章節 9: The Gift

The headmaster leads me through a series of hallways to meet with the king. I am sure he is busy, but I am led into a very masculine parlor. There are bookshelves full of texts, and animal busts on the walls. There's a stand to the side with different types of what I assume to be alcohol, and a box with cigars. The king must be an absolute man's man. Judging by the contents of the bottles, he must entertain quite often. I mean, he is the king, so of course he would. He is well loved by his people.

I don't have to wait long before the king enters. He stares at me expectantly, raising a brow. What am I missing? OH!

"Your Majesty, thank you for your audience on such short notice!" I said with a low bow. I have not bowed to anyone since my father. For a second I forgot my alias, and I almost offended him. That would not have been a good first impression.

"You must be Stetson Scott. My headmaster has relayed everything you told him to me, and I must say, you are very bold to insinuate that my dear princess could potentially be the downfall of our kingdom. Had your words not held truth to them, I would have taken offense. However, you have brought up a subconscious fear of mine. With your bold words, I can only assume you have a solution that no other suitor can bring to the table?"

"Actually, I do. Should the princess choose me to be her future husband, I would teach her everyday about the different supernatural species. And what better way to teach her than to take her beyond her kingdom and introduce her to the different species."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT! I will not have my daughter leave Cribs for any reason! What you suggest is outrageous! If I wanted her to mingle with those scum, I would have never banned them or their magic from the kingdom! Do you even know the reason why I banned them in the first place? THEY MURDERED HER MOTHER! Why would I want to risk subjecting her to the same fate? She is the only heir to the Criban throne! It is preposterous what you have suggested!"

"I understand your hesitations, your Majesty, but because I have a great relationships with plenty of the supernatural beings, she would be well taken care of. She would even be protected by them for fear of losing their standing with my family bank." I know you may not have heard of my family since you have been cut off from the other lands since your queen has died, may she rest in peace, but I do stand by my status amongst the supernatural. If Princess Estelle were to choose me as her beloved, I would be able to protect her with my status. Something a lot of others cannot claim."

He looked at me with scrutiny. Considering my words very carefully. He was still angry, but I'm sure he would realize that what I said held weight. That I was correct in my solution to his fears. He would have to agree.

"You are very bold with your words, Mr. Scott, but you are correct. I suppose that is what makes you a good banker. You tell people the truth, no matter if they will like it. You have my blessing," he said with displeasure.

"Thank you, your Majesty," I started with a bow without trying to smirk. I won. I did it, now all I had to do was win the Princess's hand. It might be hard when I've always had women throwing themselves at my feet for being the prince and then king. "Now, if I may ask, is there anything about the princess that you could share with me that might help? I am a bit mortified to admit that I may have what it takes to strike a deal with a man, but I have no such luck in the wooing of women."

He let out a hearty laugh at my embarrassment. "I suppose every man must have at least one flaw," he picked at me. Come, have a drink with me and we can discuss."

"I would love to share a drink with you, your Majesty, but please, do not take any offense when I say I cannot partake in any of the beverages you may serve. My, uhm, stomach cannot handle them. I have grown up on drinks from outside of Criba, and so I cannot handle those of Criba. I hope you understand, and if I may, I have brought my own for this particular reason," I stated while pulling my flask out of the inside of my jacket and motioning it to him.

He looked at me and shrugged. "I suppose that is a fair reason. There is no offense taken. However," he paused looking at me very seriously and I froze, "can you at least sit on my furniture? Or will it be too soft or too hard for your foreign butt?"

I held his gaze for a moment, unsure what to say. He started to smirk, and I burst out laughing. Here I thought I had really offended him, or even worse he would ask to try my drink. But here he was, poking fun at me. This old king was a riot. "Yes, of course I can have a seat with you," I managed to let out between the fits of laughter.

After finally managing to calm ourselves, we sat down. "My little gem,' he began, "is strong like her mother was. She cannot be controlled. Her dear friends mean everything to her. If you can manage to win them over, you will have no trouble winning her hand. I suggest you befriend them and make a good impression, and then introduce yourself to her. Do not bore her with talk of yourself unless she directly asks. This should be enough."

"Thank you, your Majesty. That is very helpful."

"Now, share with me what you have there in your hand. I assume it is a gift for my little darling?" he questioned.

"Ah, yes, it is. I would show you, but I would have to undo this perfect wrapping. I can tell you what it is though…"

***

-Estelle POV-

I finished my food, and as the guests began their second plates and desserts, my father and I retook our respective thrones. It was time to begin opening gifts. I would open them and the announcer would state to the room who it was from. After each one, a servant would take it, and walk it around the hall to show it off to all of the guests.

The first gift was a small music box. A bit childish for my liking, but I guess until I am married and inherit the throne, people will still treat me as a little princess.

The next couple of gifts were similar to the music box–trinkets and knick-knacks from all over the kingdom. They were all beautiful, however they just weren't…me. You could tell a lot of the guests didn't know me on a personal level, but I still made sure to show my gratitude.

Then came a larger gift. It was rectangular and flat. It was a gift from my father. I tore back the wrapping and gasped. It was a painting of my mother I had never seen before. And as I looked next to her, I saw a current portrait of myself. It was to look as if she was still here, hugging me from behind. My eyes began to well with tears as I looked at my father. He was trying not to cry as well.

"Oh father, it's beautiful. I don't know what else to say. I am speechless."

"It's ok, my little gem. You don't have to say anything. The look in your eyes tells me everything. I love you, my darling. Your mother did too. You look very much like her."

"Oh father." It wasn't customary, but I stood to give him a hug. I squeezed him with all I could, and whispered, "I love you, too."

I sat back down, and was handed another gift. Normally, father's should have been last, but I believe he was too excited to wait. Plus, I think he wanted to get the emotions out of the way and give me time to cheer up with more gifts before the real party started. He was always caring like that, that's why he was so loved by the people.

I reigned in my emotions, and began to open the next large gift in front of me. It was so big, it had to be sat on the floor for me to unwrap. Before me sat a large vase with a bouquet featuring my favorite flowers accented by a bunch of other little ones. However, they didn't seem to be ordinary flowers. Instead, upon further inspection they were made of fabric. Different types of fabric too. It must have been sprayed with a floral scented perfume as well, because it smelled wonderful. I looked at it with awe. It was gorgeous. I loved it, and looked for the guests who had brought it. After finding them I waved and said a huge thank you. You could see the envy in the other guests' eyes at their acknowledgement. I realized what I had done was a bit of a faux pas, but I couldn't help myself. The gift was stunning.

After I was done gushing with the vase of faux flowers, a servant brought me another gift. This one was a bit on the small side, almost tiny. I tore through the perfect wrapping to reveal a hinged box. Opened it and let out a loud gasp. It was a ring, but not just any ring. Who did they say this was from, again? How could–how could they know? I pulled out the small ring and inspected it closer. It was an amethyst with the letter 'L' made of gold sitting firmly on top. But if you looked through the gem to its underside, you could see a sigil. Could it be from the figure I saw through the library windows? No one else here could possibly know my secret other than the girls, and they wouldn't have been able to acquire such a thing. I slipped it onto my smallest gloved finger. It would have to fit on a bigger one when I took them off. I told the servant I would keep this one. I didn't want to risk anyone noticing the sigil.

The next and last of the gifts were all forms of gorgeous jewelry, but I couldn't keep my mind off the one on my finger.