“I can’t believe you two! Hitting on a girl so young. Honestly, no amount of punishment would be right.”
Right now, I’m facing the wrath of Jasmine’s lecture, along with Idarus. She had snagged us right after the ball, ready to vent any of her latent anger. I was content to simply roll over and play dead, but Idarus’s hot-headedness got the better of him, and attracted more of Jasmine’s fury.
“But, it’s normal to see girls that age already engaged to someone three times as old!”
Jasmine flicked his forehead.
“You idiot! Those are for political marriages! No girl wants to bed a noble like that! Honestly, had I known you two had those sorts of preferences…”
“Ah, but Sis—It’s not like I normally go for those types, you know. Joseph seemed interested, so I wanted to lend him a helping hand.”
Jasmine turned her disappointment filled face towards me, and I could see multiple emotions flitting through her eyes—I couldn’t tell what they were, though.
“Wait, no!” I cried out, forestalling Jasmine’s punishment. She looked at me dubiously, and I saw an opportunity to continue.
“We don’t actually know her age, right? She never told us. It would be wrong to simply assume that she was as old as she looked, especially considering that she didn’t act anywhere near her supposed age.”
If anything, Jasmine looked more annoyed with my explanation.
“It’s not her age that’s the problem, you idiots—It’s how old she looks. Besides, I think you should just forget about her. It’s obvious that she’s trouble, with how the Captain of the Royal Guard treated her. And, there’s the fact that she had sat at the same table as Mom and Dad, without having been introduced to court beforehand.”
“Yeah, but…”
“No. She’s trouble, and you need to avoid her.”
“Oh, come off it, Sis. You know you’re just—Ueagh!”
Ah, a magnificent right hook from Jasmine.
“Was that really necessary, Jasmine?” I asked, while Idarus was writhing on the ground in pain. For a mage, she’s always been surprisingly strong.
Jasmine glared at me.
“Of course it was. I wouldn’t have done that were it not.”
I shook my head, not wanting to delve too deeply into her logic, which tended to be confusing at the very best of times. I swear, I barely understand her sometimes.
Idarus recovered from the punch, and stood back up. There was now a slight swelling to the right side of his face, which would likely bloom into a brilliant bruise in a while.
“Might I suggest a compromise?” He said.
Jasmine looked at his crossly.
“What? I will punch you again, if you try saying something stupid.”
“How about this? What if we try and research Lady Katariah first, finding out all we can, before you go deciding that she’s bad news? That way, we can determine what sort of person she is, as well as what she’s doing here.”
I nodded, adding on to his plan, well aware that this would be our last chance, as far as Jasmine is concerned.
“Yeah, and then, once we know more about her, we can approach her with the intention of being friends, safe in the knowledge that she is as harmless as we first thought.”
Jasmine stood still for a few moments, and I was afraid that we hadn’t gotten through to her. However, after an extended silence, she nodded her head.
“Fine. We’ll do things your way. Just don’t blame me when she turns out to not be nearly as cutesy and ‘harmless’ as you think. That girl has secrets.” She said melodramatically, in an obvious attempt to scare us off.
It didn’t work, of course.
----------------------------------------
“So that’s what all that fuss had been about! I had been wondering why Djorn had burst in on our meeting, chuckling to himself.” Laughed Joan. She seemed to think that what had happened after abandoning me to the nobles had been funny. I was of another opinion.
“Oh yes, it was due to the great time I had been having out in the ballroom! Why the hell couldn’t I have just slipped in with you in the Royals to listen in? Gods above know that you don’t really have anything more to hide. I’ve seen the nukes, after all.”
Joan patiently listened to my mini-rant before replying in a calm and collected manner. It almost made be feel bad for getting upset at her. Almost.
“Would you have liked for even more people to take notice of you, and bother you later?”
I looked at her questioningly, unsure of what she meant.
“Look, it was a mistake on my part to sit you up one the same table as the Royalty. Because of that, I pretty much eliminated any chances you might have had of laying low. I realized that while talking to the King and Queen, when the King mentioned that you wouldn’t be unknown any longer.”
“Because of this, I decided that it would be better to leave you outside, rather than bringing you with us. It made it so that you were just the girl who was able to sit with the Royalty, instead of the one that had been privy to their secrets.”
Ah, damn it all, but Joan has a point.
I sighed.
“Fine, fine—I may have jumped to some conclusions on my own here. Next time though, leave me out of this stuff. I hate balls, with all the simpering nobles and arrogant idiots like the one that had accosted me.”
Joan nodded her head emphatically. A second later, a sly smile appeared on her face though, so I don’t know how sincere the nodding had been.
“I think you did have fun though. It sounded like you enjoyed the drama.”
“Certainly, I enjoy drama—from a distance though. Being a part of it is troublesome, after all.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Eh, whatever you say. Though, just know, your true personality will come through sooner or later.”
I shook my head, dismissing Joan’s last statement. My personality is to be indifferent—why would it change?
After that, we went out separate ways. I returned to my room, and took a quick bath after stripping off the fancy dress I had been wearing.
The bath relaxed me, and gave me time to consider all that had happened during the ball.
In retrospect, I should have known that the boy—Joseph, I think he called himself, wouldn’t be angry about the hallway collision thing. No, instead, he seemed to be rather interested in me. I wonder why he would be—He shouldn’t have been able to ascertain my level of strength, nor should he know about my blacksmithing skills. Why else would he be interested in me? But, the truth still remained that he was almost constantly looking at me while I was with him and the Royal children.
Hm, maybe there had been something on my face? But then, he should have told me about it instead of constantly looking at it. It’s rude to do that, you know.
On the other hand, the Prince seemed to be eager to please me. I assume he had seen me talking with his parents, and wanted to know what sort of status I held, to be able to do that. Princes are nearly always political creatures, with the exception of the ones that had gone rotten.
The Princess seemed to hold some sort of enmity towards me. This was the first time I had met her though, so I have no idea what may have caused it.
All in all, a troublesome bunch. I just hope that I won’t see them again.
I spent the rest of the night meditating, and my level rose again, breaking through into two hundred and twenty. It doesn’t feel like it’s slowing down anytime soon.
----------------------------------------
I need to see her again.
It’s only been a day since the ball, but the sight of her face is burned into the back of my mind.
In fact, I woke up this morning determined to find her, and become close to her in all senses of the word. Jasmine’s warning stuck with me though, making me feel like I had to be cautious about this, if only because Jasmine would likely resort to magical violence were she to find out that I had started searching for Katariah only a day after the ball.
Well, she would have until I ran into a little problem.
How the hell do I start looking for her?
I ran into her in an old hallway once, before she walked off, and then again at the ball. However, she had never told me where she lived, or how I could find her again.
I spent the whole morning agonizing over a solution to this, until I remembered the woman that Katariah had come to the ball, and left with. Those older nobles seemed to know who she was. And, the King should also know who she was, since they had gone into a separate room to talk away from the other nobles.
Right—since the King would know for certain who she was, I think I’ll ask Idarus to talk to him about this. And hopefully, after finding out who that woman had been, I can find out more about Katariah.
My little planning session was interrupted when Gabriel knocked on my door, leading me to realize that I had promised to go to the city with him a few days before the ball.
“I’m so sorry, Gabriel. It had completely slipped my mind.”
“I already told you, stop apologizing. I know that you had an…eventful evening last night at the ball, after I left. Besides, I didn’t wait long before coming to get you—I’m too impatient for that, remember?” said Gabriel as we walked out of the palace.
“Though, I only heard a little about the ball. Is it true that you had punched Carlton Gibraltar in the face for insulting Princess Jasmine?”
“What? No. That’s not what happened.”
“Ah, good. I was afraid that you really had hit that guy. He doesn’t need even more of a reason to dislike you.”
I scratched my cheek, while giving Gabriel a strained smile.
“No, I still punched him, just not for Jasmine. There was another girl there.”
Gabriel gaped at me.
“What?! My gods Joseph, what did you do?!”
“Well, do you remember that girl that I had run into in a hallway?”
“Yeah, the one you’ve been pinning after, right? What about her…No—You found her, didn’t you?”
“Yep. Right after you left. She’s every bit as beautiful as I had first thought. You really missed out.”
Gabriel shook his head, apparently unable to come to terms with this.
“I even found out her name—It’s Katariah Silver. Though, I have no idea how to see her again. I was going to ask Idarus about her, and see if his father knows where she is.”
“Katariah? That sounds familiar for some reason…”
“Really? Have you heard about her from somewhere?”
“I’m not…Wait. I think my sister mentioned something about a Katariah person, a while back.”
“Really? Well, talk to Bea about it. You guy’s are siblings, right? Besides, she knows me fairly well. I’m sure that if the situation gets explained, she would help us. And, even if she doesn’t know anybody named Katariah, she can still use the Black Guard’s information network to look for her.”
Gabriel nodded.
"Sure. Damn it all, but you've gotten me curious about that girl as well, with how much you've moaned about her lately."
----------------------------------------
Author's Note:
My head feels like it was slow roasted in a microwave, so the chapter was short this time.
Don't know how I'll feel tomorrow.