Here is the September chapter. Please enjoy it.

I have to admit that Hakurin really grow on me. And I love her interaction with the black king. There will be more cute interaction between those two in the next chapter – sadly they interactions are cuter in my head than when I write them down.
I am sorry for the lack of Hakuyuu and Hakuren, but those two have the whole fanfiction for themselves, so let's focus on Hakurin and the black king for a little bit longer.

I hope you all can enjoy my OCs and the way I portray the canon characters. (And I am sorry for the slow progress.)

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When Jian and Hakurin reached Hakuren's bedroom they first hesitated. Maybe he wasn't in a mood to talk with them about Hakuyuu. Was Hakuren even awake? The second prince, who was now the first prince, either was already awake and full of energy or he was still sleeping and wouldn't get out of bed soon. There were only those two options. Hakurin hesitated because she wondered whether her older brother even wanted to see her. She still blamed herself for Hakuyuu's death. Maybe Hakuren saw it the same way and was angry with her. But she also wanted to be with Hakuren. He was always so optimistic and he was also smart, so maybe he knew what to do now. Maybe he could help Hakuyuu. A very naïve and childish thought, but accepting the death of a beloved family member wasn't easy. In the end, Jian knocked at the door and waited for a response from his friend. Sometimes when one was waiting the seconds that passed felt like minutes and the minutes like hours. This was the case here and although Jian normally was a patience person, he felt more and more uneasy with every passing second. Hakurin also didn't like to wait any longer – they barely had waited a minute – and pushed the door to her brother's room open. Maybe he was in the bathroom and hadn't heard them or he was really still asleep. If he was in the bathroom, he would soon be back, Hakurin thought, and probably wouldn't have a problem with them waiting inside his room – standing outside was not so comfortable. If he was still a sleep, they would wake him up since it was already pretty late, according to her.
And indeed Hakuren was still in his bed, his blanket over his head, but he wasn't asleep. He had heard the knocking, but was too lazy to response and eve less motivated to open the door. Without any warning Hakurin took the blanket from Hakuren's head and freed her brother from it therewith. His reaction was an angry grumble and a lazy tried to get his blanket back. However, since he wasn't successful with this he grabbed the next best thing or better said the next best person, this was Hakurin, and pulled her into a hug. She immediately snuggled against him. Hakuren was so soft and warm and he smelt so good. Hakurin only realized how cold she had been, when she was near her brother – she could hear his heart beat. Hakuyuu once had been warm too, but since he had this strange illness he was always clod as ice. Now that he was dead he would never be warm, right? If he was dead. She still refused to accept it. With tears in her eyes she hug her big brother back. In this situation Jian felt like a fish out of water. His friend probably hadn't seen him and would probably also not care, if he did, but Jian felt uneasy seen the two siblings cuddling with each other. Maybe he should leave and come back another time or should he say something?
"Brother Hakuren, Jian is also here. We wanted to visit Hakuyuu. Do you want to come with us?", explained Hakurin right of the bat.
She wanted to visit Hakuyuu as soon as possible to confirm that the news from yesterday were nothing but a lie. A long silence followed. Her brother only stroke over her head over and over again without saying anything. His heart was in pain. Hearing his little sister's word made him realize how young she was and how lost. For her it was the first time losing someone dear to her. Until now she probably had never heard of something like death – death was just something that happened in stories, but not to the people around her. Once she had a cute little bunny, which died due to another animal. To cover this up they told her that her little bunny had gone back to his family, because they needed him and she shouldn't be sad. Of course she had believed it. At first she had wanted to know where his family lived, luckily they somehow had managed to distract her or maybe they gave her a satisfying answer. Whatever it was, it had worked and so Hakurin had never had to deal with death before. In retrospect this might haven't been such a good idea. Sooner or later everyone was confronted with death and it was easier to deal with it, when one already knew about it. How should he tell her that Hakuyuu was dead and would never return to them? How should he explain what death meant? How should he explain why Hakuyuu had died, when he himself didn't know why? Slowly Hakuren sat up in his bed, Hakurin still in his arms, and looked at Jian for help. Jian also had siblings, so maybe he knew how to tell a young girl that her beloved brother would never come back. Unfortunately, Jian was just as helpless as Hakuren was. If he had known how to deal with it, how to say it, he would have done so already.
After letting out a heavy sigh Hakuren said in a soft voice: "Hakurin, Hakuyuu is dead. That means he will not wake up from his sleep anymore. So, visiting him won't do much. He will not know that we were there and we cannot do anything besides looking at his silent figure."
He hugged her a bit tighter. It had been easier with Hakuei, who already knew and understood what death meant, but she was older than Hakurin. Now that he thought about Hakuei, he wondered what his other little sister was doing. Did she need him or someone at her side? Or did she want to mourn Hakuyuu's death alone? That girl always wanted to do things on her own and don't be a burden to others, although in this case no one would mind her seeking help. Sometimes Hakuren wished Hakuei would not try to be so mature all the time. Not even he or Hakuyuu were like this all day long. Hakurin was different, she refused to accept reality and hoped for a miracle like a child her age would. Honestly, Hakuren was hoping for one too. Deep inside they all knew that Hakuyuu could die on the battlefield and they were prepared for that – it was acceptable and understandable –, but him dying all of a sudden because of an unknown illness was something no one had expected – they hadn't been prepared and it was unfair. Because of his status as second prince and future advisor, he knew what his new responsibilities were, but he didn't want them – never had wanted them in the first place. Instead he would love to have his overthinking, over worried and bickering older brother back. He already missed Hakuyuu.
Hakurin was not happy with his response and so he freed herself from his hug – it was impressive how strong a small child like her could be and how angry.
"How do you know that? Have to visit him already? Have you talked to him? If there was nothing we could do for Hakuyuu, Jian wouldn't have agreed to visit him too. Jian wouldn't lie to me!", she shouted at her brother, while getting out of his bed and room.
Jian could swear he had never seen an angrier little girl than the second princess at the moment. She even slammed the door shut behind her. Jian had awkwardly stood in the middle of the room the whole time. He felt sorry for Hakurin.

"Don't you think, we should go after her?", Jian asked. His mind told him to follow her, but his body thought otherwise. His body wanted to lay down and never get up again. It wasn't the first time that a friend of his died. Many soldiers he was friends with had been killed in this war.
"It's your fault that Hakurin is angry with me and on her way to Hakuyuu. You should have told her that Hakuyuu is dead."
"What? Why? She wanted to visit Hakuyuu and I don't see anything wrong with that. Alright, she may think that he is still alive or can be saved, but she is just a child. As far as I know she never had to deal with death until now."
Now that Jian said it out loud it sounded so strange and unreal in Hakuren's ears. Ever since Hakurin had been born the Empire was in a war with Go and Gai. An uncountable number of soldiers and citizen had died. How can it be that she never was on a funeral until now? How can it be that she only knew about death from books? Even if there wouldn't be a war, people died every day. Only a few months ago an old noble, who had served Hakuren's grandfather, had died. Maybe it was because of Gyokuen? When thinking about it, Hakuren remembered that his mother never had attended a funeral since Hakuryuu had been kidnapped – they thought this may be because she may think her own son had died. Hakutoku and his two son didn't have the time to take care of Hakurin during the funerals and Hakuei was too young to do so. So, Hakurin stay with her mother. Maybe she had asked where everyone was and Gyokuen might have explain it to her that people have died, but those soldiers were strangers to Hakurin and them being gone was nothing she would really realize. Somehow it still was strange, but it couldn't be changed anymore. Hakuren grabbed his pillow and buried his face in it. He had faced many obstacles and had many bad days, but yesterday and even today were probably the worst he ever had and there was nothing he could do against it. Hakurin was not the only one, who wanted Hakuyuu brother back, but differently than her Hakuren knew there was no way to do so. Hope could be such a wonderful thing until it was destroyed and hurt one even more.
Jian had finally sat down on the sofa and looked like he was about to cry. His thoughts were wandering around. It was so unbelievable. They all had done their best to find a way to save Hakuyuu and even had risked to send a letter to an unknown kingdom to get help, but in the end it was all for nothing. The black king may have arrived, but it was already too late. What should they do with the king now? Send him home? That would be rude. Well, it was not really Jian's problem, since he was just a mere soldier, but he still worried about it.
Therefore he asked Hakuren: "What will happen now? I mean, what will the emperor do with our guest? He came all the way here for nothing. Sending him home now would be quite rude."
"I don't know. Maybe he knows what illness Hakuyuu had and how to cure or prevent it."
Hakuren didn't know and he hadn't thought about their guest until now. His mind was busy with other things.

While Jian and Hakuren talked about the black king and guessed what sickness Hakuyuu had – there was also the possibility that others already got infected with this illness –, the black king took a stroll through the palace's hallways. At his side was a young woman dressed in black. She was not a servant, but a soldier. Her long, wavy brown hair was loosely pinned-up. She didn't look happy. Her king on the other had seemed to enjoy his little stroll every much.
"Don't look so bitter", the older man said with a smile on his face.
He was many years older than the woman next to him. His short gray hair were combed backwards and wrinkles could be seen on his face. Further he need a cane, which was not because of his age, but due to an old wound.
"I think, we shouldn't walk around without any one of the servants with us."
"Why not?"
For his response he only got a heavy sigh in return. No one liked it when two strangers walked around in one's house. They could also be spies or actually enemies. They could easily sneak into a room and search for secret documents. Everyone who saw them should get suspicions! At least this was her opinion, she would never let any strange walked freely around in their palace.
"From what I understood, the first prince died yesterday, so everyone is busy with mourning and finding out what to do now. Just image what would happen with my dear son would die. I guess, no one would care about a guest taking a stroll, am I right?"
The young woman had to restrain herself from reminding her king that his son once indeed had died and that she actually would care about someone strolling through the palace, in case such a thing would happen again. However, sometimes it was better to stay silent and let the king believe whatever he wanted to believe. Moreover it wasn't her problem, if the guards here were such incompetent fools – it only meant she had to look after her king even more.
When they reached a junction her king stopped, since he was unsure where to go next. However before he could make a decision someone bumped into him. With a confused expression he looked down right into the face of a very angry eight year old girl and her plushy.
"I am sorry, Sir. I haven't looked where I was going. Are you alright?", the Hakurin said looking up to the unknown man in front of her.
She took a few steps back to see him better and because it hurt her neck to look up in such a stiff manner. The other man smiled at her kindly.
"Don't worry, young lady, I am fine. What about you? Did you get hurt?"
Hakurin hadn't got hurt, but he had been shocked that suddenly someone was there. On her way she had barely seen anyone else, a few guards and servants had been walking through the hallways, but it was way less than usual – or she had overlooked some, because she was deep in thoughts. She couldn't understand how people could sleep so long after yesterday. What she didn't know was everyone was awake, but lacked the energy to get up.
"I am fine as well, Sir. What's your name? I am Ren Hakurin, the second princess of the great Kou Empire", she introduced herself.
A small portion of pride was in her voice.
"Most people around here refer to me as the black king from the black kingdom, but you can just call me Kyungsoo."
"Why do they call you black king, when this isn't your name?"
A good question.
"Because people do not know my name and only heard about me and my country from a few scrolls. I don't know why the person, who wrote said scrolls decided to refer to me as black king – maybe because I wear a lot of black –, but because of that everyone calls me that."
There was a reason, why people in his country and in the counties around to refer to him in this way, but there was no reason for this names to be written in an actually document.
"Don't you mind it, when people call you by a name that's not yours?"
She also had a nickname, but this nickname was Rin and a logical choice since her full name was Hakurin.
"I don't mind. Why should I? "Black king" has a nice ring to it. It gives me something mysterious and dangerous."
Kyungsoo laughed.
"I wouldn't want people to think I am dangerous. I want them to think I am a nice person."
"Understandable, but as king it is not bad to be feared by others, especially by your enemies."
"But we're not your enemies."
"And you're not afraid of me."
That was true, Hakurin thought about it a bit. She hadn't been afraid of the man in front of her and she wasn't now either. When she had heard the name for the first time she had only thought that it was a strange one, but she hadn't been afraid of the name or the person behind it.
Only when she thought about all this, she saw the woman, who had been silent the whole time, behind the king.
"Who is the pretty woman behind you?" Hakurin ask the Kyungsoo, who had bend down on his knees to be eye-on-eye with her, because she was too shy to ask the woman directly.
"Oh, that's Hae Soon. She is my bodyguard for this trip."
Hae Soon smiled at the little girl. She was not good with kids. Not that she disliked them, it was just that she never knew what to do with them or what to say, so she just smiled.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Hae Soon. I am Ren Hakurin and this little one his Uyu."
Hakurin hold her plushy up, so Hae Soon could see it better. The young princess really liked her stuffed animal, which couldn't be identified as animal, but was one according to her.
"It's nice to meet you too, princess Hakurin and Uyu."

Due to her conversation with the two guest, she forgot her original goal – visiting Hakuyuu. However she remembered it, when Kyungsoo asked her, where she was going to.
"I was on my way to my big brother Hakuyuu."
The prince yesterday, who had brought them to their room, had introduced himself as Hakuren, so this Hakuyuu guy was probably the now dead prince. Or was there a third prince? There was only one way to confirm it!
"Hakurin, do you think your brother would mind it, if we come with you on your visit?"
"I don't think so. He is a very nice person, but he sleeps a lot lately. So I think he might be happy to have a few people around. But you shouldn't be disappointed when he does not interact much with as."
It was hard to wake up, when one was dead. But in Hakurin's head Hakuyuu was still alive, so he was just sleeping.
"Well then, let's go."
Kyungsoo stood up and offered Hakurin his hand, which she took and led the way. Hae Soon followed the two without saying a word. Her job was to follow her king wherever he went and so she did. Although she questioned his decision to go with the young princess to her dead brother – had he forgotten how horrible something like this could be? His son had died once too and his youngest daughter had turned into a crying mess, when she had visit her dead brother's body, because the king thought it was a good way for her to cope with her dear older brother's death. Even a king could be wrong from time to time.