The Queen Of Time
Time Freeze (Eight)

        Max looked at the atmosphere inside the rebel camp with a bad feeling. He had heard the news about the rebels before, but he never too much because the rebels did not bother his kingdom at all. At that time he had thought if the rebels were a group of bad people who always do negative things to take revenge on

khronos Kingdom. But, it turns out that's not true at all. The people who join this group are good people who want justice. They tried desperately to hold the king of Aiden accountable for all the bad deeds done by the king so far. But, if he saw how King Aiden behaved when he came to his kingdom, the king looked so arrogant and pretentious. He also looks arbitrarily against all the women he gets from various kingdoms

colonized. So he was not surprised that the rebels were so vehemently opposed to any policy made by Aiden, even though in fact they had been given a proper place if they were willing to submit to the cruel king. But, then he thought back, was all this done without a reason behind it? Could it be that there was something in the past that he had not known until now that the people were victims of Aiden's atrocities? Max kept thinking about that inside his head while sighing many times. Honestly, he had never been involved in ruling the kingdom of Hora. His father always did it himself without ever involving him in the slightest, so he felt so stupid now that he only knew the facts that were happening in front of him, while the facts were blurry, and the facts were blurry, he doesn't know at all.

        "Huh, why should I be this weak?" max nodded slowly to himself.

        "You're not weak, you're just poorly trained."

        Suddenly Gazelle approached Max while giving her a cup of honey tea that Smith's grandmother had just made that looked quite tempting in the midst of the cold weather that was so bone-chilling. With pleasure Max immediately grabbed the cup of tea and he immediately gulped the contents to leave half the light brown liquid that was so fragrant. Her body feels better and warmer than before. Gazelle glanced at a glance while muttering thanks and asked the woman to join him to look at the stars that seemed to glow dimly in the middle of the night sky that looked cloudy.

        "You're not sleeping?" max asked, breaking the silence between the two of them. Gazelle turned her head quickly towards Max and shook her head lightly.

        "No, I mean not yet. Today is my schedule for night watch. But tomorrow morning my duty will be replaced by someone else. So, I can change my break time tomorrow morning. Then, what about you? You should rest in your tent with the queen mother. Didn't your wound just get treated. You have to rest a lot."

        "Hmm, I'm ashamed of you. As a man, I can protect my mother and my people. But I was easily defeated by king Aiden. Am I not that bad?" max said with bitter ruckus. Gazelle stared gently at Max and stroked Max's shoulder slowly to give the man comfort. What Max said is true. The man was indeed very lousy as he could be defeated by Aiden easily. But, he also could not blame Max just like that, because in terms of war and strategy, Aiden was indeed far superior to Max. Aiden studied for years

to be a great king to avenge those who killed his two men. Obviously, Aiden is not a light opponent. If Max wants to defeat Aiden, then the man needs tactics and a plan that must be thoroughly mature.

        "You're not wrong, king Aiden is indeed a formidable opponent. It's only natural that you lose to him, considering how he's practiced martial arts and sword arts all along. He's a very persistent, hard-working guy."

Max scrunched his forehead in confusion as he looked at Gazelle questioningly.

        "Where do you know all that?"

        "I know for myself, for I was part of the kingdom of Chronos." whispered Gazelle softly as he looked around in case someone eavesdropped on their conversation. For years Gazelle hid his identity from the rebels because he felt he did not yet have a truly powerful partner to fight Aiden. Now that he has met Max, he becomes convinced that Max is a balanced opponent for Aiden. At least Max just needs a little sharpened so that he can be comparable to Aiden.

        "you mean? You're actually one of the people of the Khronos kingdom?"

        "Yes that's it. I am the daughter of the Khronos royal minister of war. Aiden and I were so close. We used to practice swords and martial arts together until I felt that Aiden was the perfect man to be my partner. Unfortunately Aiden got a terrible curse from his father's enemies, so he could not accept my love and preferred to seek his destiny so that he could be freed from it. And after I had no more hope, I decided to leave the kingdom of Chronos and join the rebels so that I could make Aiden aware that

I am a dangerous woman, so she should be careful with me and not hurt my precious feelings. Unfortunately, over the years I've joined these rebels, they're not as good as I thought they were. Their strength was still far below that of the soldiers of the Chronos, so we could never destroy the kingdom of Chronos until it was completely destroyed. I feel that the entire plan that we have been putting together will be known easily by all the soldiers of the kingdom of Khronos. That's why we never won against the Khronos, let alone Aiden."

        "It's only fitting that Aiden was so obsessed with Calistha, the ruthless man only wanted to use Calistha to remove her curse. Really sneaky. We must immediately liberate Calistha from the kingdom of Chronos." said Max furiously as he clenched his hands. Although he was still injured, he did not care. Whatever he would do to free Calistha from the demon lord's clutches.

        "Yes, Aiden only used Calistha to remove the curse. And after that he will definitely kill Calistha, just like the previous women Aiden had obtained from various kingdoms" Gazelle said. But, deep down, Gazelle is setting up various evil plans to destroy Calistha and also to hurt Aiden. He wanted the man to experience the same pain he had been in all this time. For years he tried to forget every insult Aiden had thrown at him.

        "Do you have any plans to release Calistha? If you have it, tell me. I want to avenge myself on the demon lord and also bring Calistha back into my arms. He must be very sad and depressed to be in the demon lord's confinement. If you really have a good plan, then,

I will definitely help you to run it because my grudge against Aiden is as great as you are" Max said fieryly and emotionally. Behind her seemingly calm face, Gazelle was laughing out loud to herself as she was finally able to trap Max into her game. Through Max he will take revenge on Aiden. He will make Aiden worse because he lost his precious wife. Then, he would kill Calistha right in front of Aiden's face so that the man could not heal his curse.

        "For the moment I don't have a definite plan. But, I plan to come to the kingdom of Chronos and meet with Calistha. We have to go undercover and ask Calistha for help as an insider. Are you willing to help me?"

        "Of course, I'll definitely help you. I will come with you to come to the kingdom of Chronos

and meet Calistha. So, when are we leaving for the kingdom of Chronos?" ask Max excitedly. He felt he was so impatient to meet Calistha and let go of his longing for the woman. He wanted to take Calistha and take her away from the kingdom of Aiden.

        "Tomorrow we must go to the kingdom of Chronos and meet Calistha. Two more days Aiden will surely marry Calistha because the day after tomorrow is the night of the full moon. As much as possible we must thwart Aiden to marry Calistha so that the curse is never lost. Do you agree with me?"

        "Yes, I agree. I think the wound on my stomach is better than ever, so I'm going to come with you to the kingdom of Khronos" Max said steadily and confidently. Gazelle then grasped Max's palm firmly while nodding confidently at the man if the two of them could definitely become a reliable pair of partners to take down the kingdom of Khronos.

        "alright. Better now you rest so that tomorrow we can travel to the kingdom of Khronos."

        "Yes, I'll rest. Thank you Gazelle for all your kindness. I will never forget all your services."

        "Hmm, equally. Good night Max."

        "Good night. See you tomorrow morning." whispered Max quietly before Gazelle stepped away from her small tent. Behind him the mother was sound asleep with her old face that looked so peaceful. Max then stroked his mother's shoulders gently and kissed her mother's forehead long enough as a form of flavor

unfortunately for the noble woman who had given birth to him into this world. Max then whispered softly in his mother's ear if he loved her very much and after that he immediately laid his body next to her while folding both hands behind his head to become a pillow. Tomorrow will be a very long day for them and Max will really prepare his best to save Calistha from the clutches of the extremely cruel demon lord. This time he will not lose again to king Aiden. He would definitely bring Calistha back into his arms.

Wait for me Cals, I will definitely save you.

-00-

        The next morning Calistha woke up in a very bad mood. How not, when he opened his eyes, a woman in a garish outfit had been sitting next to his bed while observing his every move with strange looking eyes. Feeling looked at so intensely, Calistha became uneasy and immediately told the woman to come out of her room. However, the woman did not seem to pierce him at all and instead took out various kinds of silk cloths from inside a large crate that came out of nowhere, suddenly the chest was already inside his spacious room. Then without any courtesy the woman immediately pulled Calistha's hand to enter the bathroom, and unexpectedly the woman just threw it into the hot pool prepared for her, complete with a milk soap that is so fragrant and soft. But how could he possibly enjoy the smell of milk soap if he entered the pool was still wearing a full nightgown and he had not rolled his long hair so as not to get wet. Then after she finished her forced bath, she was immediately dragged to her bed to choose which dress she would wear for her wedding day. Of course Calistha immediately rejected all the dresses raw because she did not agree with Aiden's crazy plan to marry her right on the night of the full moon. He felt that the man looked like a wolf demon because he wanted to marry her on the night of the full moon. Even if the man would marry her on another night other than the full moon, he would never.

        "I don't want to wear those dresses. I don't want to marry your king." cried Calistha growled at the brown woman who was looking at Calistha with her forehead raised casually. He seemed to ignore Calistha's loud screams and instead encouraged Calistha to wear a pink dress so beautiful. Although Calistha initially refused, she could do nothing after the woman kept urging her to try on the dress on her body.

        "Oh my God, who is that woman? Why is he so annoying? Arghhh, why should I try this dress if I don't want to marry Aiden at all. You suck!" calistha grumbled inside the bathroom while pecking herself in front of the mirror. Suddenly Yuri went inside the bathroom clapping

hands amazed at Calistha. It turns out the choice was right. Calistha was really pretty while wearing that light pink dress. He was sure that the king would pay a lot for the dress.

        "Well, you're very beautiful Her Majesty the future queen. King Aiden will surely be fascinated to see the beauty of the queen at the wedding. Do you like it?" yuri asked so excitedly. Calistha clearly showed her dislike for Yuri by snorting in annoyance in front of the woman. She rudely encourages Yuri to get out of the bathroom because she wants to change her clothes with a regular dress. She was too uncomfortable to wear the extravagant outfit in her room, though she admitted that the dress was really beautiful and fit perfectly on her body.

        "Your Majesty, the queen candidate, I have prepared a dress-up kit outside to decorate your face. Begged that you don't stay in the bathroom too long." Yuri shouted from the outside while humming a little. Lazily, Calistha immediately dragged her feet to get out of the bathroom while throwing the pink dress carelessly onto her bed. He was so tired of this kingdom.

        "Where's Sunny? Why do you keep bothering me with all kinds of wedding preparations

it doesn't matter. Didn't I say it many times if I wasn't going to marry Aiden. I hate that guy. I'm sick of her." Calistha's angry at Yuri. However, Yuri only responded to Calistha's every anger with various kinds of jokes and still continued her activities to decorate

face Calistha. However, here the task is to beautify the future queen, so she will not be affected by any anger thrown by the woman.

        "Why should I have breakfast with that mean guy? I just want breakfast here. I don't want to meet him."

        Yuri stuck out her long index finger right in front of Calistha's face while twitching

finger to the right and to the left. The woman then immediately showered him with various kinds of advice that Calistha thought was very annoying.

        "Your Majesty, you can't say that. You and King Aiden, however, have been instructed by God to be together and to be one whole entity. You and King Aiden are our hope. I and all the people of the kingdom of Chronos firmly believe that you can bring a peace to this kingdom and also to Mr. Aiden. Please don't disappoint us." beg Yuri while clasping Calistha's hands tightly. The woman then nodded stiffly in front of Yuri while looking at the brown-skinned woman with a question mark.

        How could Aiden have such a fussy fellow like this? It was really chatty and very annoying.Inner Calistha was riled up while looking at the reflection of her hair in the mirror that was being combed by Yuri.

        "It seems you adore Aiden so much, isn't he a very cruel and evil man? Don't you hate Aiden like most people out there? Even I hate Aiden so much, he destroyed my kingdom and ruined my life that I could not live happily with the man I love.”

        Yuri looked at the two Calistha beads meaningfully through the huge mirror that loomed in front of the beautiful woman.

        "Miss, really Mr. Aiden isn't that bad. Mr. Aiden is a good man. Maybe you haven't found that side of King Aiden. But in the end you will find it in King Aiden. Trust me lady because we've proven it ourselves over the years."

        "That's it, stop all that crap. And please leave me here alone for a while before I go downstairs to have breakfast together."

        After hearing that, Yuri immediately said goodbye to Calistha while collecting all her makeup tools that seemed to be scattered on Calistha's bed. And after all her stuff was done, Yuri immediately waved at Calistha and instantly disappeared out of Calistha's room, leaving a big question mark in Calistha's mind about the truth of all Yuri's sayings about Aiden.

-00-

        Max and Gazelle are currently outside the main gate of the kingdom of Chronos. They've both been since

just now continued to lurk around them excitedly. A furious glint flared in Max's eyes as he saw some of the soldiers of the kingdom of Chronos trying to block him and Gazelle. The two of them then began to attack the soldiers one by one with their capable martial skills. Sometimes Max gave a kick to the soldier and did not give them a chance to attack him.

Bukkk

        Gazelle fell on the ground after getting an attack from one of the soldiers of the kingdom of Chronos. Max who saw it immediately helped Gazelle and gave a kick to the soldier's face until he also fell to the ground with a nose that bleeds.

        "Gazelle, are you okay?" max asked worriedly while helping Gazelle to stand up. The woman then slightly confirmed the location of her slumped face cover while nodding at Max.

        "Yes, I'm fine. Quickly take their clothes, we must disguise ourselves as soldiers to enter the kingdom of Khronos." Gazelle orders quickly and begins to strip the soldiers' clothes one by one. After that Max took out a sword from inside the sword sheath belonging to the fallen soldier, fainting, then he stabbed the soldiers in the chest with a silver sword that he held until none of the guards were alive.

        "How are you, are you ready?" gazelle asked Max, who was wearing the head covering of the guard. Max immediately nodded quickly as he walked ahead of Gazelle to open the palace gate that was quite large and heavy.

        "Come, we don't have much time. Do you know where Calistha's room is?" ask Max while looking over here. Every now and then they nodded at the few soldiers they met on the street. Gazelle seemed to think for a moment while observing the row of room windows that were in the royal palace of Khronos. The tail reflex of his eyes observed a large window that was on the right wing. The window was empty and no one was standing there. He then sighed softly, trying to raise his heart that was beginning to waver. He used to be in front of the window to see the view from above

aiden's room. Yeah, that big window is the one inside Aiden's room. Suddenly Gazelle turned to the building on the left wing, where there was a large window also facing a large garden. Gazelle tells Max that the large window is a window connected to Calistha's room.

        "We have to split up to find Calistha. If you or I were to meet Calistha, we should immediately bring her here to think about the next step. Be careful, because Aiden will definitely give strict guard to Calistha because he is his future queen. Do you understand?" gazelle asked quietly next to Max as she continued to scout around him. Max then nodded and immediately walked out quietly to enter the palace building. The first thing Max did when he was in the palace was he asked a kitchen attendant who happened to be walking in front of him about where Calistha's room was located.

        "Do you know where His Holiness Calistha's room is? I'm the new soldier here, and I'm about to deliver a message from His Highness Aiden."

        Without any suspicion, the kitchener immediately showed the location of Calistha's room on the second floor and located to the left of the long hallway. After saying thank you, Max immediately walked up to meet Calistha. The soldiers who passed by around him did not seem suspicious at all to Max. But, as Max passes the last step of the ladder, Max meets Spencer. With a slight nervousness Max began to bow his body respectfully in front of Spencer while standing stiffly.

        "What are you going to do above? Aren't you a gate guard?" spencer asked suspiciously. From behind his warrior clothes, Max's heart kept beating hard because he felt so tense. He did not know if Spencer would recognize him immediately as a gatekeeper, considering the uniform he wore looked so similar to the other soldiers' uniforms. But, he quickly dispelled the nervousness of his heart by beating for a while before he answered Spencer's question.

        "Sorry sir, I'm on patrol in place of one of the ailing senior soldiers." Max looked nervous. He did not know whether the reason sounded reasonable or not to Spencer because the man was the loyal bodyguard of king Aiden, so he must know very well who the soldiers were being authorized today.

        "ill? Oh, I did receive a report from one of the soldiers if Felix's soldier was sick and he told me that his job today would be replaced by another soldier, so that soldier is you?" spencer took a look at Max's entire body from head to toe. Max nodded stiffly in front of Spencer while bowing his face deep.

        "If you so quickly examine all the buildings in this palace, it seems like there is an intruder who came here and wanted to harm His Holiness Calistha. Don't disappoint King Aiden, do you understand?"

        Max nodded firmly at Spencer while standing stiffly before the man. I think his feet are already

can't wait to step upstairs, head for Calistha's room. In Max's heart grumbled annoyed that Spencer had suddenly appeared and interrupted his path like this.

        "Alright, continue with your work. Good luck."

        After Spencer passed away, Max involuntarily heaved a sigh of relief and immediately walked quickly towards the direction Calistha's room was located. The passageway he passed by seemed so quiet and there were only a few guards standing there. She thought what Gazelle said was true, but it wasn't. Here Aiden did not give strict guard to Calistha's room. Everything looks the same and normal.

        Finally Max arrived in front of Calistha's room with a passionate feeling mixed with happy feelings. Soon he would meet Calistha, and he was really impatient for that.

        "What are you doing here?" ask a soldier standing at the door of Calistha's room. Max then bowed respectfully to the soldier before he delivered the fake news he brought.

        "King Aiden wants me to send a message to His Holiness Calistha."

        "All right, come in."

        Max slightly looked in disbelief at the soldier because he was easily welcome

entered without asking him further. Truly, today must be his lucky day. Without hesitation, Max immediately entered Calistha's room which was dominated by the golden and red colors. From the end of the door, Max could see the silhouette of Calistha's dreamy back near the large window of her room without noticing her presence in the slightest. Slowly and with a burning feeling, Max immediately walked across Calistha's vast room to surprise the woman he loved. He was sure, the woman would definitely be very surprised by his sudden arrival.

Grep

        Calistha stiffened in place as a pair of burly hands suddenly hugged her from behind with a breath that sounded so loud in her ears. Calistha reflexes turned her head back to see who had dared to hug her like this. And how surprised he was after he saw Max's face was smiling gently at him while whispering softly.

        "Calistha, I miss you." whispered the man affectionately while kissing Calistha's soft cheeks.

        "Max." whispered the raucous Calistha with tears of happy eyes.