I No Clown

Blackwood's Ambition

The two had just finished lunch when a soldier came to meet them.

"What do you want, soldier?" asked Ryvel as he leaned against the back of a chair.

"Young Master," the soldier bowed. "Lord Blackwood requests your presence on the center deck. Everyone has gathered there."

Cindy stood up and headed for the wardrobe.

"Don't worry, soldier," she said as she selected her clothes. "We'll be right there."

"Very well, Miss Zircon."

Ryvel waved her hand, and the warrior nodded and left the luxurious room.

"Could there be something important that he wants from me?"

Ryvel walked up to Cindy and then hugged her intimately from behind.

Cindy giggled softly in amusement.

"He's your father, Ryvel. Not mine. Try to understand his nature and character better."

"Yeah, right..." Ryvel kissed the nape of the girl's neck while his two hands wrapped around her slender waist. "How about you become my teacher, hmm?"

"Oh, stop it for a second, would you?"

Cindy giggled again and turned around with a dress in her hands.

"What?" Ryvel smiled widely.

"Are you going to make us late?" asked Cindy. "And then, your father will punish us both. Oh, one more thing, I hate the condescending looks from other nobles."

Ryvel chuckled and removed his arms from around the girl's waist.

"Alright, alright," he said, grabbing his clothes on a short table beside the still rumpled bed. "You're right. We'd better hurry over there."

The largest cabin on the second deck of the ship had benches arranged in a row that followed the shape of the four walls of the room.

Several windows on the left and right walls were left open for air exchange.

Cindy sat next to her father, Demian Zircon, on her right side. Ryvel on her left.

Edwar Blackwood stood in the center of the room and was telling them the important things they had to do before setting foot on the ground of Svarnabhumi before the big ship carrying them docked.

And that, too, was just around the corner.

"Most of you here," the supreme noble of the Land of Purbha said as he looked at everyone, "have never visited Svarnabhumi."

He stopped his gaze momentarily on his son sitting beside Cindy Zircon.

"To that end," he continued, "keep these few things in mind. First... the people of Svarnabhumi consider their position to be higher than anyone else in this world. So, never provoke enmity with them."

Several old heads nodded, confirming the Blackwood patriarch's words just now. Demian included.

"Secondly," Edwar continued, "although I myself have visited this Middle Empire quite often, unfortunately, I have never met the Emperor. Not at all. Have any of you?"

There was no nodding of heads.

Edwar took a deeper breath before continuing, "But at least, my colleagues there have told me that the new emperor is much more annoying, a bit cruel, and not willing to be dictated to by anyone."

That remark made almost every face in the large cabin uneasy and a little frightened.

"That's why," said Edwar, again, "showing that we are subject to Svarnabhumi's rule is imperative. After all, it is the only surviving country that can withstand the onslaught of the Demon Army. Keep this in mind!"

Everyone knew that one other large country was still safe, Dakhsina in the south.

But, they were so used to looking down on things that the thought of fleeing there was not an option.

Or at least, not at the top of the list as a place of choice for them to live.

"What is it, Father?" asked Ryvel after following his father to his room. "You asked me to follow you, is there anything else I should be concerned about the Emperor and Svarnabhumi?"

"No," Edwar replied. "I have already said what I had to say in the cabin."

"Then," Ryvel squared his shoulders, "what is this about?"

"Close the door!"

Without arguing, the young man followed his father's orders, closing the only door to the large, luxurious room.

This made Ryvel think that his father was about to tell him something that could be considered a secret because he didn't want anyone else to hear their conversation.

"Are you really going to take Zircon's daughter as your maid of honor?"

The son frowned, then approached a chair, threw his butt on it, and looked back at his father with many questions in his eyes.

"I don't―"

Edwar sighed heavily. He leaned his hips against the side of the table and folded his arms across his chest.

"I didn't expect you to be that close to Cindy," Edwar said.

Ryvel found a hint of disappointment on his father's face, and his gaze implied that he had bigger plans.

"The more I watch," Edwar continued to say while his son listened intently, "the harder it is for me to believe that you chose that girl. You even slept together."

"Father, it's been seven days."

"I know," said the father. "And I can't take it anymore."

Ryvel took a deep breath. "All right, Father. What exactly do you have planned for me?"

Edwar was quiet for a moment, thinking of one gal and many as he scratched his chin.

"You love that girl?"

The boy smiled faintly and shook his head. "I don't know myself, Father."

"Oh, for God's sake, son!"

"No, I mean it," Ryvel said. "All those years at art school, she was always the center of attention for me, Father. She was very hard to get a hold of and was even closer to the Clown."

"The Clown?" Edwar frowned.

The son grinned. "Not someone who needs your attention, Father."

"All right," said the father. "And now?"

Ryvel chuckled with a slight shrug. "I don't know," he replied. "After having her for the past few days, I think I might just want the warmth of her body."

"Is that so, huh?" Edwar nodded.

"What's the matter, Father?" the son asked. "As far as I know, you have never asked me these kinds of questions. Do you not want someone like Cindy Zircon as your daughter-in-law?"

Edwar grinned in a long breath.

"This is about the future of Blackwood, Son," he said. "Our family."

"I know," Ryvel said. "But, which one?"

"Listen to me, Son," Edwar said. "When we dock at Svarnabhumi in a moment, do not show your intimacy with that girl in the eyes of the people, let alone the Emperor."

The boy frowned.

"I want you to be able to attract the Emperor's attention."

"The Emperor?" repeated Ryvel as if in disbelief. "Father, I'm not a―"

"Who said the Emperor was a man?" his father retorted.

The son's brow furrowed even more.

"Oh, no," he muttered to himself. "Don't tell me that the Emperor is a―"

"A woman," Edwar interrupted his son. "Yes, you heard me."

"Oh, shit..." Ryvel gulped. "S-So you want me with the Emperor―"

"For the sake of our family, Son, for the sake of Blackwood."

"Shit," Ryvel rubbed his chin. "I never knew about this."