The Kings Personal Joker (boyxboy)

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy One

[A/N] Apologies for being slow with updates for this book I've been a busy bee.

I wrote two chapters, that is to say I write everything 4 chapters in advance because of my Patreon, but I realised last minute that posting two chapters here means I have to post two chapters for my 1 week early patrons and for my 2 week early patrons etc. etc.

So chapters 175 and 176 will be posted together when they come up. That way I don't have to post double  chapters for everyone all at once. Hopefully that makes sense. 

That said this chapter is the length of two... (  - ˕ -) ੈ♡

The following days were surprisingly calm. The winds of war swirled around us silently, and although this created a notable tension in the air there was very little change inside the actual palace.

Lady Thera accepted her marriage arrangement to Lord Bacchus, and the event was so hurried that her own family can't probably have made it in time for the ceremony, although it was probably likely she did not want anyone to attend the occasion where she was wedded to someone she deemed below her grade of human.

I could not tell exactly what Demosthenes planned with her, he would turn a dark gaze on me the moment I tried to ask, under the assumption I was begging for her life in subtleties.

All I could gather was that she was moved to a new estate along with Bacchus, who was much displeased to hear he would be changing house, but talked loudly about how big it would be, and how many rooms and servants there would be. It seemed a great deal larger, better equipped with two kitchens side by side and it's own sizeable servants rooms.

The odd thing was how generous it seemed of Demosthenes to give them this as their wedding gift. I would assume it was due to just how far to the border this large estate was, far outside of the palace, far away from us, but Thera had gone too far two times. I knew Demosthenes well enough that I understood this could not possibly be all.

Regardless I was not concerned. There was nothing left for her to fight for, Demosthenes would have to marry someone else, she was a taken woman, after all. And all I could think about instead, was learning how to fight.

My teacher was called Silas, he was one of the archery instructors for the children raised in the palace. He had a friendly smile and short brown hair, but there was something a little distant in his eyes the entire time. He seemed to have little to no presence at all, so that when you took your eyes off of him he was so silent and still he almost appeared to disappear.

Agrius still continued teaching me, dragging me through pages and pages of writing and going over an eternity of law, etiquette, history and... what I could only describe the same way he did 'lessons in grace and decorum' which he declared should be taught by someone else, but that he would respect Demosthenes wishes and give me only the brief overview. 

Rules of politeness that would likely only ever need to be observed if I was commonly invited to tea with someone of high rank, maybe he expected me to practice these with Demos, but even if I tried to I doubted Demos would be happy with me for it.

Among many things it seemed to consist of going over a variety of different bows, over and over until he was satisfied it was acceptable, explaining the various different outfits and accessories that belonged to them for specific occasions and what hairstyles were appropriate. When I got tired and sulked, asked him why, he would merely slam the block on the table and called me to attention, or remind me that if I was in the palace I would observe it's etiquette.