A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!
Jason settled comfortably in his throne as the consort candidacy committee members looked solemn. He noted that the Colchis princess seemed excited, almost triumphant, although she tried to keep her expression plain. Unfortunately for her, he would take much delight in disappointing her.
Soon all the princesses arrived. Princess Hazel had a momentary expression of confusion but managed to change to a polite look of inquiry. As Piper entered, her eyes met Jason's. She smiled back, unperturbed that her virginity was called in question.
Jason slightly snorted inside. He had already thought long ago that the whole candidacy was a farce. The hypocrisy of everything was laughable.
Why is it that the princes of this country could indulge themselves in women while the princesses were expected to keep themselves pure? Not to mention Queen Hera stayed pitifully alone while her husband, King Zeus, had many women in his harem, resulting in many children and thus contenders for the throne. The fighting was so intense that ever since he turned fifteen, some of his father's consorts had tried to forcefully climb into his bed so they could pass off a child produced as the Cuoran king's. Raised in such a ruthless environment, Jason had declined all lovers unlike some of his other half-siblings.
However, not having a circle of lovers meant the consort candidacy committee members on the aristocratic faction were determined to have Jason marry the Colchis princess to have sole control of the second Cuoran prince. And now, he would use this opportunity to fell their plans in one swoop with this many witnesses in standing. The aristocratic faction and the Colchis princess would have engineered their own undoing.
The clamor in the room finally settled down with the entrance of a female imperial physician well-known to be connected to the aristocratic faction. The corners of Jason's smile became deeper. It really had come to the this point. Then, don't blame him if he had to be ruthless.
The head of the consort candidacy committee member raised his hand, and the rest of the committee fell silent. The head was Marquis Ares. If the consort candidacy didn't have the requirement of the consort being a princess, Jason was sure that the marquis would have taken every opportunity to throw his daughter at Jason.
Marquis Ares bowed and cleared his throat before handing a report to the Cuoran prince. Jason didn't need to flip through the documents to know what the reports said. As a result, the marquis looked a little perturbed that the prince did not look through the report.
"Marquis Ares," said Jason. "What is your purpose of calling everyone here?"
The marquis bowed greasily. "Your Highness, Prince Jason. We have called the committee here as we believe one of the candidates has committed a grave mistake and no longer meets the requirements as a candidate for your wife."
"Oh?" Jason feigned ignorance. "And what requirement is that?"
As if for dramatic effect, Marquis Ares pointed directly at Princess Piper and raised his voice. "The princess of Cythera has committed a great crime indeed. Last night after the Cuoran winter ball, the Cytheran princess was in bed with her lover from the Cytheran nation!"
The crowd rumbled over the news. Jason kept his smile down at all the people acting in the room, as if they had not planned the situation in the first place.
"And what evidence do you have for this?" Jason questioned.
"Why, Your Highness, the proof is in your hands."
"Impertinence!" Jason threw the papers at Marquis Ares' feet. "At the closing of the Cuoran winter ball, I personally sent Princess Piper back to her quarters. There are imperial knights assigned at every candidate's quarters for their protection. Are you suggesting the imperial guards are faulty in their jobs that they did not notice the Cytheran princess leaving her quarters?"
Marquis Ares frowned as his eyes drifted towards Princess Medea. He must have been thinking that the information she had given him was misleading or false.
"But Your Highness, we have caught the man Princess Piper has been cuckolding you with! Last night, with no regard for propriety and respect for Cuora, you spent the night with your lover!"
At his words, an unconscious Dylan was brought forth all tied up.
After Jason had ensured that Medea's mute maid had heard moaning sounds coming from the room in the hallway and had seen Dylan in the dark room lying bed with a brown haired woman, Jason had Dylan knocked out with a powerful sleeping drug that would induce heavy sleep for three days. Dylan would not be able to say a word for this meeting and thus, he could not provide support for the aristocratic faction's accusations. The brown haired woman had been a life-like doll that Dylan was forced to use on the threat of death since the aphrodisiac drug was so powerful. Then Jason removed the doll and left Dylan in the room alone for the aristocratic faction to pick up.
"Princess Piper, do you not recognize this man?" Marquis Ares demanded.
"Yes," Piper calmly said. "He is a former acquaintance in Cythera."
"You see!" Marquis Ares said triumphantly. "Former acquaintance? More like fiance!"
The room stirred once again. Even those in the neutral or imperial faction were beginning to frown.
"No, not fiance," Piper corrected. "While this man, Marquis Dylan, was considered to be a potential match for my marriage, he was never officially placed on the list, nor was I never involved with him. I'm sure with the information you received, you know that quite well."
Piper's eyes glittered coldly at Marquis Ares. Her words insinuated that Marquis Ares was secretively gathering information and cherry-picking those to be heard.
"You can confirm back with my nation that Marquis Dylan and I have never been engaged nor were we known to be on good terms. Besides, Prince Jason and I were both there when we talked to Marquis Dylan before His Highness personally escorted me back."
"That's correct," Jason affirmed.
The amount of time that Dylan had been with Piper was next to nil with all the secret guards watching in place. Jason himself had not been away from Piper that night for more than ten minutes, and had only left Piper with Dylan for a total of three minutes before Jason decided to intrude.
"We were both quite curious as to how an uninvited guest had manage to smuggle himself into the Cuoran Winter Ball without a proper invitation. Would you like to know who invited him, Marquis Ares?"
Marquis Ares scowled. It had been under his protection that Dylan had managed to procure a proper invitation to pass through the guards.
"Besides, you said that he was seen with Princess Piper inappropriately in a room by themselves. Did you personally see the Cytheran princess in the room, and if so, why were you or anyone for that matter, there in the Cuoran royal palace? The timeline also does not match according to your words."
According to Marquis Ares, Princess Piper and Dylan met for a scandalous night after the winter ball had closed, and someone had reported seeing the pair together in compromising situations. But Jason had refuted that he had sent Piper back to her quarters after the ball ended, and the knights had agreed that Princess Piper hadn't left her room after Jason had send her back. One person could not be in the two different places at the same time.
Sensing danger, Princess Medea stood up. "Enough! We can determine the truth if Princess Piper agrees to a purity test. Even if Princess Piper did not spend the night with her lover, there is no guarantee that she is pure!"
Piper smiled back at Medea's words. "As you all know, all three candidates had a health check performed on them. I passed the requirement of purity. But if the Colchis princess insists, I agree. I am innocent, so my conscience is clear."
The physician from the aristocratic faction stepped forward.
Jason raised his hand. "Hold on. To ensure impartiality, why don't we have more than one imperial physician join?"
At his words, two other physicians, one connected to the imperial faction and one from the neutral faction stepped forward. It would eliminate bias as much as usual.
"And if I may suggest, for fairness, I request that all princess candidates undergo this health check."
Princess Medea's gaze sharpened but Jason ignored her glare. She was probably wondering what the play here was. Jason noticed her rubbing the onyx ring on her finger.
In an hour, the physicians and the princesses came back into the room. The Colchis princess was visibly shaking in anger.
"What were the results?" Marquis Ares demanded.
The imperial physician from the neutral faction stepped forward. "Her Highness, the Cytheran Princess, has been confirmed to still be pure. By all three of us." The imperial physician highlighted.
The aristocratic faction's physician refused to look at Marquis Ares but gave a subtle nod of agreement at the first physician's words.
"However, the Colchis princess no longer meets the requirement of fertility. Her womb has been damaged, and she no longer bear any children."
"Then I'm afraid that she no longer meets the requirements of the candidacy," Jason smoothly said.
"B-but how could this be?" Marquis Ares exclaimed.
Medea glared so vilely that Jason could feel the waves of anger rolling off of her. If Medea hadn't threatened Piper in the first place, then perhaps Jason wouldn't have stooped to such tricks in the first place.
Ever since the tea party with the salt incident, Jason had slowly slipped small amounts of infertility medicine into her drink and food during her stay in the Cuoran palace. Whenever Jason had to eat or meet with Medea alone, he took the opportunity to slip larger amounts as Medea's guard was lower then. Now Medea suffered the results of her own evil doings.
No princess unable to bear children could be the main consort of his. At most, she could be a favored concubine who would have no political power, and Jason would have to be insane to take the Colchis princess as a concubine. He didn't plan on having anyone but the Cytheran princess.
Jason laughed gleefully on the inside. In front of this many witnesses, the aristocratic faction had destroyed their own plans. But he wasn't done with them yet.
Once he gathered more solid proof of the dangerous aphrodisiac drug being smuggled in and of Marquis Ares sheltering troops, he would crush them all underneath his feet in one swoop.
Percy lay with his head in Annabeth's lap as he told her of the current situation in the Cuoran royal palace. With his head facing up, he could tell that she was unhappy about being drawn into the web of lies and conspiracies.
That was unforgivable to him, that Annabeth could have been severely hurt had Marquis Ares succeeded in his plan to drug Percy and put Lady Eris beside him. During the whole consort candidacy committee meeting, it had taken Percy much strength to not walk over to Ares and rip the bastard into pieces.
His eyes fluttered close as Annabeth leaned down to place a kiss on his forehead.
In truth, there were many things he wanted to tell her but could not say.
Percy's spies were reporting that Marquis Ares was smuggling more and more troops into his territory, and the intelligence faction of the Black Knights Order were sure that the other members of the aristocratic faction were doing so as well. A civil war was sure to break out soon.
Percy was torn between to whether let Annabeth stay blissfully ignorant or tell her the truth. He hated having their wedding be used as a political chess piece. Their wedding was supposed to be a happy and memorable event, yet Percy feared whether war would break out before their wedding and they would be separated as he would have to go fight in the frontlines.
But one thing was for certain. He would make sure the woman he loved would not suffer again.
Princess Medea's room was a mess as vases, jewelry, furniture, and even people were not immune to Medea's wrath. Medea screamed as she slammed everything off her coffee table. Nothing had gone right.
Medea was sure that Piper had lost her virginity, and the Cuoran prince was covering the incident up, which was why she suggested the health check. Then, she thought she could at least use her fascination magic on the physicians, so all three could lie if Piper's virginity was still intact. Who knew that the Cytheran bitch had fascination magic herself and countered Medea's magic? Medea bet that bitch hadn't even drunk the wine last night and only pretended to.
Then she was hit with the news that she herself was the one who had failed the requirements for the candidacy! Medea was incensed, sure that the Cytheran bitch must have done something with her food.
Her eyes fell on the teapot still surviving on the table. With another roar of rage, Medea swiped the teapot onto the floor.
"You!" Medea furiously slapped her mute maid. "Didn't you see the man with that Cytheran slut together in the room last night? Why did you lie to me?"
The mute maid cowered on the floor, the side of her face flaming red. She was unable to answer Medea's questions of course.
"P-perhaps it was too dark?" One of Medea' lady-in-waiting offered fearfully.
"You fool!"
The lady-in-waiting who had spoken was rewarded with a rain of harsh slaps. Now, no one dared to speak up.
Medea collapsed onto the floor. No one around her was useful or trustworthy. Kelli Chase should have been thrown away for losing Count Castellan's influence and for ruining the plan to seduce Duke Perseus Jackson. Her mute maid had failed in her task to eliminate Princess Piper, the strongest competitor in the candidacy. And Marquis Ares was useless as well. She was sure to be sent home back to Colchis as a failure. No, even Colchis wouldn't want her since she had no use to the royal family anymore if she couldn't bear heirs.
Her eyes drifted wildly in the room. There was no one to trust. Not even the food or the flowers sent to her could be trusted. After all, hadn't she sent poisonous flowers to the Cytheran bitch before? Medea's paranoia increased.
"Get me pen and paper," Medea spat out.
Since it had come to this, she could only move forward with the plan of invading the Cuora nation.
A/N: Lol how my reviews go: 1. More Percabeth! 2. Less Jasper 3. More Jasper! 4. Where the spiciness? 5. More plot! Less spice
Meanwhile my three brain cells trying their best to complete this story: please help, we need sleep
Honestly, I love the diversity of readers and reviews. You all are always so encouraging, and you guys' support help to make these days refreshing and optimistic.
Now regarding this story, people may be wondering how the imperial physicians determined that the princesses met the health check requirements. Now in modern times, science helps us with these health checks like blood tests, ultrasounds, etc. In this fictional historical piece, just think of it as the imperial physicians having their version of a blood test or whatever to determine fertility.
You can also really get a sense of how frustrating it was back in historical times that females were limited in their positions. In this way, Medea is also a victim in this kind of thinking, though her downfall is that she commits evil deeds to get what she wants instead of striving to break the barriers set upon her.
As always, thanks for sticking by me everyone, and seeing my growth as a very very amateur writer. I just had a thicc ass sandwich today that I still haven't finished, so this author is going to hibernate for a while to sleep it off. See you all next time!
