7 — Joezand's Proposal

Anneliese and Joezand stop in front of the door. It's made of dark ebony wood, carved by a carpenter to look like a lion's maw.

"I'm ready." Joezand says. "Let's go."

Anneliese opens the door, peeking her head inside. "Prince Joezand is here for his audience." She announces.

"He's allowed to come in." A booming, masculine voice rings out from the inside of the room. "You stay, maid."

They both gulp at the tone of sheer, effortless authority. Anneliese holds the door open, shooting him an encouraging look before he enters.

Once more, he can't stop himself from analyzing the room. It's big. The massive size is overpowering. He feels like a cockroach that just discovered that there was a world outside of the sewers. The chandeliers are made of solid platinum with studded emeralds. Usually he'd be amazed. But after what Anneliese told him... She thought her life was fine, sure. But it was less than the bare minimum that humans have in his world. How many people had to starve for this monument to greed to be built and maintained? It's a bit sickening now. Deep blue curtains cascade down closed windows, almost no natural light coming into the room. The entire floor is covered fully in red carpet, and directs his vision to the thrones. Two of them, made of fine rosewood. They're carved on top to have a hollow triangle, and inside of that triangle the same minimalist lion he sees everywhere. The padding is made of a finely embroidered cotton cushion.

On his right-hand side, sitting properly atop of the throne is a woman in her mid fourties. A crown sits atop of her head. Her straight blonde hair is cut a bit below her ears, and her light blue eyes stare at him coldly. Her face has a small amount of wrinkles, but she's not unattractive by any means, and she's sporting expensive earrings. She looks at him with an expression of barely-concealed annoyance. She's wearing a necklace and a long, fancy white dress that goes all the way down to the bottom of her crossed legs. Pult is standing next to her seat. He has his usual iron armor, but his hair looks a bit messy and his sunken eyes have dark circles around them. Seems like he really did pull that all-nighter.

Slouching lazily on the throne on the left is an older man, about ten years older than the woman. His hair is mostly gray, and he has a full grizzled beard, with a striking scar going through the whole left side of his face. He has a very bored gaze as he stares at Joezand. His dark brown clothes and light armour seem more fit for a hunter, although the crown on his head makes it clear that he's way more than that. There are two women standing next to him on each side. One of them is Lorelai, also in her knightly gear sans helmet. She gives Joezand a little wave. The other one wears a crown, much like the Emperor, and has long, straight brown hair that flows down to her hips. She looks to be in her early thirties, so a bit younger than Lorelai. Her eyes are a dark blue, and she's wearing a long pink dress with a green cape, similar to his in shape. She's anxiously messing with the hem of her clothes as she sways side to side.

Joezand kneels before them, looking up.

"Pult." The woman sitting on the right-side throne says to the knight beside her, her voice frigid. "If you would."

"Affirmative, your majesty." Pult bows his head for a moment, then steps forward. "Prince Joezand, while later than usual, has shown signals that he could be afflicted with the curse of house von Styria. He appears to have no recollection of why he ran away, or of his life in the palace. His demeanor has changed, but for the better. Memory loss seems to be the only issue, and he could benefit from being retrained on his etiquette, stewardship and military tactics. That is a rough summary of my observations, Empress Agatha. The written report has them in full."

"I understand. Thank you, Pult." Agatha says, while Pult bows his head once more and goes back to her side. "This is not your first, second or third slight, Prince Joezand." Her eyes focus on him, and it feels like the temperature drops. His body starts shivering slightly. "Frankly, I considered not even sending a search party for you. But Duchess Cecilia..." Her gaze goes to the brunette by the Emperor, who looks back, still fidgeting with the hem of her dress. "She insisted that you'd be found. Even so, the appropriate punishment would be exile, with or without memory of your misdeeds."

"M-Mother, please!" The woman Agatha was looking at, Cecilia, speaks up. "Joezand doesn't remember anything. It wouldn't be fair—"

"Silence!" Agatha says, and Cecilia obeys her. "How many times do I have to tell you? You will call me by my title and full name, just as I do with yours. Frankly, do you have no decorum?" She sighs. "Either way, it would be fairly long and unnecessary listing all that Prince Joezand has done that made him deserve the exile. It wouldn't be permanent, of course. But a few years of a strict training and studying regiment would do wonders for him. Is that agreeable with you, Emperor Thaddius?"

"Huh?" Thaddius says, straightening up in his throne. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Agatha." His gaze unfocuses almost instantly, staring into the distance again.

"Perfect." She doesn't correct him, but Joezand doesn't miss Agatha's eye twitching at not being referred by her title. "If that's all, I think a sentence of... let's say, five years of exile would be appropriate. We will assign some servants to keep watch over Prince Joezand. Not your own maid, of course. They have to be impartial to avoid little escapades. I believe that's everything to be—"

"If I may, Empress Agatha." Joezand says, getting up. She glares at being interrupted, but lets him speak. "While I do agree that my past behavior was inexcusable, and I do intend to keep studying all the things that are needed for a prince... I have a more interesting way of absolving myself of my guilt. One that will please Emperor Thaddius very much."

Thaddius' eyes refocus once more at being mentioned, his eyebrow raising curiously as he stares at Joezand.

"I can see that you really need those lessons in etiquette, Prince Joezand." Agatha spits the words out. "Me and the Emperor already agreed on your punishment. It's frankly blatant disrespect to try and suggest you have a better method—"

"Agatha." Thaddius cuts her off, a glint in his eye. "Let the boy speak."

"A duel." Joezand says. "While my memories are absent, I have been informed of Emperor Thaddius' history. Martial prowess is the most important quality of a leader, isn't it?" He smirks. "And that's what House von Styria does. It conquers."

"You're damn right it does." Thaddius smirks. "What would be the terms of the duel?"

"I'll ask for a little bit of time to prepare. I haven't been really training while I was on the run, so the extra time will not only help me recover my strength, but also show my dedication in becoming a better prince." Joezand explains. "As for my opponent... I shall let you pick. If I fail, I'll obediently go into exile. Is that sufficient?"

"Sounds great to me." Thaddius says. "It's decided, then. Give the boy a month to prepare. We can figure out who's gonna fight him later."

"But..." Agatha starts, but stops herself. She takes a deep breath and puts on a fake smile. "If I may, Emperor Thaddius... I believe I know of a suitable candidate to fight Prince Joezand." She looks to the knight by her side. "Pult. If the prince is really serious about improving, he should reach my personal knight's level in one month, no?"

"Hold on. Pult is one of the strongest in the Empire." Lorelai protests. "That doesn't seem fair, Empress Ag—"

"Fine by me." Thaddius says. "My son should be stronger than any old knight."

"Perfect, then!" Agatha says, clapping her hands. If Thaddius notices the fake smile and annoyed eyebrows that she has, he doesn't mention it. "You are dismissed, Prince Joezand. You three as well, Duchess Cecilia, Pult, Lorelai. I need to converse with Emperor Thaddius alone."

Joezand leaves the room, and immediately leans against a wall, sighing deeply. Anneliese runs up to him. He watches the other three start to walk towards the door too.

"I have never been more stressed in my life." Joezand says. "Hell... That took a few years off my life for sure."

"I know I wasn't supposed to watch, but I couldn't resist the urge to peek." Anneliese says. "It was pretty cool to see you go head to head against Empress Agatha, though." She comments. "It was a good plan to appeal to Emperor Thaddius, too."

"Yeah. It's a shame that the plan backfir—"

"Jozzzzzzzz!!!" A female voice comes from the door. The woman that was next to the Emperor, Cecilia, runs towards him. She basically tackles him, wrapping her arms around and giving him a oxygen-stealing hug. "I've missed you sooooo much! C'mere, you!" She starts kissing his cheeks multiple times while hugging him even tighter. "You could have at least told me you were going away! I'd go with you in a heartbeat!~"

"I-It's nice to see you again too, haha..." Joezand says awkwardly. He knows she's a part of his family, but he has no information on her. Anneliese told him she's a fellow princess, so probably his sister. Although she is what? A decade and a half older than him. "Don't worry, I'm not going away again."

"You better not! You better go and kick Pult's ass and stay here with me, capisce?" Cecilia says. She finally allows him to get some air, staying beside him to hug one of his arms as she nuzzles his shoulder. He feels very uncomfortable, but he thinks he shouldn't say anything. He doesn't know how close the old Joezand and Cecilia were, so she'll let her lead to avoid suspicion.

"I-I agree, Prince Joezand! You better win this fight!" Anneliese goes to his other side, holding his other arm. Is she... pouting at Cecilia?

Before he can ask her, he sees Lorelai and Pult walk out of the room as well. Pult looks absolutely miserable, his eyebrows furred and his mouth in the deepest frown. Lorelai looks more apologetic, both towards Joezand and Pult.

"Hey, man." Joezand says. "Sorry. I didn't mean for you to be included into this."

"I don't want to hear it right now." Pult groans. "Every time. Every single time you do something I'm included against my will. It's always me! I can't take it."

"You keep saying that," Joezand says. "But can you give some examples? Do you mean when I was a child?"

"I mean throughout every stage of your existence." Pult explains. "Now I'm being forced to fight you. Before this, I was assigned against my will to go search for you. Before that, every time you went to a peasant gathering I had to find you and drag you back to the palace. Before that, when you tried to woo one of the palace maids, I had to put a stop to it. And that's just the most recent examples. There's many more that I'm too annoyed to remember."

"I-I tried doing that?" Joezand blushes. "That's..."

"So uncouth!" Cecilia says. "Really, Joz. What's wrong with you?"

"That was a bad decision, Prince Joezand." Anneliese agrees. "If you try to woo a palace maid, you have to make sure it's a long-time thing! Having a fling would be quite the concerning power imbalance."

"Oh, please. Who'd ever want to have a long-time thing with a mere maid? A princess would make way more sense." Cecilia replies, glaring at Anneliese. The maid looks like she's about to respond.

What are they talking about? Why are his sister and his maid competing for his affection? He doesn't need them arguing right now.

"Nevermind that!" Joezand exclaims, then turns to Pult. "Can't you just refuse to fight? Or just surrender during it?"

"If I refuse an order from Empress Agatha, I'll be out of a job in no time." Pult sighs. "And if I surrender, you know that Emperor Thaddius won't be pleased with that. I'll have to give it my all. Besides..." He looks at Joezand. "I agree with Empress Agatha. An exile would do you good."

"I was really hoping you wouldn't fight to win." Joezand sighs. "Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?"

"Nope." Pult yawns. "Now, if you don't mind, I spent all night awake. Also because of you, Prince Joezand. I need some rest." He leaves with a scowl on his face, although he doesn't seem too worried for the fight ahead.

"We should get going too, Princey." Lorelai pulls him from the collar, away from Cecilia and Anneliese.

"We?" Joezand replies. "Going where?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Lorelai smirks. "If you want to win, somebody's gotta train you, right? Now get that butt to the grounds, young man!"