[CHAPTER 2: CHARMING]
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Two guards leaned against the pillars of the Imperial Palace's gates and were sweating under their armour due to the scorching summer sun. They lost to rock-paper-scissors to their comrades, earning them gate duty for the next three days. As a way to distract themselves from the hellish heat, they had a casual chat with each other.
"I heard that the ball would be more luxurious than last year," The taller one of the two men stated with a lazy frown, his short brown hair sticking to his tanned forehead from the sweat while his hazel eyes squinted. "Yeah, a lot of the servants have been running around because of it," His friend agreed with a sigh, his long dirty-blonde hair was soaked and messy while his brown eyes drooped from exhaustion.
"Not to mention the Demonic Beast Subjugation ended earlier than expected," The blonde added with a raised brow and seemed to be impressed yet displeased at the same time, "To take only a month to do that..." Both of them recalled how their comrades were babbling about the First Front Line knights returning from the subjugation.
The brunette rolled his eyes and playfully joked, doing a stupid pose, "If they choose me to go next time, I bet you that I'll wipe those bastards out like nothing!" His friend scoffed before bursting out laughing. He shook his head at his stupid joke and teased him for being delusional.
Neither of them knew which Archduchy led the subjugation this time since they were new recruits. Their seniors always talk about how the Commander of the First Front Line Knights was scary as hell. While the two guards were lost in their conversation, the sound of hooves tapping against the cobblestone road grew closer.
The guards only became aware of their surroundings when the horse was a few meters away from the gates. Immediately, they grabbed the hilt of their swords and narrowed their eyes. They could only see the outline of a man on the horse due to how bright the sunlight was.
"What business you have here at the Imperial Palace, sir?" The brunette called out in an authoritative tone when the stallion came to a stop, huffing and waving its head around. Only then did the outline of the man disappear, revealing his attractive-looking face.
Both of their jaws fell open when the sunlight formed a halo behind his head at the angle they stood. His sunset-coloured eyes were squinted from how bright the sunlight was and a few beads of sweat dripped down his chin. His hair was slightly messy from the wind, but that added more charm to him.
"Erix Malefic; I was summoned by His Imperial Majesty," His husky voice revealed as he rubbed the back of his neck with his gloved hand, frowning with displeasure, "I'm the Royal Aide of His Imperial Majesty." The two knights were too shocked to react in any manner when they heard such a voice coming from him.
When he saw that the guards didn't respond, he slowly reached for the small golden plate-like badge inside his breast pocket and tossed it to the brunette. Instantly, he caught it and almost choked on his saliva when he saw that it was indeed a permit for highly authorised personnel in the palace. Flustered, the brunette looked at the blonde and gestured for him to open the gates.
"Y-Yes... Here you go, Your Grace," The brunette stuttered out with a crooked smile as he handed the permit back to him. Wordlessly, the ravenette took it from him and shoved it back into his breast pocket. Once the gates were opened for him, he tightened the reins a bit, signalling for the stallion to trot.
Silently, the two knights watched how he trotted passed them. Almost robotically, they turned to face each other with wide eyes as the gates closed behind the ravenette. From inside and near the palace, people took notice of his arrival.
The gardeners and roaming knights sent him warm smiles, greeting him. He sent them quick bows of his head in return. The stallion came to a stop when they approached the luxurious stairwell that led to the entrance of the palace. Carefully, he dismounted himself from the stallion while a young stable boy rushed towards him.
He handed the reins to the young boy and started a small conversation with him. As he was talking to the young stable boy, a middle-aged man dressed in a butler's uniform elegantly opened the doors. His greyish hair was gelled back and his sunken blue eyes gleamed with joy when his gaze landed on the tall ravenette - who watched the stable boy lead his stallion to the stables.
The butler's wrinkles moved as he greeted with a smile when the ravenette faced him, ascending the stairs, "Your Grace! I welcome you back to the Imperial Palace!" Amused, the ravenette shook his head at his greeting and retorted, "At least try to hide the fact that there was some trouble among the aides during my absence, Albert."
The butler, Albert, chuckled and mused in a sing-song tone as he escorted him into the lobby, "I shall try my best next time, Lord Malefic." The ravenette rose a brow when he noticed that the entry was sparkling more than usual. 'Was it always this clean?' He thought with a deadpan expression as his gaze was pinned on the freshly mopped floors.
The entrance lobby had an extremely high ceiling – where dozens of chandeliers hung. The white marble floors had crimson carpets covering them here and there while the cream-coloured walls were decorated with portraits and artifacts. "Why is it so sparkly in here...?" He questioned, glancing at Albert over his shoulder and the butler only sent him a childish smile as a response.
At a relaxed pace, the two men ascended the stairwell that led to the inner court's maze-like hallways. There were a few servants hovering here and there fulfilling their work duties. Several of the servants glanced at the ravenette when he walked past them. It wasn't long before he and Albert stopped in front of a large smooth marble door.
Albert motioned to the doorman to announce their arrival. "Erix Malefic has arrived!" The doorman announced before the doors peered open, revealing a massive negotiation room. The room was wide and spacious. There was a large circular table in the middle of the room and ministers were seated.
Seated at the head of the table was a tall man. The peering sunlight illuminated his platinum white smooth-yet-short coloured hair and his slightly hooded crimson-coloured eyes were pinned onto the ravenette. A golden crown that was decorated with jewels of all colours sat on top of his head.
He was dressed in a loose cream-coloured long-sleeved shirt and brown trousers with boots. Cautiously, the ravenette entered the eerie silent room with a monotone expression on his face. The only source of sound was the door closing behind him. Step by step, he could feel the tension leaking off the seated ministers.
It felt like his feet got heavier with each step he took towards the menacing man on the throne. Once he was a safe distance away from the table, he kneeled on one knee and bowed his head towards the Emperor. Immediately, the Emperor's cold gaze fell onto the ravenette's black-gloved hand that was placed over his chest.
"I, Erix Malefic, heir to the Malefic Archduchy, greet the Rising Sun of the Aeoninian Empire," He spoke in a calm voice with his eyes glued to the floor. He could feel his stinging gaze drilling holes in his head when he added, "I, Erix Malefic, your humble servant, have safely returned from the Southern Border after a victorious subjugation."
The sound of murmurs from the ministers filled the room before they got eerie silent again. The room temperature dropped when the Emperor hummed lowly. "Welcome back, my boy," The Emperor greeted with a smile as he leaned his cheek against his fist, "I do not wish to converse with the top of your head, so, rise to your feet."
With a nod, the ravenette obeyed and raised to his feet, folding his hands behind his lower back. His sunset irises soon clashed with deep crimson ones that were filled with delight and interest. "How was your journey back to the Capital, my boy?" The Emperor queried with a slight squint in his eyes.
"I hope there were no pests swarming around you on your journey here, hm?" He slightly sneered as he gestured for the ravenette to sit at the second head position of the table. The tension in the room grew heavier at the mention of 'pests'. Fortunately, the heavy air grew lighter when the ravenette reassured him as he got seated, "...There were none, Your Imperial Majesty."
The Emperor - whose name was Ascian Aeonian - grew satisfied with his answer and leaned back into his throne-like seat. "That's good news, then," He hummed before his gaze fell onto the young man sitting opposite of the ravenette. The young man looked identical to the Emperor, however, he had wavy hair and lavender-coloured eyes.
"It's a relief that it was you who led the First Order of Knights during the subjugation, Erix," The Emperor stated before a dark yet sinister look appeared in his gaze, causing the young man to tense up under his gaze, "Unlike a certain ignorant son of mine that led my men to their deaths."
The ministers and ravenette awkwardly frowned at the memory of the young man - known as the Crown Prince, Kaiden Aeonian - retreat back to the Capital with only a quarter of the First Order alive. The young man harshly bit his bottom lip to keep his composure and lowered his furious gaze in shame.
This type of verbal beat-down was a normal occurrence between the Emperor and his kin; he had no shame in comparing their faults to the ravenette's successes. Because of that, almost all nine of the royal kin despised the ravenette's existence. And it didn't help that Kaiden was the one that despised him the most.
"Your Imperial Majesty," The ravenette cleared his throat with an awkward frown, successfully letting the Emperor place his attention back on him. "I wish to know why Your Imperial Majesty has summoned me back so suddenly," He stated, his gaze firm and suspicious as he added, "Especially knowing that I was in the Southern Border for the subjugation."
Sneakily, the ministers were crying tears of relief that the ravenette could stand up to the Emperor's bitter attitude towards his kin. When the Emperor glanced at the ministers, they quickly regained composure and nodded. Amused, the Emperor smirked before snapping his fingers, causing an amber-coloured magic whip to slam a thick folder of documents in front of the ravenette.
"I've got more urgent work for you, my boy," He clicked his tongue and folded his arms over his chest with a pissed-off expression, "Those devotee bastards from next door are getting on my nerves again... Especially that Isirdore bastard." The ravenette ignored his grumbles and picked up the folder.
He started to flip through it with a raised brow, however, his expression grew dark and irked. "They wish to invite Your Imperial Majesty and his aides to discuss peace treaties in a few weeks?" He spat out in a venomous yet outraged tone, not believing what he just read.
"They also want our empire's First Order Knights to train and spar with their Holy Knights?" He scoffed with a 'ha!' and leaned back in the chair with his leg crossed over his thigh. The ministers and Kaiden were shocked at his sudden change in attitude; this was the first time they'd seen him lose his composure.
"They're also demanding that the Commander of the First Order Knights surveillance their Holy Knights' training with the First Order Knights when we go to discuss the peace treaty," The Emperor mentioned with a sour expression. From others' perspectives, the Emperor and ravenette resembled each other with how displeased they looked.
"For what reason do they need my surveillance of their dogs' training?" The ravenette sneered, showing off the sharp canines under his lips. "T-The Holy Empire had received great damage from a Demonic Beasts' nest for the last few seasons," One of the ministers - Duke Oryn - nervously piped in, "Their knights were unsuccessful with subjugating the nests and..."
"That's none of my business," Erix coldly interrupted him with a nasty glare, "It's their own issue if their dogs can't even protect their nations against those beasts." An amused whistle escaped the Emperor's lips when Ory couldn't retort to his words. Erix was right; why should the Aeonian Empire help their own enemies?
"Then the peace treaty..." Another minister suggested with a gulp. "I'll think about it when I feel like it," The Emperor declared with a mischievous smirk, leaning his chin against his fist, "I'm not really in favour of giving my precious commander to them for such a silly deal." Kaiden stared at his father with a frown.
His gaze flickered to the ravenette, who pinched his nose bridge with deeply furrowed brows when he felt his blood pressure rise from stress. "What if they start to get impatient with our delayed answer, Your Imperial Majesty?" Another minister asked with an anxious expression, "We cannot afford to start another war with the Holy Empire..."
"If they start a war just because they got impatient with our answer..." The ravenette cold voice silenced the minister as his sunset irises gleamed over with resentment, "...Then I'll show them the wrath of His Imperial Majesty and the Aeonian Empire." A shiver ran down everyone's spine, except for the Emperor, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"How exciting~" The Emperor applauded the ravenette's indirect declaration of war. "Now, let us move on from this infuriating topic," He suggested with a strained smile. Immediately, every minister nodded in agreement and started another topic. The ravenette closely listened to how the parliament started to discuss the tax and inflation rates of the empire.
Some of the ministers suggested raising the taxes on the commoners while others mentioned the thought of taxing foreign tourists. The topic created a heated debate amongst the ministers. "We will lose foreign tourists if we increase their taxes!" One of the ministers argued with a clenched jaw.
"What about the common folk? They can't do anything if we increase the taxes again!" Another snapped at the ministers. "We can't tax the common folk more than ever," The ravenette immediately turned down that suggesting, gaining confused yet displeased gazes. "The common folk will revolt against the royal family if they can't pay taxes for their survival," He explained, crossing his arms over his chest.
"What are you suggesting then, Your Grace?" Oryn asked with his lips in a thin line, feeling his gut churn in nervousness. "Start taxing the noblemen across the empire," He answered in a business-like manner. The entire room burst out with disbelief and fury at his answer. "T-That's absurd, Your Grace!" One of the ministers - Duke Philip - screeched with wide eyes, "Tax the nobles?! Are you insane?"
"No, I'm quite very sane, Duke Philip," The ravenette calmly replied to him and placed his folded hands on the table in front of him. "But, I'm quite perplexed as to why you all are against getting taxed," He added with sinister half-lidded eyes as a grin appeared on his lips, "My, My. Don't tell me, such wealthy men, as yourselves are too greedy to give the empire a few gold coins out of your vaults?"
His words were slippery as a snake, taunting them to spill their secrets. Some of the ministers drew back with their tongues pressed against their teeth, backing down. "I'm never greedy to assist the empire, Your Grace," A teasing voice retorted with a chuckle, causing everyone to look in that direction.
The voice belonged to a middle-aged man, who had short caramel-coloured hair that started to grey at the tips and slightly sunken golden eyes with small wrinkles appearing on his face. He had a mischievous yet taunting smile on his lips.
"I don't know about the other ministers, but I'm always willing to pay the taxes if my wealth can improve the empire," He told him, sneakily declaring that the other ministers were going against the Emperor's ruling. The ravenette held back the pissed-off smirk that wanted to appear on his face.
"That's reassuring to hear from the First Order Knight's former Commander," The Emperor complimented him, staring at him with an intense gaze, "I like that you're willing to do that for me, your Emperor." The caramel-haired minister bowed his head to him, silently thanking him.
"Then it is decided," The Emperor hummed with amusement, glaring at the other ministers, "We will start taxing the nobles across the Empire to prevent the common folk from revolting against me." They didn't have time to retort or try to change his mind. "If anyone refuses to pay their taxes," His eyes grew merciless with bloodlust, declaring, "Their heads will hang on my walls, got it?"
Kaiden shivered in horror at his father's words and watched how the rest of the ministers' faces grew white as a sheet. The Emperor decided to end today's meeting after that. Once he was out of the room, all the ministers - except for the ravenette, Kaiden, and the caramel-haired man - scurried away at the speed of light.
"You're quite cranky today, Your Grace," The caramel-haired man teased the ravenette as they stood up from their seats, "I was worried that you might bite Duke Oryn and Duke Philips' heads off, haha!" The ravenette rolled his eyes at his words and retorted, pushing his chair in and picking up the thick folder, "Honestly, I was about to do that if they kept whining."
Kaiden glanced at him with disbelief, not believing what he just heard. "My, oh my!" The caramel-haired man exclaimed with excitement before stepping out of the room with Erix, "You're living up to your nickname~" Kaiden watched how the two men disappeared from his perspective, however, he thought that the caramel-haired man glared at him.
"And you're still the old fox that you are, Duke Bicea," The ravenette told him with a smirk and chuckled when the older man looked at him with amusement. Klaus Bicea - better known as Duke Bicea or 'The Trickster' - was known across the empire for his taunting and teasing manners to rile anyone up for his own sick entertainment.
He was the Commander of the First Order Knight until retiring two years ago - now Erix was the current Commander. He became the Minister of Finance after his position was given to the ravenette. It was a surprise for everyone when Klaus accompanied the ravenette whenever he could, claiming that he would become his tea and sparring buddy no matter what.
His annoying attempts on befriending the younger man were a success in the end. "By the way," Klaus hummed, folding his arms behind his back as he leaned his head back, "Aren't you getting sweaty and hot from wearing that?" The ravenette sent him a knowing look in the corner of his eye, smiling with furrowed brows.
"Ah..." The older man hummed with realization and sent him a look of sympathy. The ravenette told him that it was fine. Both of them looked to the side, staring at the beautiful scenery of the outer court's garden when they walked in the outdoor corridors. There were some nobles walking through the open corridors, glancing and whispering about the ravenette when they saw him.
Out of nowhere, the corridor exploded in chaos. The source of disruption was a young woman - around eighteen or so - with long light strawberry-blonde hair and round rose-pink-coloured eyes bulldozing through the nobles towards Klaus and Erix. Her fiery gaze was pinned onto the ravenette's broad upper back.
"Darling~!" She squealed loudly, catching the ravenette's attention. His skin burst out with goosebumps and chills, causing Klaus to burst out with laughter. He didn't even turn to look at her fastly approaching figure; he grabbed the balcony railing to him and leapt to the side. Screams of surprise and shock erupted at his action since he jumped from the outer court's second floor.
"Nooooo! Come back! Darling!" She screeched with comedic tears streaming down her cheeks and was about to leap off the railing to follow him. Fortunately, she was stopped by her ladies-in-waiting and knights. Meanwhile, people peered over the railing to see where the ravenette went. He skillfully landed on his feet, dusting himself off before speedwalking away with a deadpan expression.