𝕰𝖒𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘 - (Technoblade)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒

"Why not? It's the same red as the jacket you wear now - this kingdom's red." He tilted his head.

"Why would they send a messenger who lived in the same kingdom to deliver an invite from an ocean away?" Venus snapped, looking up at the surprised king. "No, it's not your kingdom's colour. Our kingdom has a different red." She narrowed her eyes at him. His expression softened and his head, which had perked up due to her sudden outbreak, fell back to the side. He stared at her with some child-like wonder.

"What's the difference?" He asked, smiling at her. She composed herself and turned back to her book.

"Sorry... about that." She apologised quickly, remembering her place and looking away with some level of shame. No matter what status she truly was, it was inappropriate for her to lash out. Messenger or princess - both were still very much below the rankings of both a king and an emperor. She had no right to scold him the way she did, pride for her kingdom aside, she was also a guest, she shouldn't be so rude to the host, no matter how badly she didn't want to be around him.

"No! It's fine. I admire the pride you hold for your kingdom. It reminds me of Phil." He recalled, looking like an entirely different person under the light. "But what's the difference between our reds?"

"Our red is a magenta-red. It's more intimate and shows we're hospitable as well as noble. Your red is a deeper blood red. Darker and more... saturated I suppose. It shows your kingdom to be powerful and brave." She explained, hoping she didn't embarrass herself in front of the king after that scene. It wasn't so big of a deal, as Technoblade approached it, yet she felt terrible.

"You know a lot about colours." He leaned back with a small smile. "Why is that?" He asked.

"I tailor." She said shortly while turning the page. A part of her considered asking him how the meeting went with the general. She also wanted to know if Technoblade would ever bring up the mystery letter which was demanding her return. But she didn't. She kept quiet and continued to read until she was nearly finished.

With a small yawn, she saw she only had four pages left, and Technoblade had burnt through five books in her time of reading. It was a very large book, and if the host was waiting for his guest to finish reading, then she may as well hurry up. Sure, the man was terrible, and Venus wasn't fond of him, no not for a second. But she couldn't deny, he was incredibly hospitable. So even with his malintent, she couldn't deny even the slither of skill he held. It was like a dictator. Yes, they were terrible people who were controlling and immature, but it couldn't be denied that they had astounding people skills, and were great at public speaking. How else would they have won the election in the first place?

She closed the book and sighed, finishing it finally after who knew. Technoblade looked up from his sixth book, leaving a bookmark and closing it before standing up. "Let me take the book for you." He offered, picking up the heavy series of myths and walking into the labyrinth with it. Venus had nothing to do other than take Technoblade's finished books and return them to their original places on the shelves. He helped her soon after finding her before leading her out of the room. The hallway was lit by torches and the sky once more showed a black night, polluted with large white snow clouds. The wind almost greeted her return, scratching at the window Venus looked out of the second she stepped out of the library. "We set out the day after tomorrow, by the way. The trip will take three days and according to Phil, the day we leave is our opening, we'll be able to sail out of the region before the storm thickens again, but it will be quite light on the day we leave." Technoblade explained while leading her to the dining hall. The smell of food felt nostalgic - skipping lunch unintentionally led to that feeling often. He sat at the head of the table, and she sat to his left as she had twice before. Phil rushed in soon after and she watched them serve themselves. It wasn't as fancy as the night before, but it was still quite a high end range of dishes. There was the distinct smell of honey coming from the dish of sliced rabbit, Venus thought it smelt amazing. There were also potatoes and carrots, as well as other dishes such as a berry sauce that Phil had with his scalloped potatoes. After the two had served themselves, Venus served herself the honey-glazed rabbit with some carrots and wheat rice. It was an amazing meal, she was close to thanking the chef. When she finished, she cracked her neck, and Technoblade looked at her in surprise. Instead of asking him what the issue was, she stood up and began walking away, back to her room. She could just about remember where it was, stepping into the dark room and looking outside the window.

There was a distinct fragrance in the room which was calming for her nose, it was strong, and tingled her throat, but she didn't get a headache from it. The flower in the vase was still there, as was her book, nothing had changed, except the logs in the fire had been replaced and there was her nightwear, pressed and still warm. The night was cold, as was her room - the fire had not been lit to warm it up, she knew she would be too, without a warm bath to pre-warm her body for the insulator, it would take a while before she felt warm. Beginning with lighting the fire before changing into her nightwear, which she grew more attached to, she pulled at her shoulder until it clicked, that before sitting down by the fire with the calf warmers from before. The comforting crackle of logs spilled into her ear, and she ran a hand through her hair. The sudden urge to comb it struck her like a pan. Rummaging around, she found a hairbrush in the bedside cabinet and sat on the floor by the fire, running the bristles through her dark brown hair. Often, the light would reflect off of her hair and she'd see how light her hair was, but more often than not, had her hair just absorbed the light, leaving it to look like her hair was just matte. For the most part, her hair was smooth, but thick. So she struggled slightly with her hair often. It had come to a point where her servants at home avoided it when it was knotty. But because of that, combing out her hair became a comfort of Venus's. She enjoyed doing it and the feeling of bristles on her scalp soothed her. The feeling hugged her gently as she thought about her lashing out at Technoblade, she was embarrassed. As the level-headed, monotone child, she had a reputation for being the calmest one. So letting herself get so livid and so expressive stung her very being. Cecilla was the beautiful, sociable one. Venus was the quiet, calm one. Allegra was the spirited, emotional one. That was how it was. But she broke that, and made herself seen as prideful and brash. But it didn't matter. Venus's warming cheeks cooled as she sighed and let the brush handle her hair. When she finished, she put the brush down, cleaning the hair out and burning it in the fire, flooding the room with the familiar scent of burnt hair.

She stayed up thereafter with her book, glad to finish it before crawling into her bed. Technoblade hadn't walked past her room once, as he had the night before, but Venus didn't mind that. In fact, the sounds of having such a large castle to herself sounded pleasurable.