. By saying Gezire Sia Palace as the reason was a convenient excuse as no specific person was involved except the staff inside it and also many of the guarded secrets lie beneath the palace. Although some doubts were still there, they couldn’t dare to ask the king about it as they don’t enjoy the same status as the commander of the royal guards. The king knew how powerful he was and used this to put end to this event.

“Sounds reasonable to me your majesty, let’s get started then. By the order was given by the King! The whole Obsidian Royal Guards will stand by and protect the palace until the new ruler arrives!”

Her loud voice echoed throughout the entrance hall and everyone started to move. Her sheer confidence and determination was back as she gave another order,

“Everyone! Lineup properly and prepare to bid farewell to the king!”

The whole royal guards formed rows and columns in a very orderly manner the moment she issued the order. Everyone was finally lineup in front of King Roa to give their farewells,

“Salute!”

Everyone uniformly placed their right into their chest as their salute to King Roa, such a breathtaking performance by them if you were observing from the sidelines. Commander Hazelrink in front of the guards finally said,

“Farewell King Roa!”

“Farewell King Roa!!”

Even without looking at each other, they all bid their farewells all at the same time as if they were linked by their minds. The awe-inspiring display of discipline and teamwork from them was surely a fitting performance for the old king. King Roa witnessed this show of respect from them and would be a shame not to say something.

“Impressive. With that kind of farewell, I can finally take my leave without any regrets so goodbye everyone. May we meet again.”

King Roa finally stepped inside the limousine and closed it with his right hand. The armored vans started their engines in preparation to move and exit the gate.

*whew*

“That was really tiring out there for my age. You better drive good Woss as you don’t want to miss the celebration. It will be a shame if you can't make it because you’re too slow and I almost forgot, you can loosen up now and freely talk to me as there are no more people who will argue against you for your actions”

“Really?! If so then I’m very grateful for the permission to speak now your majesty! I will make sure we will arrive there in no time! Just leave it to me.”

“Hahaha, Then I expect us to arrive safely to Borquier then Woss.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The entire convoy started to move forward and the gates finally opened. With King Roa looking beyond the tinted bulletproof glass, the scenery of the royal guards saluting started to shift into buildings and trees until he could only see the small gates of the Gezire Sia Palace on the distance.

With him finally, on his way to Borquier, King Roa finally loosen up from all the people looking at him. The king slouched in his exquisite seat and thought about something.

(I should be relaxing here from that tiring act of being an awesome king back then until my grand plan is put into action but nope! I’l kill some time with this disrespectful dumbass who kept mocking me earlier before I put him six feet under the ground.)

A devilish smile cracked on his face, For Woss didn’t know that it’s one of the last things he will ever see before King Roa kills him for his disrespectful behavior.