I had never left Aeturnum palace before. There were rose gardens, thickets, and duck ponds decorating the surroundings of the palace but those were all well within palace grounds. This was the first time I had been out of the palace grounds. Of course, they were throwing me straight into the fucking lion's den!
Alcuin walked quickly alongside the man beside us and gave the dark blue-haired man a nod as she walked past him. She seemed to know where she was going, after all, she is the daughter of the late grand duke and member of staff to the royal family. I suppose she should know where she is going.
We walked down a long corridor of pristine white walls lined with stained glass windows. Some seemed to be depicting key moments in history, past monarchs, and other powerful persons, whilst others showed spells, lines of poetry and scenes from fairytales.
The two others, Alcuin and the tanned guard, were both quiet and didn't bother to look around as if this wasn't the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.
"No." That might be the only word I've mastered but it's useful enough. I pointed at the quartz floor, trying to indicate that I wanted to get down, but Alcuin just ignored me. Rude.
Okay, I know I'm supposed to taking a picture or some shit but I'm not exactly excited about the snowman I only met once when I was thrown into this world. It's been ten months, almost a year, and he still hasn't been assed to say hello. I'm sorry but is a quick 'hey, how's my daughter doing?' too much for the royal prick. The nerve of this man.
Not to mention the incy wincy detail that he's going to fucking kill me in a couple of years. Am I supposed to be happy about this arrangement? Then there's the rest of the royal family, who I have not heard anything about. They're most likely not as bad but seeing the trend with my bitch ass self and part two to my already existing daddy issues, I'm not liking their chances.
We paused in front of a door that went from the floor to the ceiling. Engraved in it were hundreds of different dragons, each coloured in bright hues of greens, purples, blues, reds, yellows, pinks, and oranges. The four guards posted in pairs on either side of the doors were clad from head to toe in silver armour and not a slither of them could be seen.
The tanned man stomped into a salute and the four guards followed suit before opening the doors for the three of us. As usual, Alcuin nodded her thanks whilst the tanned man just walked on without a second glance at them.
"I und daan." I was hoping at least Alcuin would stop to put me down, but it was no use. Today I have been on the receiving end of countless betrayals. I tried to speak again but neither of them paid me any mind as we continued down the second hallway.
The walls were completely plain this time. Not even windows were here. The only thing lighting our way was the little fleck of light etched into the ceiling using, I presume, some sort of light magic. The ceiling itself was painted black with small dark blue swirls. It looked like the night sky with all the little lights acting as faux stars.
We stopped once again in front of a similar-sized door as the last. However, instead of being ornated in hundreds of colourful dragons, it had just two large silver chains fastened horizontally against each door respectively. A golden dragon being contained by a silver chain.
There were six guards standing in a row before the double doors rather than to the side. They said nor did anything as they stepped to the side to allow the door to open. Although, unlike the last doors, these opened outwards towards us.
We moved forwards.
The throne room was a large white hall held up by five large pillars on either side. There were carvings of common scenes in the white walls, forests, villages, waterfalls, and such. The pillars were also covered in carvings of birds, snow, wedding bells and all. The floor, made of a white stone I couldn't recognise, was entirely blank.
And there he was. The king.
Sat on his golden throne on a high dais, with no visible way to get up there, was the king. His long black hair was braided down to his waist and he wore a deep blue royal mantle. Golden threads were weaved into his black tunic and he wore long black combat boots. A large golden crown was simple and held a small diamond in its centre. He also wore enough chains, rings, and earrings to outshine Alcuin.
His golden eyes, that mine were an exact replica of, fell on me. With one leg crossed over the other and keeping his head propped by one of his arms, he truly did look regal. It made sense that I looked like the child of a deity as he looked like that very deity. Wings were carved out of the stone that stood behind him.
The fanart of him truly never did him justice.
His mouth pulled into a small smile once he seemed to truly register who I was. When we stopped before the dais, both the tanned man and the white-haired woman bowed. Well, Alcuin did as best she could, considering she was holding a child.
"I am General Leon Grey accompanied by Lady Alcuin Isla Sortis. We present her royal highness, Princess Aria Saint Lomare." The tanned man, that I now know is named Leon, announced.
The king just smiled wider, to the point that I could slightly see his perfectly white teeth.
"Well, she is just lovely."