A Beast's Tale

Chapter 43

The round table was emptier the next day at lunch, my first meal of the day after sleeping through the morning again. Not that it was any quieter.

"Glad that's over," Jin said, grinning as he filled his plate.

"You're telling me. I didn't get to take a nap once the entire time they were here!" Luke complained.

"I'm sorry you had such a rough time, Luke. Chevalier and I had it easy by comparison, managing the kingdom, you lot, three foreign princes, spy rings, an emergency rescue, and finalizing a treaty, that's all," Leon said with an uncharacteristic irritable sarcasm.

"It's not like the rest of us were sitting around twiddling our thumbs," Yves protested. "What's eating you, anyway?"

Leon sighed. "Sorry, just on edge. And they're not all gone yet. Gilbert isn't leaving until the morning."

That was cause for irritation.

"Where is he?" Belle asked.

Leon scowled. "I don't know. Having lunch in his room, I guess."

"So, how did the foreign princes' visit with Ivetta go?" Clavis asked cautiously.

"No, it went well enough," Leon said with a shrug. "She was happy to see them, and Silvio and Keith behaved themselves."

"You left out Gilbert," Licht commented.

I'd noticed that omission, too, and it concerned me.

"Yeah, about him. He didn't say a word until Ivetta asked to talk to him alone," Leon said.

"Which you didn't allow, right?" Nokto interjected.

"It's kind of hard to say no to her on a regular day, and now that she looks like a human punching bag, it's pretty well impossible," Leon admitted sheepishly.

I shot him a disdainful glare.

"I'd like to see you turn her down, Chevalier," he shot back at me. "Anyway, it seemed like everything went okay. Gilbert was in a good mood when he left, and the doctor wouldn't let me see her again, but he said she was fine."

"What about the rest of the visit? Before the foreign princes?" Luke asked.

Leon's face relaxed into a grin. "She was in a really good mood. And she hasn't changed, not one bit. She was worried about Chevalier going overboard with the rescue, and she was relieved to hear that he didn't purge the entire anti-war faction."

Clavis laughed. "Good thing she didn't see him go berserk, then."

"Berserk?" Belle asked.

"It's a thing King Highness does on the battlefield when he's really ticked off," Nokto explained. "He turns into a one-man army, and his knights just clean up behind him."

"I know you're the best swordsman around, Chevalier, but I forget how much you normally hold back," Leon commented.

I shrugged. "There is no need to waste energy unnecessarily."

Jin laughed. "Typical response from Chevalier. Belle, when he gets mad enough, he's basically an undisciplined little brat with a sword."

"I don't know about that, Jin," Leon countered. "Seems to me that he's pretty darn disciplined, just faster and stronger than everybody else. And he's as good with his left hand as he is with his right."

"It's probably good Ivetta didn't see him like that," Yves said.

"She did," I said quietly.

All eyes turned to me.