The Demon King's Paladin Part 1 Vol 2.

Intermission. 4 Ladies, All With The Same Problem

                                                                   Asha Clearfield's Point Of View

" I still can't believe it... To think that they'd be held up because of the Bureau... It's ridiculous."

Alle had begun to complain as we had finally sat down for our lunch appointment. Alle... Princess Alice was dressed quite well, you'd think that she'd be modeling the form fitting orange dress that she was wearing, it matched well with her long flowing brown hair that no doubt had been looked after by her team of personal maids. The orange of the dress also brought contrast to her dark red eyes that seemed to look full of annoyance as she groaned about our current predicament. What originally was supposed to be a meeting between 7 people had changed to only a meeting of 4, not to mention that the main reason for the lunch, which was meeting and speaking with Sarah, Anna and John for the first time in a long while for all of us was destroyed due to the Royal Investigations Bureau seemingly harassing John. As for who was still able to show for the lunch, the table was occupied by Sharon, Alle, Cyn and myself. While I'd have liked for today to be a pleasant experience, all we plan on doing now is complaining.

" Big Sis told me that the Bureau said that they needed to " double check" John's claims. As if they've ever done that before bringing their findings to Father before... Their treatment has been noticed by Father and Mother already. Apparently, they plan on using this as an opportunity to wrestle more control away from Duke Garen, since he's the Director of the Bureau. There's also rumors apparently of him knowing something about Peter's behavior leading up to his attacking of John and Sarah after Sarah's recovery."

Cynthia's frown was no better than Alle's own. She sat and looked at her pristine teacup that showed her own face full of disappointment. It didn't fully match her own outfit, an elegant pink dress full of frills and ribbons that appealed to her being the youngest person here. I've no doubt Aunt Aqua put her up to wearing something like this, her dress complimenting her eye color and causing her somewhat longer than shoulder length hair to be quite eye catching as she swayed in her seat while taking a sip of her still hot tea.

" How long have these rumors been around, Cyn?"

" Apparently they started after they left for Paradise."

Cyn and Alle went back and forth for a moment. This information was news to me, but I wasn't surprised by it. Living relatively close to Blackstone, I've come by many people, Noble and Commoner alike that have a negative opinion about John and his relationship with Sarah and Anna. I've even heard the laughable idea that he caused Sarah's poisoning in order to pretend to save her and force Uncle Warrick to give John, Sarah's hand in marriage. To say that I've found the events and tea parties I've had the unfortunate responsibility to attend to be " unpleasant", is an understatement. If not for the occasional appearance of Sharon or Cynthia, I'd probably have gone insane from correcting the people I run into. You'd think they'd be able to trust my words, considering I'm one of the few that have actually spent any amount of time with John in comparison to the useless rumor mills that they get these trashy ideas from.

" Asha, you're frowning."

Sharon spoke to me, she pointed out something strange, considering everyone was currently frowning, even her. Her appearance made her frown even more noticeable, a fully black Knight's attire, which was formfitting to a fault as it caused her lean but toned body to be ignored in favor of her breasts and buttocks to be the most eye-catching woman at the table where 2 Princesses were currently sitting. Combining that with her black hair and eyes formed the idea of a melancholic woman who seemed to lack joy in her life. Granted that was only for the moment, anyone who knew Sharon personally, knew just how much joy she'd bring to anyone's life. If only she could realize that she's missing out on one certain person responsible for sucking not just her joy of the day, but all of our joy from the day.