The Royal Scandal *Book One*

Round Two S1 E1

💚 Edited--8.6.2020 💚

Fury fuelling his steps, I struggled to keep up with my brother's pace as he stormed into the castle only turning around to face me when he heard the large wooden doors shut behind me.

"What in the name of the Gods do you think you're doing?" Arthur demanded, arms crossed firmly across his chest.

"I was just having some fun," I defended with a small shrug. "You should look into it sometime."

"You were mingling with the commoners," Arthur countered. I knew that he didn't mean it to sound as harsh as it did but it was simply his teaching from my father kicking in. "Remember you have a reputation that you must keep."

Ah, that lovely 'r' word that has led to the downfall of more men and women than any war ever had.

"That's what I was doing. I don't know what you think my reputation is, but I think it's probably about how I don't see the people as commoners. I see them as equals," I said.

"And what about that Merlin, huh? You know the one who tried to attack me! Is he also part of your reputation?" Arthur asked, voice drops with annoyance.

"He only attacked you because you intentionally provoked a reaction from him and besides, he didn't even get a hit," I reminded my brother.

"Why are you defending him? You are my sister," Arthur said like I needed reminding of who I was. "You should be defending me; you should be loyal to me."

"No. I don't have to be anything apart from who I decide to be. I am loyal to Camelot and that means it's people. So when you give them unfair treatment like you did with Merlin, I will defend them," I said firmly, taking a step closer to my brother, watching his reactions as the anger ebbed away slightly from his features.

Arthur was speechless for once.

"Father must not hear of this, he might have a heart attack," Arthur finally said as he turned to walk away.

"Like that'd be a bad thing," I muttered.

"What was that?" Arthur asked, glancing back over his shoulder to look at me.

"Nothing," I replied with an innocent smile.

"Don't let me see you talking to Merlin again!" Arthur ordered before storming away.

"Don't worry I'll just do it when you're not looking," I said, turning and going back into the village.

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By the time I got back, Merlin was out of the stocks. Usually he would have probably been left in there for longer but I was originally able to pull some strings that had his time lessened; by how much I didn't even realise.

With no one else to talk to at the moment, I retreated right back to the castle and sat on the edge of one of the half walls that overlooked the busy streets below me. I was so distracted with watching the lively chatter in front of me that I failed to notice a certain person walking up to me.

"Come on, Chelsea. We're going for a walk into town," Arthur said, grabbing my arm and giving me a tug off the wall so that I stumbled after him.

"I won't go anywhere with you holding my arm so roughly," I told him, snatching my arm away from him and stopping where I was, staring fiercely at him.

Arthur turned back to look at me and seeing the look on my face his cockiness disappeared slightly despite the laughter from the little friends behind him.

"You really gonna listen to her, Arthur?" One of them chuckled. The absolute cheek of him! While I may not have as much power as my male counterparts I was still the Princess of Camelot and they had no right to speak of me in such a way, something that Arthur knew all too well.