The ride back to the manor was filled with tension. Most of it coming from Aleksander glaring at the window as he watched the castle fade away in the distance.
"You need to work on your temper, husband," Elys stated the obvious. "You were lucky your father hadn’t ordered you head served at the banquet the instant you opened your mouth back there."
"He knew what was coming to him," ca Aleksander’s reply. "Even before he casted his magic on , he already knew what was on my mind just by looking at ."
"Still," Elys insisted, "you can’t expect to win over people with such an attitude. If you were as charming as you had pretended you were at the beginning of the party, we would have been able to stay and burn other nobles with their dirty secrets like we did with the Ravinias."
Aleksander tore his eyes from the window and faced Elys. They had sat opposite ends of the carriage, facing each other and not side by side. The prince leaned forward, a dangerous look taking over him.
"Did you just say I was charming?" he repeated Elys’ words.
"And what if I did?" the princess smugly replied. "That wasn’t a complint. On the contrary, I am actually shaming you. Your act wasn’t enough to win the war we were waging."
Aleksander crossed his arms and looked at Elys coldly, "Your nerve has truly shot through the roof ever since that night I agreed for you to bring over a maidservant."
"Do you regret it now?" she said, amusent creeping on her face.
"As a matter of fact, I do," the prince admitted, "but because you had roasted the Ravinias back there, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I never thought you would have dug that much about the nobles."
"I did promise that I would do my best to help you," Elys grinned.
The conversation surprisingly had turned lighter with the ntion of the Ravinias. They could say at the very least they had won one tiny battle in their war against the people that mocked them.
It was only quite unfortunate that the king wasn’t anyone they could handle straight on. His magic was too strong that Elys didn’t even have ti to think.
She literally lost all her control and acted chanically as what the king demanded.
"You may have heard from the crowds. The trip to et the Eastern Queen won’t be easy," Aleksander muttered. He looked at Elys and then scowled, "Even as you are my wife by paper, I will tell you now that I have no intentions of helping you when trouble cos our way."
Elys rely dismissed the prince’s warning with a scoff.
"I can take care of myself," she replied bitterly. "Just provide a weapon and I won’t bother you even when thugs have a knife to my throat."
When the conversation died, Elys looked away as the winds howled and the horses neighed loudly. Tiny drops of rain began to fall down, the coldness of the night fogging up the windows to the point she couldn’t see anything outside anymore.
Dawn ca and with it the sll of damp soil and grass wafted in the cold air. Elys and Aleksander t at the entrance of the manor, Henry and Cordelia following them, each carrying a luggage of clothes and supplies.
Elys carried with her a tiny satchel for other smaller personal belongings. In it included bits of snacks Cordelia prepared beforehand, as well as a few select important items she could carry with her hand.
"Your highness," Teo greeted Elys as she stepped out of the manor, "let carry that for you."
"There is no need for pleasantries, Teo," the princess waved the knight’s hand away, "I can handle my own. Although, I’d much appreciate it if you helped Henry and Cordelia load the supplies."
"Very well then," Teo replied, "let open the door for you first before I do just that."
Aleksander watched Teo assist Elys as she stepped into the carriage. Sohow, it made his blood boil to see the knight so happy with everything that was happening now.
The prince spat at the ground, and noticed a few silhouettes at the far side of the manor gates. Heightening his sense of hearing, the prince heard several clip clops and neighs of horses, the clinking sound of tal against tal, and a few mumblings of n.
Aleksander heaved a sigh of relief.
Contrary to his expectations, the bastard prince felt better to know a few other n on horses were present to accompany them.
"You lied," Aleksander coldly said to Teo. "But it is good that there are other knights to accompany us instead of you alone."
The knight smiled brightly, tilted his head to the side and replied, "I never said I would accompany you alone, your highness. That would be suicide!"
Aleksander scrunched his nose in response, "You are a liar still. You said one knight only."
"I said ’at least’ one knight, and I am one of those knights," Teo replied as he grabbed the luggage from Cordelia. "You seriously need to keep your facts straight, your highness."
Aleksander was about to retort, but Elys quickly cut the both of them as she said, "Stop with the useless banter, Prince Aleksander, Teo. You sound like immature boys."
Cordelia stifled a laugh as she climbed to the front sitting beside the coachman, trying to keep her face straight and not get into trouble. Henry on the other hand loaded the last of the supplies, and imdiately hopped into his own horse.
"Everything is ready, your highness," Henry said over the window as Aleksander entered and sat down the carriage with a grimace. "Would there be anything else you would like to check before our travel’s start?"
"The docunts?" Aleksander asked.
"They are with ," Elys said as she tapped the satchel beside her.
"Good, then let us begin," Aleksander instructed. "The Eastern Kingdom is a long way ahead."
The carriage imdiately lurched forward with his command. Eventually, it rolled off into a steady pace out of the prince’s manor. The knights followed closely behind the carriage, with Teo flanking at the right side.
Elys’ suddenly felt queasy in the pits of her stomach. It was disconcerting to think they were about to travel into treacherous lands. Looking out of the window, she saw the sun slowly rise up from the horizon, warmth washing over her like a reminder to stay strong.
The horses galloped into the break of a beautiful dawn, off into a mission that was going to be the catalyst of sothing greater for both the prince and princess.
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