The Knight Queen

Chapitre Deux: Assemblée de conseil et Un Jour en Paris (I)

   "G̤̈R̤̈Ä̤T̤̈Ï̤T̤̈Ṳ̈D̤̈Ë̤ for your full attendance, my Lords," the Queen said, her hands on the lengthy ebony table. Stacks of papers laid in front of her, showcasing the amount of work that laid in their wake.

   "You are most welcome, your majesty, mais, je ne comprend pas (but, I do not understand) as to why you brought your betrothed over. Should we bring our wives as well?" To that, the Queen let out a sigh of irritation. Duke Reginald had grown quite fond of grating on her nerves every chance he got. While she, on the other hand, had been controlling herself so as to not go and welk him 'til he turned black and blue. Now, she was this close to losing her calm and collected demeanour.

   "J'ai sauf que un question pour toi (I have a question for you) , are you some sort of bloody eejit?" the Queen querried, her eyes trained on him in unmasked ire, her fingers lightly drumming the table to reel in her temper.

   "Of course not, your majesty," he replied, his tone haughty and his arms crossed on his chest.

   "You are deceiving yourself. You are a dolt for not realising that he is a person much higher in rank than you are and also, might I add, your future King. Thus, his attendance should be of no surprise as the matter we are about to discuss concerns him as well, to some extent," the Queen said coolly, levelling him a glare that was sure to shut his mouth for a considerable amount of time.

   "Nigh, the matter at hand is no trifling thing, rather, it is grave and could lead to a war if we do not weigh it out wisely and the issue is: Duke Alain has been charged by His Imperial Majesty, King Joffrey of the Nayern Nations for assassinating his heiress daughter. I received a missive from him about a fortnight ago and the conditions are: if I will not hand over Duke Alain to his Nation, he would wage a war with Troyes for failing to give him his chance to have justice for his late daughter. So with that, I set the matter forth and urge each and every one of you to share your ideas." Silence reigned over the room for the longest time. They knew not what to say or do.

   "I see no need for an entire meeting when he has already given us a solution. Let us just handover Alain to them and save our Queendom from war," Duke Julien spoke, carelessness in his tone.

   "It is not as simple as it seems, Julien," Duke Renaud––a mild-tempered man with a friendly appearance––said, a thoughtful look on his countenance.

   "The people of his duchy love their ruler to the extent that, at the mention of his possible execution, they might form a coup and if their demands are not heard, might rebel against the Monarch. Our Queendom is in no way able to struggle to diminish a civil war when the people of Troyes are known to have this inner drive to pursuit justice with brute force, no matter the cost. Therefore, either way, we have the chance of a war whether civil or a war with the great Nayern Nations." Everyone let out a sigh of resignation. The strings in their mind pulled taut, threatening to cut loose upon any more pondering.

   "Well," Duke Reginald spoke once more, adding a sniff after saying so and his tone still haughty, "I wouldn't blame the people for not entrusting their lives on a teenager, and, most of all, a female," he said with palpable distaste.

   That is it, the Queen thought, this man has driven me to insanity.

   Before she could take any action, a loud scraping of chairs was heard followed by thunderous footsteps that echoed in the large meeting room.

   It was the foreign Prince––heading over to where Duke Reginald sat rather snuggly on his allotted seat––rolling up his sleeves, his jaw ticking in suppressed rage. In a fraction of a second, he struck Duke Reginald square on the jaw, making his entire being swivel at the brute force. Reginald stood up hastily, vengeance in his eyes until when he was met with the Prince's stone cold, icy glare that made him clamp his mouth shut and swallow the words that had once before bubbled inside him.