Twisted Diamonds and the Hidden Spade

Chapter IV

Arthur wakes up the next morning, getting ready to leave the castle. He looks in the room to see diamondian yellow royal clothes there, waiting for him. There was knock from the door, causing the brit to jump in surprise.

"Y-yes?" Arthur calls from the inside of the door.

"Those clothes are for you ma chéri." The voice belonged to Francis, responded from the other side of the door. "Get changed and then Basch will escort you to the dining room." Arthur then heard footsteps walking away from the door, indicating that Francis headed to the dining room.

Arthur sighs and hesitantly but kinda quickly put on the clothes that awaited him. He checked hi outfit in the mirror a grimaced a bit. The yellow colour of the clothes did not suit him at all. Why is he providing with royals clothing...? He's been so... formal to me- WAIT?! Does he know?!? Then why is he keeping me here, it's obvious he doesn't want me to leave.... What about his queen? Arthur's thoughts ran wild as he walked over and opened the door to the guest bedroom, only to be greeted by Basch.

"Let's go." Basch says hesitantly. "Listen, today we will have visitors from the Club Kingdom. But please be careful of King Bonnefoy, he has been acting strange since he's met you... Queen of Spades."

"You know?" Arthur questions in a hushed tone as they continue their journey to the dining room.

"Yes, I do. I don't think Francis knows exactly, but he tends to follow whatever 'gut feeling' he has." Basch responds with a sigh. "I will try and help you get back to your rightful kingdom, but I will not betray my own. I just don't want a war to wreak havoc between the kingdoms and surely the Spade Kingdom needs it's queen before it falls."

Arthur was shocked. "Alright, but how do you know? You've only seen me once, when I entered the castle, and the mark is and was covered!" Arthur whisper yelled.

Basch lets out a sigh. "I've seen in town on that rainy day that washed away the makeup. I saw the mark as clear as day because you hadn't noticed that it was uncovered yet." Arthur nods, remembering that day.

"Alright. I believe you." Arthur says with a sigh.

"We have arrived." Basch says upon entering the dining room, immediately dropping the subject. Basch goes over to where the queen sat and takes his seat beside you. Arthur drops the subject as well. Francis motions for Arthur to sit next to him once again and Arthur hesitantly complies.

"So today we will be having a very special guest~ That is the Club Kingdom royalty, we will be discussing trade arrangements as well as what to do about the missing Queen of Spades." Francis says before eating his breakfast.

"Alright. Sounds good." The quiet and delicate voice of the queen, Lili, spoke up. "Thank you for letting me know in advance Francis." She says before starting to eat her own food.

Francis nods. "Of course ma reine." He says, directing a smile in her direction. THe rest of the breakfast was ate in silence. Once breakfast was finished Francis stood up. "Arthur will you please follow me?"

Arthur stands up. "S-sure thing your highness..." Arthur stands up and follows Francis out of the dining hall. Francis leads him through many corridors that look alike before stopping. Francis turns around to face Arthur.

"We can't have anyone find you... Queen of Spades." Francis says with a smirk.

Arthur was about to retort with how did he know but then he remembered Basch's words. "Whatever could y-you mean F-Francis?" He asks, cursing himself for trembling a bit towards the end.

"Don't play dumb with me ma chéri. I know you are." Francis grabs Arthurs had and takes makeup remover to it, only to reveal none other that the symbol that marks Arthur as the Queen of Spades. Arthur yanks his hand away from Francis and holds it close to his chest.

"S-so? What are you going to do about it?" Arthur asks, backing away from Francis.

"Just you wait ma chéri~." Francis says, closing the space between Arthur and him. He swiftly knocks Arthur out with a hit to a pressure point to the back of his neck. He drags him down the hall and down into his room. Francis chains one of Arthur's hands to the wall before exiting the room, locking the door behind him and heads off to greet his guests.

Francis goes to the throne room and takes a seat on his throne, waiting for his clubian guests to arrive. Lili was sitting in her own throne which was next Francis's and Basch was by her side, slightly glaring at the king. The doors soon open revealing the King of Clubs, Ivan, the Queen of Clubs, Elezabets, and the Jack of Clubs, Roderich. Francis greets them with a smile.

"Bonjour~ It's nice to see you again King Ivan." Francis sends his greeting to the king first. "As it is lovely seeing you here as well Elizabeta, and wonderful to see you Roderich~" Francis greets them upon their ranking order before mumbling under his breath. "He's so beautiful, even after all these years..." Francis mumbles referring to Roderich, the phrase being inaudible to anyone else. Both Roderich and Elizabeta nod in acknowledgement.

"Da, hello to you too King Francis, Queen Lili, and Basch. I come here on important business about our trade deals. We talk about those first then we talk about other stuff, sound good, da?" Ivan greets the hosts of this meeting.

Francis nods. "Oui, let's start with trading." He agrees with Ivan and they begin to talk about they're supplies they are trading and what they will trade what for. It was successful to where both kingdoms highly benefited from the new trade arrangement.

"Now about the missing Queen of Spades..." Ivan trails off.

"Oui, I have not seen them, and it is a mystery as to why they aren't in the Spade Kingdom.." Francis starts off. While he was talking Basch was discretely shaking his head no. Ivan noticed the jack taking those actions.

"Right, but it shall be beneficial to us if the Spade Kingdom falls." Ivan continues as if they should prepare for that and attack them while they're weak.

"Oui, I agree, but I think we should let it go to ruins and then attack it." Francis suggests.

"Da. Well we must go, it was nice to see you again King Francis. До свидания(do svidaniya)." Ivan says his goodbyes and the clubian royals start to leave.

"Au revoir, take care~" Francis waves goodby to the fellow club allies. Basch leads them out and whispers something into the King of Clubs' ear, it was something that made Ivan's eyes widen in shock.

Later that week Yao receives a letter from the King of Clubs. After reading the letter Yao rushes to the king's study, knocking on the doors before entering.

"Your highness, we've found the queen, we don't need to travel to the Heart Kingdom but the Diamond Kingdom instead." Yao says breathily.

Alfred stands up and nods. "Do you know their location?"

"Not really, only that King Bonnefoy has taken a liking to them and that they are somewhere within his castle."

"I guess we have no choice. Ready the horses. Get Matthew too, I need to have a word with him." Yao nods and runs off to find the said ace.