Chapter 6: Easing Tensions

   A week had passed since Harriette was partially freed, she was still unable to leave Aldous’ side for most the day, he wanted to show off how beautiful his trophy was. She has bitten him twice. By the king’s orders, Biff and Esmee are to begin their education. Why he chose Ignatius and Narcissus to do so, is beyond me. We were in the library; I was to fetch books while the morons tried to teach the twins how to read. Camillus sat on the other side of the library, attempting to ignore everyone else.

Biff ran his finger along a word. “Th-th-the!” He smiled and looked to Ignatius for approval.

“No. You’re not finished that word, it’s not ‘the’.” Ignatius growled.

“Let me try!” Esmee took the book, honestly, I’m surprised they can read as much as they can given that they are only three. “The, uh, ah! Thee-the!”

Ignatius slammed his head on the table. “No! There are you getting the extra ‘T’ and ‘H’! That is a ‘R’! The word is there!” I started to cry in frustration.

“Oh.” Esmee pouted. “I’m sorry.”

Narcissus then set down the book he was reviewing. “It might be for the best that they can’t read yet. Almost everything in this blasted library doesn’t depict our peoples pleasantly.” He gazed over to the pile of books that he had deemed inappropriate.

“Ugh, and even I find censuses boring, so I doubt these two would find them interesting.” Ignatius whined.

“I do!” Camillus called out from across the room.

I thought I had seen some documentation of some side quests a few years ago. They were put into a collection of short stories. It mostly contained lighthearted fetch quests. Without a word I wandered into the bookshelves. I had ordered the books mostly by what time period they were from. I made it to the section I dedicated to the when the game Narcissus was from took place. I got onto my stomach to inspect the bottom self. After about two minutes of scouring, I found what I was looking for. I gave the book to Narcissus. “Why don’t you read some of the stories in here to the twins. They are quite short and should keep their attention.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What are you trying to pull here? These are tales of Prince Ronald and Princess Freya. This is the opposite of what we are looking for.”

“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” I opened the book in Narcissus’ hands, I flipped through a few pages, until we came to one with an illustration.

Narcissus’ mouth gaped open. His lip quivered for a moment. “Magnolia…” He uttered. “This from…”

“Around six-hundred thirty to forty.” I answered as he stared at the picture. “Harriette told me that it can be uncanny seeing pictures of previous incarnations of the people you know.”

“I hope to find her before she is this old. She is just a kid, but here, she is a young woman.” Narcissus then looked up me, his eyes filling with tears. “I don’t want history to repeat itself, but I’m so scared it’s too late to change our fate. I don’t want to be the bad guy.”

My heart broke. If this life is like Narcissus’ previous life, he has killed his own sister and brother-in-law. I never knew the reason, maybe the reasons are different, but I can feel his guilt. Magnolia, Narcissus’ niece, ran away in fear. In the game they were in, Magnolia had joined forces with Prince Ronald and Princess Freya to take back the duchy of the dark dimension from Narcissus. I want to ask Narcissus so many questions, but in doing so, I would reveal my knowledge. I need to pretend I only what is in these books.

“You don’t have to be.” I reassured him. “What is done is done, we can’t undo that. All we can do now is do better for the future and not repeat what we regret.”

“What if I already have?” Narcissus let his head fall as he cried. “It’s too late.”

“It’s only too late if you let it be, you’re the duke of the dark dimension, do what is best for your people, protect them, be selfless. Make them proud.” I tried my best at a inspirational speech, it was short and sucked, but I think it worked.

Ignatius then came over and gave Narcissus a hug. “I heard that these make mortals feel better. Is it working?”

“Yeah.” Narcissus admitted.

It was at this time that we noticed Harriette standing by the door. “What did I walk into?” She raised an eyebrow as she asked.

“A mental breakdown. Duke Narcissus was about to read a story.” I answered.

“Oh cool, what story?” Harriette walked over and sat in one of the chairs next to her kids.

“Uh,” Narcissus flipped back a couple of pages. “A tale of, what? I’m sorry, a tale of delivering seventy-five watermelons.”

“That sounds so boring.” Ignatius commented as he let go of Narcissus. “I’m leaving.” As he went to leave, Harriette grabbed his arm. “Ugh, fine, I’ll stay.”

Everyone got comfortable, even Camillus came over to hear better. Narcissus began. “During their adventures traveling across Bugalas….”

When Narcissus had finished reading, Camillus headed over to a bin filled with rolled up maps. He rifled through them. "Close enough." He uttered. He laid out the map on the table. He inspected the map, he placed a finger on a location, then he found another, placing a different finger on it. "How were they able to travel this far in less then half a day?"

"They were carrying speed boosting relics. Furthermore, despite having the power of an army, they were only three people. It would be far faster for only three to travel that distance." Harriette calmly explained.

"How would they have the stamina to run all the way there? That is the only way..." Camillus' voice trailed off.

"Oh," Harriette understood where the confusion was. "They were on horseback."

Camillus looked down and blushed. "Now I feel silly."

“Don’t be, the horses weren’t mentioned, how were you supposed to know.” Harriette smiled warmly.

“Mama!” Biff pulled on her dress. “Can we go see horse-ies?”

Harriette patted her son’s head. “Sure, that sounds like fun. Camillus, did you want to come?”

“Ugh, no, clearly I need to do more reading.” He growled; he went back over across the room.

Harriette’s smiled faded. “That kid worries me.” The dukes and I nodded in agreement.

I accompanied Harriette and the twins to the stables, along with the two guards that were assigned to Harriette. In the games they were stronger enemies, not just basic fodder, but in the games, they were never given individual names, anyone in late game could take them out in about five attacks. We walked through the stables, the twins in deep wonder staring up at the mighty steeds. Then we came to a particular house, Harriette’s.

“Hello there, Buster.” Harriette pet her horse’s face. “It’s been a while.”

“I thought you had seen enough of me today.” Aldous called out as he approached with his horse. “You weren’t trying to ride off into the sunset, were you?”

Harriette crossed her arms. “Ugh, no.” She scoffed. “I wish I had.” She muttered under her breath.

“Oh, what was that?” Aldous teased, we all had heard her.

“Nothing.” Harriette pouted, sounding like a teenager.

“I have an idea, why don’t we take Esmee and Biff out for a little ride.” Aldous suggested.

“Aren’t you scared I’ll ride off into the sunset?” She used his own phrase when asking.

“Hm.” Aldous thought for a moment. “I can take on of the kids with me, you won’t leave one of your little ones behind. Also, if you go into Forfeit Forest, or start crossing the west river, I’ll have the guards take off Amice’s head!” It was scary how joyful he spoke while threatening my life.

Esmee grinned as she shook her mother’s arm. “Can we go please?”

“Huh, fine.” Harriette relented. “We’ll go riding with you, but only because the kids want to, not because I like you or anything.”

Aldous did his head tilt. “I didn’t say anything about you liking me.”

Harriette turned away from him. “W-well, I-I could tell you thinking it! I still hate you!”

“Okay…” Aldous then returned to his cheery self. “Let’s get going.”

“What’s your horse-ie’s name?” Biff curiously asked.

“This here is Edain, did you want to ride her with me?” Aldous offered.

“Y-yeah, yeah!” Biff jumped up and down in excitement.

Harriette let Buster out, soon enough, they were off. I took off to the top of the west tower, the guards followed me. I took out my spyglass and watched the ‘not a date’. One of the guards then asked me; “So are they a thing?”

The other one stopped sharping her axe. “Yeah, I’m wondering that too.”

“Not yet. I’m working on it.” I answered, not taking my eye off them.

“Clearly not hard enough.” Ignatius commented, making his presence known.

“Your grace!” The guards called out in surprise. Ignatius must have teleported up here.

“These things take time. Plus, Harriette is stubborn. We have to let things happen naturally; we can’t force them to get together.” I kept watching them frolic on horseback. “They seem to be having a good time.”

Narcissus then took my spyglass away to use it himself. Ignatius came up next to me. “I let him in our little plan.”

“I’m not surprised; he likes this kind of thing.” I shrugged. “I saw him slip a romance book into his cloak one day while I saw getting books for Lord Camillus.”

Narcissus turned his attention to me as his mouth dropped open. “I thought I was alone! Don’t go telling people that!”

Ignatius then reached over my head and motioned for the spyglass. “Give me that thing, I want to see.” Narcissus handed my spyglass to Ignatius. “They stopped, oh I wish we could hear what they are saying. They are moving again. The horses are walking beside each other." Ignatius narrated. "Looks like the little ones are asleep."

"Ah, so they are just hanging out now." I remarked as I leaned on the wall.

"There is no other explanation. They enjoy each other's company." Ignatius stated, lowering the spyglass from his eye.

"I'll have a little chat with Harriette tonight or tomorrow night.” I then turned around. “Do we want to bet on when they will get engaged?"

“Fine, whoever has the closest bet wins.” Ignatius accepted my challenge.

Narcissus summoned a piece of paper. “How much am I putting you down for?”

“I’ll put two hundred pearls on the four months.” I confidently made my bet.

Ignatius snorted. “Do you even have that much? I’ll do five hundred pearls for two months.”

“Alrighty!” Narcissus jotted that down. “Anyone else want to place a bet?”

“Can I do five for six months?” We heard a voice from behind, we all turned around to see Camillus standing there. “That’s all I have.”

“Uh, yeah sure.” Narcissus wrote that down. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough.” Camillus replied.

Not much later they returned from the ride. Harriette carried Esmee and Aldous carried Biff. Harriette shifted her daughter into one arm. “Here, I can take him.”

“I don’t want to wake him; I don’t mind taking him up there.” Aldous replied in a whisper.

I kept my distance watching them walk through the halls to the twins’ room. If it wasn’t for the blonde hair, one could swear that they were Aldous’ children. With how closely they were walking, I began to worry that Ignatius was going to win the bet. The tucked the twins in, and Aldous gently closed the door, carful not to make a sound.

“I had a lot of fun with you today. Um, would you mind if I walked you to your room?” He asked Harriette as if he was some nerd in high school asking her to prom.

Harriette smiled, “You can do what you like, you are the king.” She then turned and began walking to her room. Aldous escorted her there, they made small talk on the way. He opened the door for her; Harriette walked in and took the door. “Good night, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night.” Aldous wished her. Harriette then closed the door. Aldous turned to leave but saw Ignatius and Narcissus standing there. “Ah, how long have you two been there?”

“We just got here my liege.” Ignatius answered. “How was your date?” He smiled.

“It wasn’t a date. Get that out of your heads, yours too Amice. I know you’ve been sculking around ever since we returned.” He quietly growled. “She hates me.” Aldous then began to march away.

I called out to him. “She may say that, but I can tell that it’s not true.”