The feared Crimson King

15. Have mercy

It simply isn't true. He attacked our borders, without any reason. Killing and raiding villages and cities until word got around to my father and that's when the war started. He had attacked us.

I bite my tung until the taste of blood becomes present in my mouth. I want to argue and yell and tell him that it was him. My family would have never started this war, we want to protect our people.

I don't speak for the rest of the evening,  neither does the king. He keeps waving the servant boy to refill his glass.

It had been silent for so long I could feel the silence firmly break into pieces as I spoke.

„May I be excused, my lord?"

The King grunts before waving me to leave. Thank god. All I wanted was to sleep. I get up from the table, before making my way to the door.

„We'll start courting tomorrow" the King says and I turn to nod.

Back in my chambers I plopped onto my bed, sighing in the process. Please dear god, don't let anyone recognize me tomorrow.

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Im woken by the King in the morning. „Get dressed, we're leaving to the throne room soon," he says before leaving again.

I get out of my bed, and move to the closet. I look through the dresses trying to find something black, with no luck. I chose a plain grey dress with long sleeves. People might loose their heads today, I want to be dressed respectfully.

Soon there is a knock on the door and we both don't say anything while walking through the castle. Every time I feel like I'm starting to know my way around, we end up in a corridor I've never seen before, with doors leading to god knows where.

Stopping at a massive pair of double doors, the King looks over his shoulder at me. The guards open the door, and I'm blown away.

It's a massive throne room with huge marble pillars on each sides. A red carpet goes from the door directly to the giant golden throne padded with red pillowing. A huge chandelier hangs on the middle of the ceiling and on both sides are knights neatly lined up next to each other. Being in full armor I'm unsure if they are just armor on an armor stand or actual knights but the King tells them to ease and I hear the armor clink as the relax their muscles. I hurry behind the Crimson King as he walks towards the throne. Not sure if I'm supposed to follow him I stop at the stairs and look up at the throne where the King takes a seat leaning both his large arms on either side of the armrests.

He's clearly not in a good mood today. As look up at him and he looks down at me there is a strange tension.

"Come here," he says without breaking our eye contact. I grab my dress on both sides and hold it up while I walk up the stairs being careful not to step on it in the process.

"Stand here," he gestures to the left side of his throne. I do as he says feeling the strange tension getting stronger. 

For the first hour a few native farmers came to get a courting. Some asked for fairness regarding their farming lands, others reported of difficulties paying the taxes this year, due to bad weather conditions. To my surprise the King was very understanding. He was patient. He listend to his people and their needs but remained strict.