Long before Ciara had found the Royal Guard she sought, her head was already spinning with worries.
The words Sergon had told her parents had returned to her. Of how kings and queens had official lovers outside of their marriages. Back when she heard that, she hadn't believed it. After all, it'd never been something commonly practiced where she grew up.
However, by the looks of things, she didn't have a choice as to whether she wanted to believe it or not.
As such, she had decided she'd do what she could to understand just what the king and this mistress were to each other. And there really was only one man she knew to ask about this.
She sped up her pace to catch up with his long strides.
"Um... Lord Sergon, could I borrow you a moment?"
"Oh, princess!" He immediately slowed down to let her catch up with him and fell into her pace. "Naturally - what can I help you with?"
Looking at him, she could tell he already had an idea. Not that she hadn't expected him to know with how the entire castle was still buzzing.
"I was wondering if you could tell me about mistress Victoria?" She averted her gaze to the ground as soon as the words left her. Maybe it wasn't even her place to ask something like that.
Sergon sighed deeply beside her, only bolstering that idea. "Ah, yes. So her arrival has reached even your ears, has it?"
She nodded lightly beside him. "I met her earlier." And the encounter still confused her greatly.
Sergon sighed again. "Whatever that woman told you, please do not pay it any mind." His voice was a little sterner than usual.
She stared up at him, now even more confused than before. "She told me she was the king's consort. Was that not the truth?" Surely someone wouldn't simply make something like that up.
He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair, rubbing his neck roughly. "As much as I wish I could say it is not so, I am afraid that is the truth."
Once again, her eyes fell to the floor. So, it really was like that after all.
"As I said, princess, there is nothing for you to worry about. Their relationship is strictly physical on his part."
"Then how is it on her part? Is it the same for her?"
Sergon looked at her for a long moment, then breathed out again.
"I could not know," he conceded. "You must first understand that Lady Victoria comes from a very poor family. Already now, her position has given her family a proper home in which they will never again suffer starvation and misery."
She stared at him blankly, spacing out as she imagined a younger version of the woman she'd met earlier, starving out on the streets, on death's door. The thought was absurd, having met the woman. She seemed as though she'd walked around in gowns every day of her life, spent each one inside the castle walls. She oozed the kind of confidence Ciara had thought came only with a noble upbringing.
"Victoria is an ambitious woman, however, and seems to think her position as concubine will give her a good chance at becoming the queen." Sergon sounded almost exasperated at the thought. "However, even in the event she went and carried his child, that would not ever be a possibility - especially not with you here."
She frowned lightly, trying to understand. "Not even if the king wishes it so?"
"That is exactly the reason why the possibility of that is nonexistent." A small smile graced his lips. "He would never marry someone who is not worth the trouble they bring."
She sighed internally. How exactly was she to interpret that? Was he inadvertently telling her to not cause any trouble?
"Speaking of him," Sergon said, pulling her out of her worries. "I know you have not seen much of the king ever since you arrived here."
She glanced up at the Commander and nodded slowly.
"I am afraid we - and especially he - are quite busy at present. The West has been testing our borders, so we have to take the necessary precautions for that not to escalate." He looked down at her with an expression that seemed to ask for her forgiveness.
"It is quite all right, my lord. I already knew the king would be a busy man when I agreed to come here, so that does not faze me," she said. "Besides, I must have surely added onto that load simply by being here."
He looked down with slightly wide eyes. "How do you figure, princess?"
"Well, I arrived here just half a cycle ago, and I already caused you all so much trouble," she said, her voice dropping with every word.
"Through no fault of your own, princess." He gently placed his hand on her shoulder, pulling her to a stop. "That was all our fault, please do not blame yourself for that. Not even for one second. Can you promise me that?" His gaze steadily kept hers locked.
She slowly nodded, for a moment surprised with his vigor. In all honestly, in that moment, he reminded her so incredibly much of her brother, Aem.
"Yes, I will," she told him, all the while blinking back sudden tears.
Sergon continued to look at her searchingly, having likely caught the wetness lurking behind her lashes.
"No one expects you to take responsibility for what happened, princess."
She looked at him. It really did seem like this man caught her every worry.
"Then what is expected of me? As the wife of the king?"
"As the king's wife, naturally you are expected to be next to the king during any official statements, and also to remain here in the castle." A bigger, softer smile crept up on his face. "Other than that, all we expect you to do is be yourself."
She smiled brightly at him. Those were things she could manage to do.
Before she got the chance to say anything in reply though, one of the Royal Guards came running at a frantic pace.
"Lord Commander!" he yelled, immediately catching both his and her attention. "A dragon is raging in the middle of the town-square in Crocus Port!" he yelled, only stopping up when he was right in front of them.
Wasn't Crocus the name of the port-city she had arrived in?
Sergon frowned as his hand found its way to his sword reflexively.
"Do we know why?" The tone of his voice was one she could hardly recognize.
The knight shook his head. "No, Commander. It seems like a random attack."
She frowned. "But that does not make any sense," she mumbled to herself.
"Nevertheless," Sergon sharply replied to her, before turning his gaze back to the knight again. "Do we have anyone out there?"
Said knight nodded. "Yes, the Dragon Slayers are already there."
"The Dragon Slayers?!" she yelled. What wouldn't they do to it!