Prince Arthur started laughing as his crazed eyes turned red. His manic look invoked fear in all those present.
The other contenders watched with amusement to see their competitor self destructed his own chances.
"Prince Arthur you have five minutes left," Minister Albus stated.
Just then he calmed down and looking at the smashed podiums, three in total, he smiled at the crowd and spoke.
"Dear people of Nitreil. What I displayed just now was the image of the Kingdom of Rash in all of your eyes. That brute force rules the day. To a certain extent there is a basis to that claim. However there is also another side to our Kingdom. We can talk reason and we are not all brute force. Our image worked well for us as we do not have any taunting or threats towards our Kingdom for three generations up to date. Imagine how secure Nitreil will be without threats or taunting from the other kingdoms. I rest my case."
The entire hall was dumbfounded.
"What happened?"
"Is the Prince crazy? How could he switch from his manic rampage to such a calm and eloquent prince?"
"I am not sure if he is a suitable match for our Queen. But he sure is interesting."
Minister Albus called the last contender up to the new podium. It was a custom for Nitreil to prepare 5 podiums, one each for each contender as it was not the first time a contender smashed the podium. Years ago one of Prince Arthur's uncles who was trying to win Theeya's late mother also did the same thing.
"Duke Zaccheus, Kingdom of Progen."
Theeya passed her question to Sereni who in turn passed it to Minister Albus to read out.
"Please tell us how you intend to rule Nitreil if you become our King."
"I will follow what the Queen says because she is the real ruler here. I shall fully support my Queen's decisions and provide my insight and advice. Ultimately all final decisions will be the Queen's." He said calmly. His light brown eyes sparkled as he glanced at Theeya.
"Is that all?" asked Minister Albus.
Zaccheus turned to look at Theeya who raised her eyebrows at him.
He then turned to Minister Albus and nodded his head and bowed to the crowd as he left the podium.
"That concludes Round 1," said Minister Albus.
The contenders were given 5 hours of rest before the dinner challenge that evening. As they stayed up all night with the physical challenges, all five men plonked into their beds and snored loudly, skipping lunch altogether.
As the guest wing of the castle resounded with the symphony of snores from the five men, Theeya took the opportunity to confer with the council. The council was trying to coerce Theeya to take either King George or Prince Vincent as her King. She simply hushed them all and said, "the contest isn't over yet. There are 4 more days, my dear Council. Have patience."
She then left the hall and dined alone with Sereni close by her side.
"What do you think about the five men's answers today, Sereni?" Theeya asked in between chomping on broccoli and cured meat.
"Your Majesty, I feel each had their own strengths and shortcomings," Sereni said diplomatically.
"Which one do you like? If you are me who would you choose just based on their answers this morning?" Asked Theeya, curious.
"Honestly I quite like Prince Arthur the Brute. He seems like a very passionate man though he may come across as scary with his intensity, it is not like I will have a chance to be able to marry him, My Queen, why do you ask who do I like? Are you going to give me one of them after you select your King?" Teased Sereni.
Theeya laughed and shook her head. "How about King George?"
"He appeared decent but boring. He already has a kingdom. I feel he should choose a docile wife with no voice of her own and just stick to ruling his own kingdom," said Sereni.
"I kind of like Prince Vincent. He is fascinating. And Prince Geoffey, he made it to the final 5, I am impressed. I can't believe only days ago I thought I wanted to marry him without even giving the other man a fair fighting chance. He proved himself so far, and I am looking forward to see how Jeff will fare at the end of this," Theeya winked.
"May the best man win," Sereni raised her glass and clinked with Theeya's glass and both women raised their glasses to drink the fragrant wine. Nitriel was well known for their grapes plantation and wine production.
Just then the glasses broke as they placed them on the table. The servants heard the sound and rushed in.
"Luckily it did not break while we were drinking it, lest we cut our lips," Sereni shuddered.
"Why do I feel that magic is in play here?"
Just then a gust of wind came in through the window and carried a tiny cloud with a tiny fairy on it. The fairy was a female. Her tiny translucent wings flapped over her translucent greenish dress that cover her vital parts. She had a kind face, big brown eyes, cheeky smile which was very sweet and pixie like at the same time. Most of all her yellow and blue hair was curly and long with sparkles of fairy dust on them.
A message from the fairies!!!
"Your Majesty, in the previous contests, your late Mother the Queen enlisted the help of us fairies. Would you like us to set up for tonight's challenge? The Ball challenge shall be a Magical Challenge and we already know what to do," the fairy waited for Theeya's decision.
"Why not? Thank you. Mother always spoke highly of the fairies," Theeya nodded and raised her hand to get a servant's attention.
"Please escort this lovely fairy into the ballroom. It shall be a magical night indeed," Theeya said meaningfully.