__________ POV Ashton__________
I didn't walk back to my room, I simply transferred my consciousness back to being in bed with the Princess and dispelled my clone.
Falling asleep as soon as I blinked for the first time. I would say that I slept well. But that would be a lie.
I spent most of the night with my eyes closed, thinking of other ways to pass the time in this long trip to my homeland.
Momoze, unlike me, slept like a log. She didn't seem to be capable of waking up. Before I even realised it, morning came.
She seemed a bit too peaceful, so I didn't want to ruin her sleep. However, her servants had a different idea.
I heard a loud knocking on the door. "Princess! Your first brother, Benj has called for a meeting with some of the other princes! You have also been invited!" Great, just what I wanted.
Why would they decide to meet up like this? They are supposed to be enemies now. I can't help but think this is some sort of trap. And that thought makes me want to tag along for the ride.
I may not be interested in getting involved with their Empire's affairs. But I already went through the trouble of saving her once.
And we do have an agreement, I get a nice room(even if I have to share it) and she gets a bodyguard(me). So I will make sure she remains safe.
Momoze didn't even react, she was still sleeping. I decided to wake her up myself, especially since I doubt this will be something she should miss.
I shook her a bit, she woke up after a bit. She stretched a bit, it seems she won't get flustered over clinging to me anymore.
"Next time we sleep together remind me not to use a blanket, you had me covered quite well in that department." But teasing her seems to do the trick. As she instantly turned red and looked away.
I heard another series of knocks on the door. "Shut up!" I shouted.
Momoze looked at me with an amused smirk. "Don't be that rude to them. They are my allies." Yeah, allies that couldn't save you as you were being killed a few steps away from their room.
"Yeah. They just wanted to inform you that you've been invited to a meeting by your first brother." She looked a bit shocked. I guess being invited to a meeting right after a failed assassination attempt is a bit odd.
There's no way her siblings don't know about the assassination. I don't trust Momoze's bodyguards to keep their mouths shut. And I definitely don't trust the people that came and cleaned up the traitor's body.
One of them specifically seemed surprised when seeing the body. Did he expect to be cleaning someone else's blood? I obviously didn't call them out, but I observed the situation closely.
I think it's quite obvious that this assassination was orchestrated by one of the other princes. I think the obvious choice would be the one inviting us to a meeting now.
Benjamin Hui Guo Rou, the first prince of the Kakin Empire. I don't actually know anything about him. I just know his father, the king, a bit. A cold man with a cruel self-absorbed personality.
The current ruler of the Kakin empire always liked to consider himself powerful. It's probably why this succession war even exists, he likely wants the new ruler to be 'as powerful as him'.
He's one of those that tried to assert their power over me in the past.
I've had my fun making him look like a fool for a bit. But the novelty of a raging fat man being humiliated disappeared quite quickly.
I'm sure he still sends assassins for my head from time to time. Well, none have been coming lately, maybe because he's been cooking up this entire expedition/succession war.
"Why would he want me to meet with him...?" She was confused. I don't really know why though.
"He's always been an aggressive person... If he was to ally with someone, it wouldn't be with me..." Great, this basically confirms that this meeting is sketchy. If that wasn't already obvious enough.
"Don't worry. I will make sure you are safe." She perked up at this. Her smile seemed to shine a bit too brightly for me.
"Of course... Thank you..." Well, there she goes, a princess of a powerful empire bowing her head to me with a smile on her face.
That's not really something that happens daily.
Looking down, I realised that I ended up sleeping with my suit on. Which ended up wrinkling it to no end. I guess I'll have to change too.
"We should get changed. I'll give you some privacy." I said as I left the room, she seemed a bit disappointed, but I'm not one to take advantage of this type of setting.
She is likely feeling indebted to me, and also developed feelings at a vulnerable moment. I don't plan on taking them seriously for now.
After the dust settles down, she will likely realise that she doesn't actually love me or anything of the sort.
Outside of the room, the servants were all there, silently waiting. They all gave me mad looks, l guess I may have come off a bit rude? But they did ruin a perfectly fine morning...
Well, I guess it's not really their fault. This Benjamin guy is the one I should be blaming.
Whatever, I don't really care about befriending them anyway. For all I care, they might all be assassins going after Momoze's life.
It is quite strange how quickly I managed to get involved in this whole Succession War. But I don't actually plan on participating in any other way than protecting Momoze.
And she doesn't really seem to want to become a queen either. Problem is, I doubt she can actually retire from the War.
The current King wouldn't have gone through all of this trouble of organizing this deathmatch if the contestants could just give up and leave.
"Where is the meeting by the way?" I asked, as the men still glared at me.
"It's in the room of the first prince..." Said one of them as he looked at me. Do they think they are intimidating me or something? Oh well, I'll just ignore them.
I ended up ripping space open and changing my shirt whilst waiting outside of her room. I also grabbed a new coat, as mine was getting a bit dirty.
"I'm done!" She shouted from inside the room. I entered to take a look obviously.
She was wearing a purple frilly dress. I think that's her favourite colour or something. I guess she does look good in it.
"You look great. Let us go now..." She turned a bit red and just followed me.
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