The Kings Personal Joker (boyxboy)

Chapter Fifty Five

"What's your name?" I asked the servant who I was following. 

He cast me a sideways glance but his pace never stopped or slowed as he walked. "I... am called Savas, sir." He replied in a low voice.

I glanced at our surroundings but saw no one, I wasn't entirely sure why he was so quiet. Was it odd to ask ones name?

"I am Elpis." I introduced myself.

He nodded, still facing the direction he was walking, his posture picture perfect.

"You can just call me that instead of addressing me as sir," I told him, but remembered in time that there was a certain imperceptible and sometimes unspoken set of rules in this palace and perhaps it would be seen as a transgression for him to do so. If I requested him to I might be placing him between a tumbling rock and  wall. "Or whatever you wish."

I thought I saw some of the uneasiness on him fall away from his face for a moment. "Yes, sir." He said, continuing to walk as though I was not talking to him at all.

"I don't hold rank here, you know?" I told him, curious if he knew, as we walked out into the courtyard.

He glanced at me. "You don't?"

I shook my head. "I'm an entertainer."

The relief was evident on his face. "Oh, I see." He scratched his head. "I wasn't sure if... You're wearing an odd coat for an entertainer."

"I'm wearing white paint." I grinned.

"Yes," His ears flushed a little. "I tried not to look. I thought it might have been treatment for something, or some sort of beauty thing. Not that it looks bad, it looks good. I..."

There was a pause and then we each tried to speak at the same time. "Yes it's-" 

"And you're booked with Theodore?"

I flushed a little and said nothing. "Right, yes. I don't have many clothes with me."

He arched an eyebrow as he walked with me, now walking beside me rather than in front of me. "Yes, but Theodore is a high ranking tailor. I've never even spoken to him, let alone gotten clothes made for me by him."

I shrugged, trying to avoid this conversation. "Maybe I need clothes for entertaining?"

He frowned. "Do you? Are you entertaining for the guests tomorrow night?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, I should think not."

"Oh," He looked disappointed. "I suppose not. They have a lot of entertainers, I saw some of them practising around here just a while ago." He gestured at the grass at his feet. "It doesn't matter though. Maybe you can perform at the next one." He gave me a smile, like he was trying to reassure me that he thought no less of me for not being able to entertain the guests which only served to confuse me.

"Is it a good thing to perform in front of guests?" I asked him.

Savas smiled at me like I might be a little slow. "Well it's not a bad thing is it?"

I shrugged and looked forwards, I almost walked ahead of him when he slowed down but upon realising I wasn't the one that knew the way I slowly fell behind, eventually finding myself neatly stowed away behind him.

We walked into the outside hallway belonging to a building I had yet set foot in, but had seen sitting somewhere a little way away from the bathhouse.

We didn't need to walk down it because the first door we came across was the correct one. It was also clearly marked. The stone wall was engraved with the words 'Theodore, The Tailor' on it and below a mark of the royal crest.