Meeting With The Nobles (Part 4)

Vorbuk walked with Chase towards the princess's room. A silence was between them as neither of them were much for talking. If one had not known any better they might even assume Chase truly was the king's child.

"You must earnestly apologize to the princess." Vorbuk suddenly broke the silence causing Chase to glance up at him.

A low grumble could be heard from Chase as he responded feeling a bit uncomfortable causing him to glance away from him, "... Yes."

"Chase," Vorbuk called out forcing Chase to look back at him as he took a step towards the child, "If you do not be careful your life outside the dungeon may not be much different then it was when you were trapped inside it. Life outside the dungeon can be just as lonely as inside it... If you let it."

Chase was silent as he stared up at Vorbuk. Not a single response could come to mind as he thought about those words. He could not understand what they were suppose to mean. How was he meant to comprehend it?

Knock. Knock.

"We're here." Vorbuk said as he turned towards the door to the princess's room and knocked on it. He paid no mind to the confused child behind him. It was not possible to make everything easy for Chase to understand. Life outside the dungeon was something he needed to adapt to at his own pace. The only thing he hoped for was that Chase would not forever be trapped within the walls that had been built around himself. If he continued to push others away when they tried to approach he would only remain alone no matter where he went.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness." A servant bowed to the both of them as they excused themselves from the princess's room allowing them both to enter. It was only a simple hand gesture from Vorbuk and the servant was able to understand they were no longer needed in the room.

The princess, Isis, was sitting quietly in her chair sipping at a cup of tea. A selection of sweets were placed out on the table before her. It was clear at a glance how much the princess seemed to enjoy sweet things. Vorbuk could already guess that the princess put honey in that warm tea she drank so carefully.

Feeling the silent presence of someone the princess lifted her gaze to find Vorbuk and Chase in her doorway, "Your Majesty-'

"You do not need to do that." Vorbuk cut her off before she could finish and bow to them. He did not like the sight of the princess lowering her head to him. No perhaps he simply hated her lowering herself for anyone so he quickly called out, "Chase!"

"Princess, I apologize for last night." Chase spoke bluntly and to the point. He did not beat around the bush when it came to apologizing. Defying the words of Vorbuk was something he found difficult to do. It was also true that he knew he over reacted last night when dealing with the princess. She had not done anything to him and yet he had embarrassed her in front of the nobles.

Princess Isis was startled by the sudden apology. She was never upset with Chase about what he'd done during the event last night. It was true that it had upset her a bit. There had been a lot of things that went on during the night and the last thing she was concerned about was getting an apology from the child in front of her.

The princess began to motion for the two of them to sit down on the sofa, "Please, have a seat, your majesty."

Did he use Chase as an excuse to visit? Or was the apology simply something he wanted Chase to do in order to learn that he must watch his behavior? The princess tried to understand the real reason Vorbuk brought Chase to apologize to her. Though she had no way of knowing that it was for both reasons. He really was worried about how Chase's behavior could have affected her.

"Thank you." Vorbuk said while taking a seat closest to the princess while Chase sat at the farthest end of the sofa. Instantly after sitting down Chase picked up a sweet snack from the table and ate it without a word.

"How did things go with the nobles?" Princess Isis knew she had no right to details on the meeting. She only wanted to know how Vorbuk was getting along with his affairs because she cared about him. The only thing she wanted was to hope for the best for his sake.

"I still have a few matters to attend to outside of the meeting with them. They are all both noisy and nosy. Only having benefits in mind very few of them actually care earnestly about the kingdom. That is the reality of most mortals. Greed can come as natural as breathing." Vorbuk gave his opinion of the nobles he saw in that throne room. They might have been from his kingdom but that did not mean he could trust every single noble in there.

The princess hesitated a moment before asking him, "Did you decide on where your going next?"

"Theapan will go after Brolan Kingdom." Vorbuk answered her honestly as he had no intention to hide everything from her. Living in the palace and after everything they had gone through she was already someone he wanted to protect.

"Will you go personally?" Princess Isis asked almost instantly.

"No," Vorbuk could feel Chase tensing up behind him as he continued to face the princess directly while speaking, "I will be sending Daryl to take care of it."

A sigh escaped the princess as she tried to pretend she never did it by continuing to speak to Vorbuk, "What will you be doing in the mean time?"

"There are still other matters that I must take care of. Brolan is only the next one we are taking over. They are not the only one we have to worry about." Vorbuk thought about all the kingdoms on this continent. There was twelves different kingdoms known and two of them had already been attacked by the god Chynir. When the god becomes more restless they would only more more apt to target them more seriously.

"You're worried about why Duke Heket came from Drethia Kingdom?" The Princess asked when she saw the expression on his face from those words.

"Chase," Vorbuk called out to the child sitting and turned his gaze towards him, "you should go wait outside. I will be out when we are done talking."

The more Chase listened to Vorbuk discuss matters of the war against Brolan. Everything they spoke about would only put more pressure on the child. After listening to Chase talking with Daryl he did not want to give Chase more reasons to act out for being told to remain in the palace. However Chase was able to notice right away that Vorbuk was trying to protect him from overhearing things.

"Yes, father." Chase stood up and gave them both a respectful bow before turning to leave the room. They could not see the expression on Chase's face but Vorbuk could still feel the weight of it from the child's back as he left without once turning to look back.