"Thank you for your time, sir, Arthur, I see now that Barbro is only throwing a tantrum because you refused his offer, I'll have a word with him so you can rest easy."
He assured, but as a father he could not help but feel like he was a failure once again, however despite such a feeling he still held on to the belief that being a king was more of a priority than it was being a father, being a failure of a father to his children was but a mere consequence, hopefully they will forgive him or at least understand his position.
"I appreciate your highness, although I was unaware that the prince was upset with me."
Arthur did not particularly care if the prince was upset with him or not and even if he was that meant that the prince simply had to do something about it which is something that Arthur is more than looking forward to, a bit of fun was always welcomed.
"I will be taking my leave now and leave you to your devices, Renner please consider what we talked about."
"There is nothing to consider father, so I apologise I will not be considering it."
The king could only sigh in defeat before turning his head and exiting the room with Gazeff following behind him, he hadn't thought that Renner would be so difficult to deal with, among his children she was the one who was most obedient. He wondered if the idea of marriage was really that unacceptable to her.
With the king having left, Arthur and Renner along with Lakyus were now the only ones in the room. Lakyus was the first to speak.
"Excuse me princess but I must be going now, I'm sure my friends are tired of having to wait for me."
She informed and took a bow, although it was true that her friends were waiting for her it was untrue that they would be tired, she just needed to leave and quickly write down the things Arthur had told her before she forgets.
"Alright Lakyus but come back tomorrow with your team so that we can finalise the plan on which eight fingers base to attack first."
Lakyus nodded at her words before making her exit and leaving the two by themselves, Arthur decided to take a seat, he was not a fan of the whole thing of standing while some important figure was seated.
"Seems like you're making plans on eight fingers, are you going to fill me in or am I excluded in those plans?"
He asked with a more relaxed attitude than usual, his relationship with Renner was increasingly becoming more relaxed the more they spent time together, which was something Renner herself wanted, after all when one is relaxed around it means that to an extent, they trust you, so it was fine for Arthur to become more casual with her plus it was breath of fresh air ab break from her norm.
"No need to worry, you'll have to be their support, I'm certain eight fingers will have tight security and I'm certain their security organisation six arms will be in charge of security, not to insinuate that I doubt Lakyus's skills and her team, I believe that your strength would be most need against members of six arms."
Renner explained, and Arthur nodded to her words, to his ears that sounded sensible and logical. If he remembers correctly within the original timeline Gazeff was sort of the benchmark of strength within the kingdom at least. Anyone who was close to Gazeff in strength was considered to be very powerful, although it was never clearly stated how powerful Zero the leader of six arms was, Arthur figured that Lakyus would have at least the same strength as Zero if he was stronger than Gazeff.
"Well that's fine, being in the castle all day is boring, so I do need some exercise from time to time. By the way do you have any games to play here, you know something like chess? Although I'd rather play some that isn't chess."
Arthur explained as he tried to relax on the chair, often times having a sword strapped to your waist makes it difficult to seat comfortably on a chair which sucks because he was not willing to leave Excalibur that isn't close to his persons, this is because he didn't really know if others could wield the sword and he it was possible that he wasn't actually worthy to wield the sword so setting it down might mean he cannot use it, he was unaware of how he got his hands on the blade, he doesn't remember if when he was granted these powers there were rules and stipulation he had to follow, essentially this is being said to say, yes Arthur does in fact sleep with Excalibur on hand.
"Well, I do have chess but nothing else? Any games from your world that you might want to play."
She asked out of curiosity, she could not imagine the type of entertainment individuals with God like power had or could come up with, she imagined that the power one had the more mind blowing the scale of entertainment.
"Well, I do have a game in mind, it's a simple game and much simpler than chess and unfortunately, it's the only one that I can think of right now and one that needs the least materials, just quil pen and paper"
….
"Goddamnit"
Arthur exclaimed as he stomped his foot underneath the table and inadvertently hit the table with his knee. This reaction from him caused Renner to giggle and tried to hide her amused grin with her hand. Despite having been the one who introduced her to the game and told her the rules he still lost seven times out of ten, only managing top win 2 times with one draw and that was only in the beginning when Renner was still just trying to understand the game of tic tac toe, and ever since then he has been unable to get a win.
He did not want to play chess because he knew she would have an overwhelming advantage, and tic tac toe was a simple game that he figured was going to fair with an advantage to him.
"The game is simple but it still requires a bit of strategy to play, want to play again?"
"Of course, I can't let you beat me so thoroughly in a game that you just learned."
Arthur agreed, he wasn't a master at tic tac toe but it's a simple game, he shouldn't be getting washed like this and he felt a bit like a sore loser.
Unfortunately for Arthur he was not about to win any time soon and instead lost ten more times, much to his own frustration and annoyance, he was actually starting to get annoyed for real instead of jokingly pretending to be angry. Renner on the other hand was having a bit of fun, his reactions were fun to watch, the two continued to play and wasted a bunch of paper.
"By the way, why did you turn down my brother's offer of working for him, thinking about it he would be able to offer you much more than I possibly could."
Renner said as she placed an X in the middle of the board, causing Arthur to pause before making his move.
"He isn't the type I would personally want to work with or for, plus he was disrespectful."
He answered before deciding to put an O on the top right corner of the board and missed the smile that Renner made no attempt to hide. She wasn't technically sure that he wouldn't choose one of her brothers to serve after all there was no oath made to ensure that he wouldn't do that.
He did share his true backstory which was a significant sign of trust as such she could be confident that he was somewhat loyal to her, but loyalty can be bought hence her relationship with him needs to be deep enough that his loyalty cannot be bought.
"My eldest brother is definitely someone that I can say is hard to work with so I suppose you wouldn't want to work with him, but would you not wish to work with someone who understands you better?"
She asked as placed an X on the bottom right corner of the Board, Arthur answered her question by raising his shoulders up and down, indicating to her he didn't know and didn't care. He then placed the O on the top left corner of the board and attempt to block her from playing an X on that corner and win.
"speaking of which, I have a question to ask"
"Go ahead."
"Your old world, do you not perhaps miss it?"
The question was unexpected and caused him to look up at her with a raised eyebrow, curious as to why she would ask that. He had explained to her about both Yggdrasil, aptly calling it the first world in which the players had migrated to and kept information about his original somewhat vague, he needed her to still have the image that n players were godlike individuals and not some losers who got trapped in a game, sure it was deceitful but it's not like she's not one to lie either, although this does contradict the trust he wanted to form with her.
"Why are you curious about that?"
"It was a simple thought, after all you are in a vastly different world, I imagine it must be difficult to adjust."
She justified herself as she kept a keen eye on his face, taking note of the slight avoidance of direct eye contact from her.
"It would be a lie to say I don't miss it, everything I know is there, and all the things that brought me joy are there too so this being in a new world situation was completely unexpected, but I guess it could have been worse."
He explained, the foods he liked weren't invented yet, the type of entertainment he liked was probably going to take centuries to make, no anime, no video games, no movies, the only thing that was close to television in this world was stage play and opera and both were boring as fuck. One could say that he was quite sad about that, Worse part about it all, he did not remember anything about a family, he remembered that he lived alone but he couldn't recall if he was an orphan or had parents, which was cause for concern.
He could not recall the name he used before coming here and now he could not recall whether he had a family or not. What exactly did he wish for in order to get to this world?
Renner caught a glimpse of sadness that he quickly hid with a neutral expression, she couldn't help but feel bad for him, despite this being exactly what she wanted. With slight hesitation she pushed her hand forward and touched his knuckles, she leaned closer allowing her to be placed on top of his, though small compared to his, she held it.
"I cannot replace what you lost when you came here but at the very least, I hope that you are able to confide in me, we have only known each other for a short while but as my knight your wellbeing is my concern. I just wish for you to know that."
"I very much appreciate it my lady".
"It is only right for me to worry about you Arthur, you may not be officially my knight but my knight still."
She expressed, of course this was the first step towards her plan, if her father is pushing for her to get married this means that the nobles are trying whatever they can to strip her of what little power she has and in order to keep it she needs to solidify her position.
"By the way what did his majesty talk to you about?"
"Oh, nothing much, rather he helped me decide on what I truly wanted."
"And what would that be?"
"Freedom"
She answered and he raised a brow, as a princess he did not think that she was any less free than anybody in fact one could argue she had more freedom than most. While it is true that Renner a princess was free, she wasn't in the sense that she wanted, she does not have the freedom to choose what she wants, even the idea of choosing her fiancé is not actually choosing but rather it is being given options and being told to choose, she had no decisive power on anything.
If Arthur had not arrived as he did she would have had to accept her fate as it was and live the life she was given, a piece of decoration for a nobleman to wear but with Arthur at her side, she could attain freedom and gain control over her life. Before he arrived, she held on to the hope that one day she could escape her life and leave in peace but when he arrived and she finally had power she couldn't decide on what she wanted but now, now she does know what she wants.
"And what does that freedom look like?"
"It looks like me, sitting on the throne as queen of the re-estize kingdom."
Arthur smiled, she has said before that being a ruler was troublesome with Arthur by her side what would be the point of staying a princess, he was practically a god in human flesh, it would be an insult to not properly use his power to seize the kingdom for herself and simultaneously gain the freedom she so craves.
"I can't say queen Renner rolls off the tongue the same way as princess Renner does, but it would be criminal for you to remain in such a lowly station, my lady and it pairs well with the goal I've been thinking for myself."
He said as he pulled back and slouched on the chair and let her curiosity force her to ask a question. He hadn't decided on what he wanted in this world, however one thing was for certain, and it was that he didn't want to live a mundane life like he did in his old world. Living a boring life wasn't something he was keen on and besides, being Arthur Pendragon, it would be an insult to be anything but a king.
....
A/N: So after this, we'll finally move things along. I hope the chapter isn't too boring. Like I said some time ago I really want to write something good here and actually build the character you know. So I hope you won't get too mad at me if the some chapters are boring.
Since my exams are over, I'll try to update faster, so look forward to that I guess. Love yall, peace ✌