Kitanna
Chapter 76: THE GRAVE WITH SECRETS

Chapter 76: THE GRAVE WITH SECRETS

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION : STAY ~ BLACKPINK JAPANESE VERSION]

Kitanna opened her eyes, then closed them again. She kept waking up and falling back asleep; she couldn’t just get enough of sleep. Her eyes flew open when she felt something warm on her face, it was so white and fluffy.

"Cherish!" Kitanna sat up, carrying her pet rabbit on her laps. That was when she noticed Nix, who sat on a chair, his eyes closed.

Kitanna looked around the room they were in; it was not Nix’s quarters unless Nix decided to decorate his room like hers. This was her chamber.

How did they get here? Kitanna asked herself. She noticed a movement from Nix, and she moved Cherish to a side and lay back down on the bed, tightening her eyes.

’Why did I do that?’ she screamed in her head. It was not like anything would happen if he sees her awake.

"If you’re awake, sit up; we need to talk," Nix, who saw the movement as he was not really sleeping but closed his eyes to think, said to Kitanna.

Kitanna opened her eyes slowly, then she stared at blue eyes who did not try to avert his gaze. She cleared her throat.

"How did we manage to get here?" Kitanna asked when she was finally comfortable with her environment.

"With legs, of course! What do you think?" Nix pushed the question back to her.

"That you carried me here, but you wouldn’t... haha, what will people think?" Kitanna chuckled nervously, praying in her mind that Nix did not actually carry her from his room to this place. She was asleep, and he was the only person walking; she doesn’t remember walking herself because there’s no way they’d have escaped people’s questioning eyes.

She continued to laugh awkwardly, waiting for Nix to join her and tell her it was a joke. When he looked at Nix, his expression was serious. There was no joke in his eyes. She decided to forget about it and scratch that it ever happened.

Kitanna picked up her rabbit, "..."

Nix tilted his head, "For someone as curious as you are, I’m surprised you don’t want to press further. I’d have shown you how we got to your room.

"I’ll prefer not to know; I haven’t really had time for Cherish. Things are too hectic in the palace," Kitanna said, playing with the rabbit.

"That’s why I brought her for you to see her one last time; I’ll be putting her in a safer place for now," Nix suggested, and Kitanna nodded to it.

"Tell me what happened last night," he asked.

Kitanna finally let go of the little rabbit, and it hopped off the bed. She tried to recall the nightmare she had the previous night.

"I drank the potion you gave to me. In my dream, I saw my father and Almaria arguing. It sounded like the queen dowager did something bad for her to be banished, but I didn’t get the whole detail; someone dragged me away. In that dream, my father and Almaria did nothing to come to my aid, and my father’s face was distorted. The dream felt so real." Kitanna found herself saying the nightmare; it did not sound as scary as how it was in her dream.

"The potion is working, but at the same time, something is stopping it; that’s why your body is resisting. You have to push further. For now, let’s leave the potions; we will try a more direct approach," Nix informed her.

Kitanna heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the bitter potions were no longer necessary. In all the weakness she felt about the nightmare, this was the only strength. Just thinking about taking the potion made her scared. She beamed with joy.

"What direct approach?" Kitanna asked, her eyes looking excited. Anything that was not taking something bitter, she was all in.

"We will go to the royal cemetery today. Let’s reconnect you with your father," Nix added. Kitanna, who didn’t see it as anything big, nodded.

After she was trained to become an assassin, she felt disappointed at her father for letting such a tradition exist. Even if it was said that a king doesn’t know about it, that’s not true because he will have a glimpse but only play the ignorant card.

As darkness touched the ground, the moon kissed the sky, giving light to the kingdom of Morado. The night wind was ever so gentle.

Nix waited until it was dark because he knew someone was watching Kitanna, but he didn’t know who it was. He had seen the shadow when Kitanna ran into his room.

The duo got to the place where the former king was buried. It was a big room under the palace where all kings of the past are laid to rest with their paintings positioned on each of their graves. Kitanna did not want to be here; the thought of her being abandoned by her father in her dream haunted her, and she didn’t want to confirm it.

Now inside the room, Nix lighted the torch that was kept there. By the look of things, nobody had come inside the place for many years because the fire torch was covered with webs.

"Nix, is it really necessary for me to be here?" Kitanna asked when she sighted her father’s own grave because of his painting.

"I mean, I didn’t spend much time with my father, apart from him teaching me how to use swords. I thought we were just bonding as father and daughter. I didn’t know he was showing me how my life will really be." Kitanna, who never hated her father, found herself feeling betrayed. The dream felt so real that it made it seem like her father did not support her or care about what happens to her.

Nix did not respond to this; it was normal for her to feel this considering how much she has gone through in the palace with nobody to rely on. And if these women had cleared her memory, it meant they also rearranged the memories with her own father.

"Here it is, The former king’s grave. King Dunstan Morgair," Kitanna murmured when they got to the point. She stared at her father’s painting, and it looked strangely unfamiliar. She did not really remember him to look like this; his smile ever so peaceful and calm but there was a look of authority in it. She shook her head. Right now, everything from her past should not be trusted.

Nix saw the portrait of the former king; it was just like he remembered him to be. He was someone who had a pleasing smile but exuded power. He bowed in respect to the late king. When he raised his face, Kitanna just stood there looking at the painting.

"Is there a problem?" Nix asked, breaking her from her thoughts.

Kitanna shook her head, wiping a tear that was trying to slip from her eyes. "Nix, I feel like I’ve never met him before. If not for the name on the painting, I don’t recognize him," she muttered, her voice breaking at the end.

Nix allowed her to take her own time to look at her father. He needed for Kitanna to get back her memory because it was only limited, the information he knew, which is about Almaria and Deonisia being maids and Kitanna being next in line to the crown. He needed to know what actually went wrong, and to do that, Kitanna had to remember. It wasn’t going to be easy, especially for Kitanna. Half of life she had lived, believing the lies to be reality, so to digest a lot of facts was not going to be easy for her.

Kitanna finally walked close to her father’s grave; she touched the painting not out of longing but to see if she will actually feel anything from it. But there was still nothing; she looked closely at the painting to see if anything will pop up, but it was just an old painting staring back at her, and the more she looked at it, the more creepy it became.

She sighed and stepped back facing Nix, "This won’t work; I can’t remember anything," she raised her hand in defeat.

Nix nodded; he did not want to force her or ask her to do more. "Let’s leave then; you continue taking the potions from tomorrow."

This caused Kitanna to groan, "Not the potions!" She cried, following him behind.

"..!" A small gasp escaped Kitanna’s lips when they were almost out of the room.

Nix turned to see her crouched on the ground, with her hands holding her head so tightly like it was about to break.

He sat on his heels to hold her, checking if maybe some of the creepers held her leg. The room was an old room; it was only opened when a king died so it was not often cleaned.

When Kitanna lifted her face, her eyes were dilated, and her nose was bleeding. Nix narrowed his eyes worriedly, but the next thing that happened he was not expecting it.

"Princess Kitanna, when I am not in this world, I will leave you puzzles to find, even in my grave we will play lots of games. Because you are my lovely daughter, let’s share this secret for life." Kitanna muttered the words; it was a distant memory that seemed so near.

She remembered that day; she had cried that her father should be the one to tuck her in bed and also sing for her. He said this while petting her head. Kitanna ran back to the grave, and she recognized her father’s face.

"Father," she whispered. She looked around the place, searching for a clue. She moved backward and noticed that her father’s painting was tilted slightly differently pointing to the west. Kitanna rubbed her head.

"What could it be?" She pushed the painting, but nothing happened.

Nix, who was standing at a side, watched the princess. It seemed like she remembered a bit of her memory with the former king.

Kitanna moved back again, her eyes darting here and there. Then she finally whispered to herself, "Found you!"