Renner and Lakyus walked down a long yet wide hallway. Their destination was the sleeping chambers of the second prince, Zanac. Renner's room was actually quite far removed from the bedrooms of the other members of the royal family. This was done at her request.
"Lakyus"
she called to her friend, initiating the first spoken word between them this afternoon. Arthur had taken a carriage and went to recruit someone named Brain Unglaus. The trip of his was under the guise of eliminating the bandits that had been harassing merchants going to and from the capital
"Hm?!"
The adventurer responded, seemingly shocked by the sudden voice. She had been thinking too deeply about something entirely irrelevant as such, she did not expect to be pulled from her fantasy.
"I've been finding myself a bit bored with my free time. Do you have any good books you'd recommend?"
Princess asked, the both of them were individuals who appreciated a good read, although their tastes were wildly different, with Lakyus preferring more fast paced action stories and Renner preferring more slow paced mystery stories, however despite this difference in tastes Lakyus always managed to recommend just the right book.
"unfortunately not princess, although Arthur has some interesting stories he tells, he comes off as well read so he might have some good recommendations"
"I suppose that's true, speaking of Arthur, what do you think of him?"
The princess asked with a slight squint of her eyes, paying careful attention to Lakyus's answers.
"What do you mean?"
Lakyus found the question to be strangely embarrassing, like she was being asked a more intimate question rather than just an innocent curious question. Her mind thinking that way mayhaps be telling more about her than anything else.
"I mean, what do you think of him as an individual, a person, a man"
"uh…"
That last part of Renner's question caused the adventurer to hesitate in answering the question.
"I think he is a respectable person, very reliable…"
She answered but decided to end her sentence there. She has some personal thoughts about Arthur but she felt that it would be inappropriate to speak about them or at the very least she did not want to say too much and seemed like she was interested in him.
"I think that's quite a shallow description but I suppose it is apt, but I' say I like how he doesn't respect the nobles and barely cares about etiquette, aside from his handsome face the best part is that he can do whatever he wants but chooses not to and he's very intimidating and powerful when he wants to, which I think is a valuable quality that any man should have"
She explained,
"Then does that mean you're interested in Arthur?"
Lakyus asked, feeling a sense of anticipation for Renner's answer to her question. She unknowingly held her breath, hoping the answer would be something she wanted to hear.
"I suppose I am"
She answered and saw the hidden disappointment in Lakyus's face, a sight that brought a little joy in her heart. While she considered Lakyus a friend to an extent, Renner was unwilling to have Lakyus steal her knight away from her. She would be the only woman who would be intimate with him, and she would make no exceptions for anyone.
Renner was not entirely sure that Lakyus had feelings for Arthur, just as she herself wasn't sure about her own. The look of disappointment on Lakyus just now simply told her that the adventurer's interest in her knight was still in its infancy however It was better to crush it before it fully developed.
"And I'm certain he's interested in me too. He's very obvious about it"
She said and smiled, to Lakyus it would seem like a normal smile of a maiden happy that her man of interest liked her back but Renner smiled because it brought her joy to know that Lakyus would now give up on any interest she has on Arthur, it was a smile of victory.
Renner didn't know if she loved him or not but she knew that she thought he was attractive and she coveted his power and wanted him to stay by her side as long as possible and She was willing to go to any lengths to ensure that remains so.
She by herself had no power but with Arthur by her side, she could finally do the things she waa never able to do, the very notion of aiming for the throne would far more difficult to accomplish without her knight as such it's essential that she does not separate from him.
"Is that why he became so defensive yesterday when the nobles were talking about your marriage?"
Lakyus asked curiously, her disappointment discarded as she began to feel some happiness for her friend. Her interest in Arthur was small as such, she didn't feel devastated by the idea.
"I believe so"
She informed, unfortunately however their conversation was cut short when they arrived at their destination.
...
[Minutes earlier]
"Your highness, did you hear?"
"Hm?!"
Zanac sipped his tea after humming in response to the Marquis' question.
"There's rumor that the princess plans to tackle eight fingers"
"What?!"
He spit out his tea out of sheer shock at the news he just heard. His reaction was very reasonable, eight fingers was a large organisation spanning the whole country to try and get rid of it would take a massive amount of resources, resources the nobles would be unwilling to waste.
"Indeed, it's but a rumor, but i believe the reason Sir Arthur left this morning is related to her plans about that"
"Is she stupid?!"
Zanac questioned rhetorically, but he quickly dismissed such a notion, Renner was far from that, yet he could not fathom why she would plan to make such a move. There must be something she's after.
"I don't believe so Highness, but I believe this is a big risk that she's taking"
"What do you mean, Marquis?"
"The princess recently rejected the idea of marriage when It was brought up by the king, and yesterday it seems that she had an altercation with Urovana who brought up the topic of marriage as well"
Raeven explained and watched as the gears turned in the prince's head, Zanac was not the smartest of people, but he was never dumb either as such, he could see things if they were obvious.
"You don't mean she's…"
"Exactly my Prince, she's aiming for the throne."
He finished the sentence for the Prince and Zanac could not help but gasp in shock, what he just heard was unheard of, no woman in the history of the kingdom has ever dared to do such a thing.
"She's planning to use her possible victory against eight to gain support from not only the peasants but the nobles as well. If she succeeds, no one would be able to deny her claim"
Raeven finished, eight fingers has been akin to a disease that was impossible to cure, any attempts at demolishing the organisation has ended up in failure, it didn't help that there were plenty of nobles who seemed to support the organisation from behind the scenes, getting rid of such an organisation would be a daunting task.
"Even if she does fail, the very fact that she will have tried will gain her respect that she may use to gain more favour from the nobles."
Zanac could not help but be impressed, although he also felt that she will be met with obstacles, the attempt will get her respect she can use but at the same time she'll gain the ire of many other nobles.
"indeed I bee—"
*Knock Knock*
A knock came in from behind the door to the room, forcing the two to turn their attention toward it. Zanac looked at the marquis before deciding to answer the knock.
"enter"
The doors opened, and Renner entered as Lakyus had opened the door for her.
"good afternoon, dear brother and Marquis Raeven"
"Indeed my sister, what brings you to my chambers?"
Renner feigned a hurt expression and placed her hand on her chest.
"How mean of you, brother. Can I not simply visit you just to see you? We are family after all"
Zanac rolled his eyes at her and decided not to answer her question, although he did feel bad about the fact that it is true that they only ever talk face to face when one of them wants something. What kind of older brother was he?
"fine, fine, schedule a meeting sometime this week, we can talk in the garden"
"I was actually joking, brother, no nee–"
"no, you are indeed right. What kind of older brother never speaks to his sister?"
Zanac stated, Barbro was a terrible older brother to the both of them, Zanac at least thought to be a better brother than him.
"anyway, we came here because I need you to take me to the dungeon"
"Is this about the prisoners you brought in two days ago?"
"yes"
She answered, and Zanac sighed, wondered if she wished to torture them for information. She never really said anything about who they were, but if he had to guess, they're probably related to eight fingers.
"Alright"
…..
Prince Barbro felt a great sense of anger towards A number of people right now, however in an act of great self-control, unlike him, he remained poised and calm, at least on the outside he did.
"Your Highness, may I know why you called me here today?"
Margrave Urovana asked as he sat on the couch, his head turned to look at the prince. as a member of the royalty faction, he felt like he was inside the enemy's den. Despite being A prince, Barbro was getting his backing from the nobility faction.
"I hear that yesterday you had an unpleasant encounter with that peasant knight that my sister keeps around"
"I suppose I did. He was rather quite brazen and disrespectful"
The Margrave answered, although he could already tell where this was going, it was fairly obvious to anyone that Barbro had a sort of grudge against Arthur and unlike the rest of the nobles he could not see the value the knight had.
"He quite indeed is, he doesn't seem to recognize the nobility or the royal family, we can't have a subordinate show so much insolence towards his betters now can we?"
"I suppose we cannot"
Urovana agreed, Despite Arthur being disrespectful towards him and Pespea, the Margrave planned to do nothing about it, if anything he would have a slight talk with Arthur about it, the man was still young and probably did not understand politics very well as such the Margrave thought giving him advice on how to properly Deal with nobles would help him in the long run.
Yes he felt a great anger after that incident, yes he felt the need to punish him and make him regret it however Urovana Is no fool, the yearly war with The Baharuth empire is close, to antagonise Arthur would not be fruitful.
"Then what do you propose we do to deal with him?"
Urovana sighed and took a glance at Marquis Bulloupe and gave Him a disapproving look. If you're going to manipulate someone for your cause, at least make sure they know the value and importance of certain people. To The Margrave, this just proved that Barbro was unfit to rule this kingdom.
"I apologise your highness, but I have very urgent matters to attend to. His Majesty had asked for my presence earlier today, so if you'll excuse me"
The Margrave stood up and marched to the exit, not caring for whatever the prince might have to say.
Slamming the door as he got out, he left a fuming prince inside.
*BAM!!*
The prince slammed his hands onto his desk with enough force to split it in two.
"ALL OF THEM ARE COWARDS!!"
He shouted as he proceeded to kick the other half of the broken desk into the doors. The sudden crash startled a maid that was walking by, nearly causing her to slip and fall.
...
A/N: how is the chapter? Anything out of place or seemed rushed? Please let me know.
Stay cool, Love yall.