Chapter 08 – Staying

“Lord Arthur have my respect and I really mean that. A mercenary turned to being one of the strongest, or perhaps the strongest knight of Durham that King Weadon favors? But what makes you think that he can reject a marriage proposal of a marquis especially if the bride they’re asking for is unmarried? I’ve heard that the commander has been building a lot of infrastructures for the people of Versailles. House Wales may not be on the level where they can do massive changes over the kingdom or influence its politics, but a dowry to satisfy the House Calypso should be a piece of tackle for them.”

Eve did not think that far but hearing it from Arsene, makes her realize that he’s speaking of the truth and a disaster in the making. Seeing the true colors of the young marquis of House Wales is justifiable for her to conclude that that marriage if ever, won’t be a cheery one.

Lord Arthur may have been treasuring her like his own, but at the end of the day, they are still a no match to House Wales. Just the thought of what could’ve happened if she outright rejected the proposal without Arsene intervening, her heart feels like sinking. For sure, there will be a hell to pay and Versailles and its lord would suffer the wrath.

She can’t afford that to happen. Not after all the good things Lord Arthur has done to her. She’s been thinking about how she could ever repay his kindness and not to give him more troubles.

“If the wedding is unavoidable, then I would just grit my teeth through it and pray to the gods and goddesses that my husband will die soon and I won’t bear any children so I won’t be tied down to the house. If praying isn’t going to work, then maybe I’ll try to find that person they are talking about who makes that slow acting poison and use it on him.” she said shrugging her shoulders.

Instead of being surprised, Arsene found it amusing instead that he laughed at it, which taken aback Eve.

That poison she’s talking about was a notorious talk of the kingdom a few years ago. According to what she heard, it’s a poison meant to kill someone slowly to not make it look like murder by mixing a small portion of it on tea or any food consecutively and then after quite some time, the victim would be pronounced dead due to heart failure or any disease.

At first it wasn’t really obvious until detectives found it quite odd that most of the people dying during that time were men and some of them were in high status of society. Investigations were held until they were able to found a bottle of that poison called “Aqua Benedetta”. It cannot be easily distinguished especially that if you look at it, it just looks like a perfume especially because of its bottle and it’s colorless. She even believed that it was actually impossible for the authorities to found out about it if not one of the women who intended to used it on her husband got cold feet and confessed instead. Though in the end, she was still hanged. which Eve found really unjust.

The identity of the creator is still unknown though a lot said that it was an assassin from the North named Benedetta. She has heard that name before but she has no idea who it might be.

“I see. Still with the morbid thoughts and bloodlust, my lady.”

She didn’t intend to impress him but she just stood still, not responding to him because what he said makes her somewhat restless. To her, it seems like the emperor just spoke of the past.

The carriage then came to a stop then there is a knock on the door. Eve was about to reach the door but Arsene was faster.

“We have arrived at Calypso Castle, Your Majesty.” it was the knight who accompanied her last time.

Arsene looked at her then raised his hand. “After you, my lady.”

She doesn’t need to be told twice. When the knight offered her a hand, she accepted it out of courtesy and in no time she’s already at the grounds of the castle.

Evidently, everyone is surprise to hear that the emperor of Forsythia will be staying in Calypso Castle and not at the king’s palace so it’s not unusual that all members of Dawn Conqueror Knights and a lot of servants are present. She was about to untie the cape to return it to Arsene but a hand is suddenly on her shoulder. She looked up to see him staring at her with a serious look on his face.

“Don’t undo it. Half of your back is showing, you might catch a cold in this weather.” she doesn’t want to comply but unluckily there are some who overheard the emperor so she just let it go, not wanting to make a scene.

They’re still a few steps away from the main entrance of castle but the knights are all on their knees as a sign of respect to the visitor and his envoy while lord and lady Calypso are bowing their heads lower than usual.

The couple’s nerves are on edge right now. After Arsene informed Lord Arthur that he would like to stay at the castle, he immediately sent a word back to Versailles to prepare but truth be told there’s nothing really much they can do aside from the feast their kitchen has managed to prepare for a short span of time and the rooms. If they only knew that the emperor would be visiting, they could’ve renovated the castle and bought expensive wines for him.

But everything happened so fast that they all didn’t even have the time to process it.

“We welcome you to Castle Calypso, Your Majesty. We are going to do our absolute best to make your stay comfortable,” Lord Calypso announced, humility is dripping on his voice.