The Royal Revenge
Chapter 44: Diplomatic Trip

Chapter 44: Diplomatic Trip

The crowds had turned silent at the king’s announcement. Elysianne observed the vampires’ reactions, and almost all of them had their mouths covered with shock.

Aleksander had stiffened beside his wife, and she stared at the expression painted all over his face. A face full of anger and undeniable resentment.

His reaction made the princess ponder on the king’s announcement.

Whispers and murmurs started to rise as slowly the nobles began to discuss. The implications of sending envoys to the Western Kingdom was actually a big deal to everyone.

"Why did he choose those two of all people?" a haughty voice spoke in a low rush.

"Isn’t the forest surrounding the Eastern Kingdom werewolf territory?" someone asked, voice shaky as if scared.

"That would be one bloody battle... werewolves are territorial as fuck," another said.

"They are not going to survive the trip," one remarked.

’Envoys to the Eastern Kingdom...’ Elys thought silently, trying to remember what the situation was that needed them to be travel into a neighboring kingdom.

Slowly, things started to click and her eyes widened as she blurted out softly in disbelief, "No..."

"The Western and Eastern Kingdom are currently on shaky terms. We need you to strengthen our ties, by going on a diplomatic trip to meet the Eastern Queen," the king continued, giving them a sarcastic smile, "I trust that the two of you won’t have difficulties with that?"

Elys bit the side of her cheeks. Aleksander wasn’t budging beside her, his hands still gripping her hard.

"Aren’t you going to respond to the king when he speaks to you?" Queen Zephyrine walked in. "Somehow I wonder if you are fit for the task. Perhaps you should send someone else, your majesty?"

The king chuckled, "My queen! These two will be just fine. And weren’t it your prophecy that said a woman of dirt and an ostracized man was to set out on a journey for the kingdom’s prosperity?"

Elys pictured herself punching the king for the demeaning words he had used to describe them. But instead of acting on it, she just squeezed Aleksander’s hand in turn, to which signaled the prince his wife was feeling the same rage he was feeling too for his father.

The noise from the crowd turned louder.

"The queen foretold this? It can’t be true, can it?"

"The king must be joking yet again. The bastard prince is said to be cursed to bring us doom, not prosperity!"

"Alright, that would be enough," the king sternly addressed the crowd, his wife merely keeping silent with his earlier statement regarding her prophecy. He looked to his right and summoned one of his secretaries, "Fredrik, bring it over."

The king waved his hand and a thin man in a fancy suit walked in with a tray of documents rolled into several scrolls. They were bound in a red ribbon, the royal seal stamped in the middle.

King Raxus reached for one scroll and stared at it for a moment, his eyes glinting with malice Elys would recognize in any evil man. He put the scroll back into the stack, and then signaled the secretary to hand them over to the prince and princess.

"Take these documents with you," the king said, "they contain important things I wish to bargain with the Eastern Queen. Make sure it reaches her hands at all cost. You leave immediately tomorrow at dawn."

The secretary gave Elys and Aleksander two sets of scrolls each. She looked at them and wondered what they contained. The scrolls seemed like they weren’t much but just fancy paper.

Princess Elysianne nudged at Aleksander. She wasn’t actually in the position to speak to the king first. By manner of ranking, she was still lower than the bastard prince, so it was only natural that Aleksander spoke more than she should.

But despite knowing this, the prince didn’t utter a single word. Elys became frustrated with him, and having no choice anymore, decided she should step in and speak for the both of them.

She had no idea if Aleksander was going to agree with what she would say – didn’t agree with each other in the first place.

But to Elys, it was better for her to speak now lest the king and queen, as well as all other vampires spectating in the ballroom think they were an incompetent couple.

She needed to step up her game.

Elys will deal with whatever Aleksander would say afterwards. If he wouldn’t talk, then she will talk.

There wasn’t much time to waste, for she knew royalties tend to be fickle. The king wed her to Aleksander on a whim, it was only a matter of time whether he would blurt some crazy idea yet again.

"Your majesty, we will do everything in our power to be of service to the kingdom," Elys spoke with a graceful bow of her head.

"Very well," King Raxus beamed, his pearly white fangs flashing, "now that has been done with, let the party continue and everyone make merry! If anyone wants fresher blood than the one from the fountain, hundreds of exquisite blood servants are available at your disposal for the night!"

The murmurs of the crowd eventually turned into thunderous claps of cheering and whistles. Music started playing, and the vampires began to dance and chat away.

"Your majesty," Elys spoke to both King Raxus and Queen Zephyrine with her head down, "if there won’t be anything else, my husband and I would like excuse ourselves to partake in the festivities now."

They needed to get away now, before the king began to work his strong magic at them again.

She heard the king snicker and said, "Ha! The slave has learned impeccable manners in less than two weeks! It is a shame I had you married immediately, you would have been a great addition to the castle blood servants."

Queen Zephyrine clicked her tongue, "Don’t be so greedy, my king. You make this old queen jealous over a slave – ah – a princess."

Elys saw the demeaning side-eye the queen gave her. The princess would give anything to have the opportunity to gouge her foxlike eyes right now.

+++

A/N:

My Bloody Royals, I will be on a vacation trip for 3 days to somewhere internet isn’t available. The next update shall be next month, start of the book’s MGS. Worry not, I am stockpiling as much as I can during the last days of Feb to provide lots of privi chaps. Elys and Aleksander will be back on March 1st with lots of action and magic! Not sure on the spicy scenes yet, but we will see haha! xoxo