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.
Currently, the thickly-browed
youth was sitting on his bed, having changed from his Kingly wear to much
simpler attire. His messy blonde hair was more of a mess than usual, and as he
slowly lay down, he closed his green eyes, trying to forget the complicated
events of the day. The arrival of the girls, the meeting, bickering with Alfred
about such petty matters that shouldn’t even be talked about…
The girls. His mind drifted to
them, to the four ladies who had mysteriously come up right by the forests of
Relisotai. Rianne, Elly, Tricia, and Reese, he recalled. Those girls with the
strange clothes and strange ways, truly out of place in the land of Cardverse
He skimmed over each one slowly, starting
with Reese. She was a well-mannered one, if only quite irascible. The brunette
had gotten along with Yao ,
he noticed, upon coming back to the room the ladies and Knights were in much,
much earlier. Also, she didn’t seem to put up with Francis’ flirtatious ways.
He liked that.
Next was Tricia, someone who
reminded Arthur of Alfred. He grimaced a bit. Tricia was a joking lass but appeared
to be much more civilized when the time called for it. (He hoped Alfred would
take down notes, bloody hell) She had flocked to Lovino, and appeared to like
the gentle-hearted Antonio. Who wouldn’t?
Rianne was…delicate. He suddenly
recalled Elizabeta, who seemed like a foil to the black-haired lady. Unlike Tricia,
she was much quieter, and unlike Reese, she seemed to have more of a tolerating
aura about her. Matthew was the only one who came to Arthur’s mind now, the
quiet boy who preferred peace…just like Rianne, he guessed.
And finally, he stopped at Elly. Unlike
the other three, he couldn’t seem to put a finger on her actual personality.
Strong or mild? Fierce or meek? From what he had seen so far…no, he couldn’t
decipher her just yet. Strangely, this irritated him. The other three were
describable, open books. This young lady, however…he was intrigued to know more
about her. He wanted to see her from a much deeper side of the spectrum.
His eyes jolted open.
No, he didn’t want that.
How silly of Arthur to even
desire such a thing.
“Bullocks,” he grumbled, turning
over to the side. “I shouldn’t even think of that. My Kingdom comes first, and
I know it very well.” As much as he tried to be complacent and sure that those
words would help, there was a deep feeling inside him that told him that no,
words were only words unless put into action.
After fighting with himself for
what seemed a century, the King fell asleep.
Morning came quicker than
expected.
At another room, Reese la Paz was the first to
wake up. Yawning, she rubbed her eyes and stretched, blinking slowly at the
sight of the sunlight that crept into the room. It seemed like this was the
only room that didn’t have any hue of blue splashed onto the walls, she
noticed, observing the yellow tone for the first time. Looking over at Tricia,
she saw that her friend was still asleep, curled up within the thick white
covers that must have kept her warm.
Reese slowly got up and slid on a
pair of cotton-white slippers, borrowed from Arthur for the meantime. She swept
her long hair up in a single ponytail, a few locks falling over her
heart-shaped face. Willing herself to keep quiet, she decided to take a walk around
the castle. She wouldn’t wander far – her good memory served her well, and she
was confident that she would make it to the dining room or such.
Silently moving out (Tricia
stayed asleep) and slowly closing the door, she stood for a short while in the
hallway, marveling at the paintings of possibly well-loved historical figures hung
on the walls. Finally, she snapped out of it and began walking slowly, taking
in the royal feel of the castle which sat comfortably in the land of Spades
She hoped she would meet Matthew
or Arthur on the way. Alfred was too loud for her to handle, and she definitely
didn’t want to lose her temper so early in the morning. Speaking of time, she
frowned suddenly, what time was it? Her red eyes searched for a clock of any size,
but to her annoyance, she found none at all.
“Can’t I find a clock in this
place?” she huffed, walking around in search of one. Reese kept a critical eye
on things, crossing her arms over her chest as she travelled around the scale
of the castle, determined to find just one clock that would tell her the time.
After many minutes of walking and
glaring, she finally found a large, wooden grandfather clock that displayed the
time 7:24 in the morning. Sighing in relief that she woke up early, Reese smiled
to herself and started to make her way back to the room.
“That wasn’t harder than I
expected,” she told herself as she walked.
Soon, she reached a hallway and stopped
suddenly. Reese blinked and looked around her, expecting to see a framed
picture of an old man right by her door, but there was none. In fact, this hall
looked completely deserted. The tall woman stumbled back, starting to panic
slightly as the possibility of being lost came to mind.
“I-I can’t be lost,” she
stammered to herself, “No, it can’t be…”
Moving around, she stumbled a bit
as she walked around, paling more and more as she got mixed and even more lost
around the large castle decked in blue. Reese swore.
“Damn it! Where in the world am
I…?”
She told herself to keep calm and
just continued walking, turning left and right at whichever point felt right. Seconds
turned into minutes, and Reese’s frustration only grew. She held an odd
resentment. If I were given a map, I’d be back with Tricia in seconds, she
thought with a scowl.
Finally, she stopped. It was like
she had been walking around the same place in circles for a thousand times.
Technically, she was. After all, she was still in the castle. Reese was sure
she had been in this hallway already, but it was just so confusing!
“I am going to commit murder if I
don’t get out of this place -”
“Ohohohohon~ are you sure about that?”
Reese let out a piercing scream
at the sudden noise. The man cringed and covered his ears, trying to reassure
Reese that he was a guest as well, but he didn’t have the chance to. Blinded by
shock and self-defense, she took her shoe and held it in front of her,
trembling slightly. This hallway was dark, and she couldn’t see the person.
Her gut, however, told her that he
was taller.
The man tried speaking once more,
but was silenced with a yelp as he was struck with the slipper, and he came to
a realization that she thought he was an intruder.
“Gah – ow – stop it!”
“Don’t touch me, you freak!”
It went on for a few more seconds
until the man got up, squinting and blocking the strike. Reese blinked in her
own surprise and was going to yell once more, but the man reached to his right
and searched for the light switch frantically.
“You do not sneak up on a lady
like that, you creep!”
The lights turned on.
“I thought I was going to be
mugged! Do you know what that is!? It’s like assault…”
Her voice faltered as she saw the
stranger’s blue eyes and wavy blonde hair.
“…in my world.”
Francis Bonnefoy smiled wryly, rubbing
his arm.
“You have a nice aim, mon cher.”
She merely gaped at the King of
Diamants.
* *
* * * * * * *
Ludwig, King of Herzen, jogged
along the gardens of the Spades castle with Gilbert following from behind. The
man was in a black undershirt and tight-fitting grey shorts, the emblem of the Herzen
kingdom proudly showing on his right forearm. He passed by the green bushes of
the garden and heard his brother complaining from behind.
“Oi, bro! Slow down a bit, will
you?” panted Gilbert. Ludwig just kept moving.
“We may be in Spades, but it is
essential that we keep practicing our morning rituals!” he barked, sending his
older brother a hard look. “Be serious and keep running, got that?”
“Gah! You’re too serious for your
own good – Ludwig, watch out!”
The blonde man was about to yell
at his brother when his head snapped to the front, blue eyes widening as he
crashed into a much smaller girl. She squeaked in shock and crashed down on the
grass, cringing at the weight of the taller, sturdier, and muscular man.
Ludwig froze, blushing slightly
in his embarrassment as he looked down at her. Black hair, green eyes…wait, she
was familiar –
“Rianne?” howled Gilbert,
doubling over in laughter. “Perfect position you got there! Kesesesesese!”
Rianne…the girl from last night, Ludwig
slapped himself mentally and slowly got off her, extending a hand to help her
up.
“My apologies,” he said in a
gruff yet shy voice. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Slowly, Rianne sat
up and took his hand, standing up. “You are Rianne, correct?”
“Yes,” she managed. “Rianne
Naven. That girl from the other world.” She smiled slightly, nodding in
greeting at the still laughing Gilbert. “Good morning to you too.” Gilbert soon
regained his composure and grinned cockily, catching up and slinging an arm
around Ludwig, despite their height difference.
“What a way to start the morning,
eh? Eh?” he winked at Ludwig. “All we need is Francis getting his ass kicked
first thing in the morning, and all is good!”
“Don’t expect too much, Gilbert.”
Ludwig muttered, still red. Rianne merely hid a smile, shyly running a hand
through her hair. He turned to her. “Would you like to join us for a jog? It’s
something we do in the morning.”
“I’d like to, but I was asked to tell
you two that breakfast has been prepared.” Gilbert made a small face.
“I have the jogging bug all of a
sudden. Run with me?” he tried, but Ludwig tsked at his older brother.
“Alright. Take us there, then.”
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