An odd atmosphere rests inside king Leopold's castle walls. There's an excitement amongst the early nobles who have already arrived for the wedding, but also a gossip in every corner about king Leopold's child bride. Servants are running around and about the castle, decorating every cranny of the high ceiled hallways and imposing rooms in preparation of the wedding and the guests it will bring with it. The castle feels both crowded and empty, pregnant with a crowd that is not yet filling it.
It's partially because of the wedding that getting hired as a castle guard had been so easy. The wedding would bring with it many visitors and as Leopold grew more paranoid, so grew his desire for swords and watchful eyes in his hallways. Robin muses on the irony that possibly the one time the king's paranoia would have saved him, he had decided to trust instead. Then again, the king is not the most sane man, caring for his daughter more than anything. The man is on the doorstep of madness, being held back by his daughter and his step blinded by his own misguided ideas of kindness. Robin pities the woman who is to be his queen.
"Robin."
He shakes his head from his thoughts about kings and queens. He's a spy and whatever opinions he has on his king are not as relevant as the information he can gather on him.
"Oi! Robin!"
Robin turns towards the voice who had been calling towards him and gives a small nod in acknowledgement towards one of his fellow guards: Claude. With twenty-one years of age, Claude is only slightly younger than him, but just as fine a fighter.
"Waiting for one of the noble wenches to cast her eye on you? I wouldn't count on it, we're part of the décor as far as they are concerned." Claude grins, but in his grey eyes some deep-buried feelings of hatred shine.
"Well, with a face such as yours, you might want to count yourself lucky to be considered part of the décor, my friend." Robin quips to the man already balding at his young age, earning him a roaring laughter and a slap on the shoulder from his fellow guard.
"You remind me of my brother, the cunt." He chuckles, then lowers his voice. "Speaking of, I'm here to fetch you. The new queen is to arrive today and we are to stand guard."
"You'd better not let the king hear you speak that way of his new bride." Robin answers and Claude scoffs.
"Nobles, all the same shit."
Though Robin shares his friend's disdain for nobles and all those connected to it, he can't help but privately chuckle to himself at the thought of Claude ever finding out his friend was born to a noble house in king George's kingdom. He shakes his head and gives Claude an amused smile before walking towards the great hall. "Let's just go, before the nobles actually start to notice us. Or our absence, for that matter."
Everything is all pomp and circumstance with nobles. They can't walk through an open door without formerly being announced and preceded by a dozen guards in shining arms and colours. It's only one of the things Robin thoroughly despises about them. It is also as such with the new queen's arrival. He and the other new guards are lined up around the halls, instructed not to move, not to hear and not to see. (Of course he sees, he hears, he spies).
The parade inside the halls is being preceded by the king's loyal guards, the ones who have been the king's guards for years and whom he trusts to be close to him. The king keeps the new guards at a safe distance, which makes it easier for Robin to remain unseen, but also makes gathering information harder. Today, however, his lowly position gives him the better vantage point. He scans the room, his eyes resting a little too long on the shining baubles that the noble ladies following the guards are wearing. One of the baubles could feed his village for half a year, he's sure. He shakes himself from his thieving thoughts and reminds himself that if he gets caught as a spy, the village will never eat again.
"Introducing to you now…" The booming voice of the royal announcer's voice roars through the hall, silencing any excited murmuring that had been going on. "His majesty king Leopold of the Enchanted Forest and the white kingdoms. With him, Snow White, daughter of king Leopold and Queen Eva, princess of the Enchanted forest and the white kingdoms."
The young princess wears her title as well as she wears her tiara. Walking into the room beside her father, a golden crown resting upon the latter's balding head. The king is wearing his mask of kindness, smiling towards the people cheering at him and his daughter. Then behind him, being guided inside the palace by the hands of a mean-looking woman, is the queen.
Robin vaguely registers the announcer introducing her and listing her titles, but the words do not reach his ears, for all his mind feels occupied with what his eyes are seeing. Because she is beautiful. She is younger than he had expected, no older than eighteen for sure, with doe-brown eyes, dark hair and skin a shade more tinted than the pale white of most noble ladies. She carries herself with the air of nobility, but there is none of the disdain in her eyes, none of the superiority in her stance. He finds himself staring at her as she takes the long walk towards the centre of the hall, where the king stands waiting for her. He notices the woman next to her giving the woman a prod and suddenly she turns her head and waves at the nobles around her. When her gaze meets his, he feels his breath catch for a second. In awe, but also in sadness.
Because the girl –for that is what she is, really- is smiling, but there is mourning in her eyes. A sadness hidden beneath the mask she wears. It knocks the breath right out of his lungs. He swallows thickly as he watches her walk towards the king, watches the man kiss her hand and suddenly he's filled with something more than just disdain for the king.
Suddenly he wants to kill the king. Murder him to protect this girl with mourning in her eyes he does not even know.
The wedding is equally awful. It's held the day after the new queen's arrival and it fills up the whole castle, every nook and cranny stuffed with the royal wedding. With every noble family attending and seemingly bringing all those even remotely related to them, the normally quiet castle is crawling with nobles. Robin has had to keep back the urge to pickpocket many a nobleman ever since he'd crossed path with the first of them. Now, as he watches the young queen –he curses himself for not catching her name when it was announced- take the long walk to where her marriage to the king awaits, it's not the urge to steal he holds back.
He watches with clenched fists as the king takes her small, gentle hands in his and gives the queen a smile, before he presses a kiss to her hand. Robin watches a few ladies in the audience swoon, but spots even more of them look vaguely disturbed at the display. Then it is a blur of rituals that he is not familiar with and does not care for. (it occurs to him that he could have been part of such a ritual himself, if his fate had been different.)
He watches with an empty stare, managing to keep his mind blank until the pair is pronounced husband and wife and the king presses a kiss against the lips of his new bride. He grits his teeth as he watches the girl desperately trying not to flinch away. He knows the image of the young queen getting kissed by the man old enough to be her grandfather, will haunt him for days to come.
(He is right, but he could never have imagined he would soon see how it haunted her, too)
Please tell me if you're enjoying this story. It helps to motivate me to write. I hope you liked this chapter, I promise interaction the next one. Stay tuned!
