Ten: The Problem of Time

10 – The Problem of Time

 

“Roderich, are you done dressing up yet?” Elizabeta fixated her eyes towards her fiancé’s room, a small smile curving up her lips as she waited for her beloved. She leaned against the wall of their home, arms folded over her chest and patiently tapping her foot on the ground. An exasperated voice came from the room, but it seemed to be too muffled by the shirt she felt he was sliding on. “Ludwig is waiting, and we don’t want to test his patience, dear.”

“He waits if he has to wait.” Roderich stepped out, grumbling. His fitted white shirt seemed the slightest bit wrinkled, and Elizabeta tsked in disapproval at the sight. She smoothed it down in hopes of removing the wrinkles, but only half of them seemed to fade away. “I think I should go change.”

“No, don’t. That’s already alright enough.” She gave the man a light smile. “I like it.” Despite his current emotion, he couldn’t help but feel adoration for her. She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him affectionately, and the musician did the same to her. They stayed in that position for a few minutes until they pulled away, he lacing his fingers into hers. He squeezed lightly.

“Let’s go. It’s going to be quite a walk, unless you want to go by horse.”

“Ride Vienna.” He looked at her. “We have quite an evening set up.” The man rolled his eyes but complied, taking her out of their house and to their white mare, which was patiently waiting for her owner. Soon, they were riding to the castle, her arms wrapped around his waist. Elizabeta watched Roderich silently, looking over the features of his face, her thoughts scattering amongst the wind.

He was a musician in the Kingdom, as well as a Knight, slightly lower ranked than Gilbert was. Roderich Edelstein was one who took pride in his talents, and he was quite well known for his expertise. He would sometimes travel to the different Kingdoms to play, Elizabeta occasionally joining if she were free.

She could remember when they first met, a merry spring five years back. She smiled at the memory.

Nine: Metamorphasis

09 – Metamorphosis

Francis sighed, only managing a wry smile as his hand toyed with the rim of his wine glass. His blue eyes merely gazed out of the window, watching as Ludwig and Gilbert galloped out of the Spades Kingdom on their horses, determined to make it back to their own as soon as possible. He wished to speak with the silver-haired knight, but after seeing how hurried the twosome were, decided that it could wait until next time. He faced Arthur, lifting a blonde brow, a signal that he desired for the man across him to start speaking. “Well?” he shifted a bit on the seat. “What is it you wish to speak to me about? If it’s something personal, perhaps we should talk about it next time.”

 

Arthur cleared his throat, not bothering to think of the smallest insult to throw at the man.

“It’s something that has to do with our own Kingdoms…Francis.” The name left a bitter taste in his mouth. “Something I must tell immediately.”

 

Eight: That Fighting Spirit

08 – That Fighting Spirit

The lady in front of the Joker stood up, wiping the dirt off her outfit. Antonio rushed over to her with a dagger in his hand, pointing it at the Joker, his hand trembling only slightly as his green eyes looked over the said man. “Jasmine, get away from here and leave me to deal with this,” he said lowly to her. The woman scoffed, raising the rake she had dropped beforehand. “I’m serious; it’s dangerous to be in front of such a creature.”

“I’m not a weakling, Antonio.” She replied, meeting the Joker’s obsidian eyes. Averting her attention to the person, she asked, “What are you doing here in Tréboles?” the creature merely gave Jasmine a half-smile, brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes.

“I’m looking for that Spade jerk of jerks. Looks like I’ve wandered into the wrong area.”

Seven: Gathering Together

07 – Gathering Together

Tricia had no idea why Reese seemed stony, and why Francis had a few bruises on him. So when Matthew asked her about it, she merely shrugged and blinked, confused as well like the half-brother of Alfred, who was teasing Francis about his injuries. Scooping up a piece of toast, she picked her knife and spread butter on it, listening on eagerly at the King of Diamonds and Knight of Spades interact that morning.

“She knows how to aim, and aim well.” Francis remarked, sending Reese a coy smirk. Said woman merely glared at him with flushed cheeks, crossing her arms and looking away. Alfred made a disgusted face, preparing to strike Francis with a nearby paper, which looked totally harmless. “Mademoiselle Reese is fit for the battlefield.”

“Make any more remarks about me, and I’ll give you what you deserve.” She spat. Francis acted like he didn’t hear.

“Feisty, aren’t you? I like that.”

Six: Misunderstood

06 – Misunderstood

The meeting among Kings proved to be useless, and Arthur Kirkland suffered enough for it. His head pounded, ached. As usual, Ludwig was his brash self, Antonio was a ditz, and Francis was just being the irritating Francis he always was. As for himself, he was just trying to get everyone to agree and accept the fact that they didn’t have a bloody Queen yet, and that was the harsh truth.

None of them wanted a sneering Ivan Braginski sending them out of the castle with no time to pack. As much as Arthur wanted to retain his position as King, he wasn’t as heartless as to actually dare to sabotage the other King’s attempts. No. He had no such say when it came to that. Now, he just wished that Francis would stop poking his nose into his own business and instead rule over Diamants well enough to get him saved from being the one to leave the castle.

The Royal Flush, he thought, was actually useless. He heard of kings from far away only being replaced upon their death. Arthur grits his teeth in chagrin, quite envious that things were much simpler in far away areas. There was nothing he could do, though. He was the King of Spades, and not some other king in some other land, doing God-knows-what.

List of Arcs

Hello and good evening! It is I, the author who updates slowly yet makes sure to get the story done. Backtracking a bit on Royal Flush, there are different "arcs" to the story that progress from one to another. As seen in the new Navigation page I made, the first arc is entitled The Fall. You may wonder - what the hell is this about? Well ladies and gents, I've decided to post the names of the arcs and the fonts I've been using for those arcs just to give a little tease on what the entirety of the story will be composed of.  

Without further ado, here are the arc names and their respective fonts.  

1-10: The Fall

Font: Vivladi

11-15: Temptation

Font: Fely

16-20: Preparation

Font: Dear Joe

21-23: Revelation

Font: Jane Austen

24: Royal Flush

Font: Sverige Script

25-28: Prelude to the End

Font: Dawning of a New Day

29-30: Goodbye

Font: Freedom Script

Note, to actually see these fonts in action you need to install said fonts into your computer first before viewing this post. I've noticed that with blogspot.  

Five: A Crow's Caw

05 – A Crow’s Caw

“Gentlemen, we have yet to solve a small issue regarding all four of us.”

“Oh? What is it, Arthur?”

The blonde man sighed, raking his fingers through his hair.

“The Royal Flush.”

At the three words, the other three kings fell silent. Ludwig frowned, rubbing his temples at a leisurely pace. Antonio blinked, looking quite concerned. Francis was only able to sigh, murmuring something under his breath.

“I don’t know what Ivan is planning. Frankly, who does? Though we may be rivals in Kingdoms and such, I do not want to have an unfair balance of the system.” He continued sharply. “All of us require Queens. If we lack by the time Ivan gets here, we’ll immediately be swept out of the castle and Royal System, as well as the Knights.”

“Lovino will bombard me with anger if he’s reelected,” sighed Antonio deeply. “I don’t want that, or as Arthur had said, an unfair tip on the scale.”

Four: Knight + King

04 – Knight + King

“So you’re saying…” began Arthur slowly, “Tricia here pushed you into the tree hole, and then the other three chased you down here?” Elly nodded, and Arthur frowned a little, fiddling with his porcelain tea cup. “How odd. I’ve never heard of tree holes leading to other places.”

“Neither have we,” sighed Rianne, taking another drink from her tea cup. “We don’t know how to get back to our place, and we don’t even know much about…Cardverse.” The King pursed his lips, crossing his ankles under the table. “We don’t know how long it’s been since we’ve been disconnected from our own world.”

“Plus,” added Reese, “We also don’t know if the flow of time here in Cardverse is different from our own. For all we know, days could have already passed, and our own families are looking for the four of us.” Arthur thought about that, now playing with the silver spoon in hand.