Nobleman: Halkeginia

(11) Prince Wales

"... Hey, what's with the face? We are running low on supplies, and intercepting those of the rebels is our only option. Additionally,the royal ensign would attract unwanted attention, and thus the piracy and the disguises."

"You may noticed that the questions we asked was just a test, and indeed it is— we wouldn't thought of a foreign noble to come to our assist, too good to be true, it may seems. We apologize for the poor treatment previously."

Wardes, being the most experienced among the two, is also the fastest to recover from the unexpected: "We are here on behalf of Her Royal Highness, Princess Henrietta. She dispatched us to meet you with her handwritten letter to explain our erason."

"Is that so? Well then, Mister-?" He bowed to the Prince. "Viscount Wardes, Griffin Knight Captain of the Tristainian Mage Knights— And they are the ambassador appointed by her Royal Highness personally, Miss La Valliere and her familiar." The two, on hearing their names being called, made a curtsy and a bow respectively.

"I see... I am in full confident to claim our needed victory should we have such a fine gentleman on our side, sir Viscount... now, the letter?"

"Pardon me, Your Highness." Alexander blocked the approach-attempted Louise. "But due to the previous... incident, do you have anything to back yourself as Prince Wales?"

"Hm... I do." His gaze stopped on Louise. "Miss La Valliere, would you mind come close to me?" "Eh? Alright."

"Your hand, please." Wales extend his hand, the ring on his hand glow alongside the one on Louise. Once in contact, a rainbow color is seen radiating from the rings. "This Ring of Wind of mine... Is an Albion royalty pass-down. I assume this ring of yours is the Ring of Water from Henrietta?" She nodded. 

"The rainbow from Water and Wind— such is the rainbow between the royalties."

"Then I have no words against such claim, Your Highness. I apologize for my insecirity." "I understand. This must be confidental had Henrietta dispatch two nobles instand of messengers— Hmm, the Princess is getting married? Oh, my dear Henrietta, my lovely little cousin..."

Alexander made an inaudible sigh. Incest among royalties is not uncommon, Habsburg is a well-known example of such. Yet to withness such thing first-handed in rather...

"I see. The Princess wishes to have her letter back. As much as I hoped to keep it more than anything else, her wish is my wish too... so be it— However, I cannot risk to bring the letter with me to the ship. May I ask you to travel to Newcastle directly with us?"

—

The ship approach the Newcastle, which is indeed a castle that is built on a cape. However the unusual appraoch from below has been pointed out by Louise.

To which, Wales simply pointed to the cape, where a much larger ship was making it's descending upon, but was paused, and fired a salvo agaisnt the castle. Smokes can be seen emitting from the castle. 

"That ship, the Royal Sovereign, was the Flagship of the Royal Fleet. After the mutiny ochestrated by the rebels, it was soon renamed to Lexington, after the battlefield of our first lost. The rebels are seemingly proud of their first triumph over the Albionian Armed Forces."

An akwarded Alexander coughed. The Battle of Lexington, in the Revolutionary War, was the first engagement, a victorious one no less, for the America Colonist. The heavy implication of such caused him brief uneasiness.

"Ever since the besigement, the Lexington often appraoch the castle and harass our guardsmen and troops with salvoes. As much as we wish to get rid of the ship, she was equipped with 800 cannons total on both side, and with the amount of dragon knights onboard and patrolling around the ship, we have no chance against it— To avoid the rebels air forces in all aspect, we will appraoch the garrison with a secret entry from below the continent."

—

A saying is that "The safest place is the most dangerous place", and Alexander J. Grant would agree with you, as the area below the continent is shadowed, and amidst the clouds, providing zero visiblity as a result. "The inexperienced rebels would never expect us due to the visibility below the surface— however, to our well-trained navigator of the Royal Air Force, this is merely piece of cake, even when we are limited to map guidance, measurments and magic illuminations."

With the assistance of the said prideful navigator, they reached an opening at the bottom. "Standby!" "Standby, aye sir." The sailors, even in the dark, lowered the sails, causing the ship to came at a full stop right under the cave.

"Slow, ascend!" "slow ascend, aye sir!"

Alexnader was amazed by the convinent location, and the three men looked up to the darkness. "I suppose every pirate, be it air or sea, and even those highwaymen on the grounds, are required to operate in a hidden place, just like the books." "Indeed.""Hmph."

The hidden port are illuminated by the white moss clinged onto the surrounding rocks, and the Eagle was docked by dock lines from above and jointed by gangway. The crew are greeted by soldiers and an old, tall noble.

"Hoho, the amount of resources... as expected from your Highness."  "Indeed, Pars. Even better, the ship is loaded with sulfurs." 

The greeting crowds cheers. "Hooray, gunpowders! We can now pull up a good fight against the rebels with these!" "

And the noble weeped with joy and excitement. "Your Highness, with this many sulfurs, we can have them taste their own medicine!" "We shall show the traitors our honour and pride before a defeat!" "A glorious defeat, milord! I am already thembling with joy! We shall face their siege at noon with gunpower and cold steel!" "Magnificent! It it a glory as the prince and knight to fall in the battle. Would be a shame should I miss the fight."

Amidst the high morale given by the sulfur, Alexander held empathy and admiration towards the band of troops, for they fight a losing fight, yet their morale stand high and courage stay strong, ready to put on one hell of a fight.

"Your Highness, these people are-?" "Ah, yes— they are the Tristanian envoys for a confidental mission." Though puzzled, the old man named Paris still greet the trio. "Oh, pardon me— Welcome to Kingdom of Albion, I am Paris, a chamberlain for His Royal Highness. I believe you are all tired from the long trip, though I am sorry that we were unable to hold a grand welcoming ceremony, I hope a small feast would suffice. Please— come and enjoy the feast with us."

—

The trio followed Prince Wales to his room in the castle, the wartime simple design is as expected from Alexander. He found the small chest embedded with jewels in one of the drawer, and opened it with the key on his necklace, revealing a very old letter and a picture of Henrietta.

Wales take out the letter and read it for the last time, then hand it over to Louise. "I believe this is the letter the Princess mentioned, and I shall return the letter to you, as instructed in her letter." "Thank you, Your Highness." "The Eagle will carry the non-combatants and departure tomorrow. Please, board the Eagle and return to Tristain tomorrow morning."

Alex shot the Prince with a complexed gaze. "... How bad are the loyalist holding up against?" "Three hundred to 50 thousand. We are fighting a losing battle, but when they breach the wall and the gates, they will be seeing the prideful Albionian Armed Forces fought to it's last man."

"I have one last question— I hold my suspicion, but the content of the letter—" "As I know very well that I cannot live past tomorrow— A love letter, indeed."

He hestiated but asked if the trio are willing to hear his story. With a positive respond he sit on his chair, and sighed.

"My dear Henrietta... she has swore her love for me in the name of our ancestor Brimir— the sacred swore only to be chanted on weddings. The exposure will resulted in her being found guilty of bigamy, and Tristain will be forced to face the damned rebels alone."

"*sigh* So be it, may the founder Brimir bestow the courage and the determination upon you in combat." He saluted to Wales.