My Fate as a Cannon Fodder

Chapter Four: Princes

"Aryn, I have something to tell you."

Serenity slowly put down the pastry she is eating back on the plate and turned to look at her grandfather sitting across from her. His usual confident and calm face is now replaced by a nervous look as he fiddled with his fingers.

The two of them are sitting on a raised wooden veranda overviewing the beautiful garden. Her grandfather led her here after they both ate lunch, claiming that he has something to tell her. So while her grandfather is gathering up the courage to tell her the problem, she was happily munching the pastries away.

"I recently left my position as the Royal Tutor due to some reason and now the king is searching someone as replacement for me," He paused, all the while taking note of Serenity's reaction, "And I somehow accidentally suggested you and now the king wanted to meet you tomorrow."

". . . . ."

The two were at a stalemate for a while making the old man sweat from the silence. Serenity did this so as to not appear suspicious. Well, she couldn't go and hurriedly accept it with open arms, it will raise red flags knowing how the previous Serenity was too shy and docile.

"And?" Serenity probed, breaking the silence.

Her grandfather was a bit shocked by her reply, "Are you okay with it? Really? Knowing you and your dislike of strangers. I could always persuade the king to let you off."

"I am okay with becoming the Royal Tutor. But I will earn the title by taking and passing the Scholar's Exam. I don't like the idea of always relying on you. I will face my fears and continue our family's legacy."

"So, will you please tell the king that I do not want the position handed to me just like that."

The old man nodded and then suddenly burst into tears which surprised Serenity. He sobbed and wailed, completely throwing off his perfect image of a composed scholar, and ran to Serenity to give her a tight hug.

"Don't worry, I will tell the king that my little Aryn will take the exam tomorrow." He promised her while crying and patting her hair.

Serenity just sat there stiffly. This is the first time someone cried in front of her so she doesn't know how to comfort the old man. It's a good thing though that Butler James came and told her grandfather that there was a visitor. But it took a while for Butler James to get the old man off of his granddaughter.

"Master, please compose yourself. Your guest is waiting at the lobby."

Her grandfather only glared at Butler James and begrudgingly followed his piece of advice. After wiping the tears and snot from his face, fixing his wrinkled clothes and messy hair, he then followed Butler James to the lobby.

Making sure that she was alone, Serenity then asked the system to relay the information about the princes to her brain. It took a lot of Serenity's willpower not to shout because of the pain. But, thankfully, it only lasted for a few seconds

Valhaven has four princes in line for the throne. Three of them are of pure royal blood except for one.

Winston Valiant, the third prince, is born from an accident between a maid and the king. The king is very loyal to his wife and the only reason that this kind of thing happened is because of the maid's scheme. Yes, the maid put an aphrodisiac on the King's food and pretended to be the Queen while she was away. Took advantage of his drugged state and that's how Winston was made.

The Queen eventually found out and although angry, did not ordered the maid to abort the child because she wasn't cruel like that and even allowed the maid to stay in the castle to raise the prince. And because the maid was a greedy bitc... woman, tried to scheme her way to make the king fall in love with her. But when that didn't work, she used her child and planted ideas into his head, telling him how the king mistreated her and if she were to die, should avenge her death. The maid passed away due to sickness, not because of the king.