The Suspicious One

THE MEETING ROOM – INSIDE THE ROYAL PALACE

The atmosphere was very tense in the meeting room. There were six people inside the room sitting at the round table. The meeting room is a special room exclusively built for any emergencies like this. The meeting room has equal importance as the throne room for the king since he conducts all the meetings in this room and all of the other things like vassal meetings are conducted in the throne room.

Six peoples were there. The two dukes; duke Reinheart and duke Dragonborn, Dristan Eskeal, the crown prince of the kingdom, the king's two trusted advisors, and the king, Conrad Eskeal himself.

Contrary to the black hair of Reinhearts, the Eskeal projected snow-white hair and blue eyes which like the Eskeals, the current generation of Reinhearts have, courtesy of their mother Elisa, except for Daemon who sport crimson eyes like his father.

The throne room was silent. Uneasiness clung to the meeting room like never going plague. The meeting was standing still as the participants are eyeing each other without moving or saying a word.

"So, what do you think?" finally the king said, breaking the silence. The question was meant for the two dukes.

"The Braharis must have done something or must have plotted something. The elves must have caught the wind of it. That must be the reason for the sudden gathering of the Council." Duke Aeron Reinheart solemnly spoke.

"What made you think that? They must have finally acknowledged our resourcefulness and want to collaborate for the war or something." Duke Alaistar Dragonborn spoke with the same solemnity as the other duke.

Duke Reinheart pondered for a bit and finally spoke. "Daemon had a dream last night. He asked me about the Braharis this morning"

"So, what about it? Just because he saw the dreams doesn't mean anything. It can happen or it might not happen. And, what is that he dreamt about?" Duke Dragonborn chimed in.

"I'm not saying what he saw might happen. What I'm saying is that it might be an omen or something along the line of"

"Omen like-" Duke Dragonborn was interrupted by the regal voice of the king.

"Why are my two genius monsters fighting over a meeting that even hasn't happened." The king said. "Look, both of you are not wrong. Maybe the meeting is because either they have caught any movements of the Braharis or they might want to completely make an alliance. It doesn't matter what happens, whatever happens, you two just find appropriate ways to back up your thoughts."

"As you wish your grace," both dukes said at the same time.

King slumped back to his seat and watched the two dukes. He knows about the bad blood between the two of them. centuries-long power struggle. Each generation's family, secretly tries to gobble up the other. When the current dukes came into power, the king thought finally some people actually have the brain and not just muscles. Seeing the marriage pact between them made him happy. But that didn't last long as the pact was annulled when the Reinheart kid supposedly stopped training and locked himself in his room. The former Duchess was the reason to break the marriage. like she was waiting for something to pop up for a reason. King Conrad feared blood would be spilled but that too didn't happen. It seemed like both of them agreed on a silent agreement of enough family disputes.

He was right about that. Both the dukes didn't support any blood spilling. They didn't indulge themselves in their family's foolishness. Though they both didn't entertain each other both of them respected each other.

The King looked at his son who was also silently watching the two dukes.

"What do you think the problem might be, Dristen," he asked with a fatherly smile. The others too looked at him. Dristen knows that smile is for letting his guard down. He has seen that smile many times. So, he carefully chose his words and spoke

"I think duke Reinheart's assumption is right."

"Oh" this made the King amuse. "And why do you assume that?"

Both the dukes were listening to them.

"Well" Dristan spoke "The scheduled meeting is in two months that means if the elves were thinking about an actual alliance they would have waited for the actual meeting time to bring the matter up, they wouldn't have rushed it, and called for an emergency meeting like this unless they are in dire need of help"

"Well, whatever we will know about the specifics in a matter of days"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AT THE SAME TIME IN THE GUEST LOUNGE.

Since he was in the palace, Daemon thought about browsing the royal library. He had heard that the royal archive has huge collections of rare and lost books which never can be obtained.

So, he left the hall and walked aimlessly. He wanted to meet any royal family member to ask permission for entering the royal archive. Since the palace was huge, he thought about calling his brother but scrapped the idea and thought exploring the humongous palace would be fun.

People greeted him when passing by. Since he bore such a striking semblance with his lord father, with jet black hair and crimson blood eyes, nobody had any doubt about his identity. Finally, after half an hour which felt like hours for Daemon, he saw the garden entrance.

The garden was so regal that he thought the garden was befitting to be in the royal palace. There was all type of exotic plants in it. Some bore flowers and some bore fruits. All types of colors were mixed in it. And the pungent smell from them made his light head. Though there was all type of exotics in the garden what caught his eye was a woman. A woman with magnificent beauty. She had purple-black hair and blue eyes. She was watering the plant with a watering can.

Daemon of course knew who she was. She is the current Queen of the Astrode kingdom, Queen Diora Eskeal. The queen was from a small noble family. The king was pressured to marry someone from the five duchies. But he felt if he marries someone from the duchies then the power struggle will only increase not decrease, so he chose an elegant and kind lady from a small noble family. Which made the five great families barred from getting any more power. The queen was not only beautiful but she was also smart and kind. She immediately sorted out the economic problem which was affecting the kingdom too much. She helped the poor people too.

Seeing her Daemon entered through the gate. Though there isn't anyone present with her he knows people are watching him. He walked towards her making sounds with every step deliberately for alerting her of his presence. She turned around after hearing the footsteps. He knelt before her and said "your grace"

"Ah, Daemon you are here. Arise." Daemon stood up. "I was about to come and meet you in person to apologize for the rude behavior of the duke's son" a crisp and melodious sound came from her. Though the sound was heaven for the ears, it did contain a kind of authoritative tone. Daemon was flustered when he heard about her being sorry.

Push over. He thought

"There is no need for your grace to feel sorry for me, I took his behavior as merely entertainment and not anything serious. Besides, it wasn't even anyone from the palace who had done that. if anyone should be held accountable here then it should be the duke's son himself" Daemon said with the proper courtesy shown to a Queen.

"But it did happen in my palace under my presence and you are our guest. So, I must also hold accountable for that. for the inconvenience you felt, if you want anything, anything at all, just ask me."

Daemon was getting too much annoyed, he doesn't like people like her. Righteous once, too kind one. These are the kind of people who dies pretty early because of their incompetence to find cunning and actual goods. He was thankful nobody in his family was like that. Putting others before them. he wasn't like that; he will never be like that.

"If your grace is feeling too much burden with this matter, then I simply ask you to grant me permission for entering the royal archive," Daemon said with a low tone.

"Are you sure that is all you need?" Queen asked doubtfully.

"Yes, that is all I need." Daemon curtly replied.

"Very well. If that is what you need then 'permission is granted. You can enter the royal archive anytime at all." Queen said regally.

"Thank you, your grace" Daemon bowed.

"Esther!" Queen called.

Suddenly a maid appeared in the garden.

Stealth skill. Daemon thought.

Daemon was perplexed. Because the maid was the same maid who welcomed them at the entrance. At that point, even though he knows the maids were not normal, he didn't think they were this skilled.

"Esther here will guide you towards the library. Since she is there no one will question your authority to enter the archive." She spoke.

"Thank you again, your grace." He bowed again and followed Esther who began to walk.

He knows that the reveal of this maid's power was done purposefully and was not some thoughtless exhibition of power.

After Daemon and Esther left for the archive, the queen called Ser Duncan. Who immediately appeared in front of the queen.

"Your grace." He bowed.

"Ser Duncan, what do you think of that boy?" the queen asked him. The previous pushover personality was completely gone and a new queenly demeanor manifested on her face.

"The boy is definitely smart. Smart enough to fool people with his innocent looks. And he is definitely hiding something." He curtly replied.

"You felt that too. I was carefully watching the boy, but something felt off about him. Like there is a shield blocking anyone from entering his world. His all act is suspicious. A prodigy suddenly stopped being a prodigy. Something is definitely suspicious about him."

"If you want, I can keep a close watch on him"

"No need, he is already too much wary about his surrounding, making a move right now will make him warier."

"As you wish."

"Daemon Reinheart, what are you hiding." The queen said that with a smile on her face.