I looked into the forest, asking if anyone was there, and I heard those same noises from before."
Both Molly and the king gasped and they stopped.
"And when I came back the next day, it was gone."
"Lady (L/n)!" the King of Diamond was suddenly up in her face, making her flinch and lean back. "Is that true?! Did that really happen?!"
"Uh!" she glanced at Molly. "Y-Yes!

"Oh. My. Stars!" he beamed, intensely shaking his hands in excitement. "Do you realize the breakthrough this could be?!" he quickly took out his journal and opened it to another section. "Tell me everything! Spare no detail whatsoever! What did the bite mark look like? How big was it? Would you say its owner's teeth were sharp or flat?"
"H-How about we focus on finding the river first?" she said.
"We shall discuss this later!" he pointed at her before closing his journal.
Molly giggled, happy with the story she's been told, and skipped ahead as the group began walking again.
"Your Highness." (Y/n) whispered. "Your Highness?"
"Mmh?"
"It didn't... It didn't actually happen." she whispered into his ear. "I embellished the story for Miss Molly."
"Oh. I see..." he looked visibly disappointed.
"I'm sorry for getting your hopes up."

"So the apple was unchanged. Or did you not even bring one with you?"
"Well, no, I did bring an apple. I didn't hear any noise however and I didn't even say anything, I was too nervous." she shrugged. "And well... The apple was just gone when I first came back."
"So it was eaten?" he raised a side of his eyebrow.
"If we're being realistic here, it's most probably just a forest animal who ate it."
"Not the breakthrough I was hoping for... This is just another circumstantial anecdote."
(Y/n) looked down, feeling bad for disappointing him yet again. But then she watched as he took reopened his journal and took notes of it.
"I thought you said..."
"When we know nothing, any information is valuable, Lady (L/n)." he said. "If we get more account similar to yours, it could become a big deal."

"I didn't think you were interested in the Dark Forest."
"What do you take me for? The Dark Forest in a very intriguing mystery of nature."
"I-I just though, you know, since you have so many things to take care of in your kingdom..."
"Science and business are two very different things, Lady (L/n)." he raised an index. "And besides, one must learn to make time for their interests, lest they crumble under the pressure. Remember that, will you?"
She blinked twice.
'Was this...a piece of advice?'
She smiled.
"I will, your Highness." she nodded. "Thank you."

The new quartet walked for a while, sometimes hiding from a bear of a boar or even other contestants, but it was overall a nice stroll through the forest. As it turned out, Molly and Frank enjoyed sharing any fun facts they've learned, and everyone got to learn something. Though there were sometimes contradicting informations that lead to some silly argument about the different types of berries and what constituted a berry.
"A strawberry is not a berry! It's a multiple fruit which consists of many tiny individual fruits!"
"It's got berry in the name!" Molly's voice went a pitch higher.
Eddie didn't like all this yelling but (Y/n) assured him that they were just very passionate about the subject. At least she believed so.
"What about raspberries?" (Y/n) asked.
"Those aren't berries either. They grow from flowers."
"What?!" the two ladies exclaimed.
"At this point, my King, what is a berry?" Eddie asked.
"Bananas, pumpkins, avocados and cucumbers are."
"None of them have berry in the name!" Molly exclaimed. "This is why I prefer vegetables!"
"You're blowing our minds, your Majesty!" (Y/n) laughed.

After Frank gave a lesson on fruits that Molly wasn't a big fan of. The group kept marching on, this time it was Eddie's turn to talk about one of his many travels. At some point Lady (Y/n) spotted a leaf falling from a tree and instinctively caught it mid-fall.
"Thank you!"
"What's that?" Eddie looked at her.
"Oh! N-Nothing." she just realized what she said and became bashful.
"Did you just thank a tree?" Frank asked.
"Oh it's just a kids thing in the Spades Kingdom." she chuckled. "When a leaf falls despite it not being fall season, it's said in folklore that it's a gift from the tree. So you must say thank you, and then you go home and you put it in your leaf book."
"Leaf book?!" he exclaimed with big eyes.

"Oh yeah." Eddie nodded. "I see a lotta kids with those whenever I travel to the the Spades Kingdom. Even acquired one of my own."
"You have a leaf book?!" he looked at him. "And you didn't tell me?!"
"I-I'm sorry my King!"
"It's just something for children, your Highness." (Y/n) explaned, trying not to laugh. "A fun collection thing that everyone has."
"You mean to tell me that most children in the Spades Kingdom dabble in botany from a young age?!"
"Um, I suppose so? When you put it like that-"
"Do you have one?" both him and Molly asked.
The look of interest on both their faces made her laugh.

"Of course I do, but I haven't updated it in literal decades."
"Please have your people send it over so that I may take a look at it!" Frank pleaded, although he still had his signature frown on his face. "We – and by we I mean I – have been looking for ways to make the youth more interested in such subject. Yours too, Mr. Dear!" he pointed at the man. "With how much you've travelled, you must have a wide variety of leaves, and I must see them!"
"V-Very well my King!" he nodded.
"Can I make a vegetable book?" Molly asked.
"Oh that is a brilliant idea Molly!" Frank nodded.
"I'm pretty sure you can make a book about anything." (Y/n) chuckled.
"Bug Book..." he mumbled to himself, looking at the cover of his journal, then nodded. "I like the sound of it."

"Lady (L/n)?"

"Yes Mr. Dear?"
"When filling up my leaf book, I would take the leaves myself... Is that rude?"
"A little bit, you're taking from the tree."
"Doesn't everybody take fruits from trees?"
"It's different though. Fruits are like baby teeth, once they're ripe, you can take them out no problem. Leaves are like... They're like hair. You wouldn't want someone to rip off your hair."
"I-I see..."
"By that logic," Frank said. "then the trees turn bald every year."
That mental image made both Molly and Eddie giggle.
"Okay. They're... Antlers, they're like antlers." (Y/n) shrugged.
"That's more like it. Please be careful to use the appropriate terms next time. Less kind people would call you silly otherwise."
"Thank you, your Majesty." she smiled, containing a chuckle.

"Well here we are." Frank placed his hands on his hips as the group stood by the river. "Thanks to the expertise of Lady (L/n)."
"Oh, I don't deserve your praises my King!" she bowed, her cheeks redder.
"No need to bow all the time. You're nobility too, aren't you?"
"Nothing like you, your Highness."
"Do you see swans anywhere?" Molly asked.
"I don't see any animal to be honest." Eddie looked around.
The young girl suggested going on his shoulders again. He agreed and picked her up.
"Can you see anything?" Frank asked.
"No..."

"That does beg the question..." (Y/n) said, looking at either side of the river. "The swan we're looking for has a pretty distinct black pattern on his plumage but... If we don't find him, how would we know if that means that he's safe or not?"
"We could only wish to not find him on the big table then." Frank said.
"M-My King!" Eddie exclaimed. "Please do not speak such sad things into existence!"
He gestured up to Molly, who looked devastated at such a prospect, clenching a handful of Eddie's hair (it hurt, but he kept it in).
"Ah! I-I didn't mean it like that! That doesn't mean he'll be killed!" he waved his hands, shaking his head. "Maybe he was just caught, that would domesticate him and you can keep him as a pet with Clarabelle-"
The conversation was cut short by Lady (Y/n)'s gasp.
"Look!" she pointed. "There he is!"

The rest of the group quickly looked over to see a flock of swans running then flying away, all the while quacking loudly.
"They're flying to safety!" Molly beamed.

"They seemed to be in a real rush." Eddie said. "Maybe they spotted a hunter."
Both (Y/n) and Frank had a bad feeling about this. They couldn't help but think that there wasn't any other animal because they ran away too. They looked to the direction the swans were running away from. Frank gasped.
"Guys." (Y/n) said.
Eddie and Molly followed their gaze and he became paler. They couldn't tell what was in the water, but they could see a large dorsal fin peeking out of the water and rapidly swimming towards them. From its size, and the distance between them, the animal it belonged to must be massive.
"This is not native to this region." Frank said.
"We have to go." Eddie said. "Hang on tight Miss Molly!"
"What's that?" she asked, oblivious to the approaching danger.

As if the animal could hear her, it reached them and jumped out of the water. A giant creature that looked like the combination of a giant great white shark and a giant coconut crab. The group screamed and ran away right before the creature could crash onto them. It let out a piercing shriek before going after them. However, it only managed to take a few steps with its ten legs before a whole tree flew out of nowhere and knocked it across its face. The wood broke into pieces and the sound made the quartet stop and look back. They watched as the creature fell down, motionless, out cold. For a moment, they stood there in shocking disbelief.

"I think you hit something.
"Oh, did I?"
"Those voices..." Frank mumbled.
"Holy Molly Wally!" Julie rushed over to look at the giant crab shark. "If you'd thrown that tree a bit more to the left, you could've killed that poor thing!"
"Well, if you hadn't dodged it and took it like a warrior, none of it would've happened." Wally glanced to the side.
"What the heck man?!"

"King of Hearts! Queen of Clubs!"
The two of them looked over. Wally met the eyes of the Lady of Spades, who was rushing up to them along with a few others. He was surprised. What was she doing here?
"You two!" he was snapped out of his thoughts when he realized that one of these people was Frank. "This day just keeps getting better and better!" he shook his hand with a hand on his forehead, sighing.
Julie gasped in delight.
"Frankyyyyy!" she jumped to give him a hug. "All three of us, reunited at last!"
"Now's not the time for hugs Julie! Especially since we saw each-other like three hours ago!"
"But it's always so nice to see you!"

"Quite a ragtag group you have, dear friend." Wally smiled. "Mr. Dear." he nodded. "Miss Molly." he curtsied. "Lady (L/n)." he curtsied as well.
"M-My King!" she bowed while the other two curtsied. "You saved us! I can't thank you enough!"
"...Yes." he nodded. "You're very welcome."
Julie sent him a knowing glance, but didn't say anything.
"What are you doing here? All four of you?" Julie asked after Frank pushed her off of him.
"An incredible series of circumstances." he sighed. "Although, as for the reason why we've grouped up, Molly should tell the story."
Said child cleared her throat and once again told the tale of Clarabelle and her lover. Wally laughed when she was done.
"You don't have to worry Molly." he said. "The arrows we provide for this hunt and specifically made to be non-lethal. Every blade is coated with an anesthetic, that way the animal is out cold and the hunter won't try to 'finish it off'."
This news made the quartet let out a sigh of relief.

"So in the end, we were worried for nothing." Frank said.
"Oh but we had fun, didn't we?" Molly smiled.
"I didn't say we didn't." he huffed.
That made (Y/n) smile.
"And the swan flew out of the forest." she said. "So now we can go back with our hearts at ease."
"Hurraaaay!" she lifted her hands.
They high-fived. She did the same with Eddie.
"Alright!" (Y/n) turned to Wally and Julie. "How do we get back, your Highnesses?"

There was a moment of silence, during which they all just looked at each-other, as if frozen in place...
Frank rubbed his face with a deep groan.