Alexandria Terramanz

Other than my father and my companions all eyes turned to me after Sylvains accusation.

What!?

Angered at the accusation I was about to stand up, but Sir Foltest held me down with one giant hand.

“We don’t want to cause a commotion right now my Lady. The best thing to do in this situation is to remain calm while Sylvain rants like a madman.” Brigette nodded agreeing with Sir Foltests words and I felt slightly disturbed at the joy I saw in her eyes.

I could not blame her so I focused on calming down because I knew Sir Foltest was right, but my anger at such an accusation could not be quelled so easily so I settled with glaring at Sylvain who indeed ranted like a madman.

“Father! She tried to have me killed! Arrest her! She knows that I will be King and is trying to steal my throne! She is a danger to our Kingdom!”

Father said something to Sir Joseph who nodded and took Sylvain who was still ranting from the knight’s arms and left the dining hall with Sir Kathleen.

Father turned to address the dining hall that had become so restless that people were standing to leave. “Sir Joseph will take Sylvain to the physician and Sir Kathleen will join the chase for the assassin. Everybody else is to remain here while we hear what happened from this knight.” He gestured for the knight who brought Sylvain in to step forward.

“Your Majesty.” The knight bowed and then began sharing what he knew. “Before attending the banquet Prince Sylvain said he wanted to reminiscence, so we went to the bedrooms upstairs. We reached a room and he instructed us to wait outside while he went inside. We waited as instructed and eventually we heard a sound like someone jumping on a bed from the room. We asked if he was fine, and he replied yes he just wanted to jump on the bed and that he would be out in 5 minutes.”

He hesitated perhaps embarrassed before speaking again. “After maybe 4 minutes we heard the prince scream so we immediately entered the room and saw that a plain-clothed man with his head wrapped all around with black cloth except his eyes had stabbed the prince and was holding him hostage. The assassin told us to step outside, and he would follow us and release the prince. We did so and the assassin followed, he then kicked the prince to me, and Sir Kent chased after him while I hurried here where I knew everybody was gathered.”

“I will send someone to investigate the room where this happened which room was it?” Father demanded,

“I do not know whose room it was, but it was next to Lady Alexandria’s.”

That bastard! He was in Brigette’s room! I reached out to grab Brigette’s hand who grabbed it and squeezed in anger.

Father again turned to address everyone “It seems that we will have to end the banquet here. Everyone, if you have your accommodation you are free to leave if not Wes and his staff will help you find accommodations within the palace. We will meet on the morrow in the throne room. Alexandria you and your companions will accompany me.”

Everyone got up to leave in murmurs of discussion no doubt harboring different thoughts on what happened today. I saw my brother and sister Bertrand and Ludivine discussing something and standing up to leave with their companions. Bertrand smiled at me and gave me a reassuring nod while Ludivine gave me a smile of her own and a curtsy. I was not as close to Bertrand as I should be but that did not mean I did not love him, and I always doted on Ludivine when she was young though our relation grew strained over the years.

“Lady Alexandria, Lady Brigette, Sir Foltest we shall take our leave and meet again on the morrow. Lady Alexandria I do not believe you are one to send assassins and I think most know that as well, your reputation will not be damaged by the raving of a madman.” Oberon who was sitting across from me said with a smile.

I smiled back. “Thank you for your kind words Oberon. It has only been a day an eventful day to be sure, but I consider you and Valeria as friends.”

“I feel the same way Oberon, Valeria!” Brigette said flushing.

“Yes, yes we’re all friends but we should get going too we don’t want to make a King wait.” Sir Foltest said grinning.

We smiled and nodded at each other going their separate ways my companions and I toward my father the King and Oberon and Valeria toward Wes perhaps deciding to spend the night in the palace.

Oberon may be a stronger ally than I imagined. Because of all the chaos that followed some people may forget how Oberon took control of the room with his highness when they were discussing what to do about the Orion negotiation. I will admit that at that moment I envied him for how he did it so confidently and effortlessly as if his words were law and everybody else was only to follow them. I can see why Valeria is so attached to him.

I blushed and shook embarrassing thoughts away as we reached my father.

“Alexandria I do not believe you sent the assassin, but your brother seems to have cause to believe so. We’ll all investigate the scene together with Sir Joseph who will meet us there as I instructed him to meet us at the scene after getting what happened out of Sylvain.”

“Very well let us go then.” I did not expect touching words of reunion with my father so I was not disappointed, but I could not help feeling a little sad.

On our way to Brigette’s room, father had a fit of coughs forcing us to stop.

“After your performance in the dining hall, I thought you were doing better King William.” Sir Foltest said sadly.

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Father coughed and laughed. “It comes and goes I had saved my strength for near a week for that performance in the dining hall. It’s at times like these that I envy you, Sir Foltest you are healthier than I was when I was your age and I’m sure that when you reach my age you will still be as healthy as an ox.”

“One can only hope to survive to your age at all.” Sir Foltest replied good-humoredly.

“You’re right, sometimes I feel like I’m only alive at all because there is some purpose that I have yet to fulfill.”

We did not know to respond to that, so we walked the rest of the way to Brigette’s room in silence.

When we arrived, the royal knight’s commander Sir Joseph was already there waiting for us

“Your Majesty, Sir Foltest, Lady Alexandria, Lady Brigette It is good to see you all. I have not entered as I was waiting for his Majesty.”

Sir Joseph seemed an average man, he was neither tall nor short, he was neither handsome nor ugly, he was neither charismatic nor dull and even his swordplay was average, but the reason why he was Commander of the royal knights one of the most prestigious position for a knight in the Sagitta Kingdom was his sound judgment and deductive skills. His unofficial nickname as he did not like it was, “The Cold Knight” given for his face that never seemed to change expression.

“Before we enter, Sir Joseph let us know what you learned from Sylvain,” Father said.

“It was difficult to get to the real story as he exaggerated and made ridiculous accusations, but I will tell you what I believe to be the truth,” he said impassively.

“Prince Sylvain was in Lady Brigette’s room to as he called it “reminisce” he sat down on the bed and.” He paused and looked at Brigette it was hard to tell but I thought his face was apologetic. “Was remembering Lady Brigette by sniffing her clothes.” He finished saying.

Brigette looked away in disgust and anger, similarly, Sir Foltest gripped his greatsword tighter with an expression that could kill even father frowned in disgust. Sir Joseph and I were the only ones with passive faces though I had to fight for mine.

Sir Joseph cleared his throat and continued. “He was then grabbed from behind his mouth clamped shut and a dagger at his throat. The assassin instructed him to keep his guards out and he did so. The assassin then asked him questions. I do not know what those questions are however as he did not want to tell me, though he insisted it proved that Lady Alexandria was the one who sent the assassin.”

I snorted. “If that was so then why did he not tell you what these questions were. My guess is he does not want us to know what those questions and his answers to those questions are.

“I agree Lady Alexandria. So, after asking his questions the assassin told him he was going to die then stabbed him in the abdomen took him hostage, and escaped.” Sir Joseph finished impassively.

We fell into thought and were all probably thinking the same thing, why didn’t the assassin kill Sylvain when he had the perfect opportunity to do so?

“Your thoughts on the matter Sir Foltest, Sir Joseph?” Father asked.

Sir Joseph spoke first. “This has the Vigil syndicate stink all over it. Striking unexpectedly, The gathering of information, Unknown motive. It all points to them.” This time a hint of worry showing through his face.

“I agree. This whole situation is strange. the knights and Sylvain never saw the assassin enter the room so we can assume that the assassin was already inside, but how did he know that Sylvain was going to be there? The strangest thing however is Sylvain still being alive. Why did this so-called assassin who told Sylvain he was going to die not to kill him? I do not believe that someone so skilled to enter the palace unnoticed, predict where Sylvain was going to be, and I assume able to escape the palace since I do not believe that he will be caught, not kill him? Sir Foltest said stroking his beard curiously.

“To make Sylvain believe that someone is going after him and I think that someone is my Lady Alexandria!” Brigette said suddenly.

Surprised everybody turned to look at Brigette.

She flushed and spoke excitedly. “I-I think it makes sense! What I concluded from what you were all talking about was that the Vigil syndicate made it so that Sylvain believed someone was targeting him but failed to kill him today. By making Sylvain think that they failed today they also made him think that he will be targeted again and the most likely person in his head would be my Lady Alexandria! We already saw that he was sure it was her in the dining hall!”

She's right! That would explain why Sylvain is still alive, and his sudden accusation! But why pit us against each other? Even without their interference, we would likely have a confrontation with each other eventually.

Sir Foltest laughed and stroked her head. “It seems that I have been underestimating you, Brigette! I agree with her, that would explain why Sylvain was left alive and why he thinks that the questions he was asked incriminated my Lady, perhaps because they were designed to do so.

“This is why I hate not knowing my enemies’ goals because then I cannot find a reason for their actions. Why go through all the trouble to make Sylvain think this? What do they gain?” Sir Joseph seemed to say to himself.

“That is the question that is at the heart of it all why? Why do they do what they do? Without knowing that I fear we will be at a disadvantage.” Father said.

I sighed. “I don’t think we will find much but shall we check the room for clues.” I gestured to Brigette’s room.

“It might be a little cramped for all of us why don’t the two of you go in yourselves my Lady, Brigette.” Sir Foltest said while holding my father and Sir Joseph back from entering. “We will check the hallway and stairs for clues.” The two men seemed to understand and left. I thanked Sir Foltest in my heart.

“I haven’t had the chance to ask since the situation just kind of happened and we were dragged along but are you okay going inside?” I asked Brigette.

She took a deep breath and smiled. “Like I said I’m no longer a sheltered little girl to be protected. In my way, I believe I am getting stronger.” She entered her room, spotted a white dress with blood on it and kicked it aside.

I laughed and went inside as well. Lighting the lantern in the room, I looked out the window but could not make anything out in the darkness. I went to the closet and went through Brigette's old clothes and found nothing but lint and a worn-out piece of charcoal. I then crawled underneath the bed and searched with my fingers but found nothing. I got out and noticed that Brigette was at her desk and was drawing something.

Brigette has not drawn or painted anything in years! I wonder what has her so inspired?

As Brigette was concentrating on drawing with charcoal she did not notice that I had sneaked up behind her. Curious about what or who she was drawing I watched not saying anything. Then the face that was being drawn became familiar. black shoulder-length hair, a chiseled jaw, and a trim beard.

“Oberon!” I thought out loud in surprise.

Brigette sprung up nearly hitting my head with her own. “My Lady, you startled me!

“You startled me as well when you nearly headbutted me just now!” I grinned teasingly. “Oberon huh? I suppose it makes sense. He is the only boy around our age that you are acquainted with and though it has only been a day you already shared an intimate moment in the training yard, and he is quite handsome to boot. Do you think Valeria is the jealous type?

Brigette sat down embarrassed and continued drawing. “It’s not like that. I just admire him. He seemed to have a difficult time in the beginning when he was crippled and disowned but he overcame it and look at him now! Talking and exchanging ideas with a King and maybe even helping make a Queen.” She said looking up and grinning at me.

“I see. You want to be like him then?”

“W-Well something like that.” She continued drawing but after a while paused. “And yes, Valeria does seem to be the jealous type.”

We broke into a fit of laughter.