PATRICE paced in front of his throne, heaving an endless number of sighs. About the only time he stopped was to take a sip of wine. Over in the plush armchair set to his right, Severin sat dejectedly with his shoulders hunched over. Chris stood beside the door, watching the King and Prince. But it wasn’t as though he was calmly watching over them.
Will Her Grace be all right on her own? His mind was filled with thoughts of Sonia.
It would have come as no surprise for any normal girl to have grown depressed or lost her mind long before now. Sometimes when Sonia faced an unearthly phenomenon her mood fell, but even then, she continued to smile bravely. It was only natural that his feelings shifted from the sole desire to protect her as a knight to the desire to protect her as a man.
At first, he had planned to save her cursed house and then withdraw from their marriage arrangement. He would break the curse! The very idea made his blood as a Diamant Knight stir with excitement, which was why he accepted the King’s request. Once freed from the curse, countless young noblemen from distinguished families would undoubtedly come lining up to propose to Sonia.
Although Chris hailed from a noble family himself, it was of inconsequential standing. As the third-born son, he had no claim to the family title or fortune. It didn’t help that he was a middle-aged man in his early-thirties. He doubted a young lady would take an interest in him. That was why he accepted the role.
But I... The feelings that blossomed in him had been unanticipated.
He glared daggers from a distance at Severin, who began playing with his fingers out of boredom.
CLICK! The door swung open and the Queen rushed in, her golden hair streaming behind her. The Crown Princess continued after her.
Queen Cordelia made a beeline straight for Severin. Before he could rise, she screamed, “YOU DAAAAMN FOOOOOL!” and struck him so hard it sent him and his chair to the floor in a mighty crash! She pulled him up and was about to land another punch when the Crown Princess screamed at the scene unfolding before her and begged for help.
“Please stop, Your Majesty! Chris, stop her!”
“Certainly, Your Highness!” Chris replied. Although he wanted to let Cordelia keep at it, he couldn’t defy the Crown Princess’ orders. Slipping behind Cordelia, he pinioned her arms to hold her back.
✦ ✦ ✦
“GRAH! Unhand me! I’m fed up with this spoiled brat! I need to thoroughly beat out the wickedness that compelled him to use his downtrodden old friend for his own selfish desires!” Cordelia cried.
“If I could, I would love to let go so you may do with him as you would, but this is the last night of the birthday celebration! It’d bode ill to end it on a family dispute!” Chris said in an attempt to reason with her.
At the same time, the Crown Princess begged King Patrice, “Please bring the situation under control!”
“Keep it within the realm of a swollen face, my Queen. On second thought, he might stop attracting unsavory women if you make him outright deformed.”
Cordelia could tell exactly how Patrice felt from the irritation dripping from his words. “Patrice is of a like mind! So let go, Chris!” she snapped.
“May I let go?” Chris asked Patrice.
“D-Don’t! I’m begging you, don’t let go of her!” Severin pleaded while protecting the cheek Cordelia had punched.
Cordelia was the type to hit first and ask questions later. Plus, she was quick to lose her temper. Though it was hard to imagine her doing so with her willowy frame, she was capable of kicking in stilettos or throwing a punch without paying heed to the pain in her knuckles. While her strength commanded the fear of her husband and children alike, she had always coddled Severin with tender love and care as her favorite.
Naturally, his mother had never given him a taste of her “corporal punishment” before. Not even when his affair with Catherine had been busted. Nor when his parents discovered the debt he had incurred from gambling. But this time, she had administered her “punishment punch” the moment she opened the door.
“You’re being cruel! Mother! You’ve never punched me over anything before!” Severin screamed. He was horribly rattled at getting punched and scolded by his mother, the one person he thought would be on his side. Tears slowly trickled down his cheeks.
At that sight, Cordelia shot back hysterically, “I’m responsible for raising you to be such a disgrace, so I chose not to stand up for you! I was just allowing Patrice to call the shots...! But you’ve pushed me too far this time! How DARE you scheme and toy with Patrice’s cousin, the child of my dear friend...! I’ll admit, when you two were little, I thought it’d be nice if you fell in love someday. But I certainly didn’t mean for you to profess fake feelings of love and propose for your own benefit...!”
Hysteria must have unleashed her strength several fold, for Cordelia’s rampage made even the mighty knight, Chris, tremble in his boots as he held her back.
“...I’m more worried about Sonia than your face... I can only imagine how shocked she must be...” Cordelia lamented. Seeing Patrice with his head hung low between slumped shoulders, Cordelia finally lowered her fists.
“Knowing how hard she’d take it, I’ve been trying to figure out how to break it to Sonia softly,” Patrice admitted. “But then I received word from the Pope that ‘God has shown the way in a dream regarding the Clare Curse.’ Hearing that, I grew hopeful we could use this to save Sonia. I thought...perhaps we could put an end to it before telling Sonia everything. That way, perhaps Sonia wouldn’t give up on life...”
“Where is Sonia...?” Cordelia asked Patrice, realizing the girl was missing once she regained her composure. “Is she alone now? I need to go to her right away...!”
“She was terribly shaken and yelled at us to leave her alone...”
“I shall go comfort her. Chris, take me to her,” Cordelia ordered. As she reassuringly rubbed Patrice’s shoulders with the airs unique to a wife, she told him, “You should head back to the ballroom.”
Then Cordelia threw a wink at the Crown Princess, who had accompanied her, as if telling the younger woman that she was leaving the rest to her.
“...I...” Severin suddenly whispered. Sitting on the floor as he rubbed where Cordelia had hit him on the cheek, Severin looked like he was sulking after a scolding. “I’m a victim here, too... I just had the worst thing happen to me... And I didn’t do anything wrong...”
POP! Chris was so furious, he could swear he heard his blood vessel popping. “Your Royal Majesty! Your Majesty! Permission to scold him!”
“Sure, I don’t mind,” Patrice consented.
“Let him have it!” Cordelia encouraged.
The moment he received their permission, Chris loudly stormed over to Severn and slammed his foot square against the prince’s back.
“BWAH!” Severin yelped out unceremoniously as his body went flying a good meter.
Chris roared at the prince groaning on the ground, “You are in for some harsh disciplining once the issue with Her Grace has been resolved! No matter where you run, I WILL hunt you down! I’ll make a fine man out of you, even if I have to lock you in the dungeon! I swear I will make you mend the error of your ways!” After stressing the point three different ways to underscore it, he escorted Cordelia out of the room.
Cordelia followed his lead and said quietly, “Chris, I’m sorry we always place the unpleasant tasks on you...”
“What are you talking about? I’ve never once considered them unpleasant. Even now, the thought that I may assist Her Grace fills me with joy,” Chris replied.
Cordelia looked intently at Chris from behind as the knight smiled softly. She sensed a change in him. “But I know you don’t intend to truly marry—”
“Your Majesty!” Chris interjected. He pressed his index finger against his lips and went “Shh!” as if he was trying to say some things were best left unspoken. Cordelia realized her blunder and quickly covered her mouth.
“Who’s to say when he’s eavesdropping? Admittedly, he seems to hate me, so he doesn’t cling to me like a love-struck puppy. He must fear my beard. I actually think I may keep growing it when this is all over with...” Chris commented.
“I know the Pope instructed you to grow a beard, but why do you suppose he said that? Message from God or not, it doesn’t make any sense...”
“I figured it out when I visited Clare Castle. It wasn’t meaningless.”
“I see,” Cordelia said with a nod, struggling to follow after Chris. Not only was there a difference in their strides, but a woman in heels and trailing skirts had to practically run to match the pace Chris kept. Cordelia grew fed up and snapped.
“Hey... Chris! Show some consideration! It’s awful trying to follow you!”
Finally realizing he had been walking too fast, he apologized, “I’m sorry,” and slowed his pace.
“You’ve never had this problem before... What’s gotten into you tonight? Did you forget your manners while at Clare Castle?”
“No... I’m worried about Her Grace. Something doesn’t feel right,” Chris answered. The expression on his face when he turned back was hard. Cordelia raised her eyebrows in surprise to see him unlike his usual confident self.
He hastily spoke on, without pausing to breathe, his pace quickening with each word out of his mouth. “The shock could lead her to take her own life. And even if it doesn’t, she could be terrified after the reality of the cruel fate she must bear sets in. In any event, I must hurry to her...”
He needed to get to Sonia as quickly as possible! Although he usually treated Cordelia with the utmost respect, his impatience made him come across as rude.
“Uh-huh,” Cordelia said with a smile, realizing the true reason for his behavior. “You’re in love with Sonia, aren’t you? You love her as a woman, I mean.”
“GACK!” Chris made a strange, guttural sound and came to a halt. Ever so slowly, he turned to face Cordelia.
“My, my!” Cordelia laughed gleefully at the look on his face. “I’m glad love blossomed before you got married.”
“...The Princess is more important than my feelings,” Chris replied. As Chris resumed walking before Cordelia, his face was so red that it stood out even in the poor lighting of the candlelit hallway.