ALL NOVEL Chapter 22: Preparation
Ritt had only grown more and more worried as they walked on, towards the capital. Sien’s face had remained serious, if not slightly dark looking, for the entire trip. It was such an odd thing to see, such a far cry from the smiling, youthful look that Sien usually had, that Ritt almost felt like he was looking at a completely different person. Sien hadn’t even looked this dark and brooding when he was slaughtering entire battlefields; In fact, even in such a gruesome and hellish situation, Sien had just smiled sinisterly, as if he were kicking away ants with his shoe.
And for some reason, Ritt couldn’t shake the feeling that Sien’s current expression was all his fault.
Attempting to comfort himself during the hours of silent marching, Ritt studied the landscape. The fields they were passing by looked just the same as any other, but he did his best to enjoy seeing all the crops, animals, and people that they passed. There were very few times in his life that he was able to just quietly observe what such common places looked like, and Ritt found that it was rather quite calming to him. It was nice to witness average scenes, average people, all so foreign to his terribly odd life. Perhaps it was impossible for him to become average like them, but just knowing that such quiet and calm lives existed was so very interesting to Ritt.
What was also interesting to witness was the capital city. The Gossica Empire's capital seemed to have very different architecture from what Ritt had seen in the Kingdom of Brisillica. Where Brisillica showed off its grandiose magic power by making many large decorative towers with intricate and strong glass made by specialized mages, Gossica seemed to enjoy making its big and important buildings into large and arching domes, filled with astoundingly detailed artwork and designs, many of which were made out of a myriad of minerals and gems. The buildings might not have gotten nearly as high as Brisillica’s towers, but they somehow looked stronger and sturdier, as if made to outlast any and all things that might come their way.
Ritt almost stopped to stare at it all quite a few times, in awe at the beauty that surrounded him. Sien, having calmed down slightly after walking for a few hours, slowed down his stride slightly so that he wouldn’t tug on Ritt’s hand too much, giving Ritt more time to stare at whatever caught his eye. Having long grown bored of the capital’s beauty, he instead took his time enjoying Ritt’s reactions to it, quietly smirking to himself at Ritt’s cuteness.
In the end, it took a bit longer to get to the palace than had been originally planned. Still, by using Sien’s enchanted forest, they’d managed to get there a good while before the Duke or the Prince would be arriving, and so Sien turned on his heel, marching the two of them away towards a different location instead.
Never would Ritt have expected it to be a clothing boutique.
“What, you think you could just go into the inner palace wearing that? The courtiers would absolutely demolish you.”
“...I’m surprised you would care about such things.”
Sien gave a wry and mischievous smile in response, narrowing his eyes as he looked past Ritt, off into the distance, as if he were remembering something.
“Yeah? Well I wouldn’t if it weren’t such a hassle. Sometimes you gotta follow the 'rules' if you don’t wanna spend an hour getting chewed out for it.”
Ritt was also surprised that Sien would just stand still and let anyone lecture him about anything, but he kept the thought to himself, now that he’d confirmed that Sien truly meant for him to wear such uncomfortable looking clothes. Ritt had actually grown quite accustomed to the loose, almost commoner-like clothes that the maids had found for him to wear. They fit his slightly larger than average frame quite well, and afforded him excellent range of movement. They were certainly more comfortable than the sack-like 'experimenting' clothes he’d had to wear during his time in the mage tower, and also more comfortable than the military uniform he’d been forced to wear under his armor once he’d successfully become the Paladin. Having been given such wonderful and ordinary clothes to wear, he rather didn’t like the idea of being forced into the ‘fashionable’ and difficult looking clothing in front of him.
Still, if Sien said he had to, then he would do it.
~~~
“Is this… correct?”
Ritt exited the dressing room, spreading his arms out so that Sien could get a good look at his clothes. He was sure that he was wearing them right, since the employees in the dressing room had helped him put them on, but he wasn’t quite sure that it was what he was supposed to be wearing. He’d seen plenty of the other clothing options that were on offer before Sien had selected this one, and most of them looked more official and high strung than these; In fact, what he was wearing didn’t at all seem to match with what he would expect nobility to wear, either here or in Brisillica. The pants appeared to be more in line with the style that he’d noticed the Duke and the Prince wearing when they'd come to visit Sien, so he believed that they must indeed be the norm, or at least something deemed 'acceptable' by the nobility... But the top was quite a bit different than anything he’d ever witnessed before, outside of a monastery. While still clearly having been intended for men, the top of the clothing was quite a bit longer and more flow-y than he would have expected, almost looking like something pious, although it fit his form a bit better than anything he’d ever seen a member of the clergy wear, and stopped modestly at his mid-thigh. The fabric felt quite wonderful and expensive, and the designs upon it were quite intricate and exquisite, but it still felt quite a bit more plain than what he expected the other people he would meet at the palace might wear.
Sien let his eyes roam over the picture that Ritt made in front of him. On top of dressing him, the employees had also styled his hair to match the outfit, loosely braiding Ritt’s hair while fashionably brushing back the front of his bangs. Sien rather enjoyed seeing this dressed up side of Ritt, and seeing him looking slightly uncomfortable and self conscious was definitely a bonus as well. He did however worry that Ritt might attract too much attention if anyone else saw this current look of his, and he had to wrestle with his slowly rising jealousy at the prospective situation for a moment before he was finally able to calm down enough and give Ritt a reply.
“Yup, this is right for sure. I went with something a little more simple and traditional so you wouldn’t be too put off with wearing it; Who knows how long we’ll have to be in there in these stupid uncomfortable clothes, after all.”
Ritt’s eyes almost twinkled hearing that Sien had thoughtfully taken him into such consideration. It was true, these clothes that he’d picked were indeed leagues more comfortable than any other formal-wear that Ritt had been forced into in his previous timeline.
Just as Ritt was about to open his mouth and express his gratitude, however, Sien continued speaking in a quiet, unsure murmur.
“Well, it’s traditional for young nobility that haven’t debuted yet or a noble’s non-noble consort to wear… But I’m sure we can get away with it anyway, right?”
And just like that, Ritt’s mouth closed back up, his gratitude losing much of its driving force.
~~~
Sien, having decades ago decided that there was no point in keeping his own residence in the capital, had gotten rid of any such thing, and had instead appropriated a room in the palace in which to keep his necessities. Truly, though, the room only really contained a few sets of formal clothes meant for meeting with the Emperor, and most of the time was left horribly vacant and unused. It being a room kept for a Duke, however, it was often cleaned and taken care of, on the off chance that Sien might need it at any time. Perhaps the room was on the smaller side compared to the other rooms belonging to royalty in the palace out of consideration for how little Sien made use of it, but it was still quite an impressive room all the same.
In this room, Ritt sat, watching the palace’s maids bustling about to prepare Sien to meet with the Emperor.
It was interesting to Ritt how the maids kept such neutral and dutiful faces, even while he could detect the minor quivering of their hands whenever they came anywhere too near to Sien. Sien, for his part, barely even reacted to the maids’ presence at all, just looking boredly off towards the distance as they did what they needed to do. Ritt had been on the receiving end of such treatment many times, and it was quite interesting for him to see the same things done to someone else, as he never had before. He wondered if he, too, made a similar face when he was being attended to like that. Having no real awareness for himself in that regard, Ritt could only replay the memories of how his face felt at the time, doing his best to mimic what faces he thought he might have made then, and guessing at what they might look like on him.
“Pffft… What are you even doing right now, Ritt?”
The maids all flinched away as if their lives were in danger as Sien hunched over slightly and laughed merrily. Hearing Sien’s laughter broke Ritt out of his concentration, and forced him to realize how odd of a thing he'd been doing while others were present. He blushed slightly and looked down, embarrassed that he’d shown Sien such a silly thing. He didn’t really care if the maids had noticed him doing something so strange, but Sien’s opinion of him mattered immensely, and he couldn’t help but feel that he’d shown Sien nothing but his foolish sides as of late.
“Mmm… I… Well, you looked bored, and I…”
“Hee! Were you trying to entertain me? If so, you definitely succeeded.”
Ritt peeked up, seeing the large, teasing smile that was all over Sien’s face, and quickly returned his gaze back down. A small pout formed on his face, making Sien continue laughing all the more. And the maids, who had never seen the cruel and callous Duke act in such a normal way, could only look back and forth between the two men in confusion.
~~~
It wasn't long after Sien had snapped his fingers and ordered the maids to get back to work that he was properly dressed and ready to go see the Emperor. Although he offered to let Ritt stay in his room where it should have theoretically been safe, Ritt opted to walk with Sien to the Emperor’s throne room, not fully trusting the place despite what Sien had said. He knew it was a silly idea to think that he might be able to keep Sien, the strongest person he’d ever seen, safe with his inferior strength. But knowing the possibility that the Emperor might at any minute decide to use Sien’s true name against him to bring Sien some kind harm, Ritt would rather be there and take the slight chance that he could kill the Emperor before any such thing occurred, if necessary. With all the monstrous changes that were done to his body, he believed he should be able to do that much at the very least.
Ritt had already made several pledges to himself over the past two days.
No matter what, he would keep Sien safe from the Emperor!