Princess Selena's smile began to grow, it would be an understatement to say she was happy at how things have proceeded so far.
"Leave us, Karla you stay." Princess Selena dismissed the knights who were guarding her. However they could not stay silent in such of a terrifying unknown weapon that he currently held. Even though Drake knew it was pointless as the heat had destroyed the barrel and that the next shots could backfire, regardless he kept quiet.
"Your high..." The guard immediately shut his mouth when the Princess Selena gave him a cold glare enough to make his hair stand on ends.
"I would like to have peaceful talk Drake, can you relinquish the hold on your weapon?" Princess Selena redirected her gaze back to Drake.
He hesitated at first, if attacked his only defense at the moment was the gun but seeing that she was pulling her guards away except for the maid lowered his vigilance some. If she wished for a private conversation Drake really had no way to refute.
"Here." Princess Selena took off her sword and handed to a knight to hold on to trying to show her sincerity.
"I have a place we can talk in private." Drake decided to see what she wanted at least before making any further decisions. When he thought about the waterfall area not to far from where they were he figured the natural sound of water would be able to dilute their voices from being heard even a bit. Knowing that his senses had become sharper he knew that it was possible to hear things more clearly which he assumed was a normal quality for the people in front him.
With this in mind, Princess Selena gave a slight nod and they quickly traveled to the waterfalls.
"Ahhh, so gorgeous~!" Spinning around with a hint of madness flashing in her blue eyes the princess enjoyed the view for bit before looking at Drake with intense emotions. To her this conversation could bear the fruit of what she strives to do and she couldn't help but feel her blood boil.
Casually taking a seat on the boulder Drake asked, "Whats the request?"
Princess Selena gave him a heated gaze as madness whirled in her eyes. Unmoving by such a change in character Drake met her icy blue eyes with a gaze of his own of crimson blood.
"Chaos."
"Chaos?" Raising his left brow in confusion to Drake became confused? Chaos could have few meanings, but without knowing who she was it meant nothing. However, undaunted the princess continued.
"Yes, Chaos dear Drake. You see this Empire is currently having intense internal conflicts that are the brink of war. Nothing would make me more happy then seeing it crumble into an all out war~" The princess's previous smile now faded into one of a demon hiding behind a veil. A veil so well done that no one in the empire knew. Years of being in the royal court had allowed her to learn the game of schemes.
Drake was utterly taking aback. From the short interaction he would not have expected this women would be hiding such a 'crazy' side. He watched on as she began to giggle and hold herself tight while shaking side to side. Her eyes full of lunacy at the very idea.
Karla stood by with an indifferent face even after hearing one of the princess's claim she wished to see her country burn.
If Tina, who was 'close' to the princess, saw her now she would think she was possessed by a demon. Fooling nobility was no easy feat.
Drake silently watched the mad women in disguise with interest. Having his own plans this could be a step in the right direction. One of the goals was to cause corruption within the empire itself.
"Drake~...why are you so quiet? Does the idea scare you?" Still hugging herself the princess implored Drake's thoughts. Showing her true self was a risk but realizing how far she had gone she began to wonder if Drake was in shock or scared.
Drake, who was in deep thought, took a good look at the princess from head to toes and back a couple times. His crimson eyes also began to show of madness. While completely unaware, the thoughts he harbored gave rise to intense excitement allowing his blood to flow faster. His eyes turned vertical slits as he bore into the icy abyss of madness.
Princess Selena's body felt an intense shudder when those vertical slits peered into her pupils. The red in the iris of Drake had grown when the shift in pupils happened but as quickly as the came they disappeared.
In turn Drake's smile curved into a animalistic grin, "Heh~ I like the sound of it, I agree but I have some conditions..."
Princess Selena nodded, unsure of what conditions he had, she was sure she could fulfill them.
"First, what is your nobility rank? To have guards, your rank must be high?" Imploring her status was crucial, if she was a simple daughter of a baron Drake could already tell this was a useless endeavor. However the guards implied she was not and getting tied up in court matters needed planning and information. A certain rank could help more easily or make things harder.
"Excuse my rudeness.." giving a noble ladies courtesy even without a dress, the princess grabbed the edges of her battle skirt and gave a slight elegant bow, "I am Princess Selena, 7th princess of the Proxima Empire, from the 4th wife of the emperor, Lady Velos of the Velos Duchy."
'Whistle~'
"That's one of hell of title my lady, now I'm curious as to why you are all the way out here looking for a nobody." A little impressed Drake's expression became more relaxed. 'A princess heehh~ This makes things way easier. She can be the perfect pawn if I play my cards right. Helping her achieve what she wants while I spread corruption to further my plans.'
"Tch~ I thought I would get on Baron John and Baroness Tina's good side by helping them find you. A baron with almost as much land as viscounts is not something to be taken lightly, even if they just settled in terms of relativity with the empire." At first her face was scrunched up but it changed into a bright smile of a goddess while her two blue eyes shone with pride, "But who would have thought I would find such a wonderful person!"
Drake snorted at her response. 'With no mask her mood shifts is quite terrifying...' The constant shifts in her face continued to give Drake chill.
"Oh~ is my deduction wrong? Should I just have Karla here kill you now?" A maniacal grin spread across the princess's beautiful visage.
"No, I believe I can be that person for you." Drake smirked in response.
"Wonderful~ wonderful~ wonderful~! By the way how far away can your weapon's thingy fly?" Her eyes twinkled in anticipation.
Drake narrowed his eyes. Fly? Drake realized he will have to create new terms in this world to match their narrow views.
"It's not fly, it's shoot or fire." Drake explained.
"Heeehhh~ is that so, well?" Princess Selena put her hands on her hips which tilted to the side showing off her provocative curves even while in her armor.
Drake narrowed eyes became fierce. Giving to much information would be bad, and this princess seemed to want to know the information about the gun. At this point Drake assumed chaos entailed murdering which didn't phase him. He was still ignorant about how magic worked in this world and wanted to research different ways to produce weapons. He was lucky to build such a basic weapon from before but even that weapons durability was crap.
Drake wanted to maintain secrecy on his weapons and their future development. With this in mind even with unknown information of magic he implored about secrecy.
"I must keep some secrets and if I'm being blunt, when are business ends, I would rather not you go around spreading my secrets." Drake explained.
"Hmm~ hmm~, I understand." Princess Selena continued to nod her head as she thought of a solution. She was quite fine with keeping Drake's secrets, but to assure her business partner she went with the most secure and extreme process. "How about an Aether Blood Contract?"
Raising his eyebrows, "A huh what now?" Drake became extremely confused. 'Does that have to do with magic?'
Princess Selena also seemed befuddled, "Yo-you don't know what that is?"
Drake shook his head. Obviously he couldn't tell her he was from another world and everything here was new. However Princess Selena started putting the evidence together from what little she knew about Drake, the information from Tina to her interaction with him personally.
Either way, she gave an explanation, "An Aether Blood Contract is an exchange of oath and blood. Blood circulates Aether Energy, along with the correct runes written in both contractees blood an oath is made. The opposite parties gain some of this energy but the oath tied to it has the ability to punish whoever breaks said contract. And the punishment is...death."
Drake nodded in response. It seemed like an excellent way to keep secrets using magic as a signature. Nonetheless Drake was still undecided. She could have just made it up to spill his secrets.
Sensing his thoughts Princess Selena asked what was on her mind, "You really don't have any previous memories? If that's so how can you help me?" Her eyes immediately became threateningly chilly as a slight mist began to rise around her. Her confusion had reached it's peak and she began to think Drake had wasted her time. More-so she told him her plan, in which case he had to die.
Drake knew if he didn't talk he was 100% dead. So he took a gamble, "I will tell you what you want to know after we sign a contract."
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I hope that improvements had been made to my writing. I have been looking into other books to see how they go through conversations and how characters interact. Im trying to give them more personality.
Speaking of personality, princess Selena is a bit crazy. Total shift from earlier chapters but that was how it was planned so if it seems totally out of wack and doesn't make sense let me know if you think there's a better way. Im still an early writer so Im trying to improve myself.
Hope you have/had a wonderful day!
-KeyKraft