"Hmm...you sure are young. How old are you Lady Rosseweisse?"
"Um...17, your Majesty..."
In a luxurious black limousine, Rosseweisse and the Queen Regnant of England, Queen Olivia Creed, make small talk while sitting opposite from each of other as Ashen who still remained bound to Guinnevere, and Evaline sat together on another part of the car seats, watched them. Jack was not with them as he opted to just sit with the escorts in another vehicle.
"Well...well...I can see now why my son-in-law took to saving you despite his misanthropic personality.", Queen Olivia said convinced.
Ashen who was grumpily looking out the window and looking at the ruined buildings of London noticed Queen Olivia's gaze.
"What?"
He inquired.
Leaning back into her seat and taking a cup of tea in her hand, Queen Olivia muttered as she raised the cup, "You like girls who are younger than you right? That's why you rescued her despite your hate for humans."
As soon as she said that;
"That is so not tru-"
*Bonk!*
Ashen jumped up from his seat and hit his head on the roof of the car, forcing him to fall back down to his seat as he clutched the top of his head. Apparently, he did not expect the car to be that reinforced. The sound of his head hitting it was so dull and subdued, it felt like the all the force his rise made that hit it was completely quelled and all of it may have been sent back to him.
"Goddamn-!"
As such, Ashen is reduced to cursing and clutching his head in pain. Unable to refute the words of Queen Olivia.
"I mean, when you and Guinnevere were declared to be betrothed to each other, she was just 14 and you hardly had any reaction to it. Is that not proof of your preference boy?"
And unluckily for Ashen, Queen Olivia was far from done. She continued to dish out info like a high school girl gossiping with her friends;
"You were so calm and collected, I thought that the only humans you get along with was Evaline and Guinnevere because you do not berate nor verbally abuse them that much.", Queen Olivia made a wry smile, "I remember you only eating anything Guinenvere and Evaline made back then."
"Really?", this time, Rosseweisse's interest was piqued.
"Oi...Oliv-"
Ashen's head still throbbed in pain and was unable to mutter any decent word to interject.
"Oh yes dear. You should have seen him back then, always refusing to eat the finest cuisines our chefs made but when it came to Evaline and even Guinevere's cooking, he would-"
Desperate to stop her, Ashen grabbed the nearest object he could get his hand on and with a quick flick of his wrist, the object went flying towards the two gossiping girls.
*Thud!*
Queen Olivia was cut-off by a rogue silver knife that stuck itself right at the headrest of the seat between her and Rosseweisse.
"Really? You are going to throw a knife at me?", Queen Olivia muttered in tepidly. Her expression, obviously one of being already used to Ashen's 'slightly' violent reactions.
That in itself pissed Ashen off but he was too preoccupied with his headache and the fact that the queen was spouting nonsense. Knowing Rosseweisse to be as dense as a rock and as stupid as a newborn child, he was sure the Saint would believe the queen and inadvertently blurt it out in the most inopportune times which will then give him even more headaches.
"Father, are you alright?", Evaline inquired, genuinely worried for her father's condition.
Out of all the others in the limousine, only Evaline was the one who was concerned with Ashen's state. His so-called 'wife', being too busy looking out the window with her ears red. Probably due to holding in her laughter.
'Damn you...I'll get you later!'
Swearing revenge, he continued to groan in pain as the limousine moved on.
Their destination, Buckingham Palace.
*****
At their arrival to the Buckingham Palace...
"Ugh...I never imagined I'd be stepping inside this accursed building ever again..."
"What the bloody hell are you saying my dear son-in-law? This is also your home you know?"
"That's right Father! Why are you bad mouthing it?"
At Ashen's apparent dismay, Queen Olivia and Evaline remonstrated him and as per usual, he only shrugged back in reply. Already resigned that the two would never understand his dislike of the place.
"Wow. So Mister Ashen is really a member of the Royal Family.", Rosseweisse who was in awe as soon as she saw the unblemished and artistic façade of the palace marveled. Her face completely saying, 'That is really unexpected of him.'.
"Hell no. Do I look like someone from nobility to you?"
Ashen however denied in a low tone and scratching his head in frustration while he was at it,
"I was never part of the Royal Family. I just spent about 8 years with them and that was it."
"But Miss Evaline calls you 'Father', and she calls Miss Guinnevere, 'Mother'. Then Her Majesty called you her 'son-in-law'...would that not make you a member of the Royal Family then?", Rosseweisse retorted in a whisper.
"No you idiot. Granted, Evaline is my 'daughter', but I never said that her mother was this Gummy Bear here."
He jabbed his thumb towards Guinnevere who glared at him. Apparently, his whisper was still heard.
"But she looks like Miss Evaline. Well, except for the eyes and hair.", Rosseweisse pointed out.
'Tsk! For a dense nitwit, you sure notice things in the most inopportune moment.'
Ashen felt annoyed by Rosseweisse's retorts.
Though he does agree that Evaline looks strikingly similar to a younger Guinnevere with the exception of her eye and hair colors which are black and ash-white respectively which many people attribute to her relation to Ashen and Guinnevere having ice-blue eyes and golden-white hair, since he never denied that Evaline is his daughter, most people would assume that Guinnevere is the mother as soon as they look at her.
"Tsk. Never mind that."
But he does not want to talk about himself any further. All the energy he had after being healed by Guinnevere had disappeared and he felt really tired; both mentally and physically.
At this point, he would rather lie down on the porch right now and sleep rather than take another step forward.
'Wait a minute...that isn't so bad of an idea.'
Realizing that, he proceeded to lie down on the ground making Rosseweisse and Guinnevere look at him questionably.
"Well, since evening is coming, might as well. Good night you shitheads."
And he closes his eyes to sleep. But then-
"Wake up!"
A kick to his stomach and a very powerful tug of his wrist woke him up groaning.
"Ugh...why you...stupid Gummy Be-Ack!"
"Don't call me that!"
"Mother! Don't hit Father like that!"
Those were the last words he remembered as he fell into unconsciousness as Guinnevere had apparently hit him on the head too hard.
*****
"Why is it that every time I wake up, I'm bound to someone or something?"
Ashen asked in displeasure.
"Who knows? Why do you not ask yourself that?", Olivia asked back.
"Maybe you should reflect on your actions no?", Guinnevere also asked from right beside him.
The time was now 8:00 PM. Ashen, Rosseweisse, Olivia, Guinnevere and Evaline are in the palace's dining hall eating supper.
"Well, unbinding me from the Gummy Bear is something to be grateful for, but for you guys to bind me to my chair, isn't that a little too much?"
"Well, considering your physical prowess, I do not believe any stationed knight here would be able to catch you so if you were to choose to dash away, we would never catch you.", Olivia answered as she took a sip from her cup.
"Let me just point it out that I am just a normal mortal who is missing a goddamn arm; who just lost a lot of blood enough to make me keel over any minute now. Do you seriously think I can just go up and run off in the dead of the night?"
He pointed out in exasperation. Even dangling the armless sleeve of his jacket to emphasize his missing arm.
Evaline dropped her spoon the moment Ashen said it. Her face reminiscent of horror as she turned to Ashen, "Father, you lost an arm?!", she was horrified.
'Ah damn...forgot Evaline was here...'
Ashen regretted his lapse in memory. One of the things he dislikes to do is to worry Evaline needlessly. But well, the cat's out of the bag already so he just winged the idea of making any bullshit excuses.
"I thought Father was just too lazy to use the other sleeve of your jacket! I never thought Father had a missing arm!", Evaline was starting to tear up. Her face slowly becoming more emotional as time passed.
Not wanting to continue seeing that, Ashen tried to calm Evaline down, "Hey now. It's not like I died so it's fine!", he tried to be as soothing as he could be but-
"But Father is hurting right?! Why did Father not tell me earlier?!"
-he only made it worse.
'Damn it!'
He could only curse his own incompetence.
"Aa~h. As usual, brother is as careless as ever when it comes to dealing with Evaline's worrying.", Kallen's voice suddenly comes from the end of the table opposite of Olivia, apparently having only just arrived; her attire consisting of the same one-piece suit and armor she had worn back in Lothargien only shinier.
"Ah. Kallen. Join us.", Olivia who smiled at the sight of her daughter gestured to seat to her right and urged Kallen to join them.
Taking her seat, Kallen regarded Rosseweisse and then turned towards Ashen, "Brother, you really should understand by now and remember that Evaline is the severe kind of a worrywart in regards to your and sister Guinn's well-beings. You should refrain from recklessly charging into the fray while disregarding any danger."
"I'm not like this by choice you know?"
Ashen retorted begrudgingly. He knows what Kallen is saying and of course he remembers just how much of a worrywart Evaline is, but his current state was something that had happened which was out of his control.
"How did you even end up like that?", Olivia asked.
"Do you want the truth that absolutely makes no sense or the embellished one that makes a little sense?"
Guinnevere and Olivia both answered, "The former."
Feeling more than happy to answer due to his frustration finally reaching its peak, Ashen explained the events that transpired back in Lothargien.
*****
After Ashen's 'nonsensical' explanation...
"Hmm...this is bad.", Olivia muttered. Her face, obviously troubled as she held her chin in contemplation.
"Why is that? Wouldn't I be the only one troubled by this?"
Ashen retorted. Finally feeling a little relieved to have gotten off some weight off his chest. While he was telling his story, he could not help but include words that were quite vulgar to utter considering he is before the Royal Family, but as he is someone who did not care for such matters and coupled with his pent-up frustration, well, he just let loose.
"Based on your story, I believe the world itself is saying that not even us can protect Rosseweisse here.", Olivia turned to Guinnevere, "Guinn, as the Brynhildr, do you think that you can protect the Saint on your own?", she then asks a question.
"Against common human armies, I can.", then Guinnevere leaned back into her chair and continued, "But against our current opponents, I doubt it. They have the resources to enlist the help of a andromorphic wyvern. Who knows what other phantasmal creatures from the Hidden Side of the world they have in their ranks."
"True. A wyvern is a threat to most humans of this time. Afterall, there only a handful of people descended from ancient dragonslayers in this time period. Not even my Knight Order can easily slay one.", Olivia remarked.
"But we cannot just push away the Saint just because we cannot handle an enemy of that caliber...", Guinnevere said in worry. Her face obviously conflicted.
"You are right.", Olivia was also conflicted.
Ashen somehow, while looking at the two, felt like something else will come up and make this discussion even more complicated as it is and because he cannot flee the scene, he tried to erase his presence as much as possible. Even forcing himself to think he was just air.
"Then how about we do this?"
Rosseweisse's cheerful voice resounds in the air.
Ashen felt horrified. He did not want another event similar to 'I'll jump out the airship.' to happen again.
Sadly-
"How about we have Ashen stay as a Knight? That way, he can help both of us out as both my guard and as member of the Royal Family."
""Wow!""
"NOOOOO!!!"
-Rosseweisse just loves giving him headaches that he'd rather not get.