His face turned white with shock. Unwavering, I glare at him.
"Y-your majesty, please have mercy! I do not know what he has done to be given such a punishment. Please spare him!"
He kneels and puts his head to the ground, begging. Unfortunately, another aristocrat enters my office and has the case brought to a meeting.
"Your majesty, what exactly did the Knight Dylan do to have you give such a horrible punishment?"
I stand up in front of them and glare down at them.
"What I've given is a very lenient punishment. You should be grateful I didn't torture him to death."
At that moment, I also realized that Dylan was in the room. He hid his face well, since I couldn't see his expression.
"However, we cannot have the future head aristocrat exiled. There is no one else who can take over the house."
Damn! These crafty jerks! I'm already messed up in my mind because of that incident.
"Fine! Make sure he is monitored 24/7."
I massage my temple, too exhausted to care about anything else. The aristocrats chatter, discussing other problems that I let them take care of. I developed a headache and couldn't concentrate on what they were saying, so I agreed to whatever they said.
That night, I retired early. I had a happy dream, of when I was still a young child. There was a shy gray haired boy with a very sweet voice. I loved it when he called my name,
"Astwaea! Let's go play!"
"Awwight, King!"
The boy's name was King, but I had long forgotten those fun times after we both were captured and experimented on. I wake up as I try to escape from the nightmares of dissecting me. I put my hand over my face. He's probably dead anyways. There's no way a sweet boy like him would have survived.
I get off my bed drowsily. I search around the room for my maid, but see a blur of gray hair.
"King?"
I rub my eyes and realize that it was the Wind Whisperer, Kyle. I walk away as if nothing happened and dress myself in the bathroom. I walk out of my bedroom, paying no attention to him and leave him be. Except, he follows me out. I walk about ten meters and find an aristocrat.
"Did someone assign me a guard or something?"
I stare at him, almost threatening an answer out of him.
"U-um, your majesty, at yesterday's meeting we suggested having him as your guard and you agreed."
I internally facepalm. This is what I get for slacking off.
"I do not need one, dismiss him from this position."
"A-er- well…"
I turn and face Kyle.
"You are dismissed from this position as of now."
Then I walk away from them. I find myself in the Royal Garden, staring at flowers. I sigh. There is almost no way I can makeup with Trisha at this point. Even if we do, things will never be the same.
I spend the rest of the day training and studying, trying to get my mind off of the 'i-have-no-friends' problem. Veronica would probably want nothing to do with me. She'd prefer to run her quiet restaurant and live a good life. Aaargh! Stop thinking about people!
I thrust my sword and it slices neatly through the dummy.
I hear clapping and turn to see Kyle on the tree beside me. He stared down at me with those glossy black eyes. They are somewhat comforting. I catch myself staring and turn away.
"I told you that you're dismissed. You do not need to follow me."
He jumps down from the tree and grabs a wooden sword.
"You want to spar? Then if you win, you can follow me all you want. If I win, you will stop."