━━ ⦗the swan princess! ⦘
❝ you're beautiful!
thank you, but what else?
... what else is there? ... ❞
███████████ 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝
the courageous odette teaches the
once and future king a less...
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chapter six! 006. nobility
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ODETTE FOUNDherself back at the window; her favourite window out of every window in the castle. She stared out of the tinted glass, watching the sun set over the afternoon▬casting a glow over the arena in the distance. After the crazed events in the council chambers, the final day of the tournament had been delayed to tomorrow▬where Arthur would have no choice but to fight Valiant and face the snakes she knew he'd use to try and kill him. They had tried, and they had lost ...
She didn't know what she was searching for, but she was searching for something. She watched the arena glint▬perhaps looking for a breath of hope; there was always some way to watch the sunrise.
Her mother would find something to hold onto; something to break through the storm clouds and brighten up the darkness when all else seemed lost. Odette wished she could be so positive right now. After everything she's been through, she knew more than anyone that miracles did exist▬but sometimes, before the rising sun, it was hard to see the possibility.
(The truth was, sometimes, even Odette couldn't find it. She wasn't even my real mother, she had thought bitterly to herself. My real parents left me to perish▬wherever could there be a sunrise to watch from that dark valley?).
The shadow behind her brought her attention, and Odette glanced over her shoulder, surprised to see Ronyn make his way over with a hesitant breath. He watched her, as if expecting her to walk away. She wondered whether she should.
But instead, she stayed.
Alone in the corridor, the young lord approached his childhood friend and whispered, "I had a feeling I'd find you here."
Together, they gazed outside, past the walls of the citadel and towards the rolling golden pastures beyond the forests. It was silent between them; neither could find the right thing to say, but they knew they both thought the same: whatever tomorrow would bring, it was something grave to think about it.
Finally, Odette muttered, "How is he?"
Lord Ronyn didn't need to ask who she meant, "Humiliated," he answered, taking a deep breath as he settled himself beside her. He clasped his hands behind his back. "Valiant called him a coward in front of the entire royal court, and they believed him."
"Valiant's the coward," said the handmaiden bitterly, her soft gaze turning into a scowl.
"Maybe so, but to everyone else, he's the sight of nobility."
"He is using magic," stressed Odette, meeting Ronyn's gaze sternly. "I saw it▬I saw those snakes come alive."
"I believe you," he said and her breath hitched, taken aback by it. Ronyn rolled his eyes at it. "Goodness, Odette, do you really think that lowly of me?"
