A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!
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Annabeth thought that she would eventually have to meet the dowager queen no matter how much the Eldoris king tried to protect her. Still, she had thought that she would meet the dowager queen at the wedding at the earliest. Yet the fates had decreed that today she would have the misfortune of stumbling upon the dowager queen while strolling through the gardens.
"Oh, my, is this the famed beautiful Princess Alana of Kiran I have been hearing much about?"
The dowager queen Amphitrite was still a beauty, though her coldness and shrewd glint in her eye diminished her beauty somewhat. When standing next to the still recovering but Princess Annabeth, the dowager queen seemed to be playing the role of the witch's shadow next to a fairy's sunlight.
The dowager queen clearly knew that the Kiran had not sent Princess Alana. Her dark green eyes flickered over Annabeth, as if provoking her.
Annabeth smiled. What kind of role should she play to such a dowager queen? She could go the route of daughter-in-law being bullied by the future mother-in-law which would have been in line with her still frail and ill image. But that just might give the dowager queen the reasoning to interfere with managing the palace affairs.
Hmm, though the dowager queen might have put on a false front of caring for her stepson, judging by the dowager queen's current attitude, she had dropped all pretense.
"Princess Annabeth greets the dowager queen." Annabeth ignored what the dowager queen said about Alana and instead gave a cordial smile. "Seeing the dowager queen in person has really opened my eyes to what true beauty really is."
Of course, her words were saying the dowager queen wasn't shit.
Annabeth had a feeling that the former second queen of Eldoris was inspecting her from her clothing to the guards behind to see how the future queen was being treated. Even the jeweled hairpin the king had sent her was not looked over in the dowager queen's scrutiny.
Amphitrite had been given information about the eldest Kiran princess, denoting that Princess Annabeth was of a soft and weak personality. Naturally, the dowager queen thought that she could exert some control over this weak princess. But when Princess Annabeth had smiled at her greetings, Amphitrite felt that those grey eyes contained some sardonic laughter as though Amphitrite was nothing more than a disobedient child acting up.
"So it is Princess Annabeth, is it? I have heard so much about Princess Alana yet I have not heard much about you. What a shame, or else I would have met such a young lady as you much earlier." The dowager queen said, flicking her fan open.
Did the former queen think she could rile up Annabeth with those words?
"It is also a shame for me that I have not met a beautiful woman as the dowager queen." Annabeth returned the veiled vitriol with compliments. "I have no idea what the dowager queen has heard and from where, so do forgive me for not understanding your words."
Those words were said in a gentle tone but pointed out that the dowager queen seemed to have spies in the palaces gathering information and was intruding. Naturally, the dowager queen's complexion darkened.
"I have ill health from the long journey to Eldoris. I was afraid that my illness would mar the good fortune of the dowager queen and so have not been able to meet with you properly. But thankfully, His Majesty has been quite attentive and I am on the road to recovery. If the dowager queen is worried about my duties as queen, there is no need to worry. I will make sure to manage the palace attentively. Well then, once a proper appointment time is made, I will meet with the dowager queen again."
With a few sentences, Annabeth managed to explain why she did not meet the dowager queen when she sent those requests for meetings as well as use the king to mention that Annabeth was held in high regard so the dowager queen could not do anything. Then she had commented on managing the palace attentively to say that she was the one in charge of the budgets and the dowager queen should keep her hands off.
As a last zinger, Annabeth mentioned that the dowager queen had to make an appointment with her to meet instead of demanding to meet her at any time. The dowager queen seemed to fight back turbulent emotions in her eyes and clenched teeth. No doubt this was the woman who must have helped in trying to assassinate the original Kiran princess.
The dowager queen must have finally reached her breaking point. Annabeth saw a mile away about what the dowager queen was going to do when she lifted her hand towards Annabeth's face.
Lucy and Sir Nico both started forward but Annabeth was faster. She stepped backwards and let the former queen's hand swipe the air in front of her face by inches.
"You dare dodge me?" The queen yelled in outrage, nearly stumbling from the swing that had missed.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I should have stayed in my place like a normal person and let my face be slapped. However, I am under physician's orders to not let my body be exerted to duress. I'm sure you understand."
Like hell Annabeth was going to let her face be slapped. The dowager queen was lucky that Annabeth didn't just flip her over her shoulders and slam her onto the ground.
The queen's face contorted slightly at Annabeth's sardonic tone.
"Then, I bid the dowager queen a good afternoon." Annabeth said cheerfully.
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Percy had come out to the gardens once he had heard that the Kiran princess had been approached by the dowager queen.
"I apologize. I will make sure that the dowager queen is carefully managed so she does not meet with Her Highness again."
The knight in charge of security at Marigold Palace bowed his head even lower.
"See to it that you do." Percy said coldly.
The knight felt a shiver run down his neck and felt lucky that he managed to keep his head.
But fortunately, the princess seemed to have handled the dowager queen pretty well, even quickly stepping back from the former queen's strike before it could even touch her face. Percy was treated to various expressions of fury on the dowager queen's face that he had not seen since he was titled as crown prince.
"Annabeth," Percy called out. He had to step in before the situation turned worse.
The princess turned. Seeing who it was, a playful smile was on her lips.
"Are you feeling cold?" Percy asked.
"Not at all."
"Don't over exert yourself. These gardens are well-maintained and are refreshing to see. But if there are any critters or insects out of place, feel free to tell the gardener to get rid of them."
Standing some distance away, the dowager queen stiffened before turning around and walking away furiously back towards the direction of Marigold Palace. He had to commend her for holding it together after calling her an insect. After his father's death, the dowager queen's temper had grown worse.
Percy plucked an errant petal that had fallen on the princess' curly hair. She scowled at him.
"The dowager queen already left so you don't have to pretend to be all lovey-dovey."
"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!