The Crimes of A Demon

The Meeting

The meeting place was the Throne Room, as it turns out the Queen wished to meet Malphas too! When Malphas arrived, he was so nervous his entire body shook. Anton had told him not to worry, and that the Princess wasn't angry with him, that she simply wanted to talk. This calmed Malphas a little bit, until he saw the Queen. Seeing Her Majesty made Malphas really nervous. Malphas arrived and walked through the door, he jumped slightly as the door slammed shut behind him. But he continued walking forward until he was a couple meters from the throne. From here he bowed deeply. The Queen called to Malphas "My daughter told me that she wished to speak with you, considering you have done enough to grasp her attention, I thought you would appreciate mine as well." "Yes Your Highness, this audience is much appreciated." Malphas said back, in a formal voice "I am here only to listen." The Queen told him "My daughter wishes to question you, and so it shall be done." Princess Romedia walked up to Malphas and put her hands on his shoulders "Come Cadet, sit with me." She said as she led Malphas to a small table, on it was a small but delicious looking meal of soup and bread. "If I may ask Princess," Malphas said picking his words carefully "What is it that you have called me here for?" "Oh I simply wished to meet you Malphas." Romedia said as she fixed herself a bowl of soup "You intrigue me, the Devil boy from The Slums who is in the Top 5? Quite a feat you have accomplished." "Why thank you Princess" Malphas said bowing his head slightly "I am always ready to learn anything that my teachers present to me." "Really?" Romedia said mockingly shocked "And here I was thinking that you were more interested in the combat exercises." Malphas feels a lump form in his throat as he responds "The exercises are my favorite, but I love learning as well, the tactics, strategy, all of it intrigues me." "Well good, because I have requested that you and I have private combat training together from now until you graduate." Romedia said eating her soup. Malphas was shocked "P-p-private training?" Malphas stuttered out "I don't think I would have the time for that, the Cadets have a strict schedule-" Malphas gets cut off as Romedia interjects "It has been approved by The General, our private training will replace the spot of your normal group training. You will still live in the barracks and not be treated any differently, and you should not expect to be, the only difference is that when your group goes to training, one of the Queen's Guard will escort you to my training room. Is that understood Cadet Malphas?" "Yes ma'am!" Malphas says, snapping into attention. "Good, now tomorrow will be your first day, where I will test you to see how much you know." Romedia says dismissing Malphas. Once Malphas has left the Throne Room, the Queen turns to Romedia "Romedia, you seemed a little harsh on the boy, do no be so mean, he's a promising young lad, and a handsome one at that" The Queen says smiling "Mother! I will not be courted by that Devil boy." Romedia snaps as her face blushes and she turns away. Malphas walks down the hill, wondering why the Princess chose him, yes he is a Slums boy, yes he's in the Top 5, but that shouldn't warrant a personal training regimen, should it? Malphas blushes as he thinks of the reason. Does the Princess find Malphas attractive? It couldn't be, she is the Princess, she couldn't find the lowly Slums Cadet attractive. Malphas thought long and hard about these things as he walked back to his barracks.