ALL NOVEL Chapter 19: The Crown
Sien was in an awful mood. Just because of the stupid order of one stupid Prince, he had to leave his kind and compassionate Ritt, who’d been acting sweetly towards him, behind. If his opponent wasn’t the Prince of the empire and also his ‘family’, then Sien would have long ago taken his sword out and shown what kind of a mistake they were making. Forcing him to be apart from Ritt was quickly becoming a crime in Sien’s mind.
And of course, the last concerned look that Ritt had given him before Sien had to leave only made Sien all the more angry that he had to go.
Desperately trying to hold himself back, Sien didn’t fully enter the meeting room when he arrived, only leaning coolly against the doorway with his arms crossed. He did his best to let his smile hide the anger that was simmering inside of him, as he was accustomed to doing, and his voice came out sounding threatening as he spoke, no matter how cheerfully he tried to say the words.
“I hope for all our sakes that this is quick, ‘cousin’.”
The Prince looked calmly at Sien, as if he were used to being treated in such a way by him, but just a second later his countenance changed into a mocking expression, and the Prince barked out a short laugh full of ridicule.
“And what, pray tell, will you do if it’s not?”
Sien smirked, his auburn gaze growing eerily more intense on the Prince, and his hand came over to gently stroke at the hilt of the sword at his hip.
“Maybe I’ll get too impatient and throw one of my famous tantrums. I’m sure nobody would blame a dirty monster like me for being unable to contain myself properly, right?”
All signs of humor immediately drained from the Prince’s face, and his eyes glared at Sien with great displeasure. However, before the Prince could open his mouth to reply, the Duke quickly spoke up in a loud, dignified, and noble tone.
“Your royal highness, Prince Tierlenreece Gossica, Crown Prince of the Gossica Empire, please bestow upon us the royal decree of the Emperor, who stands above us all.”
The Prince’s displeased gaze turned to the Duke out of the corner of his eyes for a long moment, but then he quickly readjusted himself back into his typical jovial countenance, laughing everything off as if there had never been such a silly problem in the first place.
“Yes yes, of course! It’s what we’re all gathered for here in the first place! Let’s see. My father, Emperor Tierlauren Gossica, has sent me here to inform you that he seeks the presence of the both of you in his palace. There have been concerning reports about the movements of our neighboring country of Brisillica, and he has decided that both Dukes should be present to provide him council.”
At first Sien was annoyed, as always, by the long winded nature of the decree. However, when Brisillica was brought up, Sien’s anger slightly subsided, and his mind began to spin. Brisillica was located on the other side of the mountain, the same direction that Ritt had come from. Sien knew them to be a nation of overambitious fools, who believed in themselves too greatly because they’d been blessed with a high number of mages. There was no nation that bordered them who hadn’t heard at least one or two scary tales about what supposed experiments went on inside of Brisillica’s many mage towers.
Of course, Sien only cared because it seemed like he’d found a new clue about Ritt’s past. He was quite sure that whoever had created his favorite monster must have been a part of the mage towers. The chance to learn more about Ritt sent a thrill through Sien, tickling him in a way that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get enough of. Perhaps one day soon he’d be able to collect up all of his monster’s secrets. He’d work hard, until he was the only person who knew every single one of them.
It didn’t go unnoticed by either the Duke or the Prince how lost in thought Sien had become after hearing the decree. The Duke chose to simply observe Sien quietly with a keen eye, but the Prince was far too nosey and irritated to not say something about it.
“Do you have something to add, cousin? Is there perhaps something that you'd like to share?”
Sien stayed quiet for a moment, letting his ideas finish formulating, before he looked over towards the Prince and gave him a smug, cheeky smile.
“Nope! I don’t think I have anything I want to share with you.”
The Prince was of course still angered by the obstinate reply, but he couldn’t help but become more and more curious about what had caused such an extreme change in Sien’s mood. But before he could ask any more questions, Sien beat him to the punch.
“Is that everything? Was there anything more to the Emperor’s decree?”
“Hmmm? No, he just wants the two of you to go to his palace as soon as possible-”
“Great, then I guess I can leave now.”
And with those words, Sien swiftly left, off to find his beloved Ritt once more.
~~~
Sien immediately told the curious Ritt about the Emperor’s decree, including that they would be meeting to talk about Brisillica. He felt a small rush seeing the uncomfortable way that Ritt responded when he heard that Brisillica would be the focus of the conversation; It was as if Ritt was all but confirming that Sien’s suspicions were correct.
Seeing Sien’s cheeky, almost teasing and triumphant smile as he watched him, Ritt couldn’t help but smile a little back, letting Sien’s childish and unserious looks calm him. Yes, so long as Sien was on his side, there was nothing for Ritt to be worried about. He was here now, not in Brisillica; Perhaps him getting away would be enough to stop the royals there from getting too confident and starting their insane war. And if it wasn’t enough, for whatever reason, then at least he had the strongest person he’d ever met on his side. Maybe he’d feel guilty about not helping the people he’d once protected if Sien ended up wiping them out again, but at least he’d be able to survive and have a life worth living this time.
Sien’s eyes stayed stuck on Ritt’s gentle smile for a while, engraving it again and again into his eyes, until eventually he was forced to blink, and gave up. He turned and leaned his back and head against Ritt, as he often did, who was sat next to him on the couch, and let out a big, long sigh.
“Honestly, I don’t really want to go. I don’t want to have to show you to all those awful people in the capital.”
Ritt was surprised, not having expected to be allowed to come along, but still, he was certainly happy about it for a multitude of reasons. He chuckled in good spirits as he looked at Sien, who was pouting with his arms crossed like an upset teen.
“Thank you very much for bringing me along… Although it’s quite surprising that you’re doing as you were told so obediently.”
Throughout the weeks that Ritt had been there, he’d seen Sien throw several small tantrums when he was made to do things. From his duties as a lord to his interactions with the servants and even the Duke and Prince, he’d made it quite clear that he wouldn’t just obediently listen to what they said, and would at the very least talk back, complain, or make a few casual threats. It was one of the many cheeky and childish things that Sien did that Ritt simply had to raise his eyebrows and smile at. So hearing that Sien obediently accepted the Emperor’s summons without even a word of displeasure, and had only came to lightly complain to Ritt about it after, was quite odd.
“Huh? Yeah, well, it’s not like I have a choice. I have to listen to him even if I don’t want to.”
“Mmm, because he’s the Emperor? I understand.”
Ritt slowly nodded along, sympathetically recalling all the times he was given orders that he didn’t like, but had to listen because they’d come from his superiors.
Before he'd died, Ritt had completely bought into the idea that he couldn't disobey the orders of the rulers. He knew better than to just blindly follow everything that he was told now, though; He’d already lost all respect and belief towards ‘royalty’ that had kept him in check before. If he’d known then what he knew now, then perhaps he would have just killed the Brisillica royals who had ordered the war. He was certainly strong enough to pull it off. It’s possible that if he hadn’t been able to escape and was forced to live out his second chance at life again, that he would have ended up doing just that to save the people and himself.
Sien peeked over towards Ritt’s face in confusion for a moment, but then looked away with a chagrined expression.
“Well, yeah, I guess that’s part of it… But it’s more that I can’t really go against it if the Emperor decides to use my true name. Usually I just kinda go along with whatever he says, just so I don’t have to go through him using it.”
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AN: I'll be gone for a while, but I'll start posting again on the 20th of August! See you then!
patreon.com/user?u=63286737
In case you get impatient ;P