The Riddle
By
Nana
Chapter 4
Invitation
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Author's Notes: Hehehe…after all those chapters, MiroSan fun begins here, folks! Please do read and review!
Disclaimer: The plot of the story is from the story by the Bothers Grimm. MiroSan belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
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"Are you just going to stay there the whole day or would you at least stand aside and allow people to get through?" asked a voice dryly behind them.
Miroku turned around and saw her. And found that he could not look away.
In the light of the early morning sun, peril had found its way to him in the shape of a lovely woman astride a horse. Of course, he had not realized this yet.
All he saw in front of him was a young woman with her hair unconventionally tied up behind her in a ponytail, wearing a cloak the color of gray mist. Below the cloak, though, he could see that she had donned on a hunter's close-fitting garb, clearly showing the curves and lines of a tall, graceful figure.
His scrutiny was abruptly interrupted when the woman said sharply, "and what are you looking at?!"
His eyes snapped back up to hers, and if he were embarrassed at being caught staring, his face and manner did not reveal it. "Forgive me for being in your way, madam, " he began.
He felt her look at his face searchingly. "You are travelers," she observed.
Miroku looked at Hachi. "Indeed we are," he said.
"I've never seen you before. Why have you come to this kingdom?" she asked. "Are you here for business?"
"Oh, no," laughed Miroku. "We--"
Instantly, he felt he had said something wrong. The woman before them suddenly frowned as she took in his attire more closely.
"Are you a nobleman of some sort?" she asked softly, dangerously.
"Well, you can put it that way--"
"If you're here for what I think you're here for," she said, her tone very cold, "let me advise you not waste your time. There had been one too many executions already, as it is."
Huh?
"I'm afraid I don't quite follow you," began Miroku, but the woman had had enough of him.
"You will know soon enough," she said as she touched her whip to her horse.
"What was that all about?" asked Hachi after she had gone.
"I have no idea," said Miroku, feeling a surge of reluctant interest at the lady's cryptic remark. "But I have a feeling that we will soon find out."
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The Southern Kingdom had been just as he had remembered it.
As they rode past the colorful bazaars of the marketplace, past the town square and the quiet, tree-lined avenues of the village residences, they soon found themselves before the majestic castle of the Southern King.
Throughout the short ride to the castle, he found himself carefully keeping a lookout for the girl. He never found her again.
Pity…He thought. Perhaps next time…?
"Y-your Highness, do you really think they'll recognize you?" asked Hachi uncertainly as Miroku announced himself to the palace guards.
"There's only one way to find out," said Miroku as a flustered guard ran in to announce who was at the gates.
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Things were turning out unexpectedly well.
The King had no trouble recognizing and welcoming him into his castle, and barely spared the letter in the Prince's hand a cursory glance.
"How you've grown," the king told him warmly after they exchanged the customary greetings. "How old were you when you were here last?"
"Three years old," Miroku murmured.
"That long ago, eh?" laughed the King. "Well, you look just like the way I have imagined you will when you grow up!"
After they had been shown to their rooms and had had a bit of time to settle down, the King asked for Miroku to join his family for lunch.
"Your father and I have kept in touch quite regularly," he informed Miroku. "He should have written to tell me you were arriving!"
Miroku merely smiled, not bothering to tell him the exact reason why he was here in the first place. It had not been by his--or anybody's--conscious design, but the Southern King need not know about this minor detail.
As his family slowly gathered in the dining room, the King leaned in and asked, "by the way, I've not heard you were married."
"No, I'm not, Your Majesty," Miroku said with a smile.
"Excellent!" the King seemed pleased by his answer. "There is somebody I'd like you to meet."
Just then, they could hear voices as the King's children approached.
"…wants to introduce us to an important guest, sis," a boy's voice sounded.
"I can just imagine," replied a woman's voice archly.
Miroku stared at the corridor where the owners of the voices were approaching, feeling his heart take on a sudden, strange beat.
That voice.
It was terribly familiar…
And there she was, materializing from the shadows of the corridor, looking just like how he had seen her that morning. Only, her hair was now down and she was wearing a dress of pink and red.
Apparently, he was not the only one who still had the morning's encounter in mind. The princess stopped in mid-sentence when she saw him. For a moment, she stood there at the entrance of the dining room.
"You," she said as way of greeting.
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"Well," said the King, smiling. "I didn't realize you two have met."
"The…Princess and I met outside the gates of the kingdom this morning, Your Majesty," said Miroku. He said this as he looked at her direction.
Inwardly, he smiled as he saw her avert her suddenly flushed face.
She looked so pretty, standing there and scowling. How would she look if she were smiling?
"Oh?" the King turned to his daughter. "You never told me the Prince of the Northern Kingdom was in front of our gates."
The effect of those words was very interesting, to say the very least. Miroku watched curiously as the color first drained from the princess's face before it came back to her features in a rush.
"I… didn't know he's the Prince of the Northern Kingdom, Father," replied the Princess once she found her voice. "He never introduced himself as such."
"Indeed, we never got introduced properly," murmured Miroku as he took a step toward her. Before she could back away, he took her hand firmly in his and did not let go even as he felt her start at his touch. Raising it to his lips, he dropped a quick kiss on her knuckles and released her when she snatched her hand back.
"My daughter, Sango. My son, Kohaku," said the King briskly. "Everyone, this is Prince Miroku, from the Northern Kingdom. His father and I are good friends."
"I told you not to pursue this," she said to Miroku fiercely.
"Sango…" her father began mournfully.
"The stakes are too high, so don't even trouble yourself," she continued.
"I'm sure they are," said Miroku with a bland smile, "if I know what to make of the whole thing first."
Sango stopped abruptly.
"You mean…you've not heard?" asked the King hopefully.
Miroku shook his head.
"Well! Let's have lunch first, shall we?" asked the sovereign cheerfully.
Lunch was a long affair, and the King did not permit any further discussion of the matter. It was only afterward, in the privacy of his study room and away from any possible intervention by his daughter, that he got down to telling the prince of a strange tale involving Sango.
"Sango is a good girl at heart," sighed the King, "but you must understand that Kohaku came to us rather late. For many years, we have accepted the fact that Sango would be the heir-apparent to the Kingdom. Her education was started at an early age, and she had loved to read ever since she was a child, so…"
The King paused as he stared at the wisp of smoke curling up from his cigar. "Don't mistake me," he told Miroku, who was patiently waiting for him to continue. "I appreciate my daughter's quick wit. She's very intelligent, very well read. Right now, though, I never realized that all that intelligence would become a problem."
"Why so, Your Majesty?"
"It's time for my daughter to marry," said the King. "She's already sixteen. She's not getting any younger. Last year, I gave a party to celebrate her fifteenth birthday, and the trouble began when she started having suitors. She wouldn't have any of them. It's been hell for us all."
"Why not wait for her to decide on her own? Perhaps someday, somebody whom she likes will come along," said Miroku, who happened to understand the princess' plight all too well.
The king's look was full of bitter irony. "Do you honestly believe that, my friend?" he asked. "How long will she wait? Until she turns twenty? Thirty?"
Miroku opened his mouth, thought better of it, and closed it again.
"I am only too aware that she's too well-read, too intelligent for her own good," said the King. "And I made the mistake of panicking and forcing the first serious suitor on her."
"What happened?" asked Miroku.
The king sighed heavily. "She was distressed, but she finally agreed on one condition."
"What condition is that?"
"That I agree to grant her one final wish. I took pity and told her so long as it was not a command to break off the engagement with the young man, I would give my word that I would honor it."
"And…?"
"She wished for a council hearing," said the King. "There she declared that she would marry anybody only if he had provided her with a riddle that she could not solve."
Miroku stared at the King for a moment, not quite sure what to say of the fact that the princess had outsmarted even her own father in this aspect.
"She's very commendable," he said at last.
"I gave my word as King, so I cannot take it back," said the king desperately. "Do you see my predicament?"
"I understand," said Miroku. "I take it nobody has been able to beat her at her game?"
"None, " replied the King. "What was more, whoever failed to beat her would be executed."
So that's it…Miroku thought grimly. Who would have thought that Princess Sango would have in her a streak as ruthless as this?
"Was it a successful deterrent?" he wanted to know.
"There had been nine who had lost their lives so far," answered the King. "The last one was executed only early this morning. I cannot do anything to stop it! I am at a loss! And this is where you come in, my son…"
Wha--? Miroku nearly choked on his coffee.
"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty?" He coughed.
"Your father was always telling me in his letters how you were excelling in your studies and how extensively you've traveled," said the King eagerly. "I was just thinking about it the other day. If there's anyone who can win my daughter over, I'm sure it will be you!"
"I am touched that Your Majesty thinks so very highly of me," began Miroku as he laughed weakly. "But you see, I'm not here to participate in any mind games. I didn't even know--"
"But you do now!" exclaimed the King.
Sweat broke out on Miroku's forehead even as he forced another laugh. "So it is, but would it be all right with your Majesty if I think the matter over?"
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Sango quickly moved away from the door when she heard footsteps approaching the door from within her father's study. One glance at the vast expanse of corridor told her she would be caught if she had to run down its length, and so she took refuge behind a nearby pillar.
She had not been able to stop herself from listening in. This person was, after all, the notorious prince from the Northern Kingdom.
Who would have thought in a million years that the handsome stranger she had met on the road earlier was none other than the playboy prince who had broken the hearts of some of her friends from afar? She had come to look forward to their stories about this loathsome creature, and had wondered once or twice what she would do if she had been in one of her friends' shoes.
And now, he was right here in her father's kingdom. She had thought she was going to pass out when she learned of his identity during lunch.
Well, at least he was showing some signs of being intelligent, she thought. Although she had to admit it was quite a novelty to her, the fact that the prince would dare put off the challenge of the riddle when her father had specifically asked him to take it up was pretty admirable.
So why was she feeling a bit…disappointed?
Me… disappointed? She scoffed at herself mentally. Honestly! Where did that come from?
The Prince soon emerged from her father's study, and she waited quietly for him to go away.
He didn't.
Instead, she received an unpleasant jolt when he called out softly, "how much have you heard? A little, a lot or all of it?"
Damn…how did he…?
"What is it to you?" she asked as she revealed herself. "You said so yourself that you're not interested."
"Did I?"
Sango returned his volley effortlessly. "Are you saying you didn't?" she challenged.
"Outwitting your father is one thing. Why did you have to take your suitors' lives though?" he asked quietly.
"I didn't want to!" she flared. "I only made up that ruling as a way to discourage them, but the fools still kept coming."
"I should think the prize is quite tempting," said Miroku, and Sango flushed a deep red in front of his appraising gaze.
"Unfortunately, the prize--as you've put me--isn't so easy to get," she said. "Thank God you don't have to find out."
With that, she turned away with her head held high and left.
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Miroku spent the rest of the afternoon with the Prime Minister as he led him on a tour of the castle.
"I can still remember the last time you came with your parents to visit Princess Sango," the Prime Minister was saying.
Miroku smiled absently. It seemed there was no avoiding the Princess, whether in his thoughts or in the general conversation around him. In fact, it was all he could do not to try thinking about her for just a few minutes at a time.
"I'd say she's changed quite a lot since I last saw her," he said.
"Come now, Your Highness! She was only a baby then!"
"And is she always like this or is it just for possible suitors?" he found himself asking nonchalantly.
"The Princess," began the Prime Minister delicately, "is really very kind at heart, but she has a tendency to be a bit…well, choosy. You have to understand, Your Highness, that she has to be, given the precarious situation that she's in."
"And what position is that?"
"Suitors of all sorts have been turning up since she reached her fifteenth birthday. Everyone knows she won't ascend the throne, but she will be rich. Very much so. Her father wishes desperately for her to marry. Given these circumstances…"
"I think she's done very well in protecting herself," observed Miroku a bit dryly.
"I think she's done too well a job, if you don't mind my being frank, Your Highness," said Miroku's companion. "At this rate, I am afraid she will never get married."
They finally reached the castle's library.
"We are very proud of our collection," said the Prime Minister, smiling at the obvious delight of the prince as he moved to read some of the titles from the shelves. "The King and the Princess see to it that we update our titles regularly."
"Let me guess, this is her favorite room in the castle," Miroku murmured as he pulled off a rare book on Greek Mythology.
"Quite right," said a voice behind them.
The Prime Minister bowed deeply when the Princess emerged from one of the high chairs in a corner. "Your Highness!" he gasped, betraying his surprise. "We didn't see you."
"That," she said to him, "is pretty obvious."
She turned to the Prince. "I hear you like books?" she asked, an eyebrow up.
"I do."
"Really," she murmured. "They all say that, don't they?"
"They?" Miroku raised a fine brow. She never really quite got over classifying him as one of the hapless suitors, did she?
"I have yet to hear one of them say otherwise. In fact, they spend all their time here plaguing me about it when they could have indulged in what they purport to like doing. Most tedious."
"Well," Miroku said quite pleasantly. "Doesn't this make for a nice change?"
Sango regarded him with a kindling eye before she gave him a brittle smile. "And what does that mean?" she asked.
"It means," he said, "whatever you want it to mean."
Good God…is he playing with me? For a minute the Princess could not speak.
"I think you understand the consequences of the challenge well enough is how I want it to mean," she finally said. "Don't you agree?"
"Do I?" he said. "Understand the consequences, I mean?"
Sango frowned.
"Well, don't you? Otherwise, you would have gone right on and thrown in your two cents worth into it," she said. "I think it's a pretty admirable move on your part not to--"
"What would it take to join the Riddle?" he asked. All of a sudden he did not want her to find him admirable. Not in her sense, anyway.
"Why would you want to know?" she asked suspiciously.
"The rules are simple enough," piped in the Prime Minister. "Present your riddle to the Princess in front of the court of judges appointed especially to the task. She will be given three days to figure it out. In the event that she does not succeed in arriving at the correct answer after three days--"
"That is not going to happen," cut in Sango curtly.
"Erm…right, Your Highness," agreed the man lamely. "And if she succeeds in solving your riddle, then--"
A short, heavy silence ensued. Miroku did not trouble to hide the fact that everyone knew the fate of the doomed suitor. Instead he raised his brows.
"You do realize that the latter part of your condition, should it be carried out if I were the participant, will jeopardize diplomatic relations between our two kingdoms?" he said gravely.
Sango was so surprised at his unexpected quip that she almost laughed.
Almost.
She smiled at him sweetly. "A risk you will have to take then, if you're really serious about entering into the agreement. You must remember that if you do give it, you will have to live up to your word just as a noble prince of any realm would.
"But then, no use talking about conjectures, right?" she continued dismissively as she turned away. "You're not going to take the challenge anyway."
Right then and there, Miroku reached a decision.
"Very well then," he said after a moment of silence. "If you really want me to join it so badly, then I accept."
"WHAT??!"
Miroku's gaze was steady, serious. "Your invitation," he said to an outraged Sango. "Didn't you clearly issue one just now? I accept."
He turned to the Prime Minister. "How soon will the court be in session?"
"Why, I can arrange for a session tomorrow afternoon, Your Highness," said the Prime Minister as he recovered from his state of shock.
"Very well then," said Miroku.
"Wait a minute!" cried the princess just as Miroku was about to take leave of the room. "You cannot be serious!"
"Can't I?" the Prince asked softly, his violet eyes darkening just a shade as he frowned at her. "Rest assured I am ready to honor whatever outcome is at hand."
"You're just making a mockery of this whole thing!" accused Sango.
"It is a game of your own devising," he reminded her.
"It is no game!" she shouted. "And I never issued an invitation to you!"
"Didn't you?" he asked teasingly, the corners of his mouth lifting in a small, charming smile.
"I didn't!" she spat as another wave of outrage took over.
Could it be…? Could it be that he was teasing her?!
How dare he…! Thought Sango angrily.
"You're going to die if I get the answer to your riddle," argued Sango.
"What makes you think I'm going to lose?" he told her with a smile.
Sango refused to be deterred by his impossibly breezy claim.
"You're going to have to marry me if you win!" cried Sango as she repressed a shudder of revulsion. "Do you--can you understand the meaning of that consequence?!"
"Indeed. That would make for an interesting change," he murmured. "I'll see you in court."
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