Ares signed in contentment at Augustus' reply. However even though the words were not spoken they all knew it would be a suicide mission to head out to war now, they still had to wait for the Holy Priestess.
Aelia suddenly realized that Veda was not standing beside her as she should. She lifted her head from the defeated bandits and gazed at the boulder Augustus and Veda hid behind.
Veda was in the custody of a man. He was dressed the same way the other bandits were, cladded black with black paint smeared on their faces. He wrapped his hand around Veda's waist and used the other hand to hold out his sword at her throat.
"You will let my brothers go," he demanded. From how shaky his voice sounded, he was obviously scared. Out of all the people in the forest, he could be said to be the only one terrified.
"Let me go, you will be reunited with your brothers soon" Veda said. She did not struggle with him, her breathing was not out of place, her gaze was focused on the anger and bloodlust in Aelia's eyes.
The firstborn royal was capable of a lot of things and throwing her sword at the man who held Veda in hostage directly piercing through his head was an easy fit for her. It needed no time to be wasted, soon enough, Veda was in her embrace.
"We should leave before more appears" Augustus suggested, obviously worn out though he had not lifted a muscle to protect himself.
When they returned to the Palace, the new Queen was waiting by the entrance, seeming worried about something but when she saw her husband ride into the territory in his stead, she ignored every little thought and ran to him.
"I was very worried about you, where have you been?" She asked her husband with teary eyes.
From where she stood, Aelia rolled her eyes, making Veda and Ares chuckled lightly.
"Who are these men?" The queen inquired when she caught sight of the group of men tied by a rope together like slaves to be sold a Duke after being pacified by her husband.
"These are the scum that tried to harm His Majesty, Your Highness" Veda said with a bow.
The look of horror in the Queen's eyes could be compared to none, it was as if her eyes popped from her head and her mouth was left hanging open from what she heard from Veda.
Veda, Ares and Aelia couldn't hide their mischief as they snickered at the horrid sight of the Queen. Augustus tutted at them before leading his wife away to allay his wife, probably with the new skills he learnt from the debaucherous Marquis of Order.
The said Marquis gestured for a soldier to come forth as they were stationed at the front of the Palace for protection: "These men" handed him the end of the rope that was used to tie those bandits, wrapped around his hand "Lock them up".
On hearing the order from Ares, Aelia immediately spoke up "No, do not lock them up. Find out where they come from and strip them naked, tie them to a stick and burn them at the border between Thaleia and their Kingdom, so that everybody will see that this Kingdom cannot be belittled."
Veda, Ares, the soldier and all neighboring servants all stopped in their tracks, gaping at the Princess, terrified and curious as to where that gruesome idea came from. They all could not deny, their Princess was really a bloodthirsty individual.
"Don't you think that is too cruel, the other Nation might get the wrong idea about it" Ares tried to suggest a much lighter punishment.
"No, Marquis, this punishment is better, they should get the wrong idea, I mean for their bandits to think themselves more powerful than our monarch, doesn't it give off the fact that their Kingdom has had the wrong idea about us for a while now? This will just stir up another piece of rumor, it doesn't matter, we do know we're going to war soon anyway" Veda said before bowing to the Marquis and Princess and walking away to the East wing of the Palace.
The East wing of the Palace was the personal chambers of the Princess. Having in itself more than six bedrooms and a singular building. It was very distinct from the other wings of the Palace. Before the pavement of the building, at the first entrance to the lawn, were two statues of the Phoenix.
The Phoenix was used to describe the power and authority of the Princess, while The Dragon was used for the King. This particular building was different and conspicuous from the others because of the black hideous paint and absence of life. There were no plants, no trees, no servants, nothing. The only tree that stood in the middle of the died off lawn possessed in itself no greenery, no fruits, just plain wood. Veda had suggested several times to simply cut it off but Aelia spoke against it. Many servants passed off rumors that the reason for this gothic sight was because the Princess was the descendants of the god of hell, she was a wormhole that sucked the life out of people, plants and animals, that would surely explain her insatiable bloodlust.
The rest of the huge Palace was either painted with red or gold, the personal chambers and the courtroom were painted with the same colors, gold and red, signifying royalty.
Ares watched Aelia lead her horse to the stables herself instead of allowing the servants help her. The stoid, cruel woman somehow had found a way to creep into his heart. She was the reason he would stay up all night thinking why would anybody decide to shift from the norm, build a single bridge only she could walk on. Why would anyone choose to be different?
And no matter how much he abhorred her for choosing this path, the blossoming of cherry blossoms and fluttering of butterflies did not come to a halt in his heart.
And this, the Princess was well aware of.