Shoto left my room shortly after we made our agreement. He had to return to his room to get ready for the day, plus he had been assigned with serving duty for the day so he had to be there to serve any early risers who may have been in the dining hall.
The exchanging of our farewells was slightly awkward, as it should be since we had woken up naked in the same bed and had just agreed that we were nothing more than friends for the time being. Icyhot waved goodbye to me awkwardly as he slipped out of the door of my room. I returned the wave with a pained smile before I fell back on my bed and started up at the deep blood red canopy above me.
As my thoughts and emotions swirled around me, I felt Ground Zero emerge from my chest and settle comfortably in my mind. I closed my eyes and muttered a prayer to the gods before I engaged my temperamental dragon in conversation. I knew that the dickhead was going to be fucking smug and I was proven correct as soon as he spoke.
"What did I tell you, hmm? I bet you feel fantastic right now since you're letting your destined in. Even if you're not fucking right now, you will be in due time. You're not in pain anymore, are you?" Ground Zero chuckled smugly in my mind.
"The only reason I don't feel any pain anymore is that you've stopped being a dickhead. You and I both know I would have given in eventually. Tch. We won't be fucking anytime soon either. You're not fucking deaf so you know what we both said. I swear you only hear the things you want to hear." I huffed, crossing my arms and glaring at the fabric above me.
"Yeah, yeah. Just you wait, I know that you two will be closer than you intend to be." Ground Zero scoffed before he retreated into my soul and did whatever the fuck he did down there. Honestly, I have no idea what Ground Zero did whilst he wasn't occupying the forefront of my mind.
I dismissed my curiosity in favour of rolling out of bed and shuffling over to my bathroom so that I could wash away the previous night's sweat, alcohol and scents. I filled the bath with scalding hot water which soothed my tense muscles. The steam, which filled the air and made the mirror leaning against the wall fog up, cleared my head and soothed my raging emotions. Why did life and love have to be so fucking complicated?
I swooped into the dining hall like the dramatic son of a bitch I am. My cape flowed behind me as I walked through the grand mahogany doors of the room and made my way to the head seat of the table. It couldn't be clearer that the seat at the head of the table was mine. It was taller than the rest of the seat at the table and the fabric on the chair was red instead of the orange fabric of all the other chairs.
I fell into the chair without grace and stared around the room. I saw several servants stood around the room. Some of them conversed quietly between themselves, seeing no need to rush forwards and serve me if I wouldn't accept food until my tribe turned up. It was a tradition of sorts that the tribe eat every meal together. Eating out meals together was a habit we had preserved after moving into the castle. As children, the entire tribe would come together to eat together, no matter what was happening. It was something we had maintained as we travelled around the Endeavour Kingdom and would continue to keep up until the day we were all decaying in the ground.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several familiar heads of hair slipping into the room. I looked up from the book I was reading to see Icyhot and Deku standing side by side against the wall, talking in subdued voices. As if sensing my gaze, Icyhot's head turned around to look at me. A minute, hardly discernable, smile graced his lips before he turned around to resume his conversation with Brocolli Boy. Just seeing Shoto made me feel lighter and all-around better about myself and the day.
It wasn't long until the rest of my tribe started filtering into the room. First was Hanta, who looked half asleep. Then Fumikage and Tsu came in hand in hand. Soon after, Eijiro and Mina skipped in together, shit-eating grins on their faces for some reason or another. Kyoka came in only a minute after talking happily to the newly bonded couple.
"Good Morning, Chief!" Eijiro smiled happily as he plopped into the seat to the left of me, his girlfriend sitting beside him.
"Shitty Hair," I replied shortly, waving a hand in the air to signal that the servants could start serving breakfast.
There was a flurry of movement as servants walked from the room and down the side passage which leads to the kitchen. Whilst servants were walking from the dining hall and to the kitchen, Aizawa and his family walked into the room and took a seat by his son.
"Good Morning, King Katsuki." Aizawa yawned.
"Good Morning, King Katsuki." Aizawa's husband, Yamada Hizashi, chirped like a cockatoo.
"Good Morning." Eri smiled as the servants began to flood back into the room with platters of food and jugs of drink in their hands.
The delicious aroma of pancakes, waffles, toast, eggs, bacon, gammon and sausages flooded the room, making my mouth water and my stomach rumbled deeply. Several other grumbles echoed mine as my tribe and our company stared ravenously at the food being gently placed on the table.
Nobody wasted any time in lunging forwards to grab what they wanted or calling servants over to pour them drinks. I was sure to keep an ear and eye out to make sure that everyone was using their manners. This behaviour had been mocked by Denki and Eijiro throughout the year in which we had lived in the castle. But I wasn't going to let them being rude to the servants go under the radar, they may have been servants and frankly extras in the grand story which is my life but they didn't deserve to be looked down upon because of their position in my castle.
"What the fuck do you say, Dunce Face? She just poured your drink, what do you say to her?" I barked down the table. Denki looked up from where he was stuffing his face with meat and stared at me with wide eyes. He quickly looked to the teal haired woman with antenna behind him and bowed slightly in his seat.
"Thank you for pouring me my drink," he said around the food in my mouth. I rolled my eyes as the woman laughed lightly and said a quiet 'You're welcome'.
Breakfast continued on as was normal after that. We all made small talk, congratulated Denki and Hitoshi when we were all in the right state of mind and asked the servants to send our compliments to the chef. By the end of breakfast, we were satisfied and ready to go about our tasks for the rest of the day.
"Kyoka, before you go off, don't forget to tell your girlfriend or whatever you two are that she has to work alongside the rest of her friends. Just cause she's a princess and your destined, doesn't mean she doesn't have to work." I told Kyoka as she was standing up from her seat. She nodded her head in understanding before she walked away.
"Mina, go to Pink Cheek's room and check up on her. Also, take her down to the kitchens so that she could a little work down there. She's not heavily pregnant yet so there's no point in her being cooped up all the time." I ordered. Mina jumped up from her chair and saluted me with a cheesy smile before pecking Shitty Hair on the lips and skipping away.
"Eijiro and Shinso, go and organize the guards. I want more present in the places where the 'prisoners' are working. We just have to be cautious." I sighed. They both nodded before walking away.
"Denki and Hanta, sort out that shit storm of a meadow. I saw it on the way here and it was atrocious. It's ruining my view. There are a shit ton of wasted fairies and nymphs out there and you know how they can be. Be quick about it." I grumbled.
"Fumikage, talk with the spirits up in the mountains and send them across the continent to gather information. It's imperative that we have information. I've got a gut feeling that some shit is going to go down soon." I said, pointing towards the raven headed man. He bowed slightly before walking away with Tsu in tow.
With everyone gone, it left just me and Aizawa's family seated around the table as servants walked around clearing up. I stood up and beckoned them to follow me as I walked out of the hall, not noticing both Deku and Shoto look at the family following me with blatant surprise in their eyes.
"So, Aizawa, what did you want to talk about?" I asked as I fell unceremoniously into my seat behind my desk in my office. I gestured for Aizawa to take a seat in front of me whilst his husband and daughter sat on the sofa's which were on the left side of the room.
" I need to talk about several things with you. First of all, I wasn't aware that Prince Shoto and his companions were still alive." Aizawa drawled as he raised one of his eyebrows. The look he was giving me was one which clearly conveyed that he would have liked to know that before he visited the Kingdom to witness his son being bound to another person.
"Tch. I couldn't risk any sort of information leak. If I were to send you this information via bird or any magical method the message could have been intercepted and my entire plan would go up in flames." I scoffed as I kicked my feet up onto my desk and looked down my nose at Aizawa.
Aizawa simply rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "And what, pray tell, is your plan? Because it would have been nice to know that you were keeping the prince captive only to let him and his friends out to work in your castle." Aizawa grumbled.
"I wanted to create tension between the Creati and Endeavour Kingdom. If there's tension between the two kingdoms, it will be easier to take down Endeavour without interference. I can practically hear you questioning my decisions to let the extras out of the dungeon and I'll be happy to explain." I sighed as I took my feet off of the desk and leant forward to look directly into Aizawa's eyes.
"Money Bags is Kyoka's destined so there's very little chance that she'll run away. Once you find your destined, it's physically exhausting and dangerous for you to leave their side. Deku won't leave because he wants to keep his wife safe and since she's pregnant, he won't want to risk the safety of his baby. Round Cheeks won't leave for the same reasons as Deku. Four Eyes won't abandon his people and will always follow his prince. Icyhot won't even consider leaving since he hates his father and he's my destined." I explained shortly.
Aizawa stared deeply into my eyes and searched for the truth. It took a moment, but he finally nodded his head. "Ok. That makes sense. It also makes sense why you would put extra guards on them. Fine. The second thing I wanted to discuss with you is about Endeavour. I've heard whispers that a group from the Dark Forest intend to attack the Kingdom." Aizawa mutters, a distant look taking over his eyes.
I sat up straighter in my chair at the mention of the Dark Forest. I searched Aizawa's face as he continued speaking. "I've also heard that the same group was potentially on Arrow Peak. They may potentially attack this Kingdom, but at the moment, it's practically confirmed that they intend to attack Endeavour. I know you have no interest in helping, but I would like you to help me, specifically." Aizawa continued.
"What do you mean by that? Of course, I won't help an enemy Kingdom. Why do you need my help?" I asked, staring deep into Aizawa's dark, empty eyes.
"If there really is an attack on the Kingdom, a lot of people will be in danger. It may be selfish, but I request that you keep Eri safe. Keep her in this Kingdom so that she can't be hurt in the battle which will inevitably happen. Hizashi and I must return to Endeavour tonight, but I want Eri to stay here." Aizawa said monotonously.
I nodded in understanding. It made sense for Aizawa to worry about his daughter's safety upon hearing these rumours. Most of the rumours which reached Aizawa's ears were usually ingrained with some sort of truth. "Ok. She can stay here. I'm sure Hitoshi wouldn't mind keeping his sister here. But I want you to send more reports back from Endeavour. I need to know every step he takes and everything which seems wrong or out of place. I don't care what happens to Endeavour, what I do care about is my Kingdom. If they come after us, I want to know about it. Also, if theses elusive people do take down the Endeavour, I want you and your husband to escape. You both seem as though you would be valuable to me." I shrugged. I watched as Aizawa nodded his head in understanding. It seems as though we had come to an agreement.
We spoke for a bit longer, exchanging information about what we already knew about the people from the Dark Forest. I gave him the notes Mezo had taken during our numerous meetings about the ominous invaders.
The meeting ended with Aizawa and I shaking hands and me swearing to the gods that I would do my best to ensure that Eri remained safe. We both knew that she would most likely be in the care of Hitoshi, but it was still my duty to swear to keep her safe.
When the family of three left my office, I was left staring out onto the meadow below me. Watching as the people of my Kingdom cleared up the mess of the previous night and restoring the land to its natural breathtaking beauty.
Sorry that this chapter is so short. My motivation to write has gone out of the window. I have no ideas. I know the general direction this story will take and the big plot points, but the story wouldn't be interesting if I didn't add little sub-plots and other things.
Also, sorry this update is a bit later than usual, today just hasn't been my day.
Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.