The King's Beloved

Ever since Rania was given the title of "National Treasure" by the king, she was not allowed to have any human visitors in Meracus, as if humans were the only ones capable of corrupting her. And so, in order to get to Rania's palace, the "Wicked Trio", as what people from their house called them, sneaked out by pretending to be maids.

Rose had dark red hair and brown eyes, the tallest of the three, followed by Iris, who had dark violet hair, and dark brown eyes. Lily, the smallest and youngest of them, had dark pink hair and caramel eyes.

Upon entering the palace, they ransacked the whole place, taking all the things they wanted - jewelries, clothes, bags, shoes, and anything they could carry. Rania caught them in the act and reprimanded them, saying if they wanted something, they only needed to ask her and she'd give it. They agreed unwillingly to this, only to find themselves coming back the next day to do the same.

Rania appreciated the thought of her former housemates visiting her even if they were only doing it for fun or to steal. She didn't tolerate them though, always gently reprimanding them. Little by little, she gained friends from these evil and scheming girls. Well, friends with materialistic benefits though, but at least, they began opening up.

Then one day, before heading into Meracus, they heard a rumor from the other girls in Pémptos palace. It was about the monsters in the "Forbidden Forest". They said that for some reason, they've become more vicious and dangerous and that they shouldn't wander anywhere near it, according to Malum. It seemed that Malum only warned those wanderlust girls from Pémptos. He missed out on the Trio though, since they frequented Meracus for a while now.

With this, the Trio thought of a brilliant idea.

"Rania!" Rose animatedly called out to Rania. "Please help us!" Her face wrenched in despair.

"What happened?" Rania asked worriedly.

"It's Lily…. She suddenly collapsed and the maids said that only the 'Medela' flower can cure her."

"Yes," Iris agreed as she continuously nodded her head. "But the problem is…"

" - they couldn't get any for her."

"But why?" Rania asked.

"They said, it was only located in the Forbidden Forest and that it's dangerous there right now, so they can't risk going there," Rose answered. Tears falling from her eyes.

"Where exactly at the Forbidden Forest? Is it deep inside? Or just around its corners?"

"J-just around the corner. Not too far inside," Iris replied.

"I see. Then don't worry, I'll get the 'Medela' flower so we can save her."

Rania assured the two and she hurriedly went to the Forbidden Forest carrying only a small kitchen knife with her, thinking that she should at least have something to defend herself, should anything happen. She had to sneak out of the palace this time in order to go to the forest or else she wouldn't be allowed to go.

As soon as Rania left, Rose and Iris laughed as hard as they could. And Lily, who was just hiding in a closet, revealed herself and laughed with them.

"Hahahahahahha!", Rose's eyes turned teary as she laughed too much. "How stupid can you get? She actually believed us!"

"Hahahahaha! Right! If that was me, I would totally doubt you guys, hahaha!"

"She's definitely gonna die in there for sure! Hahahahahahaha!"

Their laughter continued to echo in the room.

Going back to Rania, she managed to make it inside the forest unscathed. She carefully searched the place for the medela flower but she couldn't find any. Medela flower, according to Magi's books, was a very rare flower that could only be found in the Forbidden Forest. It had pastel blue petals that looked exactly like that of a lily, with golden linings at the corners, and a stigma that looked like dandelions at its middle. The flower was said to glow at night, and if you wanted to look for one, it would be easier to look in the dark of the night.

A few more moments passed but she still couldn't find the flower. That was when she suddenly heard faint crying voices from the bushes behind her. It was too faint that it almost seemed inaudible. She approached the bushes slowly and carefully, divided the bush into two by her hands, and saw there, tiny little creatures with little wings - so small that they're the same size as your thumb. They were very cute and petite, had faintly glowing bodies, and looked exactly how you would imagine an adorable fairy, wearing leaves and flowers as their clothes. Both Rania and the fairy-like creatures were surprised to see each other.

Noticing that one of them was injured, Rania's eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you okay?" she asked them gently. "What happened? Can I help?"

Rania tried to reach out to the injured one but the other fairies covered their comrade in defiance.

"No!" one of the male-looking fairies shouted with his tiny little voice. "You can't hurt her!"

"Hm?" Rania tilted her head, "...but I wasn't planning to. Why would I hurt an already injured fairy?"

"We're not fairies, we're sprites!" whispered the other one.

"Yeah, fairies are those bigger ones and older ones," continued the other.

Rania gently chuckled at them as she watched them speak in turns. They were just too adorable. As she listened to their stories that gave birth to another as soon as the other finished speaking, she grabbed a handkerchief in her pocket and used the knife she had to cut a small piece of it. Then, she gave that small piece of cloth for the fairies to use as a bandage to the injured one. The fairies were adamant on taking it until one of them stood up and approached Rania bravely.

She was the tallest and most beautiful one of them, with long and wavy silver hair, and golden eyes, wearing pink petals. She approached Rania and for some reason, her hands touched one of her fingers. As if trying to feel something, she looked serious for a moment, then gasped, and gleamed brightfully afterwards. The other fairies celebrated with her for some reason as well, and they all started to close their gap to Rania. Their adamant behavior was no more and they took her mini handkerchief to bandage the injured one.

The silver haired sprite started introducing herself afterwards.

"Human, my name is Luna, and I am the leader of this pack of sprites. What is your name?" she talked with her child-like and cute little voice.

"What leader? I am the leader!" the other fairies disagreed with her.

"No - I am!"

"Shuuush! I am trying to ask the human her name, so shut up!"

Rania chuckled once again. "My name is Rania. Nice to meet you, Luna, and your group of friends."

As soon as she finished her words, all the other twenty, or was it thirty sprites - it was hard to tell as they kept circling and flying all around - , started to introduce themselves as well by telling their names.

Their tiny chuckles turned noisier and noisier by the minute.

Then suddenly, a big wolf-looking creature howled and interrupted them.

OWOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!

His howl thundered through the whole forest.

Rania and her little fairy friends immediately ran for their lives.

Noticing the little sprites' scared faces, Rania distracted the wolf to make sure it followed her.

But the wolf was fast and as the seconds passed, he was nearing the gap they had.

"Huff...huff...huff', Rania continued running as fast as she could.

With a strike of luck, she saw a tall tree from afar. Rania dashed towards it and climbed the tree as swiftly as she could.

The wolf almost bit her by the feet as she climbed upwards. Good thing the wolf didn't know how to fly or else, it would have been an entirely different story.

The wolf continued to lie in wait for Rania, its big and sharp teeth, gritting each other as he snarled.

Seeing Rania's bravery and courage and sacrifice for them, for creatures that she just met, they were all touched from the bottom of their hearts.

Their adorable faces bawled and cried as they resolved themselves to help her in return for her kindness. Even if they were scared, Luna led them and decided to combine their powers to cast a spell to the wolf. The wolf was too enormous for their normal magic to affect him, so they had to combine all the "spiritual energy"they had.

It helped that the wolf was mainly focused on Rania, so it became easy for them to aim. And so they casted a "shrinking" magic to the wolf. They decided on this magic since they only had one shot at it for it required a lot of their powers.

The wolf felt magic run through him and changed his aim to the little sprites. Then, as he tried to chomp off one of them, poooof! - the wolf suddenly shrank.

"Phew…," they all sighed in relief, then laughed at each other afterwards.

"That was scary," Rania remarked.

Rania decided that they should go out of that place and so they did. She walked with the sprites out of the Forbidden Forest. When she reached the entrance of the forest, she remembered something.

"Oh no! I completely forgot," Rania exclaimed.

"What is it?" Luna asked.

"The reason I came here actually is because I was looking for a medela flower. Would you happen to know where I could get one?"

"Medela flower?" asked the other.

"That's easy! We can create one with our magic," boasted the other.

Luna agreed. "Yes, we're forest sprites afterall!"

"Really? Wow! That's great!" Rania felt relieved. "I'm so blessed to have met you all."

And so, the sprites helped in creating a medela flower. They focused their tiny palms on the ground channeling their powers into it. A few seconds passed and there came a bud that grew and grew and grew until it became the medela flower.

The flower was so beautiful and pleasing to the eyes. Its faint, golden glow, soothing.

"Did you know?" Luna began. "Aside from healing properties, this flower also has a special meaning in the 'language of flowers'?"

"Really? What is it?"

"Due to it being scarce and hard to find, it became a symbol of 'trust', for us spiritual creatures, and to the Magi as well," Luna's face grew dim as she spoke these words, her eyes turned sullen. She babbled on too much. "Yes, trust…. It's become really hard to find it these days. Especially with…"

Rania's heart ached for Luna. The other sprites tried consoling Luna as well. Rania felt that if she continued saying anymore, she would hurt more. There was something there….a memory….and a very sensitive one. Trying to cheer her up, Rania interrupted her.

"It's hard to find if you're trying to look for it," she spoke gently as she gestured her hands to the medela flower.

"Huh?' Luna wondered.

"But ... if you would just create it….and give it… then you don't really need to find it right?

Since you've had it all along…."

Realizing the depths of Rania's words, Luna's eyes lit up and tears came rolling like a river from her eyes. She tried wiping her tears but they wouldn't stop.

"R-right….hahaha...right," she tried to chuckle but her voice cracked.

"There, there…," Rania patted her head gently.

And the other sprites began crying and hugging each other.

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