The Steep Path Ahead [Familiar of Zero AU]
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
Chapter Fifty-One
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Fifty-One
Saito had the sinking feeling he was being observed. He didn't know if it was because he spent most of his time with Louise, and in turn with the rest of her family who hadn't dropped their fussiness once, or if it was because there was someone waiting for just the right moment to strike him out.
Still, he ate considerably better than normal, and he also enjoyed watching Louise squirm in lace and corsets and mighty uncomfortable shoes.
"You are having fun," Louise said curtly, giving him a glare and blowing a lock of pink hair off her face, where it had apparently been willfully put by a master hair stylist to give her a 'proper, dignified look'. All that Louise knew was that she had never hated her long hair more than in the following days.
"I am," Saito said with a nod. "I am really having fun right now," he added.
It was thus with great chagrin that Saito was soon the next target of the Duke and Duchess' efforts.
His cloak as a knight of the North Parterre around his body, his hands actually manicured -who the hell would have thought a male needed that?- his hair shiny and pristine, his clothes made of things he wouldn't have been able to buy in a hundred years, and yet for all of that splendor, there was a sword by his hip.
It was admittedly a beautiful sword with a golden guard and with a sheathe made of silver and white gold, but it had been part of 'The Deal'. Louise was the Duke and Duchess' heir, and as such, she had to be presented to High Society. Since the Duke could dispense titles and hand over the land he managed as he saw fit, Saito had found himself titled with the rank of 'Baron of La Baume' and given a plot of land that had been meant for Louise's deceased older sister.
The reason he was wearing such clothes and standing stiffly to attention was because Louise and him were no longer in the palace of the Duke and the Duchess of La Valliére. No, they were at the royal court of Tristain, where Louise would be presented to the Queen, or the Princess -the Queen was suffering from a case of ill health, and whispers were she wouldn't survive for much longer- and also to her other, older sister.
The woman known as 'Eleonore Albertine Le Blanc de La Blois de La Vallière' had yet to be seen however. She was married to someone very important within the palace, and as such spent most of her time keeping company and educating the princess.
As proper etiquette would have it, Saito had to wait outside the ballroom's secondary doors for the nobles to assemble inside, and then he would have to step inside while holding Louise's hand. The girl had yet to arrive down a long staircase of sorts. The way the doors were placed, the moment they opened them from inside, everyone would take a look at the stairs and watch Louise descend the stairs. Saito would come into 'show' only later, and guide her inside.
They would then be properly presented to the Queen -or the Princess. Saito didn't know who was inside the ballroom. He could hear the chatter, and sometimes he managed to catch the yell of the announcer giving out names like candies. 'The Earl of this', 'The Count of that', 'The Viscount of this-that', and some of the names were so long Saito didn't know if it was the announcer presenting two people at the same time or if someone had just been so unlucky that their parents hated them so much as to give them long names.
Still, there Saito was.
"Saito!" Louise hissed from above the stairs, out of his sight. "Are you there?"
"Yes!" Saito hissed back in reply, trying to crane his neck to catch a peek of Louise, and failing miserably at that. "These clothes itch!"
"Well, at least you can breathe and have trousers!" Louise retorted. "You should see what I'm wearing-I look like an overgrown meringue!"
Saito chuckled at that. "I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Just you wait-remember not to laugh when you see me!" Louise hissed. "And do you remember what you have to do? I hope I get everything right-"
"Relax," Saito said. "It's part of the deal with your mother, isn't it? I'm sure you'll make her proud."
"Yeah, yeah, my mother-well, my father's the nice one of the two, who would have thought he'd be the one with the secret candy stash-"
Saito simply chuckled once more, and Louise grew quiet. "Saito," she said in the end. "Thank you."
"For what?" Saito asked, puzzled.
"Nothing. I just felt like saying thank you. I might be a noble lady now, but saying 'thank you' should never-"
And then the doors opened with the sound of trumpets.
"The Duke and Duchess de la Valliére are proud to present to the royal court their long lost noble daughter, the most noble Lady Louise-" and with the start of her name being pronounced, Louise appeared from the top of the stairs, making her way down as the lights from within the ballroom made her literally 'glint' from the amount of white that had been used on her dress. It looked more like a dress meant for marriage, but the sleeves were short, and white gloves covered her hands. She had a necklace of pearls around her neck, and as her face flushed slightly red from embarrassment, she still managed to descend all of the stairs.
She even had white shoes and white earrings, and a white shawl over her strawberry blond hair, with a trio of feathers on it.
Saito had no words, but he didn't need any.
"Presenting her is her fiance-" that had been part of 'The Deal'.
The choice had been between removing Saito outright from the equation -which would have been problematic in the long run, since rumors would have abounded- or insert him somehow in Louise's social circle. Since it was considered rude to ask to see someone's wand -and quite the common element in modern misunderstanding comedy all throughout Halkeginia- if Saito was a Baron, then he probably was a mage, and if the Duke had allowed him to be Louise's fiancé, then he was of strict moral fiber.
Probably.
Nobody really cared about him anyway, since he was the lowest level of nobility.
It also helped Louise, because it meant she could 'breathe' and avoid suitors. It had been a win-win situation for both sides.
"Lord Saito Hiraga, Baron of la Baume, knight of the North Parterre," and as Saito brought his hand up to greet Louise's one, he entered the ballroom filled with people that stood by the sides of the room, allowing them to walk straight through them and towards the Queen -and the Princess, who was also present.
Saito didn't know why the princess emitted a small gasp at their sight, but perhaps it was a hiccup -those happened always in the most inopportune of moments. Still, the ceremony's formality made both Saito and Louise tense, and it was only once the words of rite were said and done that the most dangerous part of the 'Ceremony' came into being.
Louise was not a good dancer.
Saito wasn't either, but he tried his hardest not to overstep.
That night, Saito's feet screamed bloody murder and swore eternal vengeance to Louise's own.
When the rest of the nobles joined into the dance, Louise's father 'stealing' Louise away for a dance, Saito gasped for fresh air from the nearest balcony, taking a moment to himself.
"Good evening," a male voice said next to him, making him turn and raise an eyebrow at the grey-haired -or perhaps silver-haired- man with a goatee of the same color. "Having a pleasant night, Lord Hiraga?"
"I apologize, but-" Saito looked nervously at the man. How was he supposed to recognize a Count from a Viscount, and a Baron from a Duke again?
"Do not worry, I rose to my title through military methods," the man said with a chuckle. "And I can't stand the stuffy ballrooms either," he added with a quip. "I am the Viscount Jean-Jacques Francis, of Wardes. When we aren't surrounded by other nobles, please do call me Jean-Jacques," he added. "I am also the consort of Lady Louise's sister, so that will eventually makes us family," he said with a wink. "From a knight to another-if Lady Louise is anything like her older sister, I hope you are quick to dodge whips."
"She prefers punches and kicks," Saito replied earnestly. The Viscount laughed gingerly at that, and as the two shared a few more words, the man finally looked on at the ballroom and sighed.
"See that man talking with Queen Marianne? He's the King of Gallia. I don't know when, but he started to have this sort of interest with the Valliére family that-well," as the Viscount spoke, Saito's eyes moved to a blue-haired man wearing one of the strangest dresses he had ever seen. "Quite annoying, with all the messages and letters he kept sending, but one can hardly say no to royalty."
"Yeah," Saito said with a half-numb nod.
"By the way," the Viscount said offhandedly. "Have I ever told you the tale of the Knight Ivaldi, and of his bloody victory over the dragon?"
Saito furrowed his brows, and then remained to keenly listen on to the tale.
The rest of the night was kind of a blur.
Saito had the sinking feeling he was being observed. He didn't know if it was because he spent most of his time with Louise, and in turn with the rest of her family who hadn't dropped their fussiness once, or if it was because there was someone waiting for just the right moment to strike him out.
Still, he ate considerably better than normal, and he also enjoyed watching Louise squirm in lace and corsets and mighty uncomfortable shoes.
"You are having fun," Louise said curtly, giving him a glare and blowing a lock of pink hair off her face, where it had apparently been willfully put by a master hair stylist to give her a 'proper, dignified look'. All that Louise knew was that she had never hated her long hair more than in the following days.
"I am," Saito said with a nod. "I am really having fun right now," he added.
It was thus with great chagrin that Saito was soon the next target of the Duke and Duchess' efforts.
His cloak as a knight of the North Parterre around his body, his hands actually manicured -who the hell would have thought a male needed that?- his hair shiny and pristine, his clothes made of things he wouldn't have been able to buy in a hundred years, and yet for all of that splendor, there was a sword by his hip.
It was admittedly a beautiful sword with a golden guard and with a sheathe made of silver and white gold, but it had been part of 'The Deal'. Louise was the Duke and Duchess' heir, and as such, she had to be presented to High Society. Since the Duke could dispense titles and hand over the land he managed as he saw fit, Saito had found himself titled with the rank of 'Baron of La Baume' and given a plot of land that had been meant for Louise's deceased older sister.
The reason he was wearing such clothes and standing stiffly to attention was because Louise and him were no longer in the palace of the Duke and the Duchess of La Valliére. No, they were at the royal court of Tristain, where Louise would be presented to the Queen, or the Princess -the Queen was suffering from a case of ill health, and whispers were she wouldn't survive for much longer- and also to her other, older sister.
The woman known as 'Eleonore Albertine Le Blanc de La Blois de La Vallière' had yet to be seen however. She was married to someone very important within the palace, and as such spent most of her time keeping company and educating the princess.
As proper etiquette would have it, Saito had to wait outside the ballroom's secondary doors for the nobles to assemble inside, and then he would have to step inside while holding Louise's hand. The girl had yet to arrive down a long staircase of sorts. The way the doors were placed, the moment they opened them from inside, everyone would take a look at the stairs and watch Louise descend the stairs. Saito would come into 'show' only later, and guide her inside.
They would then be properly presented to the Queen -or the Princess. Saito didn't know who was inside the ballroom. He could hear the chatter, and sometimes he managed to catch the yell of the announcer giving out names like candies. 'The Earl of this', 'The Count of that', 'The Viscount of this-that', and some of the names were so long Saito didn't know if it was the announcer presenting two people at the same time or if someone had just been so unlucky that their parents hated them so much as to give them long names.
Still, there Saito was.
"Saito!" Louise hissed from above the stairs, out of his sight. "Are you there?"
"Yes!" Saito hissed back in reply, trying to crane his neck to catch a peek of Louise, and failing miserably at that. "These clothes itch!"
"Well, at least you can breathe and have trousers!" Louise retorted. "You should see what I'm wearing-I look like an overgrown meringue!"
Saito chuckled at that. "I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Just you wait-remember not to laugh when you see me!" Louise hissed. "And do you remember what you have to do? I hope I get everything right-"
"Relax," Saito said. "It's part of the deal with your mother, isn't it? I'm sure you'll make her proud."
"Yeah, yeah, my mother-well, my father's the nice one of the two, who would have thought he'd be the one with the secret candy stash-"
Saito simply chuckled once more, and Louise grew quiet. "Saito," she said in the end. "Thank you."
"For what?" Saito asked, puzzled.
"Nothing. I just felt like saying thank you. I might be a noble lady now, but saying 'thank you' should never-"
And then the doors opened with the sound of trumpets.
"The Duke and Duchess de la Valliére are proud to present to the royal court their long lost noble daughter, the most noble Lady Louise-" and with the start of her name being pronounced, Louise appeared from the top of the stairs, making her way down as the lights from within the ballroom made her literally 'glint' from the amount of white that had been used on her dress. It looked more like a dress meant for marriage, but the sleeves were short, and white gloves covered her hands. She had a necklace of pearls around her neck, and as her face flushed slightly red from embarrassment, she still managed to descend all of the stairs.
She even had white shoes and white earrings, and a white shawl over her strawberry blond hair, with a trio of feathers on it.
Saito had no words, but he didn't need any.
"Presenting her is her fiance-" that had been part of 'The Deal'.
The choice had been between removing Saito outright from the equation -which would have been problematic in the long run, since rumors would have abounded- or insert him somehow in Louise's social circle. Since it was considered rude to ask to see someone's wand -and quite the common element in modern misunderstanding comedy all throughout Halkeginia- if Saito was a Baron, then he probably was a mage, and if the Duke had allowed him to be Louise's fiancé, then he was of strict moral fiber.
Probably.
Nobody really cared about him anyway, since he was the lowest level of nobility.
It also helped Louise, because it meant she could 'breathe' and avoid suitors. It had been a win-win situation for both sides.
"Lord Saito Hiraga, Baron of la Baume, knight of the North Parterre," and as Saito brought his hand up to greet Louise's one, he entered the ballroom filled with people that stood by the sides of the room, allowing them to walk straight through them and towards the Queen -and the Princess, who was also present.
Saito didn't know why the princess emitted a small gasp at their sight, but perhaps it was a hiccup -those happened always in the most inopportune of moments. Still, the ceremony's formality made both Saito and Louise tense, and it was only once the words of rite were said and done that the most dangerous part of the 'Ceremony' came into being.
Louise was not a good dancer.
Saito wasn't either, but he tried his hardest not to overstep.
That night, Saito's feet screamed bloody murder and swore eternal vengeance to Louise's own.
When the rest of the nobles joined into the dance, Louise's father 'stealing' Louise away for a dance, Saito gasped for fresh air from the nearest balcony, taking a moment to himself.
"Good evening," a male voice said next to him, making him turn and raise an eyebrow at the grey-haired -or perhaps silver-haired- man with a goatee of the same color. "Having a pleasant night, Lord Hiraga?"
"I apologize, but-" Saito looked nervously at the man. How was he supposed to recognize a Count from a Viscount, and a Baron from a Duke again?
"Do not worry, I rose to my title through military methods," the man said with a chuckle. "And I can't stand the stuffy ballrooms either," he added with a quip. "I am the Viscount Jean-Jacques Francis, of Wardes. When we aren't surrounded by other nobles, please do call me Jean-Jacques," he added. "I am also the consort of Lady Louise's sister, so that will eventually makes us family," he said with a wink. "From a knight to another-if Lady Louise is anything like her older sister, I hope you are quick to dodge whips."
"She prefers punches and kicks," Saito replied earnestly. The Viscount laughed gingerly at that, and as the two shared a few more words, the man finally looked on at the ballroom and sighed.
"See that man talking with Queen Marianne? He's the King of Gallia. I don't know when, but he started to have this sort of interest with the Valliére family that-well," as the Viscount spoke, Saito's eyes moved to a blue-haired man wearing one of the strangest dresses he had ever seen. "Quite annoying, with all the messages and letters he kept sending, but one can hardly say no to royalty."
"Yeah," Saito said with a half-numb nod.
"By the way," the Viscount said offhandedly. "Have I ever told you the tale of the Knight Ivaldi, and of his bloody victory over the dragon?"
Saito furrowed his brows, and then remained to keenly listen on to the tale.
The rest of the night was kind of a blur.
Dragonskyt
Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?
- Location
- Kiln of the First Flame
No Saito! Don't listen!
He's the bad guy! Eeeeeviiil!
He's the bad guy! Eeeeeviiil!
PseudoSim
Intentionally Obfuscating
- Location
- Beating my muse with a bat for being a pain
PURGE HIM WITH FIRE!
This is either meaningless... or ominous, me cant decide.
Called it.
You fucking bastard.
Drugged? Already?
Dammit Saito.
And the Gallian king seems to have some idea of what's up.
So they haven't exploded the Cardinal yet, right? The talk of palaces going boom had me confused for a second. I'd guess that would be the next thing on the list, after reconnecting with the royals.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Wait if Saito was busy talking to Wardes does that mean Louise had to meet Eleanore alone?
Chapter Fifty-Two
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Fifty-Two
Louise had finished dancing with her father -much to the older man's chagrin- and had survived talking with enough nobility to make her head spin. She didn't know if they really had blue blood or not, but she did know that she had never smiled and bowed so much as she had in that night. She had also been aptly 'ditched' by her dancing partner, who had taken to the balcony in an effort to survive.
He was talking with the Viscount of Wardes, who was apparently the husband of her older sister. She had met her, but there hadn't really been much in the form of hugs or recognition. It was if someone had driven a sharp metal rod up that woman's back, and her glare was definitely something only Karin the Heavy Wind could manage to surpass. They had barely exchanged a few words of greeting...and nothing more.
There had been no heartfelt reunion of sorts, and the older woman had left her a short while later, entertaining conversations with other nobles around the ballroom.
Louise had thus naturally gravitated towards the buffet, which had been strategically placed near the Queen, who seemed to be entertaining with a half-bored expression the King of Gallia, who was smiling brightly, as if incapable of understanding his 'pleasant' conversation was anything but the most trite of things.
His niece Charlotte had apparently left the ballroom after a short amount of time, but considering her character, she was simply not the type interested in balls. The Princess had done so too, excusing herself because she felt faint.
It was as her eyes moved past the table filled with exotic delicacies that she heard it.
It was a simple 'thump'.
Her eyes turned to where a fully armored man landed, his cloak billowing with pure dark, and his visor obscuring his traits -all of them. Frankly, it felt like an over the top actor playing the part of the evil knight -especially with the spikes.
Only a few nobles had noticed him.
But by then, it was too late.
Louise had thought the bandit on the griphon had been 'fast'. She had thought nobody could be able to top that speed.
She had been wrong.
The man was wearing a full suit of armor, and by all accounts, should have been as slow as a snail. Most definitely a devastating foe, but outright slow when it came to charging in the middle of the nobles at court.
He had not been.
The floor cracked with his quick burst of speed, something that made him flicker out of sight for a bare instant. When he next appeared, his sword arm had finished the piercing gesture that impaled the King of Gallia straight through the heart, leaving the man to widen his eyes in disbelief.
"Oh Charlotte..." the King of Gallia whispered with a faint smile as he gazed at the armored man's helmet, just an inch away from his face. "I knew...you would break my heart." A smile blossomed on the dying king's lips as the knight pulled the blade out and swung it again, slicing the head neatly off before anyone could as much as blink at the sheer speed.
Karin the Heavy Wind hadn't needed to blink to charge right in front of the knight, who had set his sights on the Queen next. Even without a wand, the hammer of air that the Heavy Wind sent against assassin did its job in pushing the man away, forcing him on the defensive. The knight's blade shone briefly, and the air hammer that should have, by all accounts, sent the man out of the window instead merely dispersed harmlessly.
The blade pulsed as the knight slammed it on the ground, rippling it with the same strength as the air hammer had. As the shrapnel forced the Heavy Wind to shield the Queen from harm, the knight jumped backwards, towards the same balcony he had come from.
"Reconquista sends their regards," the knight growled, the blade held in front of his face before he threw himself out of the balcony and becoming nothing more than a shaky blur in the dark of the palace's gardens.
"After him!" the Viscount of Wardes yelled, jumping off the balcony together with Saito, both of them having a sword -in the Viscount's case a swordwand- in hand.
A couple of guards rushed out of the ballroom, leaving a half-shocked Louise to stare at the corpse of the dead King of Gallia that was but an arm's length away from her, and at the shocked expression on the Queen's face. "Marianne-" Karin whispered hoarsely.
"Karin," the Queen said. "Hold me-I think I'm going to faint-"
The Queen proceeded to do just that, forcing Karin to grab hold of her and call for aid, just as many nobles began to yell their indignation at Reconquista, clamoring for something to be done against those vile foes.
The Cardinal took that as the cue to make silence.
"Silence."
As the staff he held that was a symbol of his office slammed on the ground, the floor trembled as it repaired itself, removing all traces of the knight in armor from having ever stepped inside the ballroom. "The Crown will act against this grievous offense from Reconquista," the Cardinal continued, his voice easily reaching across the entire room.
"Most Noble Lords and Ladies of the court," the Cardinal added smoothly, "Please permit the palace to offer you hospitality for the night, and if not, an armed guard to escort you safely back to your mansions."
As the crowd began to calm down, and filter out following the servants, the Cardinal turned his weary eyes to the Queen who was being held by Karin. "Follow me, Duchess, we must talk further-"
The Princess took that as the cue to return to the ballroom, her breathing raspy from having probably ran all the way from her room. "M-Mother?!"
"Princess, please-now is not the time," the Cardinal said. "Lady Louise-" his eyes turned to Louise, who hadn't yet moved from her spot, too busy being mesmerized by the lines of blood traced on her white gown to actually consider moving. "Please step away from the corpse."
With a startled gasp, Louise did just that. The corpse hadn't been moved yet, and the blood was still pooling out on the floor.
More than an hour later, Saito returned by Louise's side. His clothes were rumpled as if he had ran across the gardens by taking the hedgerows head first, and there were more than a few twigs in his hair.
"I ended up blasted against a hedgerow," he said in the end. "That man-damn, the Viscount's fine-did you know he's the Captain of the Griffin Knights-"
Louise clutched her white gown stained with blood and didn't say a word at first. "Louise?" Saito knelt in front of the girl, who had been sitting outside the queen's personal rooms in wait for her mother. "Louise-hey-"
Her arms clutched tightly at Saito's neck and as she began to cry, Saito's eyes widened briefly. Awkwardly, he returned the hug.
Of course, that was the moment the door opened to reveal the Duchess and the Cardinal.
"We have other matters to discuss, Cardinal," Karin said, averting her eyes from the awkward scene with a snap to her tone.
The Cardinal blinked owlishly, and then grimaced, taking a deep breath. "Very well-let us speak in my office. Your daughter and her fiancé should be present too, I suppose."
As the Cardinal walked ahead of the group, Louise hesitated only briefly, but then outright ripped the bloodied pieces of silk off her gown.
She had enough layers of the stuff that one more or one less made no difference.
And it didn't matter anyway if she appeared proper or not any longer.
She was just glad Saito was there by her side once more.
Louise had finished dancing with her father -much to the older man's chagrin- and had survived talking with enough nobility to make her head spin. She didn't know if they really had blue blood or not, but she did know that she had never smiled and bowed so much as she had in that night. She had also been aptly 'ditched' by her dancing partner, who had taken to the balcony in an effort to survive.
He was talking with the Viscount of Wardes, who was apparently the husband of her older sister. She had met her, but there hadn't really been much in the form of hugs or recognition. It was if someone had driven a sharp metal rod up that woman's back, and her glare was definitely something only Karin the Heavy Wind could manage to surpass. They had barely exchanged a few words of greeting...and nothing more.
There had been no heartfelt reunion of sorts, and the older woman had left her a short while later, entertaining conversations with other nobles around the ballroom.
Louise had thus naturally gravitated towards the buffet, which had been strategically placed near the Queen, who seemed to be entertaining with a half-bored expression the King of Gallia, who was smiling brightly, as if incapable of understanding his 'pleasant' conversation was anything but the most trite of things.
His niece Charlotte had apparently left the ballroom after a short amount of time, but considering her character, she was simply not the type interested in balls. The Princess had done so too, excusing herself because she felt faint.
It was as her eyes moved past the table filled with exotic delicacies that she heard it.
It was a simple 'thump'.
Her eyes turned to where a fully armored man landed, his cloak billowing with pure dark, and his visor obscuring his traits -all of them. Frankly, it felt like an over the top actor playing the part of the evil knight -especially with the spikes.
Only a few nobles had noticed him.
But by then, it was too late.
Louise had thought the bandit on the griphon had been 'fast'. She had thought nobody could be able to top that speed.
She had been wrong.
The man was wearing a full suit of armor, and by all accounts, should have been as slow as a snail. Most definitely a devastating foe, but outright slow when it came to charging in the middle of the nobles at court.
He had not been.
The floor cracked with his quick burst of speed, something that made him flicker out of sight for a bare instant. When he next appeared, his sword arm had finished the piercing gesture that impaled the King of Gallia straight through the heart, leaving the man to widen his eyes in disbelief.
"Oh Charlotte..." the King of Gallia whispered with a faint smile as he gazed at the armored man's helmet, just an inch away from his face. "I knew...you would break my heart." A smile blossomed on the dying king's lips as the knight pulled the blade out and swung it again, slicing the head neatly off before anyone could as much as blink at the sheer speed.
Karin the Heavy Wind hadn't needed to blink to charge right in front of the knight, who had set his sights on the Queen next. Even without a wand, the hammer of air that the Heavy Wind sent against assassin did its job in pushing the man away, forcing him on the defensive. The knight's blade shone briefly, and the air hammer that should have, by all accounts, sent the man out of the window instead merely dispersed harmlessly.
The blade pulsed as the knight slammed it on the ground, rippling it with the same strength as the air hammer had. As the shrapnel forced the Heavy Wind to shield the Queen from harm, the knight jumped backwards, towards the same balcony he had come from.
"Reconquista sends their regards," the knight growled, the blade held in front of his face before he threw himself out of the balcony and becoming nothing more than a shaky blur in the dark of the palace's gardens.
"After him!" the Viscount of Wardes yelled, jumping off the balcony together with Saito, both of them having a sword -in the Viscount's case a swordwand- in hand.
A couple of guards rushed out of the ballroom, leaving a half-shocked Louise to stare at the corpse of the dead King of Gallia that was but an arm's length away from her, and at the shocked expression on the Queen's face. "Marianne-" Karin whispered hoarsely.
"Karin," the Queen said. "Hold me-I think I'm going to faint-"
The Queen proceeded to do just that, forcing Karin to grab hold of her and call for aid, just as many nobles began to yell their indignation at Reconquista, clamoring for something to be done against those vile foes.
The Cardinal took that as the cue to make silence.
"Silence."
As the staff he held that was a symbol of his office slammed on the ground, the floor trembled as it repaired itself, removing all traces of the knight in armor from having ever stepped inside the ballroom. "The Crown will act against this grievous offense from Reconquista," the Cardinal continued, his voice easily reaching across the entire room.
"Most Noble Lords and Ladies of the court," the Cardinal added smoothly, "Please permit the palace to offer you hospitality for the night, and if not, an armed guard to escort you safely back to your mansions."
As the crowd began to calm down, and filter out following the servants, the Cardinal turned his weary eyes to the Queen who was being held by Karin. "Follow me, Duchess, we must talk further-"
The Princess took that as the cue to return to the ballroom, her breathing raspy from having probably ran all the way from her room. "M-Mother?!"
"Princess, please-now is not the time," the Cardinal said. "Lady Louise-" his eyes turned to Louise, who hadn't yet moved from her spot, too busy being mesmerized by the lines of blood traced on her white gown to actually consider moving. "Please step away from the corpse."
With a startled gasp, Louise did just that. The corpse hadn't been moved yet, and the blood was still pooling out on the floor.
More than an hour later, Saito returned by Louise's side. His clothes were rumpled as if he had ran across the gardens by taking the hedgerows head first, and there were more than a few twigs in his hair.
"I ended up blasted against a hedgerow," he said in the end. "That man-damn, the Viscount's fine-did you know he's the Captain of the Griffin Knights-"
Louise clutched her white gown stained with blood and didn't say a word at first. "Louise?" Saito knelt in front of the girl, who had been sitting outside the queen's personal rooms in wait for her mother. "Louise-hey-"
Her arms clutched tightly at Saito's neck and as she began to cry, Saito's eyes widened briefly. Awkwardly, he returned the hug.
Of course, that was the moment the door opened to reveal the Duchess and the Cardinal.
"We have other matters to discuss, Cardinal," Karin said, averting her eyes from the awkward scene with a snap to her tone.
The Cardinal blinked owlishly, and then grimaced, taking a deep breath. "Very well-let us speak in my office. Your daughter and her fiancé should be present too, I suppose."
As the Cardinal walked ahead of the group, Louise hesitated only briefly, but then outright ripped the bloodied pieces of silk off her gown.
She had enough layers of the stuff that one more or one less made no difference.
And it didn't matter anyway if she appeared proper or not any longer.
She was just glad Saito was there by her side once more.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
...Looks like another Palace is gonna be blown the fuck up.
NINJAEDIT: Daw that's sweet. Also yay for Charlotte, the crazy - or not so crazy? - fucker is dead!
something is rotten in the kingdom of Galia!
and wont there be a confrontation with the cardinal now?
and wont there be a confrontation with the cardinal now?
- Pronouns
- she/her
These lines make this assassination feel staged as fuck, so my guess is that the "Joseph" who just got killed was a Skirny or gargoyle or something and the real nutjob is yukking it up in a bunker. I can't help but notice the Cardinal seemed more keen on getting Louise away from the corpse than protecting her from a traumatizing sight.
Edit: Or for maximum troll value Joseph was actually the assassin (he has a haste spell iirc)
Interesting that the Cardinal was right there to take control of the situation. A) Does that means Louise didn't tell her parents about the letter? B) He's being really obvious with his influence over the crown by making statements like this.
Wouldn't he have been a better target for an assassination targeting world leaders instead of a Queen everyone thinks is going to die of illness soon?
Also:
Holy shit Marianne, this is not the time for your thirst!
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- Location
- The Old Dominion
Well admittedly someone who was in plate armor would be able to move quite fast unlike modern myths about such thing as such armor provides the most amount of protection with the least amount of restriction allowing even people untrained in its use to do cartwheels, back flips and other movements.
It also distributed the the weight of the armor(Typically 40-55 pounds for a military suit of armor) across the entire body while chain-mail which could weigh just as much and sometimes more put all the weight on the shoulders and the waist if a belt is used.
Of course maybe she just didn't think he could move so fast with the badly designed armor... I mean she did compare the appearance to a actor trying to play a obviously evil knight which does imply badly designed armor as evident by the spikes.
It also distributed the the weight of the armor(Typically 40-55 pounds for a military suit of armor) across the entire body while chain-mail which could weigh just as much and sometimes more put all the weight on the shoulders and the waist if a belt is used.
Of course maybe she just didn't think he could move so fast with the badly designed armor... I mean she did compare the appearance to a actor trying to play a obviously evil knight which does imply badly designed armor as evident by the spikes.
Dimensionist
Grandmaster of Apologism, Keeper of the Faith
- Location
- Bangalore, India
Louise does have a misconception about the speed someone would move at in plate armor, but there's more to it than that:
That's not human speed. That's well into superhuman speed.
Someone just cast Haste. The king's faking it.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Don't cheer yet, the crazy fucker managed to incriminate Charlotte in his supposed murder with his last words.
...But the assassin seemed to be using Derf. Which we're pretty sure Charlotte bought?
Dimensionist
Grandmaster of Apologism, Keeper of the Faith
- Location
- Bangalore, India
... Hm. So the king might not be faking it.
If that's so, how'd she get so fast? That was clearly Haste - I don't think any wind spell can bring her speed to that level, and there were no accompanying effects of a wind boost either. Is there another void user?
EDIT: Might be a double fakeout, then. Or maybe the king cast Dispel to fake Lady Charlotte's magic-eating sword as the assassin killed a double. Or ...
Well, it could be a number of things.
If that's so, how'd she get so fast? That was clearly Haste - I don't think any wind spell can bring her speed to that level, and there were no accompanying effects of a wind boost either. Is there another void user?
EDIT: Might be a double fakeout, then. Or maybe the king cast Dispel to fake Lady Charlotte's magic-eating sword as the assassin killed a double. Or ...
Well, it could be a number of things.
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Hmm, it's interesting to see the Cardinal act more like his historical namesake. Shame that he has nothing on his predecessor
I spot me a Derflinger.
Derflinger. Now where was the last time we saw a reference to him?
So he was bought by a girl that fits Charlotte's description recently. I also remember he leaving the ball early.
I'm guessing she killed him out of revenge and blamed the rebel group he funds either as a convenient target or possible as part of a plan with Henrietta to create a excuse to go to war with Albion to avenge her boyfriends death.
I bet Charlotte has an alibi with Henrietta.
Could be the twin sister. Don't forget the twin sister.
and that King did bother Marianne endlessly...
if a reason is found to interfere with the civil war in albion...
if a reason is found to interfere with the civil war in albion...