Romance

As you would expect, Chika’s loud announcement unleashed a flock of rumors, which flew through the castle too quickly to catch. Most of the rumors accused me of wronging her in a way that would prevent her from ever marrying. The two of us had been alone in my office, but the door had been open, and there were servants in the hallway just outside. Still, I suppose it’s just human nature to imagine the most salacious possibilities first and foremost.

Had I been thinking properly, I would have jumped up from my seat and ran after her. If only I had done so, I could have prevented the problem from getting out of hand. Instead, I returned to my work as Chika fled the palace, and I emerged from my office in the late afternoon to find the mood notably darker.

For the next few days, whenever I passed Nalindra in the hallway, she would sneer in contempt. Unable to say anything critical to my face because of my position, she opted to say nothing to me at all. My servants told me that she was repeating nasty things about me to others though, and that this time, she wasn’t accidentally praising me in the process.

Even the emperor did not find the turn of events entertaining, and after a few days of her absence, he ordered Chika back to the palace. Shortly after she arrived, he convened the council. My inaction had caused the emperor enough trouble that I expected him to be furious with me, but when he entered the council chambers, he was visibly relaxed.

“I’ve gathered you here for something I want for once,” he said, taking his seat. “We’re going to tease Thelian for being awkward around women.”

Lords Thundrakar and Orrandis snickered at this, but lord Gwendar looked from the emperor to me with a stern expression on his face. “One could hardly call a witch a woman, but if Lord Thelian saw her as one, he truly deserves ridicule.”

It was unusual for him to act so openly hostile towards me personally. Perhaps he had caught wind that I was about to be demoted… Or maybe he was in a panic over his own position. Surely, that was wishful thinking on my part. Chika couldn’t work that fast.

Could she?

At the very least, she didn’t let the insult pass. “I would be offended, Lord Gwendar, but I know how poor your eyesight is. It’s a shame you can only see your prejudices, rather than who I truly am.”

I had to suppress a laugh at Lord Gwendar’s shock. Up until that point, Chika had been nothing but deferential towards the other advisors.

“You see, Your Highness?” He hissed. “Now the witch shows her true nature. She’s spiteful and insolent.”

Without losing his laid-back demeanor, the emperor retorted. “If you say so, it must be true. You’re the expert on spite and insolence. I know what you say about me behind my back.” The blood drained from Lord Gwendar’s face, but before he could say anything in his defense, the emperor continued. “I never suspected you of embezzlement though. Always thought you were too honest for that kind of thing.”

“Your Majesty I—”

“I have the ledgers, with signatures,” the emperor interrupted. “Think very carefully about your next words.”

“I’m going to repay the money. That was always the plan.”

The rest of us, except for Chika, looked on in shock. In a matter of days, she had managed to unearth evidence against Lord Gwendar. However, when the emperor next spoke, we were in for an even bigger surprise.

“Glad to hear it. Even so, under normal circumstances, you would be severely punished.”

In other words, Lord Gwendar would escape punishment, presumably because he still had too much support within the temple. Chika had misjudged the timing of perhaps her only chance to be rid of him.

Or so I thought.

“You have Chika to thank for that,” the emperor continued. “She pleaded for leniency on your behalf. The food situation has taken a turn for the worse in Drakarnor, and war is likely inevitable. I was ready to fight both the temple and the Drakarnori at the same time, but she convinced me it would be unwise.”

Chika had made a masterful play. There could be no doubt this was the beginning of the end for Lord Gwendar, but in the short term, he would be forced to cooperate with her, and he would need to repay the money he stole. If Chika continued to gain influence, she could remove his power base over time. On the other hand, if the temple took a harder line against her, Lord Gwendar would eventually be removed for being in her debt.

Something about it bothered me though. It reminded me of the kinds of schemes my father liked to employ.

Turning back to Chika, Lord Gwendar spoke through gritted teeth. “On that, we agree. I suppose I owe you an apology, Lady Chika.”

Locking eyes with him, Chika smiled. “I’m glad our misunderstanding is all in the past. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

“Back to the matter at hand,” the emperor cut in, “it seems Thelian asked Chika about her marriage prospects in a particularly clumsy way. She was so embarrassed that she made up an excuse for being unmarried at her age, but in doing so, created all kinds of rumors. I want you to tell those working under you that nothing untoward happened. As funny as some of these rumors have been, we can’t afford the distraction right now.”

There were no objections, so the emperor brought the meeting to a close.

“I want you all to focus on the situation with Drakarnor. Thundrakar, see not only to our defenses, but also raise an army large enough to invade, should the chance present itself. I want to be prepared for anything. The rest of you, focus on averting this war by any means necessary.”

As everyone else left to return to their own offices, Chika and I stayed behind. It was the first chance we had to speak since the incident, and neither my servants nor hers were going to risk more rumors by leaving us alone. True to her word, Chika had employed two older men as servants, and for some reason, Nalindra was there too, eyeing me with suspicion.

Chika spoke first. “I’m sorry for causing such a fuss, Thelian. You warned me that my position would put me under scrutiny, but I didn’t take it seriously enough. I’m sure it must have been unpleasant.”

“I’ve dealt with worse, and I’m also partially to blame, I—”

“That’s right. The emperor was correct to call you clumsy.” As Chika spoke, Nalindra nodded her head in agreement. “You can’t just ask someone to marry you without warning. There has to be romance first.” Nalindra continued nodding, but the confused expression on her face revealed that she didn’t know what the word romance meant any more than I.

“Romance?” I asked. “I don’t understand.”

“Obviously, which is why I’m going to explain it to you. I gave up all notions of getting married long ago. For various reasons, I promised myself I would stay chaste, but I’m still only human. I have my moments of weakness. When I saved you from the vormarnok, the reason I rushed to your side was, well, because you were handsome, but you turned out to be so much more than a good looker. You were genuinely kind to me, and you were my first real friend since I left Earth. So after you proposed to me, I took some time to think things over, and I realized, if it was with you, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But if I’m going to do it, I want to have a normal romance, so we have to go on dates first.”

By the time she finished speaking, her face had turned completely red in embarrassment. Everyone else in the room, however, was bewildered. Placing a hand on Chika’s shoulder, Nalindra gave voice to our confusion.

“Lady Chika, you have to explain it in simple terms, or else he’ll never understand.”

“Woo me, Thelian. Make me fall in love with you. If you can do that, I’ll marry you.”