Simple Servant

Chapter 35 - At Last

Chapter 35 – At Last

~~~ Noah

Noah ran his hands through his hair as he stared across the horizon and watched the sun rise.

'Three years.' He told himself.

It had felt longer than it had actually been.

The Alminian Advisors had been adamant on their disproval of Noah. They had bluntly refused to dismiss the blood treaty that had been set up between Alminia and Terrafeuw, even when the rulers from both Kingdoms were resolute that new treaty could be formed. Still, they couldn't be swayed. They were immoveable in their decision. If Prince Phillip and Princess Alexandria remained unmarried they would have to be wed on her nineteenth birthday.

Alexandria tried to explain that she couldn't marry Phillip when she was engaged to someone else, but the Advisors had rejected the engagement.

Many arguments were made on their behalf, but as long as Noah's parentage remained a secret, it seemed the Advisors would refuse to even consider allowing a man that had once been a servant, to be their King.

For several months nothing changed, and Noah could feel Alexandria's resolve dimming.

But then, on June 18th, exactly two months before the crowned Princess's nineteenth birthday a letter from Terrafeuw arrived. It stated that the Crowned Prince of Terrafeuw, Phillip Gregory Marcus Lyonal had become engaged.

The letter baffled the entire council of Advisors, especially since the name of his fiancé had not been included. It simply stated that he had become engaged, that the wedding would be held the summer of the following year, and that Princess Alexandria was officially released from the blood treaty.

Several weeks later an official announcement from the Terrafein Council arrived confirming Prince Phillip's engagement to a woman named Constance Amelia Mayweather, the daughter of a former Terrafein Advisor.

On that day the Alminian Advisors showed the first hint of their acceptance towards Noah. He had been ordered to partake in certain lessons that they deemed necessary in the preparation of obtaining their tolerance.

But the lessons hadn't been their only stipulation.

They allowed him to stay in the palace, but he was not allowed to talk to, seek out, meet with, or even glance at the future Queen of Alminia. It was perhaps the hardest thing that he had to agree to.

But he did agree to it.

The reasoning behind that specific requirement was rather obvious, especially when a week after Noah agreed; the Advisors had decided to that more Noblemen needed to be invited to Princess Alexandria's Birthday Ball. A Ball that Noah had not been allowed to attend.

Perhaps in hindsight their decision had been the right one.

A certain pair of Twin Lords had been invited to the celebration, only this time their forms of persuasion and torment were not directed on a pretend Nobleman, but an actual one, a councilman's nephew.

Noah smiled at the rising sun and was glad to know that the twins would finally reap what they had sowed, in the most literal meaning of the phrase. They were sent to four years of hard labor in the great Alminian Mine.

After their departure, Lord and Lady Montego's despicable behavior slowly began to change for the better. Their servants would never call them kind or polite, but they did become adequate masters.

"Three years." He said aloud as he dragged his fingertips across his scalp and started to change out of his nightclothes.

So much had happened.