True to his words, Emil met up with Duchess Zenalda in hopes to get her vote in the upcoming Royal Council meeting.
The duchess agreed to meet Emil in the place where she would usually burn her endless time.
Right next to the duchess' chamber was her precious dogs' own paradise.
"I see." Duke Emil observed the area, a room grander than the princess' room. "A place only for the dogs."
Crimson velvety carpets covered the whole floor, the four walls were covered with intricate golden paws. "Those are their real imprints on the wall." Duchess Zenalda proudly informed Emil. Cream colored pillows, that looked new, were scattered everywhere. There were three golden plate on one of the corners, stacked with premium beef steaks.
Emil stood awkwardly at the center of the room, there was no bed to lie on nor sofa to seat on.
"My babies." The duchess clasped her hands in delight. "Aren't they angels?" she pointed at the white puff of cloud. "This is Ciel, my oldest."
The white puff, a Bichon Frise, was gnawing a golden bone whole.
"This is Beat, my second." she pointed to the black short haired chihuahua who had two bulging eyes on his small apple head.
Beat was peeing on the corner, expanding his own territory, probably competing against his own siblings.
"And this is Cici, my youngest." she pointed at a French bulldog with cream coat.
Cici was swinging a badly beaten pillow from side to side, causing feathers to spread on the ground.
Duke Emil nodded. "I see."
The three tiny creatures, each has their own territory to destruct. To maintain this room in a pristine condition, every day, must have be hard. Duke Emil empathizes with Zenalda's attendant.
"So," Duchess Zenalda grabbed her oldest, Ciel, with her pudgy hand. "what do we have to talk about?" she sat on the floor, placing Ciel on her lap.
Seeing that this was an invitation to sit, Emil sat right next to the duchess. "It is about the upcoming council's meeting."
"Oh, we do have one, do we?" she stroked through Ciel's coat, making the dog relaxed. "What about it?"
"It was proposed that our constitution, our law should be amended." Emil ignored a pool of stain on his side, not wanting to know what it was. "The Queen and I is actually the proponent of the idea." he placed the Queen's name out there, hoping to illicit a sense to oblige.
"Yes, my baby, you like that?" Duchess Zenalda cooed her dog. "It's relaxing, isn't it?" she continued to stroke Ciel as he begins to fall asleep.
Duke Emil cleared his throat, trying to get the duchess' attention back to him. "The Queen and I would want our laws to be amended." he repeated, much more straight to the point this time.
"Oh, and what of it?" Zenalda smiled, not really reaching her eyes. "Will it benefit my babies? Will they finally be able to have their own ceremony?"
"Well, uhm." Emil shifted on his seat. "Not necessarily but we can eventually work on that." He said, trying to assure her.
"Hmm," Zenalda's cheeks wobbled, her smile reaching her eyes. "Maybe I can make my own proposal, for the sake of my babies." there was longing in her eyes. "They are getting old…see they're not as energetic as the used before."
'One might argue with that.' Emil did not voice his opinion.
"They might die soon." Zenalda continued. "And I don't want to part with them."
"That's a good idea." Was it really? "Everybody has a right in this kingdom." And Duke Emil genuinely believes in that. "But I think in order to solve your problem, the law should be amended."
Duke Emil's visit might have been unnecessary, for the talk did not go as how he intended it to be.
Finding a new territory to explore, Beat came running into Emil to gnaw onto the hem of his pants.
"Oh, look. He likes you." Zenalda smiled. "Isn't he sweet?"
Beat continued to gnaw onto his pants and onto his ankles while Duchess Zenalda began her tale on each of her babies.
Emil had no other choice but to lend his ears.
But all of a sudden, Beat, gaged, throwing up beside Emil.
"Oh, no." Duchess Zenalda rushed to grab a hold of Beat. "No, my poor baby." Undigested meat was on the floor. "I'm afraid he will not last long." She cradled Beat on her chest. "My poor baby, don't worry mommy will save you."
On the vomit on the floor, there was blood as red as the carpeted floor.
***
It is a well-known fact that to gossip is the favorite past-time in the palace, and Princess Alyssa was the favorite topic of the royals. But there were unusual days like this where Alyssa found herself to be one of the gossipers.
They were lurking around Princess Alyssa's compound, careful not to let too many royals see the baby.
"No, that's ridiculous." Kiva shook her head in denial.
"It's true, don't you want to take a look?" Sisa asked as she cradled baby Ysa on her arms.
"I'm sorry," Alyssa shook her head in denial. "Duchess Zenalda did what?"
"She requested the council to let her dogs drink the water of the gods." Kiva snorted.
Alyssa's stunt in front of the royal council a week ago inspired someone have an idea. Zenalda adores her dogs like they were her own children—it was a well-known fact.
"I see nothing wrong with her request," Alyssa pondered on it for a moment. "her request is similar with mine."
Kiva's eyes widened with shock. "Are you kidding? Are you comparing yourself to her dogs?"
"No, but…" Alyssa understood what Duchess Zenalda wanted. "Why not accept her request? I see no harm in doing that."
"Should we take a look?" Kiva asked Duchess Sisa and Alyssa.
"No," Sisa shook her head. "there will be too many people in there. Ysa's still a little shy with strangers." Sisa tucked the cloth wrapped around Ysa.
"There's nothing to see." Alyssa agreed with Sisa, she would rather play with Ysa than gossip with other royals.
"Com'on," Kiva placed her hand on her hips. "let's just take a peek and see what it's all about."
"Yes, Princess. You might need to see this one." Duchess Sisa pressed on. "I will follow as soon as this little one falls asleep."
"Well, I guess it won't hurt to take a look." Alyssa considered.
"See you later, Duchess Sisa, baby Ysa." Kiva grabbed Alyssa's wrist and dragged her down as they descended the stairs and into the council's room.
They opened the door to see Duchess Zenalda was already at the center of the room. The audience did not notice Kiva and Alyssa scurried their way to the empty seats.
Only the royals were present in the council's room.
Sitting at the center of the council was King Garrett. The other council members were sitting at their designated place except for an empty chair farthest to the right where Duchess Zenalda was supposed to be.
"My babies!" Zenalda bellowed as he caressed Beat, her chihuahua[TD1] , in her arms. "They are my babies!" Her[TD2] other two dogs Ciel, a Bishon fries and Cici, a Maltese ran around the room like it was their playground. "They deserve to live forever!" Zenalda patted Beat on the head, but she was bitten instead. "Look how sweet he is! He's already eleven years old, he's getting old. He is likely to fall dead one of these days." Zenalda's voice was coarse from old age.
"I would have voted for your request Duchess," Duke Emil, from the house of Kundi, said."but unfortunately, it clearly states in our law that to make creatures other than humans drink the water of the gods are strictly prohibited."
"But to accommodate your petition." Duke Emil added. "We can amend the law in accordance with your request." He said, trying to appease Zenalda.
"Are you just going to let my babies die?" Zenalda protested. "This one do not have the time." She cradled Beat on her chest.
"No," Emil raised a hand to show his point. "That is not what I am saying, what I am saying is," he cleared his throat. "That your concern can also be solved by amending our laws."
"Duchess Zenalda," Ison Vis said. "We allowed you our time out of respect as a fellow council, but your request is simply impossible. I'm sure you can buy another toy when that one dies." Ison Vis pointed at Beat.
Not even one voted for the dog's ceremony. Duke Emil looked sideways, feeling a little guilty. "But we can amend the law according to your wishes." He repeated to the duchess.
"You.." Zenalda pointed at Ison Vis with her hand shaking. "All of you!" Zenalda pointed to the royal council. "I won't let my babies die like this." Zenalda stomped on her feet as she exited the room, her two dogs did not follow behind her, leaving them wandering inside the room.
"Well, that was more dramatic than yours." Kiva whispered. "Imagine a royal dog." she snickered. "what will they eat?"
"You know what they will eat." Alyssa eyed her best friend.
"Definitely more than beefs and pigs." Ziloh sat to an empty seat next to Alyssa.
Kiva covered her mouth to conceal a laugh.
Royals humor of whatever it was, Alyssa did not find it funny.
The wooden gavel was smacked by Ison Vis three times to silence the crowd. "On to our next agenda."
"As we all know that there is someone within the royal community that blatantly dishonored our law, and yet left unpunished." Ison Vis taking advantage of the Queen's absence.
Everybody knew who Ison Vis was talking about. Everybody looked at the princess except for Ziloh, who just looked straight.
"No, it might have been against the law but there were special circumstances…" Duke Emil trying to fix the problem.
"The law is the law." Ison Vis interrupted. "Duke Emil, out of everybody you should know that."
"But the law will be amended." Duke Emil said.
"Which has not happened yet, as we all know."
There were whispers amongst the royal crowd, most of them agreeing with Ison Vis.
"It looks like you're about to be punished." Ziloh said in a low voice. "Do you want me to spank you to satisfy everybody?"
Princess Alyssa rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"No?" Ziloh pressed on.
"No." Princess replied sternly.
Ziloh shrugged and stared ahead.
Alyssa did not waste her energy to defend herself, for it was true that she violated the law. She asked permission from her mother though, for last night at least.
"The princess should be punished, not out of spite but according to our law." Ison Vis hit the gavel three times. "Fifty floggings to Princess Alyssa for violating the curfew in the number of occasions."
"We did not vote for it!" Duke Emil protested. "This should go with proper proceedings." he was not making any sense, and Emil knows it.
"The law did not state that voting is necessary for punishment to be given to those who violated the law." Ison Vis announced.
Duke Emil was not able to say anything more, for Ison Vis was right.
"You should have accepted my spanking." Ziloh smirked. "That would have been more fun."
Princess Alyssa turned around to reply but there was only an empty seat beside her.