Morning of the following day...
In one of the rooms in the palace-the one they all call the 'Forbidden Room'; is a rather simple looking large bed surrounded by literally almost nothing except for a small wardrobe on one side of the otherwise very large room.
Upon such lonesome looking bed, lay Ashen who had just woken up.
"Urgh...this is a disaster. This is my room in the palace right?"
He groaned as he recognized the ceiling that he has not seen in almost a decade.
Turning his head to the left, he saw the only other furniture in the room; the wardrobe. Quite small and looked like it would only fit a few sets of clothes inside. There were no drawers even, so it basically can only contain a choice number of clothes.
Not that Ashen disliked it. Afterall, he dislikes having too many stuff. The main reason being that it would be a pain to carry around when he's on the road or something.
Getting up, the blanket slid off him like silk; revealing his bandaged body under the sunlight that slipped through a crack between the curtains. His body-feeling a bit heavy as the backlash of constantly pushing his body whilst severely injured have yet to disappear.
"Hmph. I feel like they used some magic on me while I was asleep. Probably another one of those binding magic."
He snorted as he inspected the bandages that looked new. When he raised his arm, he noticed that it too was bandaged until his wrist. Probably because there must have been some wounds he did not notice.
Then there was the fact that his jacket was missing. Granted it was a tattered one but he was planning on fixing it, however the ones who treated him may have had a different plan and may have just thrown it into a garbage can much to Ashen's disappointment. He was rather fond of that jacket. He looked under the blanket and sure enough, he was only wearing fresh underwear much to his surprise.
'Who dressed me I wonder? Surely it wasn't one of them females right?'
He wondered but quickly shrugged and waves the random thought off.
"No use nitpicking about this. Better get dressed before someone walks in on me almost naked."
Deciding to just let it be, he throws the blanket off him and proceeds to leave the bed and after a couple of stretches, he heads for the wardrobe.
His feet made almost no sound as he stepped on the matted floor but it felt uncomfortable for him. He was not used to such a soft texture under his feet and as he neared his wardrobe, he notices a small note on the door;
'Your pants are currently being washed. Regards, Amber'
"...Damn you, Amber. I get the feeling you were the one responsible for not just this."
He grumbles while taking the note off the door and crumpling it in his hand before finally deciding to open the wardrobe but then he stops midway.
If he recalls correctly, before he left years ago, he had an assortment of clothing that he constantly used depending on where he went to.
"I called them the 'Casual', 'Lazy', and 'Ceremonial' Sets...if memory serves me right..."
'Casual' was the one he used whenever he goes out into the city to wander about. But it seemed rather strange to see him walking around the palace wearing something like that. Heck, they may even think he is planning to run away again and bind him either physically or magically to something or someone and that would be undesirable for him since he just wants to at least relax before he is threatened by Mother Nature to do her bidding again. So he decides not to choose that.
As for 'Lazy', it is as literal as the name implies. Just a slipshod combination of clothes he wears whenever he wants to just laze around all day regardless of whether they look good on him or not. Again, this would be a bad choice of clothing because he will definitely get Mother Nature to hit him again with something from god knows where. So that is a no-go.
And finally, the 'Ceremonial' Set is his formal attire. The last time he remembers wearing it was when he was accompanying Queen Olivia years ago. Long before he even met Guinnevere. He has no further thoughts about it other than it is a pain in the ass to wear so he quickly judged that he won't ever wear it again and decides to just go with the casual clothes if they were still there.
However, he quickly realized something he had overlooked;
"Ugh...what if they won't fit me now? It's been 8 years since then. I wonder..."
It was the size of the clothes. It's already been years since he last wore them.
"Well, nothing to do about it anymore. I'll just see what I can still wear among them and-"
But as usual, he was quick to dismiss such worry and proceeded to open the wardrobe but then-
"Tsk! I knew it. These people just wants to piss me off at every turn..."
-he clicks his tongue in disgust.
The wardrobe was empty except for a neatly folded stack of clothes that seemed to have been deliberately placed right in the middle.
As soon as he laid eyes upon it, his brows twitched and a vein popped up somewhere on his forehead. He felt rage, annoyance, hatred and all sorts of dark emotions swirl in his mind as he glared at it.
"You throw away my jacket, inform me that my pants are being washed, and then leave me almost naked, only to leave me with 'this'?! I can tell that you guys are just messing with me!"
He howled in anger at the one thing he had just recalled as something he would never ever wear again in his entire life;
His Ceremonial clothes.
"Now I'm certain that everything is Amber's doing! That damned succubus!", he tried looking for anything else but to his dismay, there were none. Causing him to grit his teeth in frustration as he realized that he had let himself be caught by none other than the person whom he avoids the most amongst the Royal siblings.
Thinking back on it, Ashen had found it strange that all this was planned by Kallen whom he has long known as the type who uses brawns over brains. He couldn't suspect Guinnevere since she is supposed to be focused on her duties as the First Princess and basing on her reaction when he had arrived, she never expected him to just come dropping in from the sky in pursuit of the careless Saint. Hence, he should've already concluded that all those things; from Kallen making contact with them back in Lothargien, to him having to take an airship and leaving behind the portent of the Saint's Guard who had come to Lothargien to pick Rosseweisse up just so Rosseweisse and him could head for England immediately, was all planned by Amber, the Second Princess of England.
"Argh! Damn it!"
His indignant wail betrayed his utter despair at the fact that he let himself be manipulated that easily.
"I was careless! I should not have taken the official route to Lothargien and had my passport scanned!! GODDAMIT!!!"
He fell to the floor in complete defeat and as he lamented, he hears the door open,
"Ufufufufu! It seems you realized too late. My. Dear. Brother!", and a feminine voice coquettishly greets him.
He didn't need to look behind him to know. Years may have passed by, but he knew whose voice it was.
"You goddamned bitch...I'll murder your sorry ass!"
He growled menacingly.
"Aha! My, my, dear brother. What's with your hostile greeting? Even Royals are not exempt from lese majeste you know?"
"Rules don't apply to bitches like you!", Ashen angrily retorts as he gets up and turns to face her.
Before his eyes, he saw a young woman who strangely resembled Guinnevere, only that she had short golden-white hair that reached just until her lower jaw with a lock of hair explicitly braided down her right temple. Her face was almost exactly like Guinnevere's but had more of a mischievous if not-impish, vibe and had deep blue eyes compared to Guinnevere's ice-blue eyes. She wore a white and blue dress opened at the sides and embroidered with gold and black lace stockings and black high heels, a white silken shawl draped down her shoulders. Her dress was quite form-fitting and pretty much emphasized her rather curvy figure.
Normally, men would immediately fall in love with her natural charm but for Ashen, she was like the plague that he must avoid at all costs. Mainly because ever since childhood, she has troubled him more times than Guinenvere has. Additionally, she is a cunning manipulator who enjoys giving Ashen more problems than solutions.
Such is how Ashen describes the young woman, Amber Creed, the Second Princess of England, in his mind.
"Oh my. Bitter over the loss are you brother? You sure have not changed in the past years.", Amber chuckled.
"Grrr! You, since when did you know I was still alive?"
Ashen asked begrudgingly.
"Hm? Oh that? I have known from the start. I mean, brother, a man of your caliber would not be easily killed by anything or anyone in this world if you put your mind to it. It's pretty much an obvious fact that a force of nature would be the best bet in killing you if ever, so I just traced all the unnatural phenomena happening all-across the world to pinpoint your location. It was not easy, but since you made a mistake of staying in a sacred mountain in the Philippines to hide from some terrorists, well, Mother Nature just had to give you the boot in the most unnatural way possible which made it easy for me to deduce that it was you."
A rather explicit explanation that totally made sense in Ashen's mind. Afterall, the things she said actually did happen to him shortly after he had left England.
"From there, well, I had to use some of my connections there and had some supernatural being place a certain magic mark on you without you noticing."
"Huh?!", Ashen's eye widened at Amber's words and immediately inspected his body, but because he was wrapped in bandages all-over, he could not see it, "Where did you have them place it you bitch?!", he roared.
Amber simply snickered and covered her lips with her hand, "Well now, you should not make a lady say such things brother. We may be kin by law but for you to ask me of that, well, I can hardly call it ethical."
Ashen's brow twitched as his mind quickly understood what Amber had meant.
Amber was a cunning and devious woman, that much is true. But what really set her apart from most people of the sort, is that she never lies. Not once in her life did she ever lie to anyone. Especially to her family.
But that was also one of her most annoying traits. Because of it, whatever vague description she says cannot be misinterpreted regardless of their nature.
Therefore-
"You-! YOU REALLY ARE THE WORST!"
-Ashen knew better than to doubt her.
"Ahaha! Brother, your reactions are just the same as ever!", she waved off Ashen's menacing growl and then clapped her hands, "Well, now that I have enjoyed your reactions for today, what say we get on with getting you dressed yes?"
Immediately, 4 masked maids entered the room and quickly surrounded Ashen.
"What? Don't think I will just willingly let you do as you please Amber!", Ashen readied himself to escape but then,
"Restrain.", with one word of Amber, magical chains emerged from thin air and wrapped themselves around Ashen's limbs. Effectively restraining him much to his surprise, "Ehehe. I have come prepared brother. There is no escaping me this time!"
Somehow, Amber had a rather lascivious expression on her face as she stepped towards Ashen.
"Oh hell no!", Ashen however was not about to just back down, "I'm not about to let you do as you please!", taking a deep breath, he then shouts on the top of his lungs, "EVA!!!! I NEED YOUR HELP!!"
"Ah! Why did you call her?! That is not fair!", Amber exclaimed in a panic.
"Because I don't want to be molested by a perverted maniac like you! I will keep my dignity as a single father intact until my dying breath! And you calling it unfair is just plain hypocritical!!"
"Do not say it like that! What if you remain a single father all your life?!"
"Better that than to lose it with a psycho like you!!! EVA!!! YOUR FATHER NEEDS YOU RIGHT NOW!!"
His voice probably echoed all across the palace because not long after, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard running down the hallway and a minute later,
"Father! Are you okay?!"
Evaline, gasping for breath and wearing a white one-piece dress burst into the room while carrying a broadsword in hand. She was quite the strange sight to behold but Ashen did not care about that.
Evaline took one look at the situation and then,
"What are you doing Aunt Amber?!"
she lunged at Amber and the maids.
This is how Ashen's stay in England amidst the siege that signaled the coming of something much more troublesome for both him and Rosseweisse.