Chapter 12: Throne Room
BANG! BANG!
The echoing ring of battle comes from the other side of the double doors. Rattling, the thick doors creak as they strain against an unseen force, bending inward from outside pressure.
Color drains from his face and cold sweat coats his hands, but Lord Designs still won’t let go of the key to the throne that he clutches tightly in his right hand—the wrist of Princess Lala Lilia, a seven-year-old little girl.
“You’re hurting me.”
“Soon. Very soon, Princess. Once the wedding ceremony is over, it’ll be time for the coronation.”
The throne room, occasionally called the audience chamber, is wide enough to easily fit an army of giants positioned in formation. Stained-glass windows, painted with landscapes from the four seasons, are set into every wall. The image of a gargantuan tree serves as the focal point of all the scenes. Summer landscapes decorate behind the throne; to the right is autumn’s harvest season; to the left is blooming spring. And inlaid above the creaking double doors is a winter landscape, cloaked with frost and snow. It is set up in such a way so that everyone who enters the room through winter must then confront summer.
Throne room. Audience chamber. What the room is called changes with the person’s subjectivity. In the end, it comes down to what they see. Does it hold the king’s throne or the king himself?
In the case of Lord Designs Siegfried, the wedding ceremony serves as nothing more than the opening act. He shifts his greedy glare from the throne to the gold crown, then to the rainbow orb supported by a spider’s silver thread. There had originally been three orbs. Now only one remains.
The instant the second orb disappeared, Lord Designs grabbed his throat and moaned hideously, like a frog letting out its final death croak. His fingers dug into Princess’ wrist. Tighter, tighter, he dug until his nails sunk into her young, soft fair skin.
“You’re hurting me.” Princess clenches her teeth against the pain. Tears well up in her verdure eyes, but they don’t dampen the flame of her burning will.
BANG! BANG! The double doors violently shake. CREAK! CREAK! CRACK! Wood grain bursts from the door frame as it continues to warp towards them.
“Yeesh! SHUT UP! You’re being too noisy! Finish off that knave already!”
PIERCE!
A steel blade is forcefully thrust through the crack where the two doors connect.
“Eeeek!” Lord Designs covers his face and retreats back.
“Stop! Let me go!” Princess yells.
SLICE!
A broad double-edged sword swings down through the door. In a single stroke, its weight and the strength carried in its point severs the bar sealing the doors shut in two!
To Lord Designs, the bar is vital for his defense. To Princess, it’s the lock to her jail cell.
“Oooh. OOOOH NOOO! What madness! He’s crazy. That man is CRAZY!”
BANG! A man dressed in all-black kicks the door open and charges inside.
“Insolent fool!” Lord Designs screams, “Who are you?!”
“Knight Gideon. I came for Princess Lala Lilia.”
Princess’ face lights up. “Gideon!”
“Sorry for making you wait, Princess.”
“You’re laaaate!”
“…Sorry.”
Though she puffs out her cheeks, a twinkle is glimmering in her eyes. A smile mixes with the sullen expression she wears on her soft and full young visage.
Meanwhile to her right, Lord Designs’ entire face twitches as he scoffs, “That’s it? I was wondering what kind of brave and fearsome warrior would cut his way inside from the front, but…” Looking down on the man calling himself a knight, Lord Designs’ erupts into mocking laughter. “It’s just a deadbeat, senile old mouse who escaped death!”
“…No objections here.” Knight Gideon smirks, deeply creasing the lines between his eyebrows and nose as he bares his teeth. His shoulders move up and down heavily as he pants.