"Mizik...if possible, I think I'd prefer to leave this place very soon..." Isabella said.
Several butlers were eying her as she gazed around the room.
Even some of the Iratus men would occasionally glance at her with lust in their eyes.
"Yeah...I feel like a rabbit in a lions' den..." I said.
A moment later, we heard the sound of clinking glass.
We looked in the direction of the noise and saw the man himself.
Archduke Tyranus Iratus.
"May I have everyone's attention, please? Thank you. I am delighted to announce the return of one of our wayward brothers on this momentous occasion! Many of you are quite familiar with the new face already, but allow me to introduce him. Everyone, please welcome my cousin, the only living descendant of my dear uncle Ulysses: Mizik Iratus!" Tyranus said with a devious smile as he pointed to me.
If I wasn't already being eyed enough by the maids and other women here, now I definitely was.
Was it really that important that I was the son of Ulysses!?
"Yes, might I also mention that Mizik is already married as well. To the beautiful First Princess Isabella Victoria Albatross! Really, quite impressive!" Tyranus continued.
I could feel the murderous intent from their gazes and they weren't even being directed at me this time.
"Tyranus! Are you trying to get the poor boy targeted or something?" A familiar voice shouted.
It was Amelia. She was wearing a luxurious, black, emerald-studded dress with her hair up.
After what I saw of her before, I didn't believe it. She was stunning.
"Amelia, my dear aunt, to what do I owe this pleasure? Why have you returned here, if I might ask?" Tyranus said.
"We can discuss that later when there are fewer people around. For now, I would insist that you leave Mizik alone. He has important business with you," Amelia said.
"But of course he does. Otherwise he wouldn't have ignored my advice. But we will worry about that on a later occasion. For now, will everyone please take your seats? Mizik and...Isabella...you will find that we have specific places for everyone to sit here. There are name tags at your places."
At once, everyone went to their seats. Isabella and I looked around for ours and eventually, we found mine at the very edge of the table.
On the ground next to it, was a bowl with Isabella's name on a tag next to it.
Upon seeing it, Isabella simply froze in place.
"Is this some kind of joke...?" She said.
"No, my dear. We do not allow dogs to eat at the table with us. That is where you will be sitting," Tyranus mocked.
A large number of people started laughing loudly at this.
Isabella didn't react at all. All she did was stare at the bowl.
I could tell she was upset though. Humiliated, even.
"Isabella," I said to her.
She looked at me with sadness and pain in her eyes. The embarrassment she felt was probably physically painful.
I stood up and offered her my chair.
Then I cleared my throat.
"Everyone, I would like you to address this woman as Mizik for tonight. I will be known as Isabella for the time being as well. Thank you all so very much for understanding," I said with a bow.
The entire room had gone silent in shock.
Mizik(Isabella) looked at me with pure adoration in her eyes.
I presented her with my chair and smiled. She hesitantly sat down.
"Aha! What an odd turn of events! But I suppose I will allow it for the sake of entertainment. Now then, please bring out the food!" Tyranus said.
He clapped his hands to signal the servants and they began moving out of the kitchen in a line.
Laugh it up while you can, shithead. I can already hear Vengeance calling out to me for your blood...
[Yet another false wielder has dared to invoke my wrath. I demand his head.]
And hopefully, one day you will have it...
The servants brought out a large number of plates filled with food for the table. They sat them down all in front of everyone and finally...
They poured what appeared to be scraps of nearly inedible garbage in the bowl on the floor.
I felt disgusted.
Not just because of the fact that my own family was intending to treat my wife like this, but the 'food' filling the bowl reminded me of the crap Cassandra force-fed me in her dungeon.
I shivered as I averted my eyes.
"Isabella," Mizik(Isabella) said to me.
I looked over to her and she had a spoonful of food in her hand presented to me.
"Say ah," She said with a smile.
I smiled at her and accepted the spoonful of food she held.
These people might have been rotten to the core, but their cooks were very good at their jobs. The food was delicious.
Mizik(Isabella) and I took turns eating as she fed me.
The maids from before glared daggers at Mizik(Isabella).
"Truly unexpected. They seem to be quite the happy couple, do they not?" Tyranus said. "Almost makes me jealous, right Alice?"
Alice remained silent. She simply stared longingly at the two of us, occasionally glancing at Tyranus.
I honestly wondered why they hated Mizik(Isabella) so much. She did nothing wrong to them, personally, and the war happened before she was born.
Aside from that, why was Tyranus so calm? Wasn't the world in danger? There was no way that he hadn't heard of the Black Ooze...
And if I recalled correctly, he threatened us pretty severely back in Albatross. He was acting completely different.
What was going on here?
"Excuse me, Tyranus. I would like a word with you," I said.
"Indeed. That would be the reason you came all this way and ignored my warning. However, the subject is not something that I wish to discuss over dinner. Would you give me until tomorrow?" He asked.
"With all due respect, we've suffered quite a bit of humiliation from you and this is an urgent matter that cannot wait. If you speak to us, we'll be out of your hair immediately," I said.
"I believe I asked you politely. Your 'wife' is little more than a dog as far as we are concerned. This treatment is completely justified after what her family did to us."
[FALSE WIELDER!!! SURRENDER YOUR SWORD IMMEDIATELY!!!]
Tyranus seemed to pause for a moment as he looked around, but shrugged it off.
"We will only tolerate her presence because of who she is to you. Do not forget my kindness. We will speak tomorrow and that is final," Tyranus said.
I seemed to recall King Ronald saying something about wanting them to forgive us if I married his daughter.
Unfortunately, they only viewed me as a traitor for doing such a thing...
"Isabella, please calm yourself. You have already done enough tonight. What is one more day?" Mizik(Isabella) asked me.
"Very well. Tomorrow we will meet, then," I said.
"Excellent. Then please enjoy the food 'Isabella', it tastes so much better with a carefree mind," Tyranus said.
I decided not to respond. I didn't want to invite further humiliation onto my wife and I was already sick of this guy.
Once everyone had finished eating, Tyranus dismissed us and we began walking back to our room.
One of the maids stopped me and smiled innocently at me.
"Master Mizik! I had no idea you were such an important person! Being the Archduke's cousin and the only living son of Ulysses!? If you don't mind me saying, Master, you're also very handsome too. You're quite the catch!" She said
Almost immediately, two more of them showed up and grabbed onto my arms.
"Master Mizik! Surely you've had a long journey here from that awful Albatross! Let us comfort you. Please? It would be my pleasure!" One of them said.
"Please, allow us to stay the night with you, Master Mizik! I promise that you won't regret it! Oh my...you have such strong arms! Would you permit me to rest in them, Master?" The other said.
"That would be an honor! Me too! Me too! Master Mizik is so wonderful!"
"Get the hell off of me," I said plainly.
At once, they let go.
"You girls should be ashamed of yourselves. Have you no self-respect?" Isabella said.
She seemed fine, but her stern face couldn't mask the seething rage below the surface.
These poor girls were in danger the longer they stayed here.
Isabella and I quickly went back to our room and ran inside.
I half expected to see a few of the girls on the bed waiting for me, but there were none.
Regardless, we checked the room and bathroom, then locked the door. None of the maids should have been able to get into our room now without a key.
After that, the two of us showered and laid down in bed.
"Mizik, before I say anything else, I want you to know how much I appreciate what you did for me back there..." Isabella said.
"Walter told me a while ago to protect your dignity. Besides that, I love you. That's reason enough, isn't it?" I replied.
"You're such a gentleman, Mizik. The kindest one I've ever met..."
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me.
"You deserve it. You've been good to me, Isabella. Without you, I'd be dead already and I owe you my life," I said.
"Mizik, you're not going to try and fight Tyranus, are you?"
"I don't know...but I hope it doesn't come to that. Surely, Tyranus will see reason. The world is doomed if we can't get Kalsa's help..."
"Can we just not think about that for now? Let's just enjoy this moment," she said to me.
I kissed Isabella and smiled.
"Mizik...I love you..." She said as she moved closer.
"I love you too, Isabella," I said.