Did they really think he wouldn't know why those two were here? He knew that while he was during a meeting with the rest of the royals, these two were gathering information about your whereabouts. Not just your whereabouts, your grave. They really thought you were dead.
If they expected his servants to know, they were very wrong. He made sure that those he served would not stick their noses where it didn't belong. If they knew about you, they knew not to talk to them about it.
But it has been a week now since you were retrieved from the dungeons. Your recovery would take time despite how fast you were recovering. Besides, your broken leg would take longer to heal. He couldn't say the same thing for that guard, he probably would not be the same man. But he did warn him.
But they found no grave and the two of them looked devastated. They were trying to figure out where your remains were left.
Currently, the royals were having a meal and although the war issues had already been discussed some of them looked as if there was something else they wished to speak about.
Taking his glass filled with his favorite drink, he leaned back on his seat as his eyes scanned all of them. King Caius locked eyes with him, probably already figured it out. King Ravus would send a glare to Noctis, he had no shame and would do it openly. King Nostis would ignore him, and so on. Then there was King Rufus, he glared down at his meal.
"Is there something you wish to speak about King Rufus?" King Mateus asked, King Rufus snapping his gaze to him.
Pushing the plate away from him, King Rufus nodded. "There is an agreement King Mateus, did her execution take place."
The King would be lying if he did not admit that he wasn't waiting for this moment. "I know about the agreement. However, you must take into consideration that she attacked me. That is not included in that agreement, not to mention that her actions could have created conflicts with our Kingdoms. She offered her life in exchange for her actions to be forgiven."
"She's alive?" King Rufus looked surprised and even shocked. No surprise there, he probably expected him to execute here right away. "She gave her life, we both know what that entails." There was a certain snap in his voice.
"Many things," he replied, all the while the others observed with either interest. "Her life is in my hands, and I can do as I please with it."
"You can twist it however you want to, but A First Class Soldier cannot be kept not even as a prisoner." Noctis interjected and he visibly winced.
"That agreement was created between my father and your father," he directed his attention back to King Rufus, "and he is dead." He placed the glass back on the table.
Then before anyone else could reply, there was some clapping. King Caius laughed as his eyes landed on King Mateus. "I must applaud you,your plan worked. Though I wonder what you did to make her lose her compotsure. From what I gather, she is rather cool headed."
Plan, Rufus should have known. You didn't lose your temper that easily, but part of all of this was his fault. It didn't matter how much experience you had, you had no knowledge of politics. He should have taught you how to behave in situations like this, just like the rest of First Class Soldier. "What do you plan to do with her then? I know I am in no position to start a war with you simply for a soldier." King Rufus stood up this time not bothering to conceal his glare. "Do really think that she will simply follow your orders? Be loyal to you?" Normally King Rufus kept himself composed, but being in the same room as King Mateus was suffocating. He disliked that man to the core. "The moment you accepted her proposal and now that you refuse to respect the agreement our fathers had, she is no longer part of my Kingdom. "
Without adding more the ShinRa King walked out of the dinning room. "I'll have to agree with King Rufus," and King Noctis follows the man. The rest did the same.
In the end only King Caius and King Mateus were left. "What were you really planning to do with her? You already knew her loyalty was the last thing you would obtain from her despite forgiving her life. Getting on King Eufus' nerves isn't it either. So why exactly?" King Caius studied him only to show a small smile, stand up and begin to walk away. "Your plan failed, you may have her but you did not obtain what you truly wanted. Did you King Mateus?" And he was gone.
Umn...What would he do with you? He wasn't sure.
---
Meanwhile while King Rufus returned to his room, he had had enough socializing for the moment. Besides the stress of the war, making decisions were taking a toll on him. He needed some rest.
But, just as he was about to enter his room, just about six doors down the hall he spotted two women supporting another woman. Though since they had their back to him, he wasn't sure who it was. Something seemed to tug him towards it, and he hurried. "Halt," he was about three meters away when he ordered the servants to stop.
The two of them stopped but did not turn around. So he had to walk around them in order to inspect the woman in the middle. The woman's head was lowered, the hair that reached her shoulders pooled in front of her face so he wasn't able to see her face clearly. She was dressed in an ordinary dress, something a servant would dress. But a servant would not sleep in one of these rooms.
By the way the two women held her, it almost looked as if they were dragging her. He was about to leave when the thought of the shortness of the hair stopped him. Not just any woman would sport hair that short, no. He reached with his hand and moved the hair out of the way. Join the sight his eyes widened, and he pulled his hand away in utter shock. "What" again he reached forward and this time he grasped your chin up.
You had your eyes closed and with the way you were breathing, you were sleeping. But the sight in front of him made his body shiver. Your face was so skeletal, and he should have seen it before. He should have seen the way that dress just pooled around your body. It was way to big for you, and for a good reason. You were skin and bones. "[Name], what did he do to you?"
His eyes snapped to the servant girls, but it looked like a glare which frightened them. "What happened to her?" But out of fear they did not answer.
Frowning he moved one of the girls to the side but at the same time supporting you, he then proceeded to place an arm under your shoulder blades and then the other under your knees. He lifted you off and took you to his own room.
He wasn't sure how but he managed to open the door, close it once inside and then walked to his bed where he placed you. But as soon as he placed you in it, you groaned in what seemed pain. He watched as you opened your eyes but without looking at him, you reached to your leg.
He understood why, your leg was wrapped. That leg was broken. After a few seconds of allowing you to nurse your leg, you finally looked around you and then at him. You blinked a couple of times before those hazed eyes of yours seemed to change, you attempted to sit up but with how weak you were, you couldn't. "King Rufus." Even talking seemed to be a struggle.
"What did he do to you?" More than asking you, he asked himself. He could not process the thought that King Mateus had you starving for....For over a month.
"My insolence caused all of this." You answered his question.
King Rufus was by no means a saint, many people would still say to this day that he was cruel and heartless. He was when he was younger, he didn't care about anyone else but himself. He saw people only as worms and nothing else. It was when realized how much he was turning into his father. A King so cruel that his own people hated him. He didn't want to become his father so he changed.
So it was...Hard to swallow having to believe that King Mateus did this to you simply for his own amusement. Letting out a sigh, he looked around until he spotted a chair. He went to retrieve it and placed it close to the bed. "He planned all of this, why? I'm not sure but I cannot understand what he obtained by starving you."
"I apologize," you ignored his words, "I failed you more than anything. I shouldn't have...I"
"Don't," strangely enough his eyes softened, "you need all the rest you can get. Go back to sleep." He stood up and was about to walk out of his room. He stopped just as he was about to open the door, he turned around and observed as you laid down again. To think that not long ago he had done something similar bro what King Mateus did. He tricked, to some extent, King Noctis to let you know his Kingdom.
The problem now what that now you were at the disposal of a sadistic King. This time there was nothing that he could do...At least for now.