━━ ⦗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 thirty-nine! 039. the curse of cornelius sigan
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ODETTE HEARDall about Cedric the next day. As soon as Merlin found her offering a guard who had been stationed in the centre of the citadel overnight some of Morgana's breakfast left overs, he immediately dragged her away. Odette made a face, annoyed, "Hey▬!" she let out but did not struggle. She let herself be pulled into the shadows of the open corridors where Merlin shoved what seemed to be Arthur's food under her nose. "Look," he said, angry. "He did not want it. He did not want it."
She made a face. "All right...?" let out Odette incredulously. Then, she rested her weight on one foot and declared. "And it is you who says I am the annoying one▬"
"Would you like to know why he did not want it?" went on Merlin, shaking the plate of ham and salad until she went cross-eyed trying stare at it. "Because that dimwit of a thing prepared him breakfast instead! A whole bloody feast!"
Odette frowned, very confused. "Who?"
"Cedric!" Merlin said the same as if the answer was obvious▬even though he had not told Odette anything of the boot-kissing stranger until now. He put on a ridiculous, nasally voice: "'It is an honour, Sire.' 'I love polishing our boots, Sire'. 'I found a way to snivel up your backside, Sire'. It is so obvious that he is trying to chummy up to Arthur so he can take my job! How is he not seeing how suspicious it is? I mean, who likes washing Arthur's socks? They stink worse than a pigsty!"
"Well..." Odette tried to calm him down. She took one of the strawberries Arthur had not eaten off his plate. "It is not abnormal for a Prince to have multiple servants. And are you not always complaining about everything he makes you do? I think you deserve a break."
This was not what Merlin wanted to hear▬at all. "He looks like a ferret and he is trying to steal my job. Did you know what he did yesterday? Arthur fell off his horse because his girth was not tied▬"
Odette broke out into a short chuckle. "Yes, Ronyn told me about that. How funny▬"
"▬Arthur blamed me for it," Merlin continued, shooting her another look. "But I did that girth myself and I did not tie it loose! Cedric did it. You know why? Because he was just happily there▬" he waved the plate away in his gestures before Odette got the chance to take another strawberry, "▬eager to return Arthur's horse to him. And he was just so happy to join a hunt and when I saved Arthur's life? That cowering horse-dung-smelling rat took the credit for it!"
"You should have seen the look on his face this morning when I arrived to give Arthur his breakfast," Merlin leaned in closer and Odette's brows shot up, making a wise choice not to say anything. "It is the face of evil."
