Rumors.

Usually when they start, they start as simple things like “Mr. Cat drank some wine the other day.” But as they go around from people to people, it usually transforms to something sinister like, “Mr. Cat drank his own piss the other day while dancing naked in front of a crying baby which was on fire.” Who would set a baby on fire you say? Well, yours truly might or might not have accidentally done something similar in the past… now that I think about it, wasn’t that kid Billy’s baby sister or something…. Wait, wait, was that dude holding a grudge over that? I could have sworn I explained that it wasn’t my fault!

Anyway, my rumors were similar but it wasn’t that extreme… yet.

Apparently, Shia in her infinite wisdom had spread rumors about me liking Nisa. A lot of people liked Nisa, so that wasn’t an issue. It was a totally normal thing to like people in power. However, that was a ploy on Shia’s end and she meant to say some good things about me and offer to make us friends. I was confused. Was she that dumb? Or was she plotting something super sinister? The latter….

The moment things went just a tad bad, Shia immediately started stalling. She was waiting for me to return and hoping I’d take Nisa’s side and that’s how we’d be friends and stuff because I was clearly different from my sister and ‘liked Nisa’. Except that never happened. I took Shia’s side instead. I called out the bullshit and things ended.

But they didn’t. They didn’t end just there. Kids talked. They spread rumors about my manners, about my preferences, about my bathing habits… and even that I loved Nisa but wasn’t a simpleton. That kind of rumor would have been fine, really. But lately, some people were saying I liked my sister instead. Others were stating, we had a really intimate relationship and I often visited her in the wee hours of the night for some fun activities.

And here I thought people of this world were a sensible bunch.

I tried my best to not worry about the rumors. Rumors were… well… rumors. As long as I didn’t show any unnecessary concern, people would eventually forget and move on. Right now, I was the center of attention but as soon as some other guy screwed up, I’d be totally out of the spotlight.

“Nodding to yourself for no reason is pretty… odd,” someone said… Nisa.

Library, books. She didn’t have her followers with her but I saw a lot of eyes on us.

“I sometimes like to visit palaces in my mind, you see.”

“Oh, you fancy palaces?”

I meant to say places but said Palaces… “Who doesn’t fancy crystal palaces…” So I had to well… make something up. Good thing I played a lot of Final Fantasy

“Crystal palaces? Like they’re made of gemstones?”

“In my mind? Yeah.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Nisa didn’t show much emotion. She was what you’d call a stoic beauty. Though in most cases she looked like a frigging statue than a human being. Like those typical renaissance sculptures.

“Didn’t take you to be a palace lover. Hmm… how about I invite you to our palace: Father’s holding a tea party next month. It’s not made of crystal but surely it would soothe some of your fantasies, yes?”

“Why? I don’t mean to be rude but given what just happened just the other day-”

“Precisely because of what happened as a token of… appreciation.”

There was a pause before she said appreciation. I had a feeling she was going to say Apology but instead switched to that when she noticed all the stares around us.

Well this is tough. On one hand we have the rumors. On the other, the whole fiasco… but declining her here, in front of everyone would kill my chances entirely. I’d somewhat given up on winning Nisa over. Particularly because I didn’t like her, and particularly because she didn’t seem like the ideal pawn. Even so… this chance might never come again… And the fact that she invited me in public, if something were to happen to me on the way or over there, her whole family would be held responsible. Of course, she could be plotting something sinister but, in the end, I didn’t really have any way to progress my plans without her… yet. Therefore… “Thank you very much,” I offered a noble nod, a faint smile and spread my hand forward. “I look forward to visiting your palace.”

***

“You did what?” Shia was of course furious.

She’d dragged me to the roof first thing. It was close to afternoon, and even with the sunny sky, it was getting a little chilly. I didn’t tell her, but apparently information spread pretty quickly around here. A little scary if you asked me.

“I had no reason to refuse,” I shrugged.

“Clearly it’s a ploy to win you over!”

“Technically that was the plan all along, right?”

“The plan was for you to be her friend on an equal footing. Not become one of her followers.”

Oh, so you did know that. But she still created that whole rumor fiasco. I couldn’t really fault her though. I was the one who accepted blindly. Yet, the gamble had somehow paid off. I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the castle of a Sovereign and deepen my relationship with them. Even if the whole change the religion thing didn’t pan out, I could always just marry into one of their vassal noble houses and survive. But that was only a contingency. I had no intention of just giving up on screwing Askavan, no sir.

Shia grumbled as she scowled. “Don’t forget you’re the first son of the Barack Family. You are more valuable than you think. Don’t sell your family short.”

Sure, thing sis, sure thing.

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Good…” she let out an exasperated sigh. “There’s been an odd rumor.”

“That I’ve been visiting you and stuff.”

“Yeah. So, for now… you don’t have to visit.”

“For now… hmm…” Was it me or was she a little embarrassed? Well, she was in that age. She’d probably just hit puberty and started being a bit more mindful of these things.

I didn’t really care though.

“You two aren’t supposed to be here,” a lady said. “And you, I’ve been looking for you,” she said, staring at me.

“Me?”

Ah those bouncy….

“Yes, you. Denkar put me in charge of you so I’ll be grinding some knowledge in you every now and then.” She yawned. “You’re all settled down I’d assume?”

Oh yeah, I’d met her. I almost certainly forgot her face but I couldn’t forget that bouncy goodness. Why the fuck is my mouth watering… calm down son!

Ahem! “Umm… what will you be teaching me?”

“Everything you need to know. Come, let’s go.”

Shia shoved me forward. “Get going. She’s pretty strict but not a bad person.”

“Thanks, but get out of here before Principal Akkas comes here,” the lady said.

Shia’s face went white as she… jumped!? One second she was there, and the very next, she jumped over the frigging guard rails!

“Woah!” I hurriedly went over to check but she was gone. And no, there wasn’t a puddle of blood or a mangled corpse beneath. Phew.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah…” Slightly unnerved, I focused on my breathing and followed her around like a duckling… Boy do I wanna suck tho- AHEM!