Pampered by the Villainous Tyrant King

Chapter 11

"Pretend, Princess? You wound me," Percy said mockingly.

The princess gave him a look. "Anyways, why are you here? You don't strike me as the type to venture into the gardens on a whim seeing as you're so busy here. You couldn't have possibly rushed here after hearing the dowager queen was here?" She guessed.

"I supposed I didn't need to, You handled her quite well."

"Did I? I sure hope so." The princess turned her attention back to the peonies she was admiring earlier.

It was strange. With how the princess was right now, he was sure that she would have found some way to not be mistreated by her family. Was it really just her pretending to be weak so she could survive her own family? If so, what kind of truly horrible monsters were the Kiran royal family?

Percy decided to change the topic.

"Actually I do have something to find you for," he said. "Would you like to go and pick out a sword from the armory?"

Sir Grover stiffened and blinked his eyes twice. Your Majesty...shouldn't you be saying something along the lines of taking the princess to look for a dress or jewelry?

"Oh, that sounds exciting. I can pick any sword?"

Lucy coughed into her handkerchief. Your Highness...please curb your enthusiasm for the sword. The palace staff have already been scared of one tyrant on the throne....

The palace staff followed in silence as the king and the future queen slowly toured the armory.

Annabeth lightly touched the handle of a ruby encrusted sword. Just trying to pick it up proved too heavy for her still delicate frame. She estimated that even with the care of the Eldoris royal physicians, it would still take over a month more or so to fully recover.

"Do you like this sword?" The king asked, seeing that her eyes were straying on the ruby sword.

Annabeth shook her head. "No, it's a little too flashy and heavy for me."

"That's true. This is only an ornamental sword, after all. Let's look over here."

A flash of white caught Annabeth's eye. She picked up a sword polished that it shone white. It was a little heavy like the other swords had been, but the handle seemed to curve fittingly into her hand.

"This doesn't seem to be made out of metal." Annabeth commented.

"No," Percy answered. "It's made out of dragon bone."

Annabeth looked up at Percy. There were dragons in this world? She had read the whole manuscript but while there was magic, there hadn't been any magical beasts.

"Over a millennium ago, there were many dragons that roamed the mountains, forests, and seas. When humans started to hunt them for fame and sport, these dragons went into seclusion. The founder of Eldoris made a pact with the dragon clan that lived in these lands, and swords with dragon bone were forged as a reminder of that pact. Or at least that's what the legend says. This sword may be made out of bone, but it's nearly indestructible."

"Oh, wow."

The sword was lighter than metal swords, but the edge looked to be sharp.

"You can choose this sword if you'd like."

"Really?" Annabeth grinned.

"Why not? Else, it'll just sit here collecting dust. I already have a sword so this one would be of some use to you."

Some of the knights in the armory bit back some words. That dragon bone sword was rumored to be able to cut down boulders with a single swing when used by the right person. What did their king mean to give the sword to a person with no swordsmanship skills at all and to call the sword no more than a toy? But the word had spread quickly about the princess easily dealing with the dowager queen so the knights could do nothing more than stay quiet.

"Then, I'll take it." Annabeth happily said.

"Why don't you take a knife as well since the sword is a little heavy for you right now?"

Percy handed her a knife about the length of her forearm. This one glinted nicely in the braziers of fire lighting the armory. It was quite pretty as well as dangerous looking. When Annabeth held it, the knife felt just as though it was a part of her.

"I like it." Annabeth found herself saying.

Sir Rachel headed to the armory upon hearing the king's current whereabouts. But she regretted coming upon seeing the seemingly intimate scene of the king and the future queen with their heads bowed together.

"Thank you, Percy." The princess was saying.

For the second time that week, Rachel felt like she had been hit by lightning. As far as she knew only four people in the word were allowed to call the king by his nickname: his parents, his best friend Grover, and Rachel herself.

If this indicated anything, it was that there was another woman in Percy's heart, and she had achieved the same position that Rachel had occupied for nearly fifteen years.

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A/N: Oof, Rachel is just having a rough week. We've all experienced heartbreak in form or another, no? But we always pick our pieces back up, dust the debris off, and wait for the right person to heal us. Meanwhile, I'm just watching Asian dramas with male leads who are unattainable in real life. T.T Please give me a Xu Kai or Jackson Wang or NCT's Jaehyun in real life... I want a cute love like Zendaya's and Tom Holland's, too... This is another realm of heartbreak...

Anyways, I will be giving another update this Wednesday, but will be dropping my updates to once a week soon so I can last until 2022. I am no demigod but a pure and simple mortal who has no control of time. Thanks for understanding, everyone, and see you all next chapter!