A Visit To The Capital

"Your highness, what are you doing?"

"Don't be rude, Aretha. I just wanted to greet your husband properly."

"My dear princess Adrianna, if you value your hands, get them of my spouse."

"Why do you have to be such a grump? You said you'd always share, right, Aretha?"

"I share your heart into two, your nymph!"

Aretha launched at the princess with the intent to kill. Adrianna pushed Caspian out of the way and held her hands up in surrender. Caspian was worried something would happen to the princess but Aretha stopped just people reaching the Princess and rammed her head into the princess's. Such a force that was enough to immediately erase someone's life force was nullified by the delicate looking princess. Caspian could not believe it.

"Don't bother to rationalize it. The two are playmates so Adrianna is able to keep up with Aretha's monstrous strength. If not, she'll already be dead."

"Dead?!"

"My sister is not that delicate. She's stupid, for sure, I mean who in their right mind plays with a Lothbridge? But she's not delicate."

Caspian had no other choice but to agree even though both women drew blood. Even though the weather was freezing, the the two were hot blooded.

"Here's the carriage. Oi! You two! The carriage is here. Let me help you up, Caspian."

"Your highness, please don't pick me up."

"Hmm? How else am I supposed to help you up the carriage?"

Their discussion drew the attention of Aretha. She ignored Adrianna and walked to her husband, picking him up from the wheelchair despite his protests. Jaime held the door of the carriage open and she entered without so much as a word of thanks, putting her husband on the seat beside her before taking a seat herself.

As far as etiquettes went, taking a seat before the royals was rude but none of the royals seemed to complain. In fact, they just sat down and ordered the carriage to move. Jaime sighed and turned to a bewildered Caspian.

"Take everything with a grain of salt. If you want to make it whole after visiting my father, then such a thing should not even bother you."

Caspian wondered if the King was such a scary person. After all, the king is usually considered the father of the nation. Never mind the fact that the king was the one who sent him to the North to get married to Aretha. But such a thing could be considered a blessing in disguise. He never quite imagined being alive for a few more minutes when he first arrived in the north, not to mention riding the same carriage with the royal siblings.

If the wife he had married was half of the monster she was rumored to be, he wouldn't even be heading to the capital to visit the king his parents insisted he was too unworthy to visit. When he brought this up to Aretha, she boldly said;

"If anything, he's the one who's unworthy of your presence."

She might not be delicate but her words were enough to make a grown man like Caspian blush. Since she was being bold, he decided to be bold too. Deciding not to overthink it, he reached for the hand closest to his, holding it softly. He turned his gaze outside the window so he wouldn't be caught blushing, leaving the others to wonder what the hell just happened.

Aretha froze and stopped breathing for a couple minutes, alarming the royal siblings. They had never seen her act like that, especially since she had been close to so many men in her life. To see her stay so still so she wouldn't alarm him made them feel strange.

"Aretha, if you stop breathing for much longer, you'll become a much bigger idiot," Adrianna decided to say, unable to keep watching the two.

"I can't die that easily," Aretha replied, unknowingly beginning to breathe again.

"Please don't do that, your grace," Caspian pleaded, taking his hand away. She snatched his hand back and threaded their fingers.

"Don't let go," she said. He nodded bashfully.

"Well, isn't this nice?" Jaime mumbled.

"Don't be jealous, your highness and seduce your wife properly, your highness."

They finally arrived at the royal palace after three days of consecutive bickering. Caspian was the one who was most exhausted despite being the most quiet throughout the trip. Hearing the three go head to head several times over the most minute thing drove him mad so much so, he jumped out of the carriage the moment it arrived at the palace, forgetting his etiquette.

This, however, placed him in the direct view of the Second Prince and Heir Apparent, Prince Joseph.

"Oh? Who is this?"

Caspian froze, incidentally staring the prince directly in the face.

"Hmm? You won't answer? Even though you're here?"

Behind the second prince, the imperial palace stood proudly. The heir apparent himself was a symbol of royalty, wearing the colors proudly. Even the servants around him were refined and regal, intimidating Caspian further. For someone who had barely left his home his entire life, seeing something like this that had only been expressed on the pages of books as words, he didn't have a single thing to say. Worse, he knew that could guarantee a death penalty.

"Who knew my younger brother would be such a bully?"

Jaime finally came to his rescue, coming out of the carriage after him. Taylor, who held Caspian on to his chair when he came out of the carriage, made himself scarce. The ladies could finally descend the carriage.

"Is the baby prince trying to intimidate my spouse?"

"Ah, it's the monster of the north. Don't you look as gruesome as ever, Lady of Lothbridge?"

"I see you still have that disgusting smile, Joseph. Shall I widen it?"

Caspian could feel a headache incoming. It felt like watching siblings bicker over who's the best. Only three of them were actually related but the fourth fit right in.

"So, this is your spouse. I thought he was only lame, not mute."

This prince who could only speak his mind, observed the handsome man in the wheelchair closely. It was the sort of beauty that could cause the downfall of a kingdom. Such a beauty was now married to a monster. It was so ironic, he laughed.

"Beauty and the beast, huh?"

"Shedding royal blood has always been a dream of mine, little prince," Aretha responded with a beautiful smile. Saying something like that was just treason but none of the royal siblings complained. Joseph disregarded the fact that he was just a short distance from Aretha and reached for Caspian's hair, kissing it.

"Perhaps I should fight her for your hand?" Joseph suddenly said, startling Caspian.

"I-I-I am not worthy, your highness!"

"I shall make you worthy. You'll make a wonderful concubine for the future king."

Caspian turned his head to Aretha, pleading silently to her so she could rescue him. But when he saw her face, he turned away immediately. Barely restraining her rage, Aretha's blood vessel's almost popped right out of her head.

"There's no need to stare at me like that, Aretha. He knows the best choice between you and I. He'll come crawling back to me and I'll accept him with open arms. But right now, my father has instructed me to lead you to him. Shall we go?"

"Jaime, I am so close to breaking my promise," Aretha suddenly says, ignoring Joseph. Jaime, instead of placating her, shrugs.

"Do what you want, Aretha."

"Adrianna, you agree too?"

"I also think my precious little brother deserves to be knocked down a peg...or seven."

"Great! Let's have a duel, your highness."

"Don't be ridiculous. His majesty is waiting for you," Joseph replied, letting go of Caspian's hair. "We can have the duel once you're done speaking with my father."

"Wonderful."